be a general Law that bodies should be moved according to the different wills of Angels or any other such like it is plain that this body might be moved tho it was not struck since the particular will of any Angel according to this supposition might determine the will of the general cause to move it Thus we may be often assured that God acts by general wills but we can never be assur'd that he acts by particular wills even in the best attested miracles VI. Since we don't sufficiently know the divers combinations of occasionalc auses to discover whether such and such effects happen in consequence of their actions since we are not for example knowing enough to discern whether such a shower of rain be produc'd by the necessary consequence of the communication of motions or by a particular will we ought to judge that an effect is produced by a general will when it is plain that the cause is not designed for a particular end For the wills of intelligent beings have necessarily some end general wills one general end and particular a particular end Nothing is more evident For example tho I can't discover whether the rain which falls in a meadow falls there in consequence of general laws or by the particular will of God I have reason to think that it falls there in by a general will if I see that it falls as well upon the neighbouring Lands or into the River which runs by this Meadow as upon the Meadow its self For if GOD caused it to rain upon this Meadow by a particular good will which he has for the owner thereof this rain would not fall into the River where it is useless since it could not fall therein without a cause or a will in God which necessarily has some end VII But it is still much more reasonable to think that an effect is produced by a general will when the effect is contrary or else useless to the design which faith or reason teaches us the cause proposes to himself For Example the end which God proposes in the divers sensations which he gives to the soul when we taste different fruits is that we should eat those which are proper to nourish the body and reject others I suppose this to be so Therefore when God gives us a grateful sentiment at the time when we eat poison or fruits that are poisoned he does not act in us by particular wills We ought to judge thus for this grateful sentiment is the cause of our death and God does give us our sentiments that he may preserve our life by a suitable Nourishment I say again I suppose it thus for I onely speak in relation to Grace which God gives us doubtless for our Conversion so that it is plain that God does not dispence it to men by particular wills since it often renders us more culpable and more criminal and God cannot have such a fatal Design God therefore does not give us a grateful sentiment by particular wills when we eat poison'd fruit But since poison'd fruits excite in our brain motions like unto those which good fruits produce there God gives us the same sentiments by the general Laws which unite the soul to the body to the end that she may take care of its preservation In like manner God does not give to those who have lost an arm sentiments of grief relating to this arm but by a general will for it is useless to the body of this man for his soul to suffer grief in relation to an arm which he has not The same may be said of the motions which are produced in the body of a Man which commits any crime In short supposing we are obliged to think that God sends rain upon the Earth to make it Fruitful we cannot think that he distributes it by particular wills since it rains upon the Sands and the Sea as well as upon Cultivated ground and it often rains so much upon sound Land that the Corn thereby is spoiled and Mens labours made useless Thus it is certain that the rain which is useless and hurtful to the Fruits of the Earth are the necessary consequences of the general Laws of the communication of motions which God hath established to produce in the World the best effects supposing that which I here repeat that God intended not that the rain should make the Earth to become barren VIII In short when any thing happens which is very singular there 's reason to think that it is not produced by a general will nevertheless it is impossible to be assur'd thereof For Example * Supposing there was any Reason for the Author 's high Esteem of that Ceremony the Example serves his Purpose well enough In a Procession of the H. Sacrament it rains upon the Company but not upon the Altar-Cloath or those that carry it there is reason to think that this happens by a particular will of the universal cause Nevertheless we cannot be certain thereof since an occasional intelligent cause may have this particular design and thus determine the efficacy of the general Law to execute it IX When the marks which preceed are not sufficient ground for judging whether any effect be or be not produced by a general will yet we ought to think that it is produced by a general will if it be evident that an occasional cause is established for such like effects For example it rains to very good purpose in a Field we don't inquire whether it rains upon the High-ways We know not whether it be hurtful to the neighbouring grounds or no we also suppose that it does nothing but good and that the circumstances which accompany it are altogether agreeable to the design for which God would have it rain Nevertheless I say that we ought to suppose this rain produced by a general will if we know that God has established an occasional cause for such like effects For we ought not without necessity to have recourse unto Miracles We should suppose that God acts by the most simple ways and tho the owner of the Field ought to give thanks to God for this favour yet it ought not to be imagined that God has vouchsafed it to him after a Miraculous manner by a particular will The Master of the Field is bound to give thanks to God for the good which he has received since God foresaw and intended the good effect of this rain when he established the general Laws whereof it is a necessary consequence On the contrary if rain be sometimes hurtful to our Lands since God did not establish the Laws which make it rain to render them unfruitful a great drought being enough to make them barren it is plain that we ought to thank God and adore the wisdom of his providence even then when we do not feel the effects of the Laws which he hath appointed for our benefit X. In short tho we should not be assured by the circumstances
abstracted truths do not affect them it may be said that this delectation of Grace doth instruct them for making these truths sensible they learn them more easily by the attention which they bring to them 1 Joh. 11.72 'T is upon this account that St. John says the unction we receive from J. C. teaches us all things and that they who have this unction have no need to be instructed It is true that concupiscence such as we feel is not necessary in order to merit Jesus Christ whose sufferings were infinite was not at all subject to it But altho he was absolute Master of his Body he willingly suffered the most troublesome motions and sentiments to be excited therein that he might thus merit all thereby which was prepared for him Of all the sentiments that of Grief is the most contrary to a soul which desires and deserves to be happy and yet he willingly suffered the most tormenting Pleasure makes him actually happy who actually enjoys it and yet he willingly depriv'd himself thereof Thus as we ought he has offered an infinite number of Sacrifices by a Body which he took like unto ours but these his Sacrifices differed from those of the greatest Saints because he willingly excited in himself all those painful sentiments which in the rest of Men are the necessary consequences of sin and that thus these Sacrifices being altogether voluntary in him were more Pure and more Meritorious XXXI Nevertheless it must be observed that this Unction doth not of its self produce knowledge it only excites our attention which is the natural or occasional cause of our knowledge Thus we see that they who have the most Charity have not always the most Knowledge All men not being equally capable of attention the same unction doth not equally instruct all those who receive it Thus tho knowledge may be communicated to the Soul by a supernatural infusion and it may often be produced by Charity nevertheless this Grace ought often to be accounted as a natural effect because Charity does not ordinarily produce knowledge in the minds of Men but proportionally as it causes the soul to desire the knowledge of that which she loves For to conclude the various desires of the soul are the natural or occasional causes of the discoveries we make in any subject whatsoever But these truths I must explain more at length in the Second Part of this Discourse THE SECOND PART Of the Grace of the Creator XXXII I Know but two Principles which determine directly and by themselves the motions of our Love Knowledge and Pleasure Knowledge by which we discern different goods Pleasure by which we taste them But there is great difference betwixt Knowledge and Pleasure Knowledge leaves us altogether to our selves it makes no attempt upon our liberty it does not force us to love any thing it does not produce in us a natural or necessary love it only puts us in a condition of determining our selves and loving the objects which it discovers to us with a love of choice or which is the same thing of fixing the general impression of Love which God continually gives us upon particular goods But Pleasure efficaciously determines the will it transports it as I may say towards the object which causes it or seems to cause it it produces in us a natural and necessary love it diminishes our liberty distracts our reason and does not leave us wholly to our selves A small attention to our inward sentiments may convince of these differences XXXIII Thus Man before sin having a perfect freedom and no Concupiscence which might hinder him from following his Knowledge in the motions of his Love and since he clearly saw that God was infinitely amiable it was not expedient he should have been determined by a preventing Delectation as I have already said nor by other Graces of Sentiment which might have diminished his merit and have engaged him to have loved by instinct that good which ought to be loved only by Reason But since sin besides Knowledge the Grace of sentiment has been necessary that he might thereby resist the motions of Concupiscence For Man invincibly desiring to be happy it is impossible he should continually sacrifice his Pleasure to his Knowledge his Pleasure which renders him actually happy which subsists in himself notwithstanding he never so much resists it to his knowledge which subsists not but by a troublesome application of mind which the least actual pleasure distracts which lastly doth not promise actual happiness till after death which to the imagination seems to be a real Annihilation XXXIV Knowledge therefore is necessary to Man for guiding him in the search after that which is good It is the Effect of natural order It supposes neither the Corruption nor the Restoration of Nature But Pleasure which draws us to true happiness is pure Grace for naturally what is truly good ought only to be loved by reason Hence the occasional causes of the Graces of sentiment must be found in J. C. because he is the Author of Grace But the occasional causes of Knowledge must ordinarily be found in the order of Nature because it is the Grace of the Creator Let us endeavour to find out these causes XXXV In the order established by Nature I only see two occasional causes which distribute knowledge to Spirits and thus determine the general Laws of the Grace of the Creator The one in us which in some sort depends upon us the other which is to be found in the relation we have to the things about us The first is nothing else but the different motions of our wills The second is the concourse of sensible objects which act upon our mind in consequence of the Laws of union of the Soul with the Body XXXVI The inward sentiment which we have of our selves teaches us that our desires produce or excite knowledge in us and that attention of mind is the natural prayer by which we prevail with God to enlighten us for all who apply themselves to truth discover it proportionably to their attention And if our prayer was not interrupted if our attention was not disturbed if we had any Idea of what we ask and if we asked it with necessary perseverance we should never fail to obtain as far as we are capable to receive But our prayers are continually interrupted if they be not preingaged by pleasure Our senses and our imagination trouble and confound all our Ideas and tho the truth we consult answers our request yet the confused noise of our passions hinders from understanding its answers or causes us presently to forget them XXXVII If it be considered that Man before sin was animated with Charity that he had in himself all that was necessary for his perseverance in Righteousness and that he ought by his perseverance and application to have merited his reward it may easily be apprehended that the various desires of his Heart were to be made the occasional causes
which accompany certain effects that there is an occasional cause established to produce them it is sufficient to know that they are very common and relate to the principal design of the general cause to judge that they are not produced by a particular will For example the Rivers which water the Earth relate to the principle of Gods designs which is that men should not want necessaries for life This I suppose Moreover Rivers are very common therefore we ought to think that they are formed by some general Laws For as there is more wisdom required in executing designs by simple and general ways than by ways compounded and particular as I think I have sufficiently proved elsewhere we ought to give this Honour to God as to believe that his manner of acting is general uniform constant agreeable to the Idea which we have of his infinite wisdom These are the marks by which it may be judged whether an effect be or be not produced by a general will I shall now prove that God dispences Grace to Men by general Laws and that J. C. was the occasional cause of determining their efficacy I begin with the Proofs drawn from H. Scripture XI St. Paul teaches us Col. 2.19 that J. C. is the Head of the Church that he continually dispences to her the Spirit which quickens her that he forms the Members thereof and animates them as the Soul does the Body or to speak yet more clearly the H. Scriptures teaches us two things First That J. C. Prays continually for his Members Heb. 7.25 9.24 John 11.42 Second That his Prayers and Desires are always heard Whence I conclude that he is appointed by God the occasional cause of Grace and also that Grace is never given unto Sinners but by his means Occasional causes do always and very readily produce their Effect The Prayers or divers Desires of J. C. relating to the formation of his Body do always readily obtain their Effect God refuses nothing to his Son as J. C. himself has taught us The occasional causes don't produce their effect by their own efficacy but by the efficacy of the general cause It is also by the efficacy of the power of God that the soul of J. C. operates in us it is not by the efficacy of the humane will For this reason 't is that St. Paul represents J. C. as Praying continually to his Father for he is obliged to Pray that he may obtain The occasional causes are established by God to determine the efficacy of his general wills and J. C. according to the Scripture was appointed by God after his Resurrection to Govern the Church which he had purchased with his own blood For J. C. was the Meritorious cause of all Graces by his sacrifice but after his Resurrection he enter'd into the H. of Holies a Sovereign Priest of good things to come that he might appear in the presence of God and shed upon us the Graces which he had merited for us Thus he himself applyes and distributes his gifts as the occasional cause He disposes of all things in God's House as a well beloved Son in the House of his Father I think I have demonstrated in the Search after Truth that God only is the true cause or acts by his own proper efficacy and that he doth not communicate his Power unto Creatures but by making them the occasional causes of producing certain effects I have proved for example that Men have no power to produce any motion in their bodies but because God hath made their wills the occasional causes of these motions and that fire has no power to cause pain in me but because God hath made the striking of one body upon another the occasional cause of the communication of motions and the violent shaking of the nerves of my Flesh the occasional cause of my Pain I may here suppose a Truth which I have largely proved in Chap. III. Part 2. of Book IV. of the Search c. And in the Explication of the same Chapter and which they for whom I chiefly write do not deny Now 't is certain by Faith that Power is given to J. C. for forming his Church Mat. 28.18 Data est mihi omnis potestas in Coelo in terra This cannot be understood of J. C. according to his Divinity for in this respect he never received any thing 'T is certain therefore that J. C. according to his humanity is the occasional cause of Grace supposing it proved that God only can act upon Minds and that second causes have no efficacy of their own which they who would understand my Sentiments and judge of them ought first to examine XII I say moreover that no Person is sanctified but by the efficacy of the Power which God has communicated to J. C. by establishing him the occasional cause of Grace For if any sinner was Converted by Grace of which J. C. was not the occasional cause but only the meritorious the sinner having not received his new Life by the influence of J. C. he would not be a Member of the Body of which J. C. is the Head after that manner in which St. Paul expresses it Chap. 4.16 See Col. 11.19 in these words of the Epistle to the Ephesians That we may grow up into him in all things who is the Head Christ from whom the whole Body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh encrease of the body unto the edifying it self in love Which words do not meerly say that J. C. is the Meritorious cause of all Graces but do more distinctly express that Christians are the Members of the Body of which J. C. is the Head and that it is in him we encrease and live a life altogether new and that it is by his inward operation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that his Church is form'd that he was appointed by God the only occasional cause who by his divers desires and applications distributes those Graces which God as the true cause sends down upon men 'T is for this reason St. Coloss 2.7 Paul says that Christians are united to J. C. as to their root Radicati super aedificati in ipso 'T is for this reason likewise that J. C. compares himself to a Vine and his Disciples to the Branches who receive their life in him Ego sum vitis vos palmites 'T is for this reason that St. Paul assures that J. C. lives in us and we in him that we are risen in our Head that our Life is hid with God in J. C. In a word that we already have eternal life in J. C. These and several other Expressions clearly shew that J. C. is not only the meritorious but also the occasional physical or natural cause of Grace and that as the Soul informs animates and perfects the Body so J. C. as the occasional Cause
