The last Article I have proved the same principle by Arguments a posteriori that I might touch the minds even of those who reflect upon nothing XX. Here it must be observed that the essential rule of the will of God is Order and that if man for example had not sinned a supposition which wou'd much have changed his designs then order not permitting he shou'd have been punished the natural Laws of the communication of motion cou'd never have been able to have made him unhappy For the Law of order which requires that the Just do suffer nothing whether he will or no being essential to God the Arbitrary Law of the communication of motions ought necessarily to be submitted thereunto Additions God has but two Laws Order which is his inviolable Law his natural Law his Word or his Wisdom which he loves invincibly and the divine Decrees the Arbitrary Laws with which he sometimes dispences but he never dispences with them but when order requires For it is against order that a wise and immutable Being should change his conduct without reason It is a weakness to have a changeable mind it argues want of knowledge or of constancy Man tho' subject to error is offended when he is reproached with his change We must therefore take care not to ask miracles of God or to attribute them every moment unto him This is to tempt God and to have sentiments unworthy of him See the fourth Explication in which I shew that all that is done now or which was done under the Jewish Law against those natural laws which are known to us is not always a miracle or an effect produced by God by particular wills because the Angels for example have power over the present world in consequence of some general laws which are unknown to us as I have proved by Gods way of proceeding in the old Testament XXI There are indeed some sew occasions where these general Laws of motion must cease to produce their effect But this is not because God changes these Laws or corrects himself it is because by the order of grace to which that of Nature must be subservient Miracles are wrought upon certain occasions Besides it is convenient that men should know that God is so much Master of Nature that if he submit himself to the laws which he has established it is because he chuses to do so rather than that he is absolutely necessitated Additions Since the greatest part of men imagine that besides God there is a certain Nature that does all 'T is convenient that God to make himself the better known should act against the custom of this pretended Nature God makes himself admired by the wise or true Philosophers in his ordinary works but all the world are not Philosophers There must be effects which surprise and strike the mind of those who make no reflection upon any thing that is ordinary See St. Augustine upon St. Joh Tract VIII XXVIII Christian Meditations 8. Medit. XXII If then it be true that the general cause ought not to work by particular wills and that God was obliged to establish certain constant and invariable Laws of the communication of Motions by the efficacy of which he foresaw that the world might subsist such as we now see it it may be truly said in some sence that God desires that all his creatures should be perfect that he wills not that Infants should perish in the womb of their Mothers that he loves not Monsters that he has made no laws of nature to beget them and that if he could have made and preserved a World more perfect by as simple means he wou'd not have established Laws whereof so many Monsters are the necessary consequences But that it would have been unworthy of his Wisdom to multiply wills to hinder certain particular disorders which in the Universe make a kind of Beauty Additions That if he could have made and preserved a World more perfect by as simple means he would not have established laws whereof so many Monsters are the necessary consequences This is evident at least in the order of grace in relation to which I say this For God wills that all men should be saved 1 Tim. II. 4. This is the will of God our Sanctification 1 Thes IV. 3. God has no need of the wicked Eccles. XV. 12. On the contrary He hates the ungodly and his ungodliness Wisdom XIV 9. Certainly the design of God in the CREATION is to make a Beautiful work Now all irregularity disfigures the WORK God truly deserves to be admired but much more in the simplicity of his ways than in the Beauty of the Vniverse If God has made the world for man why so much barren ground why more Sea than habitable Earth It is because all this is a consequence of the simplicity of his ways This is not because God particularly wills that such a ground shou'd want water for 't wou'd be a formal disobedience if it was so 't would be to find fault with Gods conduct and to insult over his wisdom to make new water courses Can any thing be more disorderly and less regular than the distribution of Rivers than the disposition of Land and Sea The Philosophers looked upon the Vniverse as the work of blind nature the reason is because they thought not on the simplicity of the ways by which it is preserved But if there had been as simple ways or as worthy of God capable to form and preserve a more beautiful work than the world we now inhabit it must be said things being as they are that either the Author of Nature wanted understanding or that his intention was to make an imperfect work See the 3d. Explication Christian Meditat. 