be produced by the First Being the consequences whereof are these 1. That all things except the First Cause had a beginning of their being and consequently there was no Eternal Matter out of which any thing was made 2. That all Beings had their first being from him that is the First Being This is evident by what goes before 3. That the first production of all things by the First Being is purely and solely by way of Efficiency and not by derivation of substance from himself for that is impossible his Essence is Immaterial and Indivisible 4. The manner of this Efficiency or his Causality is not any act distinct from himself but only the meâ—e act of his mere Will which is essentially the same with himself and with his Infinite Power And herein the first production of second Beings differs from that manner of causation which is ordinary in subsequent productions of things for the first production of beings was an infinite motion viz. from a simple not-being to a being and therefore was acted immediately by the Infinite Power and Will of the First Cause there being no instrument to be used or if it had been yet any instrument had been infinitely disproportionable to such a motion But in the subsequent production of most things the matter pre-existing and so the motion not being à non esse simpliciter the causation of the First Cause is by instruments and second Causes 5. That as the first production of all things was the immediate act of his will so the disposing of all things into that Order and frame wherein they now are was the immediate Act of his Will and Power and Wisdom This is evident upon a double ground viz. First because whatsoever had its being from another had its esse tale from him 2. It is not conceptible that if all the things in the World had been put together they being all irrational substances they should ever have marshalled themselves into that order they are in unless the First Being had so willed it And if it should be admitted that the Forms and Qualities of the several beings would naturally have inclined them to their several places and stations which though all things had been wrapt together would by degrees have severed and taken their places That as it is impossible to imagine would ever have been unless the substances themselves as well as their active qualities had been divided so if it were granted it were equally to be resolved into the Will of the first Being to put such Forms Qualities and Inclinations in things conducing to and effecting such an order as if that Order and Fabrick of things had been by the immediate call of every thing into its Order and Rank by the First Cause 6. That the production of Mankind especially was the immediate work of the First Being This is touched before 7. That all these Activities that are in Second Causes are put into them by the First Cause and they work in the virtue of the First Cause so that although the Effect be not the immediate production of the First Cause yet the Activity and Power that is put in the second Cause to work is originally due to the First Cause And hence it is that a more ignoble being doth produce sometimes a being of a higher nature than it self as the Earth produceth Vegetables Putrefaction Sensibles because the vigor and Activity that causeth it was at first put into the second causes by the First so that though they move uniformly omnibus rectè dispositis yet they act in virtute Primae Causae 8. Though Second Causes work naturally and uniformly for the most part where all things are equally disposed and this by the virtue of that Activity which by the will and Power of the First Cause was at first put in them yet this Activity is managed and ordered so that it neither breaks the Law of its causality or motion that was at first put into it nor yet disturbs or disorders the universal fabrick of Nature things being at first framed in that order that each should be a corrective to the other in case of exorbitancy de hoc infra 9. From hence it follows that the constant and uniform Course of Nature is not to be attributed to it self but only to the Will of the First Cause that wills it to continue in that frame though he hath ordained Means subservient to that end 10. From hence it follows that as all things in actu primo owe their being to the will of the First Cause constant and uniform Course of Nature is not to to be attributed to itself but only to the Will of the First Cause that wills it to continue in that frame though he hath ordained Means subservient to the will of the First Cause so in actu secundo viz. their continuance and subsistence is due only to that Will they were made because he willed it and they continue because he wills it And this as it is most true in respect of the whole frame of Nature which hath no adequate means of its subsistence but the Will of the First Cause so it is true likewise as in the beings so in the continued subsistence of Second Causes which though they are and are supported immediately by Second Causes Qualities and concurrences yet the Activity and Power that is in these Second Causes to produce or continue these Effects is due to the First Cause and continues in them by virtue of that Will that at first planted it in them 2. The Disposing of all things to their several Ends whether remote or near belongs to this First Cause Every Intellectual Agent works for some End or other the First Cause we have shewed to be an Intellectual Agent therefore what he works he works for some End answerable to the Work and Worker and it must of necessity be that he that is the First Cause or Efficient of all things must needs be the appointer of his own End in that Work. The End though it be last in execution is first in intention for it moves the Agent to the work or otherwise though he work not without an Event he doth it without an End. Now that which is first in Efficiency must needs be the first designer of his own End which is but the result of his Work A Second Cause though he may have an End in his Causation proportionable to the causality wherewith he is indued yet as his Efficiency is subordinate to and derived from the Efficiency of the First Cause so must his End be it may be an Ultimate End in respect of it it is but interlocutory or rather no End at all in respect of the First Cause but only a means conducing to the Execution of the End of the first Cause When a passionate Ambitious or Covetous Man drives mainly and wholly at the satisfaction of those lusts as his End and that End draws out his activity and strength to