distributes to his Members those Graces which by his sacrifice he hath merited for his Church For my part I cannot comprehend how any one can doubt of these Reasons nor upon what foundation a Truth so very edifying and as ancient as the Religion of J. C. can be treated as a dangerous Novelty I grant my Expressions may be new but this is because they appear'd to me very proper distinctly to explain a truth which I could only have confusedly demonstrated by too general terms The words Occasional Causes and General Laws appear to me necessary to make those Philosophers for whom I wrote the Treatise of Nature and Grace distinctly comprehend that which the generality of Men are content to know only confusedly Since new Expressions are not dangerous but when they cover something which is equivocal or may occasion some thought contrary to Religion to arise in the mind I do not think that any candid persons and who are skill'd in St. Paul's Divinity will be offended because I explain my self after a particular manner since it tends only to make us adore the Wisdom of God and to unite us strictly unto J. C. Objection I. XIII It is objected against what I have said That neither Angels nor Saints of the Old Testament received Grace in consequence of the desires of the Soul of Jesus since this Holy Soul was not as yet and thus tho J. C. be the meritorious cause of all Graces he is not the occasional which distributes them to Men. Answer In respect of Angels I answer That there is some probability that Grace was given to them once only So that if we consider things in this respect I confess that nothing oblig'd the Wisdom of God to establish an occasional cause for the sanctification of Angels But if these blessed Spirits be considered as Members of the Body whereof J. C. is Head or if it be supposed that they were unequally assisted I believe there is reason to think that the diversity of their Graces came from him who-is Head of Angels as well as Men and that in this capacity he by his sacrifice not only merited all Graces which God gave to his Creatures but also diversly applied these same Graces to them by his different desires Since it cannot be denied that J. C. along time before he was born or could merit was the meritorious cause of Graces which were given to the Angels and Saints of the Old Testament it must in my opinion be granted that by his Prayers he might have been the occasional cause of the same Graces a long time before they were ask'd For there is no necessary relation between occasional causes and the time of their producing their effects and tho ordinarily these sorts of causes do produce their effects at the very time of their action nevertheless since their action is not efficacious in its self seeing its efficacy depends upon the will of the universal cause it is not necessary that it should actually exist that they may produce their effects Suppose for example That J. C. to day asks of his Father that such an one may receive such an assistance at certain times of his life the Prayer of J. C. will infallibly determine the efficacy of the general Will of God which is to save all Men in his Son This person shall receive these assistances tho the Soul of J. C. actually thinks of quite another thing and tho it should never more think of that which it desired for him Now the Prayer of J. C. which is already pass'd is not more present to his Father than the future for whatsoever happens in all times is equally present to God Thus since God loves his Son and knows that his Son will have such desires in respect of his Ancestors and the People of his own Nation and also in respect of Angels who were to enter into the Spiritual Edifice of his Church and compose the Body of which he is the Head he seems to have been obliged to accomplish the desires of his Son before they were made to the end that the Elect who were before his birth and whom he purchased by the merit of his sacrifice should as particularly belong to him as others and he should be their Head as truly as he is ours I confess it is convenient that meritorious and occasional causes should go before their effects rather than follow them and even order its self requires that these causes and their effects do exist at the same time For 't is clear that all merit should be presently rewarded and that every occasional cause should actually produce its effect provided that nothing hinder but that this may and ought to be so But since Grace was absolutely necessary to the Angels and to the Patriarchs it could not be differ'd As for the Glory and Reward of the Saints of the Old Testament seeing it might be delay'd it was expedient that God should suspend its accomplishment till J. C. was ascended into Heaven and made an High-Priest over the House of God and began to use the soveraign power of an occasional cause of all Graces which he had merited by his Labours upon Earth Thus we believe that the Patriarchs did not enter into Heaven till J. C. himself their Head their Mediator and their Fore-runner was therein entred Nevertheless tho it should be granted that God should not have appointed an occasional cause for all Graces given to the Angels and the Patriarchs I do not see how it can be concluded that at present J. C. does not dispense to the Body of the Church that Spirit which gives it increase and nourishment that he prays not for it or that his Desires or Prayers do not infallibly obtain their effect or in a word that he is not the occasional cause which applies those Graces to to Men which he has merited for them Before J. C. God gave Grace by particular Wills This I grant if it be desired the necessity of Order requires it the occasional Cause could not regularly be so soon establish'd the Elect were but very few But at present when the rain of Grace is generally sent upon all the World when it falls not as heretofore upon a very few Men of one chosen Nation when J. C. may or ought to be establish'd the occasional cause of the goods which he has merited for his Church what reason is there to believe that God should still work Miracles as often as he gives good Sentiments For certainly all that God does by particular Wills is a Miracle since it happens not by the general Laws which he has established and whose efficacy is determin'd by occasional causes But how can we think that to save Men he should work all those Miracles which are useless to their salvation I mean that he should give all those Graces which they resist because they are not proportioned to the actual strength of their concupiscence St. John teaches us that Christians receive
these Miracles but by general wills for if they had been performed by particular wills the Angels could not have wrought them by a power which God gave them of conducting his people Thus St. Michael and his Angels were to the Jews that which J.C. is to the Christians The Angels gave the old Law J.C. is the Angel of the new Law as the Prophet Malachy calls him Chap. III. 1. The new Convenant promises true goods therefore the Mediator of this Covenant must be the occasional or distributive cause of that Grace which gives a right to the possession of these goods But the Old Covenant promised only Temporal goods because the Angel the Minister of the Law could only bestow these goods All that relates to Eternity both goods and evils ought to be reserved to J.C. The Angels who are pure Spirits ought according to Order to have power over Bodies inferiour substances and by them upon the minds of Men For since sin the Soul depends upon the Body they may prepare for Grace as in St. John and remove the occasions of falling Lastly the Angel or rather the Arch-Angel St. Michael represented J.C. as the Old Law represents the New the Synagogue the Church Temporal goods Eternal Thus it appears that to prove the New Covenant more excellent than the Old St. Paul was obliged to prove as he has done in the beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrews that J.C. who is the Minister thereof is infinitely exalted above the Angels It must therefore be granted from the arguments which I have drawn from the Idea of a Being infinitely Perfect from a thousand a thousand experiences that God executes his designs by general Laws But it is not easie to demonstrate that God acts upon such and such occasions by particular wills tho the H. Scripture which accommodates its self to our weakness represents God sometimes as a Man and often makes him act like Men. For tho all that which I have said of Angels should be absolutely false I might nevertheless suppose and should even have all reason to believe that God wrought the Miracles of the Old Law by certain general Laws tho I had no knowledge of them for we ought not to reject a truth clearly known because of some objections which may be drawn from our ignorance of many things Thus God forms and preserves the purely material World by the Laws of the communication of motions and makes the Bodies themselves the occasional causes which determine these Laws for 't is the striking of bodies upon one another which determine their efficacy A Body is never moved but when another strikes upon it and a Body is always moved when it is struck upon God preserves the life of Men and likewise Civil Society by the general Laws of the Union of Soul and Body and makes something in these two substances the occasional causes which determine the efficacy of these Laws Mine Arm is moved according to my desires my Soul suffers pain when a Thorn pricks me God builds up his great Work by the general Laws of Grace according to which he would save all Men in his Son and because all Men are born sinners God draws the occasional causes which determine the efficacy of his general Laws only from J.C. who is the Head which influences his Members the Mediator betwixt God and Men the Sovereign Priest of good things the true Solomon who has received Wisdom without measure to make a Work whereof the Jewish Temple was but the figure how Magnificent soever it was To Conclude God governed the Jews by general Laws the efficacy of which was determined by the Action of St. Michael and his Angels In truth intelligent Beings are necessary to conduct Men to reward and punish them that by the Laws of the communication of motions the Hail knocks down the Fruit which the Rain had made to grow this is not properly a disorder Bodies are not capable of good or evil of happiness or misery But to adjust Rewards and Merits one with another intelligent Beings are necessary In a word God has established all Powers second Causes visible and invisible Hierarchies immediately by himself or by the mediation of other powers that he may execute his designs by general Laws whose efficacy is determined by the action of these same Powers For he acts not like the Kings of the Earth who give out their Orders and do nothing else God in general doth all that which second causes do Matter has not in it self any moving virtue upon which depends its efficacy and there is no necessary connexion betwixt the wills of spirits and the effects which they produce God doth all but he acts by Creatures because he was pleased to communicate his power to them that he might accomplish his work by ways most worthy of himself Thus has God done all things with Wisdom I say with Wisdom for an infinite Wisdom is requisite to understand all the consequences of general Laws to rank and combine them one with another after the exactest manner and foresee that from thence would proceed a work worthy of himself 'T is an evidence of limited understandings to be able to do nothing but by compounded ways But a God who knows all things ought not to disturb the simplicity of his ways an immutable Being must always be uniform in his conduct a General Cause ought to act by particular wills God's Conduct must carry in it the Character of his Attributes if the immutable and necessary order of Justice do not oblige him to change For Order is an inviolable Law in respect of God himself He invincibly loves it and will always prefer it to the Arbitrary Laws by which he executes his Designs THE END THE Author's Idea of Providence SEcond causes of what nature soever have no proper efficacy of their own But All their power is communicated unto them by God in consequence of those general Laws which he has establish't Now All Philosophers and Divines agree that God governs the World and takes care of all things by second causes Therefore The Providence of God is Executed by general Laws Nevertheless his Providence is not blind and subject to chance For by his infinite Wisdom he knows the consequences of all possible general Laws And As Searcher of Hearts He foresees all the future determinations of free causes Therefore He proportions the means with the end free Causes as well as necessary with the effects which he intends they shall produce Therefore He combines Nature with Morality and with Divinity after the wisest manner that can be So that the effects of the combination and connection of causes may be most worthy of his Wisdom Goodness and other Attributes for God wills in particular all the good effects which he produces by general ways Nevertheless the immutable Order of Justice which God owes to himself and his own attributes requires or permits that he should sometimes act by particular wills But
be blasted and will it for very good reasons We must know the designs of Men to understand whether they forsake them and want constancy and firmness of mind or not For they may have a design to do at different times things quite opposite to one another But who knoweth the designs of God This would be a very fit Principle to justifie the Reproach which Pagans cast out against Christians That their God shews himself to be inconstant by abolishing the ancient Sacrifices which he himself had appointed This appears by Marcellinus's Letter to St. Augustin where he acquaints this Father That the Change of the first Sacrifices was one of the things which stuck most with Volusianus Maxime says he quia ista varietas inconstantiae Deum possit arguere This Objection would have been a convincing Reason against the Christian Religion if it be true that it is always a mark of inconstancy to unmake at one time what is made at another Answer I do not say that to unmake at one time what is made at another is not always a mark of inconstancy Nay in respect of God this I say is never a mark thereof The reason is because God doth not ordinarily act by particular wills For I maintain that God doth not by such wills make a Straw for example turn a 1000 times about but only by the Wind in consequence of the natural Laws which are his general Wills I endeavour by the uniformity of God's Conduct and the simplicity of his Ways to reconcile infinite Contradictions which we meet with in his Work and thereby I silence the Manichees and Philosophers who judge of God by themselves those attributing to a blind Nature and these to a malevolent God those natural Effects which contradict one another The Lions eat the Wolves and the Wolves the Sheep and the Sheep the Grass which God makes to grow and all this because the Laws of Nature tho simple and always exactly observed are fruitful enough to cover the Earth with Flowers and Fruits and furnish to the Sheep and an infinite number of other Animals their food to the end that they themselves may be nourishment to those which are their Superiours either by strength or cunning I omit other Reasons not proper to my Subject All this I say again is done in consequence of general Laws insomuch that all these Effects which contradict one another do not imply any contradiction in the Cause which produces them because this Cause doth not act and ought not to act by particular wills Nevertheless I have said and do say it again that to make and unmake and make again the same things a thousand times in a day is a sufficient sign of inconstancy and if otherwise we did not know that there is no defect in God we should naturally be inclined to think there is If my Principle should be rejected That God acts not by particular Wills but in consequence of general Laws I maintain that the ways of God ought to bear the Character of his Attributes and that his practical Wills should be the same till the work for which they were appointed be atchieved the same I say with respect to his immutability if the