7 8. Monsters make in the Universe a kind of Beauty Not that Monsters are Beautiful in themselves for all things being equal it would be better there were none at all but it is because men often judge of the beauty of certain things by the deformity of others Certainly the Church of Jesus Christ the future world shall be more perfect than the present world and have no Deformity no Monsters no Injustice no Sin Eph. V. 27. Apoc. XXII XXIII God gave to every Seed it s own bud germe which contains in little the plant and the fruit another bud which is fastned to this and contains the root of the plant which root has a new root whose imperceptible branches spread themselves in two Lobes or into the Pulp of this Seed Does not he sufficiently shew by this that he truely wills in some sence that all those seeds should produce their like For why should he have given to those grains of Corn which he intended should be barren all the parts proper to make them fruitful Nevertheless since rain is necessary to make them encrease and since it falls not upon the Earth but by general Laws which do not shower it down upon improv'd grounds only and precisely at
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
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
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
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
those whom I had chiefly in my mind when I wrote the Treatise of Nature and Grace and whom I should extreamly desire to content as well as others Additions The Will of God can be nothing else but the Love which he bears to himself Now he cannot will and act but by his own Will Therefore he cannot act but for himself But the World is not worthy of God It has no Proportion to God for there is no relation betwixt finite and infinite God therefore cannot form the Design of producing it God cannot act with a design of doing nothing for himself since he cannot act but for himself Now the World with respect to God is nothing for the relation of finite to infinite is a Cypher God therefore cannot resolve to make any thing if a Divine Person does not joyn himself to his Work to render it Divine and thereby worthy of his Complacency or answerable to the infinite Action of his Will Thus I. Since God cannot act but for his own Glory nor finding it but in himself he could have no other design in the Creation of the World but the Establishment of his Church Additions But what Divine Person shall sanctify the Work of God It must be the Eternal Word For it is the Word or the Wisdom of God which ought to be as I may so say first consulted to regulate the Divine Operation and in some sort make way for God's Action A Prophane World being unworthy of God the Wisdom of God rendred God impotent or hindred him from acting Thus supposing that God would procure to himself an Honour worthy of him which nevertheless is every way indifferent to him since he is altogether sufficient to himself his Wisdom would fail him in some sence if it did not in the first place offer its self to him to be united to his Work since otherwise his Work would not be worthy of him The Word is universal Reason 'T is he therefore who was to come and enlighten Men who could not be reasonable but by Reason 'T is according to him and by him that we are form'd 'T is therefore by him or according to him we must be perfected or reformed Thus since a Divine Person must render the Work of God Divine make Gods of us or the Adopted Children of the Eternal Father it was necessary that his only Son should be the First-born amongst many Brethren and that we all should receive of his Abundance or of that Fulness of Divinity which dwells in him I might therefore say according to these Principles speaking of the Church that it is the great Work which the Son built to the Glory of the Father Eph. 1.21.22 23. c. 2.21 22. c. 4.13.16 Col. 1.15.16 17 18 19. Eccl. 24.14 1 Pet. 1.20 Eph. 1.4 Joan. 17.5 24. Apoc. 13.8 Psal 72.17 Eph. 2.10 Rom. 8.29 II. Jesus Christ who is the Head thereof is the Beginning of the Wayes of the Lord He is the First-born of all Creatures And though he was born amongst men in the fulness of time yet he is their model in the Eternal designs of his Father It is according to his Image that all men were made they who were before his Temporal birth as well as we In a word it is in Him that all things subsist for it is he alone who could render the work of God perfectly worthy of its Author Additions Jesus Christ who is the Head of the Church is the beginning of the Wayes of the Lord. I use these Expressions because Scripture uses them The Title of Head plainly shews that Jesus Christ as Man is not only the Meritorious cause of Grace but also the Occasional Physical Distributive since He gives his Spirit to his Members which compose the Church as I shall explain more largely in the Second Discourse And it may be said That Jesus Christ is the Beginning of the Ways of the Lord Because God by the Creation of the World goes out as I may say of himself since the term of his Operation is not his own substance as in immanent Operations by which the Son is continually begotten and the Holy Ghost proceeds It is upon this account that the Wise man after these words in the Eighth Chap. of the Proverbs The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his Wayes adds for Explication * Before his works of Old Antequam quidquam faceret a principio That Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church is without dispute But that he is the beginning of the Ways of the Lord in this sence is that which may be doubted I have followed the common opinion of the Fathers upon the 22. ver of the 8th ch of the Prov. for almost all of them understand this passage which the Arrians abused Dominus possedit or as they then read according to the 70. Creavit me in initio viarum suarum of the incarnate Wisdom It is useless here to transcribe