justice which he owes to his other Attributes doth not oblige him to change But I never said that God could not undo that to morrow which he doth to day without giving Men occasion to accuse him of inconstancy because the same general Laws do produce an infinite number of different Effects in the World The Night the Day the Seasons of the Year every thing says St. Augustine is subject to change but the Laws which God observes in the course of his Providence change not Haec omnia mutantur nec mutatur Divinae Providentiae ratio qua fit ut ist a mutentur The ways of God that is his practical wills are always the same there has been no essential change in the general Laws since their first establishment the Bodies which strike upon one another are reflected now as they were four thousand Years ago the Laws of union of the Soul and Body and those of the union of the Mind with universal Reason are still the same now they were in Adam's time the sin of the first Man has only deprived us of the power which he had of suspending the action of these first Laws by that strict union which he then had with universal Reason in consequence of other Laws which still subsist and make our wills the occasional causes of the Ideas which are presented to our minds Lastly The Laws by which God has given unto good and bad Angels the power to act upon bodies and by them upon our minds are still the same in the main tho the bad ones cannot make use of this power as they would by reason of the resistance of our tutelary Angels and for other reasons little understood Thus I am of the opinion that the ways of God always carry in them the character of his immutability and that he never changes any thing in them till his work shall be finished if the Law of Order requires not that they should have the Character of some other of his Attributes Once more I never said that what God makes unmakes and makes again implies any change in his Conduct since according to my opinion all these effects are the consequences of the simplicity and fruitfulness of his ways I only maintain that if God should act by particular wills what he doth would signifie inconstancy in his designs since there are things which he makes unmakes and makes again an hundred times in a day without any apparent profit or necessity for surely it is a mark of inconstancy to undo that which one has done to make it again what it was before And 't is in my thoughts to speak of God very much after the manner of Men and very unworthily of his Attributes to ascribe unto him as many particular Designs or practical Wills as there are little Straws which are whirl'd about with the Wind or Leafs and Fruits which the Rain nourishes and the Frost destroys for experience teaches us that these Effects are only the Consequences of the Natural Laws which God hath established to make the World as perfect as it can be acting as becomes himself The Objection which the Pagans made by asking Whether the God of the Christians was not the same with him of the Old Testament and if so why he had abolished his ancient Sacrifices This Objection I say touches me the least of any one so far is it according to my Principle from being a convincing Reason of the falseness of Religion for tho the ways of God be always the same the effects thereof may and ought to be different according to different times God gave to Angels the power of governing the Nations especially the Jews in consequence of general Laws which are his ways So that it is rather the Laws of Angels which
proper seasons all these grains are not increased thereby Or if they be the Hail or some other unlucky accident which is a necessary consequence of the same Laws of Nature hinders them from nourishing their Ear. Now because it is God who has established these Laws it might be said that he would that some certain seeds should be fruitful rather than others if we did not know otherwise that the general cause ought not to act by particular wills nor an infinitely wise Being by compounded ways God ought not to take other Measures than those which he has taken to govern the rains according to the seasons and places and desires of the Husbandmen We need to say no more of the order of Nature Let us explain a little more largely that of Grace and above all things let us observe that it is the same wisdom and the same will in a word the same God who has established both the one and the other of these Orders Additions Above all let us observe that it is the same wisdom and the same will in a word the same God who has established both the one and the other of these orders that is to say that of Grace and that of Nature This is of the greatest consequence For God cannot be false to himself or not follow his wisdom in the establishment of the order of Grace It is therefore necessary to the end that Gods conduct may bear the Character of his divine attributes that his ways be simple general uniform and constant Thus we may already see that it will not be impossible to justifie the wisdom and goodness of God tho Grace often falls without effect and tho there be more men who are damned than those who are saved God will appear wise tho Grace should not be always proportioned to our weakness He will be good and love men tho all be not saved because we cannot take it ill that God has greater love for his wisdom which is consubstantial to him than for his work which is only an imperfect Image of his substance THE SECOND PART Of the Necessity of the general Laws of Grace XXIV GOD loving himself by the necessity of his Being and resolving to procure an infinite glory to himself and honour perfectly worthy of him consulted his wisdom about the accomplishment of his desires This divine wisdom filled with love for him from whom he received a Being by an Eternal and ineffable generation seeing nothing in all possible creatures the intelligible Ideas of which he contains that might be worthy of the Majesty of his Father offered himself that he might establish to his Honour an Eternal Worship and as Sovereign Priest offer unto him a victim which by the dignity of his Person might be capable to please him He rerepresented unto him an infinite number of designs for the Temple which he intended to raise to his glory and at the same time all possible ways of performing them That design which at first sight seems Greatest and most Magnificent the justest and most easily understood is that which has most relation to the Person unto whom all the Glory and Holiness thereof must refer and the wisest manner of performing this design is to Establish certain very simple and fruitful Laws to bring it to its perfection This is that which Reason seems to answer to all those who consult it with attention and according to the principles which Faith teaches us Let us examine the circumstances of this Great design and afterwards endeavour to find out the ways of performing it Additions The proof of all this is because God does nothing without his Wisdom or without his Son which Scripture teaches us as well as Reason Joh. I. 3. Heb. I. 2. c. That Jesus Christ is the principle design of God see the first Article and the following That he is the Model of the Elect Rom. VIII 29. And above all that his ways do more than any other bear the Character of the divine Attributes that which I have already proved and which you may see further manifested in the third explication I shall not hereafter stop in the Explication of what is clear enough in its self and of little consequence XXV The Holy Scripture teaches us that it is Jesus Christ who makes all the Beauty the Holyness the Greatness and Magnificence of this Great Work For if it be compared therein to a City it is Jesus Christ who makes all the Splendor thereof The Sun and the Moon does not enlighten it Apocal. XXI 23. but the Brightness of God and the Light of the Lamb. If it be represented as a living body all whose parts have a marvelous relation to one another Col. I. 18. II. 19. Eph. I. 22 23. it is Jesus Christ who is the head thereof it is from him that Spirit and Life is communicated to all the Members that compose it If it be spoken of as a Temple it is Jesus Christ who is the Corner-stone Eph. II. 20 c. upon which all the building is founded it is he who is the Sovereign Priest It is he who is the Sacrifice thereof Heb. IV. V c. X c. None of the Faithful are Priests but because they partake of his Priesthood They are not Sacrifices but because they partake of his Holiness It is only in him and by him that they continually offer themselves to the Majesty of God To conclude it is only by the Relation which they have to him Phil. III. 9 10 11 c. that they contribute to the beauty of this august Temple which always has been and for ever will be the delightful Object of God himself XXVI Reason also teaches us these Truths For what relation is there betwixt creatures how perfect so ever they are supposed to be and the Action by which they are made Every Creature being limited how can it be worth the Action of a God whose price is infinite Can God receive any thing from a pure Creature which may incline him to act But let it be that God hath made man in hopes of being honoured by him Whence is it that the number of those who dishonour him is much the greater Doth not God hereby sufficiently declare that he very much neglects the glory pretended to be received by his work if separated from his well beloved Son that it is only in Jesus Christ that he resolved to produce it and that without him it should not subsist a moment XXVII A man resolves to do somthing because he hath need thereof or because he wou'd see what wou'd be the effect of his work or lastly because he learns by trying his strength what he is able to do But God has no need of his creatures He is not like men who receive new impression from the presence of objects His Ideas are eternal immutable he saw the world before it was form'd as he sees it at present In short being
suffer all men to be engaged in Sin that he might have mercy upon them all in Jesus Christ XXXV Thus since the first man was able by the strength of his Love to persevere in original righteousness it was not necessary that God shou'd keep him to his duty by preventing pleasures he having no concupiscence to overcome it was not fit that God shou'd prevent his free will by the delectation of his grace In short having all that was necessary for meriting his reward God who does nothing that is useless ought to have left him to himself tho he foresaw his fall since he intended to raise him up in Jesus Christ to confound free will and to make his mercy Illustrious Let us endeavour at present to find out the ways by which God executes his eternal purpose of Sanctifying his Church XXXVI For tho in the establishment of the future World God acts by ways very different from those by which he preserves the present nevertheless we ought not to imagine that this difference is such as that the Laws of grace do not carry in them the character of the cause which has established them Since God himself is the Author of the Order of Grace and of that of Nature it is necessary that these two Orders agree with one another in respect of all that which they have in them relating to the Wisdom and other Attributes of their Author Thus since God is a general cause whose wisdom has no limits it is necessary for reasons which I have already mentioned that in the Order of Grace as well as in that of Nature he should act as a general cause that having for his end his own glory by the raising of his Church he should establish the most simple and general Laws and which compared with their effect have the greatest proportion of Wisdom and Fruitfulness XXXVII The more any Agent has of knowledge the more extensive is his will A mind much limited every moment takes up new resolutions and when he undertakes to execute any one of them he uses several means some of which are always useless In a word a stinted mind does not sufficiently compare the means with the end the strength and the Action with the effect which they shou'd produce On the contrary anextensive and penetrating spirit compares and weighs all things He does not take up his resolutions but by the knowledge which he has of the means of executing them and when he sees that these means wisely relate to their effect he employs them The more simple any Machines are and the more different their effects the more Spiritual they are and more worthy of Esteem The great number of the Laws of any State often shews the want of penetration and comprehension of mind in the Law-Makers It being rather experience of the want of 'em than a wise foreknowledge which has ordained them God whose Wisdom has no bounds must make use of the most simple and most fruitful ways in the formation of the future World as well as for the conservation of the present He ought not to multiply his wills which are the executing laws of his purposes but so far as necessity obliges him thereunto He must act by general wills and thus establish a constant and regular order according to which he foresaw by the infinite comprehension of his Wisdom that such an admirable work as his is might be form'd Let us see the consequences of this principle and the application which may be made thereof for the explaining those difficulties which may appear sufficiently entangled Additions I don't think that any one can read this Article and those which go before with attention without granting that seeing God cannot be false to himself nor act by those ways which do not agree with his Attributes he is obliged to perform his designs by the most simple means the most general uniform and constant ways Therefore I shall net spend time to prove this in particular by the Idea of a being infinitely perfect and by all the natural effects of causes which we know Besides all that I am to say I have proved this principle several ways in the Search after Truth by overthrowing the pretended efficacy of second causes in the Med. Christ from the fourth to the eighth inclusively and also in the Explications which are at the end of this Treatise But let us see if the use which I am about to make of this principle for explaining the truth which faith teaches us does not at once demonstrate both this principle and these truths XXXVIII The H. Scripture teaches us on the one side that God wills that all men shou'd be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth and on the other that he doth all that he wills and yet nevertheless Faith is not given to all the World and that the number of those who Perish is even greater than of the Predestinated how shall we make this agree with his Power Additions It is because his Wisdom renders him unable For since it is that which obliges to him to act by the most simple ways it is not possible that all men shou'd be saved by reason of this simplicity of his ways XXXIX God from all eternity foresaw Original Sin and the infinite number of Persons whom this sin wou'd carry down to Hell Nevertheless he created the first Man in an Estate from which he knew he wou'd fall and also made such a relation between this Man and his Posterity as must communicate to them his sin and render them all worthy of his Aversion and his Anger How does this agree with his goodness Additions It is because God more loves his Wisdom than his work For since his Wisdom prescribes unto him the ways which best suit with his Attributes and since his ways require that Adam being otherwise able to persevere should not have had preventing Grace that which did happen ought to have happened to him XL God often communicates his Graces tho they have not the effect for which his goodness obliges us to think they were given He makes some persons to encrease in Piety till towards the end of their life and then sin reigns over them to their death and throws them into Hell He makes the dew of grace to fall upon hardn'd hearts as well as upon prepared Souls men resist it and render it useless for their Salvation In a word God unmakes and renews continually it seems as if he will'd and will'd not the same thing How can this agree with his Wisdom Additions It is because since God ought not to Sanctify men by particular wills he does not give Grace to such an one upon such an occasion to the end that it should have such a certain effect and nothing more It becomes limited Vnderstandings to act after this manner But God having an infinite understanding it became him to establish general Laws for the executing of his designs This is what I have
passages of Scripture which agree with this Idea we correct the sence of some other places which ascribe unto God members or passions like unto ours So when we wou'd speak exactly of the manner of Gods acting in the order of Nature or grace we ought to explain the passages which make him act as a man or a particular cause by that Idea which we have of his wisdom and his goodness and by other places of Scripture which are agreable to this Idea For in conclusion if the Idea which we have of God permits nay obliges to say that he does not cause every drop of rain to fall by particular wills tho this sentiment is authorized by the natural sence of some places of Scripture there is the like necessity to think that notwithstanding certain authorities of the same Scripture God does not give to some sinners by particular wills all those good motions which are of no effect to them and yet to several others wou'd be effectual because otherwise it seems impossible to me to make the Holy Scripture agree either with reason or with its self as I think I have proved LIX If I thought that what I have already said was not sufficient to convince considering persons that God acts not by particular wills as particular causes or limited understandings do I should proceed to shew that there are few truths whereof more proofs may be given supposing it granted that God governs the World and that the Nature of HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS is but a Chimaera For in truth nothing is done in the World which doth not prove this sentiment Miracles only excepted which nevertheless wou'd not be Miracles different from the effects which are called natural if it was true that God ordinarily acts by particular wills since Miracles are not such but because they happen not according to general Laws Thus do Miracles suppose these Laws and prove the sentiment which I have laid down but as for ordinary effects they clearly and directly demonstrate general Laws or Wills For example if a stone be let fall upon the head of one that passes by the stone will always fall with equal swiftness without distinguishing either the piety or the quality the good or evil dispositions of the passenger If any other effect be examined we shall see the same constancy in the action of the cause which produces it But no effect proves that God acts by particular wills tho men often imagine that God works Miracles every moment for their sakes Since the way by which they wou'd have God to act is agreable to ours since it flatters self-love which refers all things to its self since it comports well with the ignorance we are in of the combination of occasional causes which produce extraordinary effects it naturally enters into the mind when we do not sufficiently study Nature and consult with attention enough the abstracted Idea of an infinite Wisdom of an Universal Cause of a Being infinitely perfect Additions Let me be permitted to desire of the Reader that he do meditate some time upon this first Discourse before he reads that which follows The Second Discourse Of the Laws of Grace in particular and of the Occasional Causes which Govern and Determin their Efficacy First Part. Of the Grace of Jesus Christ Additions Before this 2d Dis read 3d. C. of 2d P. of Search after Truth and the Expli of the same C. where the Author opposes the Efficacy of pretended second causes I Have proved in the First Discourse the necessity of Occasional Causes in the Order of Grace as well as in that of Nature and I don't think that which I have written can be distinctly understood but it must be granted But now I am about to prove by those arguments which Faith supplies that Jesus Christ is this cause Since this is of the greatest consequence clearly to understand the principles of Religion and to make us draw near with confidence to the true Propitiatory or the occasional cause which never fails to determine the efficacy of the general Law of Grace I think I may require the Reader to Meditate upon this Second Discourse with all diligence and without prejudice I. Since there is none but God who acts immediately and by himself upon Spirits who produces in them all the different Modifications whereof they are capable it is he alone who enlightens our minds and inspires us with certain sentiments which determine our divers wills Thus there is none but God who can as the * By the true cause I understand the Cause which Acts by its own strength true cause produce grace in our Souls For the principle of all the regular motions of our love is necessarily either knowledge which teaches us or a sentiment which convinces us that God is our happiness since we never begin to love any object if we do not either clearly see by the light of Reason or confusedly feel by the taste of pleasure that the object is good I mean capable of rendring us more happy than we are II. But seeing all men are engaged in Original sin and all even by their nature infinitely below God it is only J. Christ who by the dignity of his Person and the holiness of his Sacrifice could have access to his Father reconcile us to him and merit his favours for us Thus it is J. C. only who cou'd be the Meritorous cause of Grace These truths are agreed on But we do not seek after the cause which Produces Grace by its proper efficacy nor that which merits it by his sacrifice and good works we seek after that which regulates and determines the efficacy of the general cause that which may be called the second particular and occasional III. For that the general cause may act by general Laws or Wills and that his action may be regular constant and uniform it is absolutely necessary that there be an occasional cause which determines the efficacy of these Laws and serves to establish them If the percussion of bodies or some such thing did not determine the EFFICACY of general LAWS of the Communication of motions it would be necessary that God should move bodies by particular wills The Laws of the union of the Soul and Body are made efficacious only by the changes which happen in each of these substances For if God should make the Soul feel a pungent pain tho the body was not pricked or if the brain shou'd not be moved as if the body was pricked he wou'd not act by the general Laws of the union between Soul and body but by a particular will If it shou'd rain upon the Earth any other ways but by the necessary consequence of the general Laws of the communication of motions the rain and the fall of each drop that composes it would be the effect of a particular will Insomuch that if order did not require that it should rain this will would be altogether unworthy of God It is therefore
necessary that in the order of Grace there be some occasional cause which establishes these Laws and determines the efficacy of them and this is that cause which we must endeavour to find out IV. Tho we never so little consult the Idea of Intelligible order or consider the sensible order which appears in the works of God we clearly discover that the occasional causes which determine the efficacy of the general Laws and establish them must necessarily have relation to the design for which God appoints these Laws For example we see by experience that God has not and Reason convinces us that he ought not to have made the motions of the Planets the occasional causes of the union of soul and body He could not have willed that our Arm shou'd be moved after such and such a manner nor the soul suffer the pain of the Tooth-ach at the time of the Moons conjunction with the Sun if this conjunction does not act upon the body The design of God being to unite the Soul to the Body he cou'd not give to the Soul the sentiments of grief but when some changes happen in the body which are contrary to it Thus we ought not to seek any where else but in the Soul and in the Body the occasional causes of their union V. Hence it follows that God having a design to form his Church by J. C. could not according to this design seek any where else but in J. C. and the Creatures united by reason to J. C. the occasional causes which serve to establish the general Laws of Grace by which the spirit of J. C. is shed upon his Members and communicates unto them his Life and Holiness Thus Grace is not showered down upon our hearts according to the divers scituation of the Stars nor according to the meeting of several bodies nor even according to the different motion of the animal spirits which give unto us motion and life No bodies can excite in us any motions and sentiments but what are purely natural for all that comes to the soul by the body is only for the body The Angels themselves are not made occasional causes of inward grace They are as well as we Members of that body of which J. C. alone is the Head they are Ministers of J. C. for the salvation of the Saints I grant that they may produce some change in the bodies which surround us and even in that which we animate and that thus they may remove some impediments of the efficacy of Grace But certainly they cannot distribute to men such a precious gift they have not immediate power over the minds of men which by their nature are equal to them To conclude St Paul teaches us Heb. 11.5 to believe that God has not subjected to them the future World or the Church of J. C. Thus the occasional cause of Grace cannot be found but in J. C. or in man VI. But seeing it is certain that grace is not granted to all those that desire it nor as soon as they desire it and it is often given to those who do not ask it it follows that even our desires are not the occasional cause of Grace For this kind of causes always have readily their effect and without them the effect is never produced For example the striking of bodies upon one another being the occasional cause of the change which happens in their motion if two bodies do not meet one another their motions are not changed and if they be changed we may be assured that they did The general Laws by which Grace is poured into our hearts do find nothing in our wills which may determine their efficacy like as the general Laws which govern the rains are not founded upon the dispositions of the places where it rains For whither Lands lye Fallow or whither they be cultivated it rains indifferently in all places even upon Sands and in the Sea VII We are then brought to maintain that since none but J. C. cou'd merit grace there is likewise none but he who cou'd give the occasions of the general Laws according to which it is given to men For the principle of the foundation of general Laws or that which determines their efficacy being necessarily either in us or in J. C. since it is certain it is not in us for the reasons above mentioned it must needs be found in J. C. Thus it was necessary that God after sin should have no regard to our wills Being all in disorder we cou'd no more be the occasion of Gods giving us Grace A Mediator therefore was necessary not only to give us access to God but also to be the natural or occasional cause of those favours we hope to receive from him VIII Since God designed to make his Son the Head of his Church it was convenient he should make him the natural or occasional cause of Grace which sanctifies it for it is from the Head that Life and motion ought to be given to the members And it was even with this foresight that God permitted sin for if man had continued in his Innocence without being assisted by the Grace of J. C. seeing his wills wou'd have merited Grace and even Glory God should have established in man the occasional cause of his perfection and happiness The inviolable Law of order requires this so that J. C. wou'd not have been the Head of his Church or such an Head whose influences the Members wou'd have had no need of IX If our soul had been in our body before it was form'd and all the parts which compose it disposed of according to our different wills with how many divers sentiments and motions wou'd she have been affected by all the effects which she would have known ought to have followed from her wills especially if she had had an extream desire to have made a more Vigorous and better form'd body Eph. I. 22 23. IV. 16. Col. 11.19 Act. IX 5. Col I. 24. 1 Cor. XII 27. c. Now the Holy Scripture does not only say that J. C. is the Head of the Church but it also teaches us that he begot it that he form'd it that he nourishes it that he suffered in it that he merits in it that he acts and influences it without ceasing The zeal which J. C. has for the glory of his Father and the love he bears to his Church inspires him continually with a desire of making it the most ample the most magnisicent and the most perfect he can possibly Thus seeing the soul of J. C. has not an infinite capacity and yet desires to give infinite beauties and ornaments to his Church we have all the reason to believe that there is a continual succession of thoughts and desires in his Soul in respect of his Mystical body which he continually forms X. Now these continual desires of the Soul of Jesus which sanctifie the Church and render it worthy of the Majesty of his Father
God hath made the occasional causes of the efficacy of the general Laws of Grace For Faith teaches us that God hath given to his Son an absolute power over Men by making him the Head of his Church and this cannot be conceived if the different wills of J. C. be not followed by their effects For it is visible I should have no power over mine arm if it should move it self whether I would or no and if when I desire to move it it should remain as if it was dead and without motion XI J. C. has merited his Sovereign power over men and this quality of Head of the Church by the Sacrifice he offered upon Earth and after his Resurrection he took full possession of this right Ioh. VII 39. 'T is upon this account that he is now Sovereign Priest of future good things and that by his many intercessions he continually prays unto the Father in the behalf of men Heb. 7.25 Rom. 8.34 1 Joh. II. 1. Joh. XI 42. And seeing his desires are occasional causes his prayers are always heard his Father denies him nothing as the Scripture teaches us Nevertheless he must pray and desire that he may obtain For the occasional physical natural causes for all these words signifie the same thing have no power of themselves to do any thing and all creatures even J. C. himself considered as man are in themselves nothing but weakness and impotence Additions I don't think that hitherto there is any difficulty if it be not in this last Article where I say that J. C. prayeth unto his Father for there are some Persons whom this very much offends For I speak as St. Paul to the Romans and to the Hebrews and as Jesus Christ himself I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter which is to be understood of J. C. after his resurrection according to these words of St. John The spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified For the Spirit fell not upon the Apostles till Ten days after J. C. was entered into the Holy of Holies a Sovereign Priest of true good things In all these Articles I speak only of J. C. as to his humanity according to which he received all power in Heaven and Earth because all his prayers or his desires which certainly are in his power or otherwise he has no power are executed in consequence of his qualities as Sovereign Priest of the House of God King of Israel Architect of the Eternal Temple Mediator betwixt God and men Head of the Church or to speak like the Philosophers for whom I chiefly write this Treatise the occasional natural or distributive cause of Grace The cause which Determines the Efficacy of the general Law by which God wou'd save all men in his Son XII J. C. having then successively divers thoughts in relation to the divers dispositions whereof Souls in general are capable these divers thoughts are accompanyed with certain desires in relation to the Sanctification of these Souls Now these desires being the occasional causes of Grace they must pour it down upon those persons in particular whose dispositions resemble that upon which the Soul of J. C. actually thinks And this Grace must be so much the stronger and more abundant as these desires of J. C. are greater and more lasting XIII When a person considers any part of his body which is not form'd as it ought to be he has naturally certain desires in relation to this part and the use he desires to make of it in common life and these desires are followed by certain insensible motions of the animal Spirits which tend to give that proportion or disposition to this part which we desire it shou'd have When the Body is altogether form'd and the flesh firm the motions change nothing in the construction of the parts they can only give them certain dispositions which are called Corporeal habits But when the body is not altogether form'd and the flesh is very soft and tender these motions which accompany the desires of the Soul do not only give the body certain particular dispositions but may also change the construction thereof This sufficiently appears by Children in the Womb for they are not only moved with the same passions as there Mothers but they also receive the marks of these passions in their bodies from which yet the Mothers are always free XIV The Mystical body of J. C. is not yet a perfect man Eph. IV. 13. it will not be so till the end of the world J. C. forms it continually for it is from the Head the whole body joyned together receives nourishment by the efficacy of his influence according to the measure which is proper to every one to the end it may be form'd and edified in love These are the truths which St Paul teaches us Now since the soul of J. C. has no other action but the divers motions of its heart 't is necessary that these desires be succeeded by the influence of grace which only can form J. C. in his Members and give them that beauty and proportion which must be the eternal object of the divine Love XV. The divers motions of the soul of J. C. being the occasional causes of Grace we ought not to be surprised if it be sometimes given to great sinners or those who make no use of it For the soul of J. C. designing to raise a Temple of vast extent and infinite beauty may desire that Grace may be given to the greatest sinners and if in this moment J. C. thinks actually for example upon Covetous persons the Covetous shall receive Grace Or else J. C. having need of Spirits of a certain merit for the construction of his Church which is not ordinarily acquired but by those who suffer certain persecutions of which the passions of men are the natural principle In a word J. C. having need of Spirits of a certain character for bringing to pass certain effects in his Church may in general apply himself to them by this application bestow upon them the Grace which sanctifies In like manner as the mind of an Architect thinks in general upon square stones for example when these sort of stones are actually necessary for his building XVI But as the soul of J. C. is not a general cause there is reason to think that it often has particular desires in respect of certain particular persons When we pretend to speak exactly of God we ought not to consult our selves and make him act as we do we ought to consult the Idea of a Being infinitely perfect and make him act according to this Idea but when we speak of the action of the soul of Jesus we may consult our selves we may suppose it to act as particular causes would act which yet are joyned to eternal wisdom We have reason for example to believe that the calling of St. Paul was the effect of the efficacy of a particular