all the Quotations of Salazar upon this place of the Proverbs Jesus Christ is the first-born of every Creature primogenitus omnis creaturae Col. 1.15 He is our model since St. Paul exhorts us to put Him on or to become like unto Him Therefore as we have born the Image of the Earthly let us also bear the Image of the Heavenly It is according to his Image that all men were made in the purpose of God For the Word is universal Reason and immutable Order and God has made us to conform us to Reason and Order There are none but the Elect whom God has efficaciously predestinated to become conformable to the Image his Son Quos praescivit predestinavit conformes fieri imagini Filii sui Rom. 8.29 I confess it But God would Save all men He wills there Sanctification This is the will of God your Sanctification 1. Thes 4.3 The Wisdom incarnate is moreover our model after a sensible manner and suitable to men who only harken to their senses God foreseeing sin resolved to give unto Jesus Christ a body that it might be a victim which He might offer unto Him for every Priest must have something to offer Necesse est hunc habere aliquid quod offerat Heb. 8.3 Now God thought on the body of his Son when he form'd that of Adam and hath given unto us all a body by which we may Merit or which we ought to sacrifice as Priests and according to the Example of our Sovereign Priest Obsecra vos ut exhibeatis corpora vestra hostiam viventem sanctam Deo placentem Rom. 12.1 To conclude all things subsist in Jesus Christ Omnia in ipso constant Col. 1.19 Every thing was created in J. C. and by J. C. Omnia per ipsum in ipso creata sunt Col. 1.16 Omnia in omnibus Christus Col. 3.11 III. There ought to be some relation betwixt the World and the Action by which it is produced Now the Action by which the World was drawn out of nothing is the
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
wherein he finds the Work he is to build according to the designs he continually forms according to the beauty wherewith he intends to Adorn his Church Now this way after which I suppose J.C. might act wou'd be sufficient to justifie Gods Conduct and make it in general comprehended whence it is that the rain of Grace is sent down without effect upon hardned hearts at such unseasonable times after such an unequal manner and almost always so little answerable unto the concupiscence of those who receive it For this reason I ought not to enter particularly upon the fall of the Just under an Head who has so much love for sinners Nevertheless I shall at present endeavour to explain it to satisfie the most difficult Whilst J.C. acts as Architect he only regulates his desires according to his designs It is indifferent to him to have in his Temple Paul or John if both the one and the other resemble the Idea which determines his desires As it is indifferent to an Architect who needs only a square stone or a pillar to have that which is on the right hand or on the left if they be altogether alike Thus the desire of J. C. bestowing Grace which moves men to come unto him and cast themselves in his hands those who come first and are most watchful are they whom he employs in his building But men having once followed the motion of Grace I think it is certain that J. C. is advertised of their dispositions and that when he has plac'c them in his Temple or made them parts of his Body no need no temptation happens to them which he has not notice of and which he doth not provide for When Bread is once become part of our flesh it cannot be touched without hurting us When a stone is wrought and laid in the building it cannot be broken without offending the Architect J. C. considered as Head of the Church is therefore advertised of all our necessities even before he particularly desires to know them Herein his Father prevents his Charity It seems to me that order requires this Perhaps he may even actually know the effect which the assistance he gives us will have even before it be given and this is that which makes all the difficulty For J. C. loves the just he tenderly cherishes those who are united unto him by Charity Now he has notice of a Temptation which solicits one of his Members and he may give him Victorious Graces If therefore he foresaw that with such assistance the Just tho he might have overcome would nevertheless be vanquished Why did he not augment this assistance He desires the just should be Victorious Why therefore doth he not proportion the means to the end if he actually knew the relation of the means to the end For my part I had rather believe that J. C. as man or the occasional cause of Grace doth not actually know the future determination of the will of the just to whom he gives assistance than think that he in any sense wants Goodness and Charity for his Members I grant that J.C. as man may know all the future determination of our wills as I know that two and two are four But I doubt whether he actually thinks thereon and I do not believe that he always thinks thereon that he may regulate the distribution of Graces according to this knowledge These are my Reasons J. C. does not see in the Word precisely as the Word whether the just will follow or will not follow the motion of his Grace He cannot know it unless God discover it to him by a sort of revelation as I have already said Now it seems to me that he ought not always to demand what effect his Grace will have because it seems clear to me that Order which is his Rule and his Law doth not require that he shou'd proportion his gifts to mens future negligence but only to their necessities for his own proper designs J.C. must act as man or as the occasional cause that God may build up his Church by the most simple ways Now none but God can dive in mens hearts and see the free determinations of their wills J. C. therefore before he acts ought not to desire of his Father to reveal to him whether the just being tempted will or will not be vanquished by such or such a degree of Grace For thus his action would not bear the Character of an occasional cause If God should by himself give unto the just Grace to vanquish Temptations being by nature Searcher of Hearts his Conduct ought to comport with this Character and if the just should be vanquished it might be believed that God designed to forsake him But Order requiring that J. C. as Man should act as Man his action is not to bear the Character of Searcher of Hearts For God intending to make his wisdom his fore-sight the infinite extension of his knowledge to appear in the construction of his great work he was obliged to form it by the most simple ways For in conclusion what marvel would it be if J. C. should make a beautiful work and save even all men if on the one side he acted by particular wills and on the other his action did not carry in it the character of an Occasional cause but of an infinite Wisdom certainly GOD ought not to appoint an Occasional Cause if this Occasional cause must act as God and not as man He ought to do all immediately by himself But how shou'd we have justified his wisdom and goodness seeing so many Monsters among Bodies so many irregularrities among Spirits so much disproportion in his action in relation to his Attributes so much rain upon the Sand and in the Sea so many Graces given to hardned Hearts Graces which serve only to make them more culpable and more criminal Ezek. 33.2 Eccles. 15.12 which yet cou'd not have been given with a design so unworthy of Gods goodness who desires the Conversion of sinners and to whom the wicked were never necessary If that which I have said of the fall of the just and the manner after which Jesus Christ forms his Church be clearly understood perhaps it would be found to be probable enough But I think I ought to say that this is no ways necessary in order to defend my principles and the manner by which I have justified the wisdom and goodness of God For it may be that God has given to J. C. as man a particular kind of knowledge and power in relation to his design by establishing him the occasional cause of the general Law of Grace To make my thought understood by a comparison let us imagine that as soon as Adam was formed God acquainted the Angels that he had united a Spirit to a Body to the end that it might take care thereof without informing them any thing of the Laws of this union According to this supposition the Angels reasoning according to their
design being resolved upon he necessarily chuses those general ways which are most worthy of his wisdom greatness and goodness for since he does not resolve upon any thing but by the knowledge he has of the ways of executing it the choice of the design contains the choice of the ways L. When I say that God freely forms his design I do not mean as if he cou'd chuse another which is less and reject that which is more worthy of his wisdom for supposing that God will make any outward work worthy of himself he is not indifferent in his choice he must produce that which is the most perfect in respect of the simplicity of the ways by which he acts he owes this to himself to follow the rules of his wisdom he must always act after the most wise and perfect manner But I say God freely takes up his resolution because he invincibly and necessarily loves nothing but his own substance Neither the Incarnation of the Word much less the Creation of the World are necessary Emanations of his Nature God is altogether sufficient to himself For a Being infinitely perfect may be conceiv'd alone without having a necessary relation to his Creatures LI. Since God necessarily loves himself he also necessarily follows the Rules of his Wisdom But seeing the Creatures make no part of his Being he is so self-sufficient as that nothing can oblige him to produce them he is very indifferent or free in respect of them And it is upon this account that he made the World in time for this circumstance makes it evident that the Creatures are not necessary Emanations of the Divinity but do essentially depend upon the Free-will of a Creator LII Nevertheless behold an Objection which at first does surprize the mind If it be true That God necessary follows the Rules of his Wisdom the World wou'd not have been created in time For either the World is worthy or unworthy of God If it was better the World shou'd have been brought out of nothing it ought to have been eternal if better it shou'd have remain'd in nothing it ought not to have been made at all God therefore is not obliged to follow the Rules this Wisdom prescribes seeing the World was created in time But the Answer to this Objection is not difficult It is better the World shou'd be than not but it is better it shou'd not have been at all than be eternal The Creature must carry in it the essential mark of its dependance If Spirits had been eternal they might have had some reason to have look'd upon themselves as Gods or necessary Beings or at least capable to contribute something to the greatness and happiness of God imagining that he cou'd not but have made them they might likewise in some sort have compar'd themselves to the Divine Persons thinking they were like them produc'd by a necessary emanation Thus God was oblig'd according to the Rules of his Wisdom to leave unto the Creatures the character of their dependance assuring them nevertheless that he has not made