desire of J. Christ We may also look upon the desires of the soul of J. C. which generally relate to all the minds of one certain character as particular desires tho they comprehend many persons because these desires change every moment as those of particular causes do But the general Laws by which God acts are always the same because his wills must be firm and constant seeing his wisdom is infinite as I have shewn in the first Discourse Additions I think I have demonstrated that J. C. as man is the occasional cause of Grace Now since God acts not if Order doth not require or some occasional cause determine him thereunto and that in respect of Grace altogether free Order never requires that God shou'd give it seeing it cannot be merited 'T is evident that all the difficulties which we find in the distribution of Grace must be ascribed to J. C. as man This is that which I have already done in a general way for it was not at all necessary that I should particularly justifie the wisdom and goodness of God which was my only design in the construction of his Church as I did at first advertise But that the minds least able to discern the usefulness of the principles laid down may not fail to apprehend it I shall endeavour as clearly as possibly I can to shew the consequences which may be drawn from these principles There are many difficulties in vindicating Gods Conduct in his way of distributing the rain of Grace as well as in that by which he sends down the ordinary rain the chief of which are that it is not always proportioned to the need of sinners and that even in respect to the just tho it answer their necessities yet it does not always hinder them from falling into disorder God is wise he wills the conversion of sinners he has sworn so by his Prophet A Being infinitely wise proportions the means to the end How then can it be that the Grace which the sinner receives shou'd not be strong enough to make him quit his sin Or to take away all equivocation Why shou'd not such an Infant be Baptised Why should there be so many Nations who know not J. C. It is easily comprehended by what I have said in the first Discourse that this is a consequence of the simplicity of Gods ways and must proceed from the occasional cause which God has established for the executing his design after such a manner as best resembles his Divine Attributes For if it rains upon the High-ways upon the Sand upon the Sea as well as upon the Sown Lands it is because these rains are necessary consequences of the simplicity of those ways which God has established for making the Earth Fruitful But whence does it proceed that J. C. who is an intelligent occasional cause abandons so many sinners and so many nations Or to come to the greatest difficulty Whence is it that J. C. forsakes even the just the members of his body who are straight united to him by charity For as to sinners and they who do not call upon him it may be said that he neglects them as unworthy of his care But whence comes it to pass that he gives to the just exposed to temptation such a Grace which he well foresaw notwithstanding his assistance wou'd be overcome This Grace was altogether sufficient I grant and that it only depended upon the just to make it efficacious But why did not J. C. give it more force since he foresaw the fall of one of his well-beloved Children If my principle can clear up these difficulties without injuring the love of J. C. towards men as well as it defends the wisdom and goodness of God against the reasonings of Libertines certainly the consequences thereof will be very advantageous to Religion This is that which I am about to examine J. C. may be considered according to two respects one as Architect of the Eternal Temple the other as Head of the Church I have partly explained the manner after which J. C. acts as Architect because this manifested the fruitfulness and necessity of my principle But I wou'd not speak of the way by which he acts as Head of the Church by reason of the difficulty of the fall of the just which supposes certain things whereof I thought not then to speak That I may explain more particularly the manner after which J. C. acts as Architect upon the materials which do not as yet make part of his Temple and as Head in respect of the Just who are members of his Body I am obliged to say what I think concerning the holy Soul of J. C. which regulates all his desires with respect nevertheless to the divine Law the immutable and necessary order for the wills of J. C. are always agreeable to those of his Father Tho several of the * Athan. Orat. 4. in Arianos S. Iren Lib. V. S. Basil Ep. 391. ad Amphil. S. Greg. Naz. Orat 36. S. Cyr. of Alex. Thres lib. 9. C. 4. Theod Tom. 4. p. 731. Fathers and those especially who wrote against the Arrians as Athanasius were contented to attribute to Jesus Christ as God the knowledge of all things and expounded concerning J. C. as man that which St. Mark reports The Day of the Lord knoweth no Man no not the Son of Man himself and some of them feared not even to say that Ignorance is one of the defects of Humane Nature which J. C. took for our sakes Nevertheless I am far from this thought For I am perswaded that J. C. as man knows all Sciences and hath a perfect knowledge of all things that he not only knows all the Beings which God hath created with all their Modifications and all their relations but also upon much greater reason all those which God can create In a word all that which God contains in the immensity of his Being I say that J. C. knows upon much greater reason all possible Creatures than the existence and relation of those which God hath made because he knows the first by the right which his union with the Word which contains them as the Word gives him whereas he knows not the other but by a kind of a Revelation as I shall shew hereafter I believe then that J. C. as man knows all things but it ought to be observ'd that there is a great difference between knowing all things habitually and knowing all things actually between knowing all things and thinking of all things which is almost always confounded There is no man but knows that two and two make four and yet there are but few who actually think of it A Geometrician knows his Enclid but he is often a long time without thinking of any of the propositions of this Author A man knows a truth or Science when by his Labour or otherwise he has gain'd a right thereunto insomuch that he can no sooner think of these things but they immediately present
Ideas would doubtless have imagined that the first man had no sentiment of Objects and that to eat and nourish himself he studied to know the consiguration of the parts of the fruits of Paradise the relation they might have with those of his Body thereby to judge whether they would have been proper for his nourishment In all probality they would have believed that to walk Adam had thought on the Nerves which answered to his Legs and that he had continually conveyed to them such a quantity of Animal spirits to remove them and thus they would have judged of other Functions by which Mans life is preserved We very near do the same thing as to the manner in which J. C. forms his Church We will needs judge thereof according to our Ideas and yet perhaps we understand nothing thereof God united the Soul to the Body of the first Man after a much more wise and real manner than the Angels themselves could imagine For God advertised him by sentiments after a short and undoubted manner of what he ought to do and this without dividing as little as might be the capacity which he had of thinking upon his Sovereign good For then his Senses kept silence whensoever he desired it Man may still walk and meditate both together but the first man upon all occasions might and also ought without withdrawing himself from the presence of God to give unto his Body all that which was necessary for it Why may not God at present therefore give unto J. C. certain kinds of compendious knowledge whereof we have no Idea that he may thereby better facilitate the construction of his Church so that the relation which he has to us may not divide the capacity which he has of seeing God and enjoying his happiness God appointed certain general Laws of the union of Soul and Body that the first Man might preserve his Life without applying himself over-much to particular Objects Why may not God by making his Son the Head of the Church have established such like general Laws It may be this ought to have been so that God might act in such a manner as agrees best with the divine attributes and perhaps that apparent irregularity with which Grace is given unto men is in part a consequence of this marvelous invention of eternal wisdom Assuredly it may be the first Adam was even in this a figure of the second and that J.C. besides his knowledge and desires which we cannot deny to him without impiety hath still compendious ways worthy of an infinite wisdom by which as we by our sentiments and passions he acts in his mystical body without being diverted from his Sovereign good which he loves too much to lose the sight of or remove himself from its presence There are several passages in Scripture may countenance this opinion but I might well be accounted rash should I pretend to establish it as a point which ought to be believed That which I say may be true but I ought not to assert it as true before I am well convinced of it my self If this be not it may be or some such like thing as for my part I have not justified the Wisdom and Goodness of God but by leaving to J. C. as Architect of the Eternal Temple that we cannot take from him without offering violence to Reason and good Sense But I am glad to know that there are several ways of answering those who oppose the Quality which I give to J. C. of an occasional cause which determines the efficacy of the good will of God in respect to men and that all the Objections which can be made against me in this can upon no other account be hard to be resolved but because we are ignorant of a great many things which it would be necessary to know for the clearing them up XVII The divers desires of the Soul of J. C. giving Grace hence we clearly apprehend whence it is that it is not equally given to all men and that it falls upon certain persons at one time more than at another Since the Soul of J. C. does not think at the same time of sanctifying all men it has not at the same time all the desires of which it is capable Thus J. C. does not act upon his Members after a particular manner but by successive influences like as our Soul does not at the same time remove all the Muscles of our Bodies For the Animal Spirits go equally and successively into our Members according to the different impressions of Objects the divers motions of our passions and different Desires which we freely form in our selves XVIII It is true that all the just continually receive the influence of the Head that gives them life and that when they act by the Spirit of J. C. they merit and receive new graces tho it be not necessary that the Soul of J. C. has any particular desires which may be the occasional causes of them for the order which requires that all Merit be rewarded is not in God an Arbitrary Law it is a Necessary Law which depends not upon any occasional cause But tho he that has done a Meritorious Action may be rewarded for it and yet the soul of J. C. have actually no desires in respect of him nevertheless it is certain that he has not merited Grace but by the dignity and holiness which the Spirit of J. C. communicated to him For men are not acceptable to God and do nothing that is good John 15.4 but so far as they are united to his Son by Charity Additions Altho I say order requires that the Just Merit Grace it must not be understood of all Graces but only of those which are absolutely necessary for the vanquishing unavoidable temptations But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able says St. Paul Now Order requires that God should be faithful Quis autem dicat eum qui jam coepit credere ab illo in quem credit non mereri says St. Augustine de Praedest Sanct. Ch. 2. The just therefore may merit Grace by the assistance of Grace but he cannot in strictness merit those Graces which are not absolutely necessary for him This depends upon the good will of J. C. as he is the occasional cause of the order of Grace And in strictness good works perhaps merit only the reward of happiness But it is not necessary that I should stand to explain the different ways of understanding merit XIX Moreover it must be confest that they who observe the councels of J. C. by the esteem which they have for them and by the fear they have of future Punishments do solicite as I may say by their obedience the love of J. C. to think of them tho as yet they should act only by self-love But all their actions are not occasional causes neither of Grace since they are not infallibly attended therewith nor even of the
motions of the Soul of J. C. in their behalf since these same motions never fail of giving it Thus the desires of J. C. alone have infallibly their effect as occasional causes because God having made J. C. Head of the Church it is only by him that the Grace which sanctifies the Elect ought to be given XX. Now we may consider in the Soul of J. C. two sorts of desires actual transient and particular desires the efficacy of which continue but a little time constant and permanent desires which consist in a firm and lasting disposition of the soul of J. C. in relation to certain effects which tend to the execution of his design in general If our soul by its different motions did communicate to our bodies all that which is necessary to form and make it grow we might distinguish therein two kinds of desires for it would send into the Muscles of the Body the Spirits that give it certain dispositions in respect of the present Objects or actual thoughts of the mind by actual and transient desires But it would give to the Heart and the Lungs the natural motions which serve for respiration and circulation of the Blood by stable and permanent desires It would also by such like desires digest its nourishment and distribute it to all the parts which have need thereof because this sort of action is at all times necessary for the preservation of the body XXI By these actual transient and particular desires of the soul of J. C. Grace is given to persons who are not prepared and after a manner which hath something singular and extraordinary in it But it is given regularly by permanent desires to those who worthily receive the Sacraments For the Grace which we receive by the Sacraments is not given meerly by the Merit of our Action tho we receive with fit dispositions it is because of the merits of J.C. which are freely applyed to us in consequence of his permanent desires We receive by the Sacraments much more Grace than our preparation can deserve and it is even sufficient for the receiving some influence thereby that we do not put any impediment But it is also to abuse that which is most holy in Religion to receive them unworthily Additions Since J. C. as man does not act but by his desires and the Grace of the Sacraments is permanent it is evident that the Grace which he communicates to those who receives them worthily comes not from J. C. as the occasional cause If there be not in J. C. a permanent desire or a constant will to do good unto those who come unto the Sacraments there would be no great mistery in them XXII Among the actual and transient desires of the Soul of Jesus there are certainly some which are more lasting and frequent than others and the knowledge of the desires is of very great use in morality Doubtless J. C. thinks oftner upon them who observe his councels than on other men The motions of love which he has for the Faithful are more frequent and lasting than those which he hath for the Libertine and the Wicked And since all the Faithful are not equally disposed to enter into the Church of the predestinated the desires of the Soul of J. C. are not in respect of them all equally lively frequent abiding Man more earnestly desires those fruits which are more proper to nourish his Body he thinks oftner upon Bread and Wine than on those Meats which are difficultly digested J. C. having a design to form his Church ought therefore to concern himself more for those who may easily enter therein than for those who are very far from it Thus the H. Scripture teaches us that the humble the poor the penitent receive greater Graces than other men because they who dispise Honours Riches and Pleasures are much fitter for the Kingdom of God They who according to the example of J. C. have learnt to be meek and humble in heart shall find rest to their souls The yoak of J. C. which the Proud can't bear will become easie and light by the assistance of Grace For God hears the Prayers of the Humble he will comfort them he will justifie them he will save them he will heap Blessings upon them but he will bring down the Haughtiness of the Proud Blessed are the Poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven But Cursed are the Rich for they have received their Consolation in this World How hard is it says J C. for the Rich to enter into the Kingdom of GOD It is easier for a Camel to pass thro' the eye of a Needle Which cannot be without a Miracle As for them who like David humble their souls with Fasting put on Sack-cloath In a word afflict themselves at the sight of their Sins and the Holiness of God will become fit objects for the compassion of J. C. for God never will dispise an humble and a contrite Heart We always disarm his wrath when we prefer the interests of God before our own and take vengeance upon our selves XXIII Since the will of J. C. is altogether agreeable to Order of which all men have naturally some Idea it may further be discern'd by Reason that the soul of J. C. has more thoughts and desires in respect of some Persons than others For Order requires that J. C. should bestow more Graces for example upon those who are called to H. Orders than those whose vocation necessarily engages them in the business of the World In a word upon those who make the principal parts of the body of the Church Militant than they who have not the oversight of any or are engaged in the Ecclesiastical Function and raise themselves above others by ambition or interest For if it be fit that J. C. give Graces unto these in respect of the Persons whom they govern yet they don't deserve such as may sanctify them in that state which they have chosen by self-love They may have the gift of Prophecy without having that of Charity as Scripture teaches us XXIV We have proved that the different desires of the soul of J. C. are the occasional causes of Grace and we have endeavoured to discover something of these desires Let us now see of what kind of Grace they are the occasional causes For tho J. C. be the Meritorious cause of all graces it is not necessary he should be the occasional cause of the graces of knowledge and certain outward Graces which prepare the heart for conversion but cannot effect it for J. C. is always the occasional or necessary cause according to the order established by God in respect of all Graces which conduce to men salvation XXV Distinctly to understand what is the grace which J. C. as Head of his Church bestows upon his Members we must know what is the concupiscence which the first man has communicated to all his Posterity For the second Adam came to cure the disorders which