them to annihilate them and that being constant to his designs as his infinite Wisdom requires they shall subsist eternally LIII This Difficulty may be further urg'd after this manner God necessarily follows the Rules of his Wisdom he necessarily does what is the best Now it was better at least that the World shou'd have been created in time than that it shou'd not have been created at all Certainly it was expedient according to the Rules of Divine Wisdom that the World shou'd have been produced with those circumstances according to which God had made it Therefore the Creation of the World in time is absolutely necessary God is not at all free in this respect he cou'd not but have made it To resolve this Difficulty it ought to be observed That tho' God follows the Rules which his Wisdom prescribes unto him yet he doth not necessarily do that which is best because he might do nothing To act and not exactly to follow the Rules of Wisdom is a defect Thus supposing that God will act he necessarily acts after the wifest manner that can be But to be free in the production of the World is a mark of abundance of fulness and self-sufficiency It is better the World shou'd be than not be the Incarnation of J. C. renders the Work of God worthy of its Author This I grant But seeing God is essentially happy and perfect seeing nothing but himself can be good in relation unto him or the cause of his perfection and happiness he invinsibly loves only his own substance and all that is without him must indeed be made by an eternal and immutable action but which has no other necessity but upon supposition of the Divine Decrees See yet another Principle of which I have already spoken which may give some light to the Difficulties which may be made about the Circumstances of the Incarnation of J. C. and the Creation of the World LIV. Reason and the Authority of the H. Books teach us that the first and principal of God's Designs is the Establishment of his Church in J. C. The present World is not created to continue such as it is The Lies and Errours the Unrighteousness and Disorders which we see sufficiently shew it must have an end The future World where Truth and Righteousness inhabit is that Land whose Foundations cannot be shaken and which being the external Object of the Divine Love shall subsist eternally God has not created this visible World but by little and little to form thereof that invisible City of which S. John tells us so many Wonders And seeing J. C. shall be the chief Beauty thereof God always has had J. C. in view in the production of his Work He hath made all for Man and with respect to Man Heb. ch II. as the Scripture teacheth us but this Man for whom God has made all is according to S. Paul J. C. 'T is to teach Men that they are created that they do not subsist but in J. C. 't is to bind them closely to J. C. 't is to engage them to become like unto him that God has represented J. C. and his Church in the chiefest of his Creatures For it was necessary God shou'd find J. C. in all his Work that this Work might be the object of his Love and worthy of the Action by which it is produc'd LV. If the manner after which the H. Scripture relates the Creation of the first Man be considered how his Wife was form'd of his Flesh and Bone the Love he had for her and even the Circumstances of their Sin it will doubtless be granted that God thought of the second Adam when he made the first that he considered the Father of the World to come when he created the Father of the present and that he intended to make the first Man and the first Woman express Figures of J. C. and his Church S. Paul
or to produce its effect contains something infinite This Combination is not like the springs and machines whose effects are always infallible and necessary Thus no spirit can discover what passes in the heart of man but God being infinitely wise it is plain that he clearly knows all the effects which may result from the mixture and combination of all things and that diving into the heart of man he insallibly discovers even the effects which depends upon the free act or rather consent of our wills Nevertheless I confess that I cannot conceive how God can discover the Consequences of those Actions which have not their infallibility from his absolute degrees But I cannot prevail with my self to engage in Metaphysicks at the expence of morality and to maintain Opinions contrary to my inward sentiment as undeniable Truths or to speak to the ear a certain Language which in my Opinion says nothing clearly to the mind I know very well that Objections may be made which I may not be able clearly and evidently to Answer but this perhaps may be because even these Objections themselves may be full of obscurity and darkness Because they are grounded upon our ignorance of the properties of the Soul because as I have * Expli of the 7. Ch. lib. 2 part 3. elsewhere proved we have not a clear Idaea of what we are and because that which is in us which suffers its self to be overcome by those determinations which are not invincible is altogether unknown to us To Conclude if I cannot clearly Answer these Objections * First Explicat I can Answer them by other which yet seem more difficult to resolve I can from the principles opposite to mine draw more hard and invidious Consequences than those which are pretended to follow from that Liberty which I suppose to be in us But I will not enter particularly upon this because I take no pleasure in walking in the dark and leading others into precipices The First Explication OF THE TREATISE OF Nature and Grace What it is to Act by General Wills and what by Particular I. I Say that God