better understood It seems to me that what I have hitherto said of Nature and Grace is sufficient to satisfie all equitable and moderate Persons concerning an infinite number of Difficulties which disturb the Minds of those only who judge of God by themselves For if we do faithfully consult the Idea of an infinitely perfect Being of a general Cause of an infinite Wisdom and if the Principles I have establish'd of this Idea be granted I believe none will be surprized or offended with God's Conduct and that instead of condemning or murmuring at it Men will not forbear to admire and adore it The Third Discourse Of Grace and the Manner by which it Acts in us The First Part. Of Liberty I. THere is nothing more uncomely than the substance of Spirits if they are separated from God For what is a Mind without Understanding and Reason without Motion and Love In the mean time the Word and Wisdom of God is the Universal Reason of Spirits it is the Love by which God loves himself which gives to the Soul all the motion that it has towards happiness The Mind cannot know the Truth but by its natural and necessary union with Truth its self it cannot be reasonable but by reason in short it cannot in some sence be a Mind and Understanding but because its Substance is enlightned penetrated and perfected by the Light of God himself I have elsewhere explain'd these Truths Book III. of the Searchafter Truth and in the Explication of the Nature of Ideas As the substance of the Soul is not capable of loving that which is good but by its natural and necessary union with the eternal and substantial Love of the Soveraign Good so it moves not towards that which is good but so far forth as God carries it it is not Will but by the motion which God continually imprints upon it it lives not but by charity it wills not but by the love of good which God imparts unto it tho' it abuses it For in truth as God neither makes nor preserves Minds but for himself so he carries them towards himself as long as he preserves their being he communicates the love of happiness to them as far as they are capable Now this natural and continual motion of the Soul towards good in general towards good undetermined that is towards God is that which I here call the Will because it is this motion which makes the Soul capable of loving different goods II. This natural motion of the Soul towards good in general is invincible for it is not in our power to chuse not to be happy We necessarily love that we clearly know and sensibly feel to be the true good All minds love God by the necessity of their nature and if they love any thing but God by the free choice of the will it is not because they do not seek after God or the cause of their happiness but because having a confused sence that Bodies about them make them happy they look upon them as their Goods and by a natural and ordinary consequence love them and unite themselves to them III. But the love of all these particular goods is not naturally invincible Man considered as God made him may hinder himself from loving those goods which do not fill the whole capacity he has of loving Seeing there is a good which contains all others Man may sacrifice to the love of this good all other loves for God having made minds for himself he cannot engage them invincibly to love any thing but himself or with relation to himself The inward sentiment which we have of our selves teaches us that we may for example refuse any fruit tho we are inclin'd to receive it Now this power of loving or not loving particular goods this non-invincibility which is in that motion which carries the minds to love that which does not seem to them to contain all goods this power this non-invincibility is that which I call liberty Thus by putting the definition in the place of the thing defin'd this expression Our will is free signifies that the natural motion of our Soul towards good in general is not invincible in respect of any particular good We do also to this word free joyn the Idea of voluntary but hereafter I shall take this word in the sense which I have observ'd because this is most natural and most ordinary IV. The word good is equivocal it may signifie either pleasure which makes Men formally happy or else the true or apparent cause of pleasure I shall in this Discourse always take the word good in the second sense because in truth pleasure is imprinted upon the Soul to the end that she may love the cause of her happiness that by the motion of her love she may be carried towards it and be straitly united thereunto and so be continually happy When the Soul loves nothing but her pleasure she truly loves nothing but her self for pleasure is only a condition or modification of the Soul which renders her actually happy Now since the Soul cannot be to her self the cause of her happiness she is unjust she is ungrateful she is blind if she loves her pleasure without paying that love and respect which is due to the true cause which produces it in her Since there is none but God who can immediately and by himself act upon the Soul and make her feel pleasure by the actual efficacy of his Almighty Will there is none but he who can be truly good Nevertheless I call the creatures which are the apparent causes of those pleasures which they occasion in us by the name of goods For I would not avoid the ordinary way of speaking but as far as it is necessary clearly to express my self All the creatures tho good in themselves and perfect in respect of God's designs are not good in respect to us I mean they are not our good because they are not the true causes of our pleasure or our happiness V. The natural motion which God continually imprints upon the Soul to engage it to love him or to use a term which expresses several Ideas and which can neither be equivocal nor confused after the definition I have given thereof the will is determined towards particular goods either by clear and distinct knowledge or by a confused sentiment which shews us these goods If the mind neither sees nor tastes any particular good the motion of the Soul continues as it were undetermin'd it tends towards good in general But this motion receives a particular determination as soon as the mind has an idea or sentiment of any particular good for the Soul being incessantly moved towards good indetermin'd she must be moved as soon as any object seems to be good to her VI. Now when the good which is present to the Understanding and Senses does not altogether fill these two faculties when it appears under the idea of a particular good which does not contain all
of J. C. John 1.17 abundant Graces because says he the Law was given by Moses but true Grace by Jesus Christ. For in truth the Graces which were before J. C. ought not to be compared to those which he distributed after his triumph If they were miraculous it must be thought they were very rare Even the Grace of the Apostles before the Holy Spirit was given to them was not to be compared with those which they received when the Soveraign Priest of good things to come being entred by his Blood into the Holy of Holies by the strength of his Prayers obtain'd and by the dignity of his Person sent the Holy Spirit to animate and sanctifie his Church The strange Blindness of the Jews their gross and carnal Sentiments their frequent relapses into Idolatry after so many Miracles do sufficiently shew they had scarce any love for true goods and the fearfulness of the Apostles before they received the Holy Spirit is a sensible mark of their weakness Thus Grace in this time was very rare because as yet our Nature was not made in J. C. the occasional cause of our Graces as yet J. C. was not fully consecrated a Priest according to the Order of Melchisedech and his Father had not yet given him that immortal and glorious Life Heb. 5.5 10. Heb. 7.16 17. which is the particular character of his Priesthood For it was necessary that J. C. should enter into the Heavens and receive the glory and power of being the occasional cause of all goods before he sent the Spirit according to the words of St. John John 7.39 John 16.7 The Spirit was not yet given because J. C. was not yet glorified And according to these words of Christ himself It is expedient for you that I go For if I go not the Comforter will not come But if I go I will send him unto you Now it is not to be imagined that J. C. considered as God is the Head of the Church He has obtain'd this honour as Man the Head and the Members ought to be of the same nature It is as Man that J. C. interceeds for Men it is as Man that he has received of God soveraign power over his Church For since God does not interceed at all he as God has not received that Name which is above every Name he is equal to the Father and absolute Master of all things by right of his birth These Truths are evident and J. C. himself assures us of them John 5.22 to 27. since he says that his Father gave him power to judge Men because he was the Son of Man Thus we must not think that those Expressions of Scripture which teach us that J. C. is the Author of Grace ought to be understood of J. C. considered according to his Divine Person For if this was so I confess I should not have demonstrated that he is the occasional cause of it he would have been only the true cause thereof But since it is certain that the three Persons of the Trinity are equally the true causes of Grace seeing all the outward Operations of God are common to the three Persons my Arguments cannot be denied since the Holy Scripture says of the Son and not of the Father nor of the Spirit that he is the Head of the Church and that under this character he communicates Life to all the Members which compose it Object II. XIV It is God who gives to the Soul of J. C. all Thoughts and Motions which it has in the formation of his Mystical Body So that if on one hand the Wills of J. C. as natural and occasional Causes determine the efficacy of God's general Will on the other hand it is God himself who determines the divers Wills of J. C. Thus it comes to the same thing for assuredly the Wills of J. C. are always conformable to those of his Father Answer I confess that the particular wills of J. C. are always conformable to those of the Father but this is not because the Father has particular wills which answer to those of the Son and determine them This is only because the wills of the Son are always conformable to Order in general which is necessarily the rule of the divine wills and of those which love God For to love Order is is to love God it is to will what God wills it is to be Just Wise Regular in his love The Soul of J. C. would form to the Glory of his Father the most Sacred Magnificent and Perfect Temple that can be Order requires this for nothing can be made too great for God All the divers desires of this Soul ever intent upon the Execution of its design come also to it from God or the Word to which it is united But the occasional causes of all these thoughts most certainly are its divers desires for it thinks on what it will Now these divers desires are sometimes altogether free probably the thoughts which excite these desires do not always invincibly determine the Soul of J. C. to form and resolve to execute them It is equally advantagious to the design of Jesus Christ whether it be Peter or John who does that which the regularity of his work requires It is true that the soul of Jesus Christ is not indifferent as to what respects the glory of his Father or that which Order necessarily requires but it is altogether free in every thing else nothing out of God invincibly determines its love Thus it ought not to be wonder'd if it have particular wills tho there are no such wills in God which determine those of the soul of Jesus Christ But I grant that the wills of Jesus Christ are not free I grant that his knowledge determines him to will and always to will after a certain manner in the construction of his Church But it must be Eternal Wisdom to which his soul is united which determines these wills if it is not necessary for this end to suppose particular wills in God It must be observ'd that the wills of the soul of J. C. are particular or have not any occasional cause which determines their efficacy no not the will of God For the soul of J. C. not having an infinite capacity of thinking his knowledge and consequently his wills are limited Thus 't is necessary that his wills be particular since they change according to his divers thoughts and applications For it seems to me that the soul of J. C. otherwise employ'd in contemplating the beauties and tasting the infinite sweetness of the true good ought not according to the rule of Order to think at the same time upon all the Ornaments which it designs to bestow upon his Church and the different means of executing each of his intentions J. C. desiting to render the Church worthy of the infinite Majesty of his Father he desires also to adorn it with infinite beauties and that by such means as are most
conformable to Order It is therefore necessary that he continually change desires infinite wisdom is only able to prescribe general Laws for executing his designs Now seeing the suture world must subsist eternally and be infinitely more perfect than the present World it was expedient that God should establish an intelligent occasional cause and enlightned with divine wisdom to the end that it might correct the defects which necessarily happen in works formed by general Laws The striking of Bodies upon one another which determines the efficacy of the general Laws of Nature is an occasional cause without Understanding and without Liberty Thus it cannot be but there must be Defects and Monsters in the World which Defects it would be unworthy of the Wisdom of God to correct by particular wills But J. C. being an intelligent occasional cause enlightned by Divine Wisdom and capable of particular wills as the particular necessities of his work require it is plain that the future World will be infinitely more Perfect than the present that the Church shall be without deformity as Scripture teaches us and that this work will be altogether worthy of the esteem of GOD himself After this manner it is that the Eternal Wisdom renders as I may say to the Father that which it had taken from him for not permitting him to act by particular wills it seems as if it rendred him impotent But being incarnate it left God to act as became him by the more simple and general ways Ut innotescat principalibus potestatibus in coelestibus per Ecclesiam multisormis Sapientia Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet produced a work in which the most enlightned understanding shall never be able to observe the least defect XV. After having proved by the Authority of Scripture that the divers motions of the Soul of J. C. are the occasional causes which determine the general efficacy of the Law of Grace by which God would save all Men in his Son 't is necessary further in general to prove by reason that we ought not to believe that God in the Order of Grace acts by particular wills For tho by Reason without Faith it cannot be demonstrated that God has established the wills of a God man as the occasional cause of his gifts it may nevertheless be known that he does not distribute them to Men by particular wills and that by two ways a Priori and a Posteriori that is to say by the Idea which we have of God and by the effects of Grace for there is nothing but proves this Truth See the proof a Priori A wise Being must act wisely God cannot falsifie himself His actions must bear the Character of his Attributes Now God knows every thing and foresees every thing his understanding has no bounds Therefore his manner of acting must bear the character of an infinite understanding Now to chuse occasional causes and establish general Laws for executing any work denotes a knowledge infinitely more extended than to change wills every moment or to act by particular wills God therefore executes his designs by general Laws the efficacy of which is determined by the occasional causes Certainly it requires a more comprehensive understanding to make a Watch which according to the Laws of Mechanism shall go always and regularly whether a Man carries it about with him or hangs it up or gives it what shake he will than to make one which cannot go truly if he who made it does not every moment change something in it according to the different postures in which he puts it For surely when there are a great many relations to compare and combine with one another there needs a greater understanding To see all the consequences which may happen from a general Law an insinite understanding is requisite but nothing of all this is to be foreseen when one changes his wills every moment Therefore to establish general Laws and chuse the most simple and at the same time the most fruitful is a way of acting worthy of him whose Wisdom has no bounds On the contrary to act by particular wills shews a limited understanding and which cannot compare the consequences or effects of causes less fruitful The same truth may further be demonstrated a Priori by some Attributes of God as his immutibility by which Mr. de Cartes proves that every thing in motion describes a right line and that there is always an equal quantity of motion in the World and other Truths But these proofs a Priori are too abstract to convince the generality of Men of the truth which I propose It is expedient to prove it by the signs which I have heretofore given for discerning the effects which are produced by particular wills from those which are the consequences of some general Law XVI God being infinitely wise neither wills nor does any thing without end Now Grace often falls upon hearts so disposed that it is unfruitsul Therefore it does not fall upon hearts by a particular will but only by a necessary consequence of general Laws for the same reason that rain falls upon the Sand and on the Sea as well as on Sown ground Tho God may punish sinners or make them more miserable than they are he cannot design to make them more culpable or more criminal Now Grace sometimes renders Persons more culpable and more criminal and God certainly knows that according to their actual dispositions the Grace which he gives them will have this sad effect Therefore these Graces do not fall upon corrupted hearts by the particular will of God but by a necessary consequence of general Laws which he has established to produce better effects for the same reason that too much rain sometimes spoils and putrifies the Fruits of the earth tho God by his general will causes it to rain to make them grow and encrease XVII If God intended that certain Lands should be barren he need only to cease to will that the rain should water them In like manner if God would that the hearts of some sinners should be hardned it would suffice that the rain of grace did not water them he needed only to leave them to themselves they would soon be corrupted Why should we attribute to God a particular will to make so severe a use thereof and so irreconcileable with the price of the Blood of his Son But some may say God never had this design when he gave his Grace to sinners This doubtless will appear more reasonable but if God gives his Grace by a particular will he has a particular design Now seeing his Grace has this sad effect God is frustrated in his intention since he gave it with a particular design to do good to this sinner For I speak not here of the Graces or rather of the Gifts which St. Paul explains in 1 Cor. Chap. 12. Ver. 9. I speak of the Grace which God gives for the Conversion of him to whom it is given and not
as 't is written in the book of wisdom of a Saint dying in his Infancy Let every one seek after the best reasons of this and if he shall find any other besides this which I have given which renders a reason that is probable and according to the Analogy of Faith let him embrace it and if it shall be imparted to me I shall embrace it with him The Author of the calling of the Gentiles Lib. 1. c. 13. seq observes the same way of proceeding that St. Augustine doth He every where says that the Judgments of God are unsearchable because he opposes the same errors and that Faith doth not suffer us to give a reason of Gods choice of Men from the difference of their natural Merits * Lib. 2. c. 23. If for example he asks himself whence it is that all Children are not Baptized He is not afraid to say that if this came from any ill use of the general Grace given to the Parents that * C. 24. if all received Baptism the Parents were too negligent not fearing lest their Children should be surprized with Death He says that such answers would give some ground to believe that the grace of Baptism was due to the innocence of age and to deny original sin When the question is about excluding natural merits he cries out that the Judgments of God are unsearchable but yet he nevertheless doth not fail to give some general Reasons thereof upon other occasions * Lib. 2. c. 30. His principle is that a Reason of all the Designs and Works of God cannot be given Tertia Definitio temperanter sobrie protestatur non omnem voluntatis Dei comprehendi posse rationem multas divinorum operum causas ab humana intelligentia esse subductas An undeniable principle But neither he nor St. Augustine nor I believe any of the Fathers ever maintain'd that the Judgments of God were so unsearchable as that it should be a crime to seek and give some general Reasons of them They never forbad Men to represent God Amiable and Adorable by justifying his Conduct by that Idea which we have of a Being infinitely Perfect and by the Truths Faith teach us That which I have endeavoured in The Treatise of Nature and Grace The Last Explication The frequent Miracles of the Old Law do by no means shew That God often acted by particular Wills I Do not well understand how Persons who grant that God does all and that therefore he communicates not his power to Creatures but by making them the occasional causes of producing certain effects can Imagine that the Conduct which he observed in respect of the Jews should be contrary to that which I think I have demonstrated several ways viz. That God acts not by particular wills but when the necessity of Order requires him They are always saying as a thing extraordinary that the Old Testament is full of Miracles that God had promised to the Jews Plenty and Prosperity proportionably to their sidelity and obedience and that it was not possible that nature and morality should be so exactly combin'd together that the Holy-Land should abound in fruits proportionably as its Inhabitants did in virtue and good works For my part I willingly grant all this But I do not yet see how this opposes my sentiments if it be not supposed that I acknowledge no other general Laws by which God executes his designs but those of the communication of motions How troublesome is it for a Man not to be able to explain his thoughts but by words which popular use has introduced and which every one interprets according to his prejucices and temper and above all to have for ones judges such Persons who tho they are nimble and quick yet often want equity and penetration of mind Certainly they do not do me justice who say that I think Manna fell every day of the Week among the Israelites except Saturday by a necessary consequence of the Laws of the communication of motions He who is of this opinion must needs be very foolish and impious I am perswaded that the greatest part of the miraculous effects of the Ancient Law was done in consequence of some general Laws since the general cause ought not to execute his purpose by particular wills and for many more Reasons which I might add to those already mentioned But I am far from believing that these extraordinary effects were only the consequences of the natural Laws of the communication of motions I grant that they may be looked upon as Miracles and that there are more such in the World than we imagine But I must explain my self after what manner that I may not be thought to have changed J. C. as Man received all Power in Heaven and in Earth because God executes all the desires of his holy Soul by the general Law of Grace by which he would save all Men in his Son The Father has given to the Son after this manner all the Nations of the World as Materials which he is to employ in the Building of his Church as I have said elsewhere Supposing then that J. C. for the executing of his designs desires a certain degree of Grace for one of his Members or rather that he desired that the fire which sacrificed St. Lawrance should lose its heat it is certain this would be what we call a Miracle nevertheless God would not work this Miracle by a particular will but in consequence of the general Law the efficacy of which is determined by the actual desires of the Soul of J. C. According to the general Laws of the communications of motions heavy bodys fall towards the Earth my arm is heavy yet nevertheless I lift it up to Heaven whensoever I desire it Certainly God who determines the motion of the Animal spirits for the lifting up my arm according to my desires does not then act but in consequence of the general Law of the union of the Soul and Body by which Law I have power to move my arm nevertheless this motion wou'd be accounted miraculous if we did not own some other natural Laws than those of the communication of motions Now I think I am able to demonstrate by the Authority of the Holy Scripture that the Angels have received from God Power over the present World and that thus God executes their desires and by them his own designs according to certain general Laws so that all which appears miraculous in the Old Testament does no wise prove that God may often act by particular wills St. Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews intending to exalt J. C. above Angels says that God had not subjected the World to come to them as he had to J. C. He believed then as a thing whereof those to whom he wrote had no doubt that God had subjected the present World to Angels If the Angels had had power over nothing it would have been much more easy for
ordinarily it is then only and in those circumstances when one only Miracle i. e. an effect which cannot be the consequence of natural Laws doth happily adjust a great many events and the most that can be For his prescience being infinite he doth not work two Miracles when one will suffice So that in the Divine Providence there is nothing that is not Divine or which doth not bear the character of the Divine Attributes for God acts according to what he is He is wise his foreknowledge is infinite Now to establish general Laws and to foresee that from thence a work will arise worthy of these Laws is a mark of such a Wisdom as hath no bounds and to act by particular wills is to act as Men who can foresee nothing Therefore God acts by general Laws God is the Searcher of Hearts Now to make use of free Causes for the execution of his designs without determining these Causes after an invincible manner is to be the Searcher of Hearts and it is not necessary to have this quality for the execution of his designs if he did determine causes after an invincible manner Therefore God ordinarily leaves J.C. Angels and Men to act according to their natures He doth not communicate to them his power that he may destroy their liberty He gives them part in the glory of his work and thereby augments his own For leaving them to act according to their natures and nevertheless executing by them designs worthy of himself he makes it admirably appear that he is Searcher of Hearts Nevertheless the limitation of Angels the malice of Devils and both these qualities in good and evil Men and many other reasons may oblige God to act sometimes by particular wills For a limited spirit tho perfectly united to Order cannot foresee the connection of free causes which is necessary to bring the work of God to its perfection So that where Order permits God must determine Angels by particular wills and make even the sins of Men and the malice of Devils to enter into the order of his Providence And proportionably the same must be said of Jesus Christ considered as Man and Head of the Church and as Architect of the Eternal Temple God is immutable now immutability in his Conduct imports immutability in his nature to change Conduct every moment is a mark of inconstancy So that God must follow general Laws with respect to this attribute if none of his other attributes do otherwise require that he cease to observe it For God acts not but for himself but for that love which he bears unto himself but to Honour his attributes both by the Divinity of his ways and the Perfection of his work In a word the immutable Order of Justice which he owes to himself and his own perfections is a Law with which he never can dispence Thus experience teaches us that God governs the purely Corporeal World by the general Laws of the communications of motions By these it is that he makes the admirable Vicissitude of Night and Day Summer and Winter Rain and Fair weather By them also it is that he covers the Earth with Fruits and Flowers that he gives to Animals and Plants their growth and nourishment Experience also teaches us that God governs Men by the general Laws of Union of Soul and Body For by these Laws he doth not only unite the Soul to the Body for the conservation of Life but thereby he also diffuses it as I may say over all his works and so makes it admire the beauties thereof It is by these that he forms Societies and makes as I may say but one body of all People It is by them that he teaches Men the truths of Religion and Morality And Lastly by them it is that he makes Christians absolves Penitents Sanctifies the Elect and makes them merit all those degrees of glory which makes up the beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem When I say that it is by them he doth all this it is easily perceived that I mean they are subservient thereunto in the Order of Divine Providence For it is cheifly by the general Laws which give power to J.C. and the Angels that GOD doth build his Church Further Faith teaches us that it is by general Laws that God punishes and rewards men since Angels who are the distributers of Temporal goods have no efficacy of their own It is by them that God provides for the necessities of his Elect and resists the pernicious use which Wicked Men and Devils make of that Power which they have to tempt and afflict us in consequence also of certain general Laws But all Powers are submitted to that which J.C. has in consequence of the general Laws of the Order of Grace for at present the Angels themselves who command others for there is a certain subordination among them according to the most probable and received opinion are submitted to J.C. their Head and Lord. It is under him that they labour in the building of his Temple They do not now as under the Law proportion Rewards to Merits For the treasures of Grace are opened by the entrance of J.C. into the Sanctuary For it is true that by afflictions the Saints are purified So that it is better that J.C. give unto Men true goods than that Angels should deliver them from their miseries for if good Men were not afflicted in this World J.C. could not give them the form they must necessarily have to be placed in his building Lastly further yet it is by general Laws that God exercises his Providence over his Church that is to say by the Laws which make the Order of Grace Laws which give unto J.C. as Man Sovereign power in Heaven and in Earth It is by J. C that God hath established the different orders which do externally govern his Church 'T is by him that he spreads abroad inward Grace in Souls It is by him that he sanctifies his chosen people that he will govern them in Heaven and recompence them according to their deserts It is by him that he will judge the Devils and the Damned and condemn them to that fire whose eternal efficacy shall only be the effect of general Laws which shall be observed for ever more By him I say enlightned to this end by eternal wisdom and also subsisting in this wisdom by him being advertised by a revelation whose Laws are unknown of all that which Order requires that he should know and of all that he desires to know of what passes in the World to bring his work to its perfection by him lastly acting by practical desires by prayers by endeavours or actions of an infinite merit but of a limited virtue and proportionable to a finite and a stinted work but by him perfectly free absolutely Master of his desires and actions submitted only to immurable Order the inviolable rule of his will as well as of his Fathers and if I be not deceived very rarely determined after