acts by General Wills when he acts in consequence of the General Laws he has established For Example I say that God acts in me by General Wills when he makes me feel pain by the prick of a pin because in consequence of the general and efficacious Laws of the Union of Soul and Body which he hath established he makes me feel grief or pain when my body is indisposed In like manner when one bowl strikes upon a second I say God moves this last by a General Will because he moves it in consequence of the general and efficacious Laws of the communication of motions God having in general appointed that whensoever two bodies strike upon one another the motion should be divided betwixt them in certain proportions and 't is by the efficacy of this General Will that bodies should move one another II. On the contrary I say that God acts by particular wills when the efficacy of his will is not determined by any general law to produce the effect Thus supposing that God makes me feel the pain of the pricking of a pin tho there happens not in my body or in any other Creature any change which determines him to act in me according to general Laws I say that then God acts by particular wills Likewise supposing that a body begins to move without being struck upon by another or without any change happening in the will of any Spirits or any other Creature which determines the efficacy of any general Laws I say then that God moves this body by a particular will III. According to these definitions it appears that I am so far from denying providence that on the contrary I suppose that it is God who acts all in all that the nature of the Pagan Philosophers is a Chimaera and that properly speaking that which is called Nature is nothing else but the general Laws which God has establish'd for the making or preserving his Work after the most simple ways by an action always uniform constant perfectly worthy of infinite wisdom and the universal cause That which I here suppose tho certain for reasons which I have elsewhere given is not absolutely necessary to prove what I intend For if it be suppos'd that God has communicated his power to Creatures and that bodies which are about us have a real and true force by which they may act upon our soul and render it happy or miserable by pleasure or grief and that bodies in motion have in themselves a certain entity which is called a Quality imprinted which they give to those they meet and give it with that readiness and uniformity which they suppose it will be equally easie for me to prove that which I design for then the efficacy of the action of the Concourse of the general cause will be necessarily determined by the action of the particular cause God for example will be oblig'd according to these principles to afford his concourse to a body at the moment wherein it strikes upon others But this body may communicate motion to them and this is certainly to act by vertue of a general Law Nevertheless I don't reason according to this supposition because I believe it altogether false as I have shewed in the Third Chapter of the Second Part of the Sixth Book of The Search after Truth in the Explication of the same Chapter and elsewhere These Truths supposed I here subjoyn the Marks by which it may be known whether an effect be produc'd by a general will or by a particular Marks by which it may be judged whether an effect is produced by a General or by a Particular Will IV. When we see an effect immediately follow the action of an occasional cause we ought to judge that this effect is produced by the efficacy of a general will A Body is immediately moved after it is struck the striking of bodies upon one another is the occasional cause therefore this body is mov'd by a general will A Stone falls upon the head of a Man and kills him and this stone falls as others do I mean that its motion is continued almost according to Arithmetical Proportion 1 3 5 7 9 c. This supposed I say that it is moved by the efficacy of a general will or according to the Laws of the communication of motion as it is easie to demonstrate V. When we see an effect produc'd and yet the occasional cause which is known to us is not concern'd therein we have reason to think that this effect is produc'd by a paticular will supposing that this effect be not visibly unworthy of its cause as I shall shew hereafter For example when a body is mov'd without being struck upon by another it is very probable that this body is moved by a particular will nevertheless we are not altogether assur'd thereof For supposing there should
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
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
impossible viz. That God gives to the parts of Matter such a motion as is fit to form the World without acting by particular wills for 't is evident at the first such like wills are necessary to determine the first motions which presently ought to be very different some towards the right others to the left these moving upwards those downwards to divide matter into an infinite number of parts It is upon this oversight his difficulty is grounded Let us suppose that the World as yet is no more than a rude heap of matter it is plain that Heaven Earth the Stars c. may be formed by a little and little as this Libertine pretends God must needs at first put all the parts of matter into motion or into a tendency to move in a right line some on one side and some on another Thus before bodies could strike upon one another that is before there could be any occasional cause of the communication of motions it was necessary that God should move the parts of matter after infinitely different manners