an invincible manner by particular and practical wills to the end that he may leave to him more of the glory of his work and make the infinite Wisdom of his Father shine more brightly as he is the Searcher of Hearts that glorious attribute which no spirit can comprehend Now if God acts by general Laws it is visible that we ought to ascribe unto occasional causes to the limitation the dispositions and sometimes the malice of Creatures all those mischievous effects which Piety and the Idea we have of a good wise and just God oblige us to say that he rather permits than has any design to effect For example if a Woman brings forth a Monster or a dead Child or if she lets her Child fall and kills it carrying it to the Church to make it a Christian it is because God observes the general Laws which he hath prescribed We ought to ascribe this dismal effect to natural or occasional causes Super defectum causarum secundarum says St. Thomas God hath permitted this evil since there is none but he can be the true cause of it it may be said in some sence that he hath not done it because it is not for such like effects but for better that he hath established natural Laws and if he follow these Laws it is because he owes this to himself that his Conduct may be uniform and carry the character of his Attributes This is not in the least to blaspheme against the Divine Power as some ignorantly object but it is rather to blaspheme against the Divine Wisdom and Goodness of God to maintain that he wills directly and positively these dismal effects A Man whose Arm is cut off feels grief in his Arm We all of us sleeping have a thousand thoughts in relation to objects which are not at all before us This is because God always acts in consequence of his Laws and gives to the Soul the same thoughts and the same sentiments when there are the same motions in the brain whether we have an Arm or no whether objects are present or absent The DEVIL tempts just Men the wicked solicite good Men to evil Thieves and Soldiers Pillage and Massacre the innocent as well as the guilty God permits this this therefore ought to be attributed to the malignity of occasional causes For tho God doth often from thence draw great advantages by the Grace of J.C. since injustice it self enters into the order of his providence Ordinat peccata says St. Augustine yet these sad effects considered in themselves are unworthy of his goodness There is nothing but good which he wills positively and directly And if he makes use of the injustice of Men to speak as Scripture doth it is because it becomes him to obey his own Laws which were not at first established for such effects In short the greatest number of Men are damned and yet God would save all for he would and can hinder them from offending him God wills the conversion of sinners and certainly he can give them such grace that they shall infallibly be converted Whence is it then that sinners dye in their sin Infants without Baptism whole nations in the ignorance of truths necessary to their Salvation should we rather maintain that God would not save all meerly because of these things Or rather should we not in general seek out the reason in that which he owes to himself to his wisdom and his other attributes Is it not visible or at least is it not a sentiment agreeable with Piety that those ruful effects ought to be attributed to the simplicity in a word to the divinity of his ways and limitation of occasional causes For seeing that God acts by general Laws since he makes use of his Creatures in bringing about his purposes and that he doth not communicate to them his Power but by the establishment of his Laws it is clear that all this proceeds from the nature and action of occasional causes But why has not God established other general Laws or given to the finite action of J.C. an infinite Virtue The Reason is he ought not because his Wisdom exacts from him that he do great works by the most simple ways and that he proportion the action of causes to the beauty of the works And I fear not to say that the Eternal Temple which is the great design of God and the end of all his works is the most beautiful that can be produced by ways so simple and so wise as those are which God makes use of to effect it For I am certain that God loves Men that he would save all and therefore if he doth not so it is because he loves all things in proportion to their amiableness it is because he loves his Wisdom more than his Work 'T is because he does more honour to his attributes by the divinity of his ways than the Perfection of his Creatures In a word 't is because he has the Reason of his Conduct in himself for there is nothing out of God which can hinder him from executing his will And if he should have a will absolutely to save all Men without having respect to the simplicity of his ways 't is certain that he would save all because it is certain that there is an infinite number of means to execute all his designs and that likewise he can execute them by the absolute efficacy of his will without the help of his Creatures I thought my self obliged to represent in few words the Idea which I have of the Divine Providence to the end that it may be easily judged whether it is not more worthy of the Wisdom of God more agreeable to all that experience teaches more useful to answer the Objections of the Libertines better fitted to make us love God and unite us to J.C. our Head and Lastly more according to the Scripture taking it in its full meaning than that humane providence which supposes that God acts always by particular wills and would only save the lesser part of mankind and this simply and precisely because his will is so Objections against the foregoing Discourse With the Author's Answers Objection I. THat cannot evidently be seen in the Idea of GOD which has no necessary relation to him Now there is onely an Arbitrary and not any necessary relation betwixt God and the observation of the general Rules of nature This is one of the Author's Principles Therefore it is not evident that the general cause ought not to produce its effect by particular Wills Now according to this Author we ought not to believe any thing that he says if evidence doth not oblige us thereunto Therefore we may stop here This overturns his new System Answer 'T is true I have said that the general Laws by which God executes his designs are Arbitrary and this is true in two senses First Because God might have produc't nothing For the World is not a necessary Emanation of the Divinity Secondly
Because God might have dispensed with himself from observing the Laws which he hath established for its preservation provided that Order would permit But supposing that God resolved to act I maintain that he will do it after the wisest manner he can or after such a manner as best comports with his Attributes I hold that this is not arbitrary or indifferent to him For God necessarily loves himself he cannot belye himself The immutable Order which consists in the necessary relation which is betwixt his Divine Perfections is his inviolable Law and the Rule of all his wills because God cannot will or act but by the love which he bears unto himself Love in God is not as in us an impression which comes from without or carries him to any thing without himself He is as I may say the Eternal and Necessary Principle of it he is also the end thereof by the necessity of his Being This is clearly seen in the Idea of a Being infinitely Perfect which I have consulted and which I think ought to be Consulted least we should speak of the Divine providence too much after the manner of men Thus in this Idea we clearly see that God can neither will nor act but according to order but by the love which he bears to himself and his eternal attributes but according to what he is but after such a manner as best suits with his Wisdom his Immutability his Prerogative of being the searcher of hearts and his other attributes as I have elsewhere explained It is indeed indifferent to him to act or not but by no means to act well or ill He may indifferently chuse his ways of acting when order permits it that is to say when the ways of acting equally agree with his attributes the different relations of which make that order which is his inviolable Law because he necessarily loves himself but he cannot chuse those ways of acting which are less wise or less worthy of his attributes there being an equality in other things because he cannot falsisie himself because he infinitely loves his Wisdom and after such a manner that it renders him happily impotent that is uncapable of making an ill choice which it may blame a choice which may not be worthy thereof which shall not be infinitely wise nor perfectly worthy of his divine attributes See the 50 51 52 53 and 54 Article of the Second Discourse of this Treatise the 3d Explication the 11th Christian Meditation the 1st Chapter of the Treatise of Morality See also the 19 20 and 21 of this Treatise with the Additions It would be to no purpose to send the Reader to other places of my Books to make it appear that they who make this Objection do not take my Sentiments aright It must be observed that God is not free or indifferent as Men are He is free in a quite opposite sense Men are free in the choice of the means of their Happiness They may take the worse This argues a want of understanding And they are not free as to the end They invincibly seek after their Happiness from without This is because they are not self-sufficient But God is fully sufficient to himself it is indifferent to him to act or not outwardly And seeing his Understanding has no bounds and he sees his own Law in himself supposing that he resolves to act he cannot but resolve also to act like himself because he invincibly loves his Wisdom and his other Attributes against which he cannot offend He is not indifferent in his choice but when there is on all sides a perfect equality in the relations of the different ways with their different works When I said That sometimes tho very rarely the general Laws of Motions ought not to produce their effect I gave this reason thereof Because the Order of Grace to which that of Nature ought to be subservient requires that Miracles should be wrought upon some occasions And I only add by way as it were of Subscription Besides that it is expedient Men should know that God is so much Master of Nature that if he submits to the Laws which he hath established 't is rather because he willingly doth so than by any absolute necessity I did not mean by these last words that the observation of the Natural Laws was arbitrary in God in this sense that he could without reason neglect them that he might work Miracles but that it was expedient God should make Nature serviceable to Grace and let Men know that he is superiour to that which they call Nature For Men look upon Nature and its Laws as something necessary and independent The Mind of Man is naturally disposed towards Manichism The reason of which is because natural or occasional Causes are visible whereas the continual Operation of God in them has nothing in it which strikes the Senses Thus when God works Miracles which astonish the World one reason amongst others is to vindicate himself and hinder Men from being deceived and from having a mean Idea of his power as I have said in the Addition to Art 21. This he doth also to teach them who know that the nature of things is nothing but the will of their Author that God is not absolutely necessitated to do what he doth and that if he follows his Laws 't is because he chuses to do so For the only Law which is not arbitrary to God is immutable Order and whether he follows his Laws or dispenses with them it is because Order requires it It is because God always acts after such a manner as most honours his Perfections the intelligible Relations of which make that which I call immutable Order as I have explain'd it in several places Object II. God acts not as Men. He doth not well consult the Idea of God who judges of his Conduct by theirs Men indeed are to govern their Designs according to their Strength they must compare the Means with the End the Ways with the Works but this is because they are weak It is enough for God to will that things may be The Ways of God are his own Wills So that he doth not compare the Ways with the Works that he may determine his choice after he has compared the simplicity of the Ways with the perfection of the Work But he resolved to give to the World what Perfection he pleased without troubling himself about the Ways because his Ways are nothing but his Wills and all his Wills are efficacious To understand this Objection well I desire the Reader to consult the 13th Article of the first Discourse against which it is made Answer I grant that God doth not form his designs as Men do He doth not as they do compare the means with the end through weakness He is not like unto an Architect who has not Money enough to finish his Edifice He compares the designs with the ways in wisdom with respect to his attributes and in that love which he
God by particular wills did again form Plants and Animals in the Seas which the first Proposition of the proposed Objection imports the difficulty would be more considerable But I maintain and always have maintained that the Germes of Animals increase and Plants are unfolded in consequence of the general Laws of Nature I hold that all organized Bodies were formed at the beginning of the World so as to draw their nourishment and come to perfection by the Laws of the Communication of Motions and that it is for this reason and the relations which God hath made betwixt the Mother's Brain and that of the Fruit she bears in her Womb. It is plain enough that I here speak only of the primitive parts for which we have no name and which are unknown to us Upon these accounts I say it is that there are to be found so many Irregularities and Monsters among Animals For I never said or thought that God by particular wills forms every day the Bodies of Animals and Plants That which follows viz. That according to my Principles God ought to have formed a World without any other organized Bodies but those of Men that he might have made it by the most simple ways shews that the Objector doth not comprehend my meaning For besides that God might have great reason to form such bodies by particular wills I hold that it being at that time necessary to determine the first motions of matter by such like wills the conduct which he then observed became nevertheless simple by this way of acting and doubtless his work is thereby made more perfect for the wisdom of the Creator is most visible in organized bodies The Objector doth not observe that the difference of bodies proceeds from the various motion of the neighbouring parts and that therefore to form all organized Bodies it was enough for God to give divers motions to the divers parts of matter from the beginning of the World But to do this 't was necessary he should act by particular wills 't is true but it was likewise necessary for him to imploy such like wills to begin the Chaos and divide matter into such parts as would have been fit to have form'd a World without Animals Thus it comes to the same thing as to the simplicity of the ways But on the other side to have formed all organized bodies at once for all ages shews an infinite wisdom whereas to have moved the parts of matter indifferently on all sides to have form'd a World without Animals successively and by little and little would have been no sign of knowledge In a word I affirm and it ought well to be observed that there needs no more particular wills to form Animals than to divide the parts of matter But tho infinitely many more were requisite besides that these wills were necessary when the World was formed they could not disturb the simplicity of God's ways since they preceded the general Laws and the striking of bodies upon one another which is the occasional cause of them But the general Laws being once established God cannot without great reasons cease to observe them Thus we see that God in consequence of his Laws kills an infinite many Animals and that he preserves none of them by particular wills Lastly Tho it should be proved that God doth yet at this day form Insects by particular wills this would make nothing against the main Principle of the Treatise For St. Paul teaches us that Men do not receive Grace but by the intercession of J. C. in consequence of the general Law by which God would sanctifie and save all in his Son and by his Son as I think I have proved in several places and chiefly in the Second Discourse of this Treatise Object VIII The Author says that the passages of Scripture which destroy the efficacy of Second Causes should be taken literally Now these very passages so understood prove that God doth all by particular wills Therefore God for example clothes the Lillies and feeds the young Ravens causes it to rain and preserves even the least Hair of our Heads by particular wills For this is the greatest contradiction in the World that the same words of the holy Spirit should be explained strictly and according to the Letter where Second Causes are to be discarded and that they should not then be taken literally but look'd upon as Anthropologies when we would have it believed that God acts not by particular wills Answer This Objection is surely the weakest in the World For why is it the most plain contradiction in the World that the same passage ought and ought not to be explained strictly and according to the Letter in divers respects The Scripture tells us that God makes the Lillies to grow and clothes them Why may not this and many such like passages be explained literally against the self-efficacy of Second Causes and favourably and not so as to exclude the necessary condition of these same Causes God makes the Plants to grow he forms the Children in the Mother's Womb says the Scripture The rigour of the Letter therefore signifies that God doth this by his own proper efficacy but it doth not exclude the Conditions which he hath prescribed unto himself that he may act after an uniform manner God makes the Plants to increase by his own power but it is in consequence of his Laws by the heat of the Sun and a great deal of Rain This passage and several such like neither speak of natural Laws nor the Sun nor the Rain but if they be rigorously interpreted as if God made the Plants to grow by particular wills and not in consequence of his Laws a Man must renounce common sense and the Scripture it self which in a thousand places speaks of Second Causes as the ordinary means of Providence It is objected That we sind no places of Scripture which prove that God acts ordinarily in consequence of his Laws and I am seriously blamed for producing no such Texts But it seemed to me that I should have rendered my self ridiculous should I have concern'd my self to shew that which no person doubts of For supposing only that the Philosopher's Nature is but a Chymera as I have often proved there is no truth more confirmed in the Holy Scripture For all those passages which seem to favour the efficacy of Second Causes are certain proofs thereof I have if I am not deceived demonstrated in the Explication of the Efficacy of Second Causes that my Opinion perfectly well agrees with the Holy Scripture and that it agrees much better with Religion than that which the prejudices of the Senses and Pagan Philosophy has introduced into the World FINIS