by particular wills Now if it be clearly conceiv'd that it is the diversity of motions which make the different forms of Bodies it will easily be apprehended that God might form the World all at once by moving the parts of matter towards different sides without imploying therein more particular wills than he would have imployed therein had he moved it after another manner which might have been more proper to have made it by little and little Thus it became God to form at once the parts which compose the World not to expect till it should have made it self gradually by little and little as this Libertine argues Moreover it became him to give it the same form which it would have had in time by the necessary consequence of the Laws of the communication of motions because it is certain that the World would presently have been destroyed if God had made it after such a manner as had been contrary to the Laws which might have produced it successively Distinctly to explain all these things to those who have not considered the principles upon which the objection is founded wou'd require a whole Book but I don't think I ought to stay any longer upon it because they who clearly conceive the objection will also easily see that what I have said is sufficient for the solution of it For it is enough to know 1. That God cannot act by the most simple ways or which is all one by general Laws before there are any occasional causes and that therefore the first motions of the parts of matter on all sides ought to be made and determined by particular wills For Bodies cannot hit upon one another before they are moved 't is this hitting or striking upon one another which is the occasional cause of motions 2. That God might have formed the World such as it is only by at first determining the motion of the parts of matter which surround and penetrate Bodies on all sides and that also it was necessary that God should move all the parts of matter on all sides that the World might be formed by little and little in consequence of the natural Laws and that therefore it comes to the same thing only there would have been very little signs of wisdom and a great deal of useless action and lost time if God had formed the World by degrees in consequence of the natural Laws after he had moved the parts of matter indifferently and as it were at all adventures 3. That absolutely speaking God might have made the Heavens the Earth and all things else successively by observing the same natural Laws which he still observes at this day for that which Moses says in Genesis might perhaps be as well reconciled with the Cartesian Principles as with the Opinions of other Philosophers Several Persons have already composed Books upon this Subject and tho they may not perhaps have succeeded therein I know not but that some others may perform it better To conclude Above all things it ought to be observed that God doth not establish general Laws but that his way of acting may be the same and not to govern the beginning of hiâ— action for as I have said it is even a contradiction that God should begin to move matter by the general Law of the communication of motions since before he removes Bodies it is impossible they should strike upon one another Thus God was obliged at first to move the parts of matter and consequently to give to the World all at once by particular wills that form which it was convenient it should have with respect to his designs It became him to form it so as by the natural Laws of motion it would necessarily have been formed that it might be preserved by the same Laws when he had established them that is so as it would have been formed gradually by little and little by removing the parts of matter in a right Line and afterwards observing the natural Laws of the communication of motions Object VII According to the Author God has formed Organized Bodies by particular wills Now the Salvation of one Man is more worth than all the Insects in the World Therefore if God does not save all Men 't is not because he ought not to act by particular wills If it was true that it becomes not God to act but by general Laws he would have made a World without Animals and Plants seeing such a World might have been produced by general Laws whereas particular wills must be imployed to produce Plants and Animals Answer It is certain that God wills that all men should be saved and that he doth not give them his Grace but to save them But it is yet more certain that if God gave them his Grace with a particular intent to save them all they all would be saved Therefore God doth not dispense his Grace by particular wills I have elsewhere explained and proved all the propositions of this argument there must therefore needs be an error in the objection and tho I could not discover it I ought not therefore to quit a Truth proved by every thing which we know of Gods Conduct because of an objection grounded upon that which we do not know Nevertheless it is easie to resolve the difficulty For the Reason why I maintain that God ought not to act by particular wills is that his Conduct may be uniform and thereby carry in it the Character of his Wisdom and Immutability Now tho God when he created the World did form the Bodies of Animals by particular wills it is evident that this doth not disturb the simplicity of his ways it cannot be said that herein he changed his Conduct Therefore God might by particular wills form Plants and Animals and in their Seeds Iodge that which might propagate their Species in consequence of the general Laws without doing any thing unworthy of his Attributes If
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