of his Attributes by the same Essence he is and he is what he is they are divided notions in us but in him neither divided from his being nor one from another And hence it likewise follows that though the emanant Actions that flow from this First Cause are different and represented unto us under different Notions as this is an act of Power this of Goodness this of Knowledge or Wisdom and upon these we frame notions to our selves whereby we represent that from whence these acts move by several Names or Attributes of Mercy Power Wisdom yet these proceed not in truth from several Qualities in the First Cause but from one simple absolute unqualified Being V. From this consideration that he is the First Cause and Being it follows that he is Ens Perfectissimum For that is Perfect to which nothing is wanting Now it is impossible that any thing can be wanting to the First Cause for there can be nothing besides him but what proceeds from him and that which proceeds from him cannot possibly either add any further degree of Perfection to him or include that Perfection which was not in the First Cause most eminently The First Cause had a pre-existence to all things else nothing then could be wanting to his Perfection because there was nothing else but himself The production of the Second Causes could not possibly include any greater Perfection than what was derived to them It is true in the working of Second Causes there may be a production of an Effect that may be more perfect in its kind than the Cause that immediately produced it as the production of a Worm out of putrefaction a Plant out of the Earth c. but there the Effect is not purely due to the Second Cause but to the Original Operation of the First Cause that did put that activity in the Second Causes to produce such Effects for every Second Cause worketh and moveth in the virtue and efficacy of the First Cause and hath its causality from it as well as its being without which though it had its being it is impossible it should be operative This Perfection in the First Cause is in truth inconceptible because impossible for humane Understanding to receive it without Divine Revelation and much more impossible to comprehend it because Infinite Therefore to help our selves herein we do and that rationally attribute to the First Being that manner of Being that we find most Perfect Therefore from this Perfection it follows 1. That the First Cause is a most pure Act without any mixture of Passibility or Power for if there were any Power as it signifies a susceptibility of some further act or impression that were an Imperfection for whatsoever is susceptible of some further act as all Power is it is impossible it should be perfect And from hence follows his Omnipotence for all inability to do any thing proceeds from the want of activity in the agent to overcome that resistance that it finds in the thing to be done Now in the First Cause there wants no activity for it is a most pure Act and were it not a most pure and Infinite Act it were impossible it should be the First Cause because that supposeth a priority of being in the Cause to the Effect and consequently requires an Infinite Activity in the First Cause because it must produce that which before was not at all and the motion between being and simply not being is infinite and therefore requires an infinite activity 2. From the consideration of this Perfection it follows that this First Being is a Substantial Act not an act that flows from another thing or depends upon another thing for then he could not be Ens Primum nor yet Ens Perfectissimum but it is an Act subsisting by it self 3. From this consideration of this Perfection it follows that he is Ens Vivens Life adds a degree of Perfection to the substance in which it is and the more Perfect the Life is the more perfect the Being hence the Sensitive Life is perfecter than the Vegetative and the Rational Life than the Sensitive and the Life of a Spirit than the Life of a Body Now this First Cause being an Infinite and Pure Act he hath an infinite perfect Life 4. From hence it follows that he is an Intellectual Being and as all his Works bespeak him so so doth this consideration of his Perfection necessarily evidence it for otherwise he should not be Perfect because an Intellectual Being is a more Perfect Being than that which is not so And this Understanding of the First Cause is commensurate to his Essence viz. Infinite and Eternal whereby he perfectly seeth himself and all things else that are or can be in one Eternal Indivisible act And from hence riseth the Omniscience of the First Cause without which he could not be Perfect for if any thing that is or might be were hid from him then by the discovery of that to him he would receive a degree of Perfection that he had not before And this Knowledge hath a threefold Object 1. His own Essence which requires an Infinite Knowledge to comprehend it because an Infinite Essence 2. All things that are for his Knowledge being Infinite it must necessarily extend to all other things 3. All things that may be because otherwise upon a further act of his Power that should be a new extension of his Knowledge which stands not with his Perfection And all this with one Eternal Indivisible act not by Succession not by mediate representation Such Knowledge is too wonderful for me 5. From hence it follows that he is Ens Liberrimum though he be most necessarily what he is yet he is free first for that the Freedom in agency is a degree of Perfection above a necessary agent and therefore this Liberty must of necessity be attributed to the First Cause Again it is impossible but that the First Cause must be a Free Agent for whatsoever works necessarily hath that necessity put upon it by somewhat without it which is inconsistent with the First Cause for if any thing else did put that necessity of working in him then that which imposeth that necessity was the First Cause Again every Necessary Agent omnibus aequè dispositis works uniformly now nothing was as equally disposed to become something from Eternity as at the first production of any thing the motion from not being to a being being the adequate effect of the First Cause therefore if there were not a Freedom in the First Cause the first Effect had been as ancient as the First Being Therefore we must necessarily affirm concerning the First Being that he is Ens Liberrimum Voluntarium and that according to his Will he worketh 6. From hence it follows that he is Ens summè Bonum Concerning this Goodness of God we affirm 1. That it is an Essential Goodness and his Goodness is not any thing divided from his Essence for that is
exigence which desires it and to unite it self to it All these do infallibly evidence the Goodness of the First Being communicated to the second Being for who put into the Creature a Motion or desire to unite it self to that which might supply its want who framed a proportionable Good to that Vacuity and desire who placed that Activity in any thing to let out and unite that Goodness that is in it to that desire and Vacuity the very warmth of our Cloaths the nutriment of our bodies do bespeak an Infinite Rational Communicative Goodness that defined these correspondencies and hath taught the creatures those mutual motions for their own and each others Good while they themselves know not what or why they do it 7. From the former considerations it follows most evidently that he is most Just and that it is impossible he can be otherwise and this as it necessarily results from the admission of his Goodness for Justice is nothing else but Goodness in a rational Being indued with Will so it flows from this consideration that he is the First Cause of all things Nothing can be said Vnjust which is not contrary to the prohibition of some Law given by something that can exact obedience to it Nothing can give the First Being a Law or Rule but his own will and consequently he can do nothing but what is most Just because it is impossible that any thing else can be a Rule of Justice but himself not any thing without him for then he were not the First Being not his creature for over that he hath a most supream and absolute dominion How can that which receives his being his subsistence his rules of Justice from the First Being prescribe a rule to him by whom it is or exact the performance of it So that nothing can be the rule of Justice to him but his own will and therefore what he wills cannot be but Just because he wills it and as it is impossible for him to act but what he wills so it is impossible for him to will but what is Just because his will is the only rule of his Justice and though ex natura rei he might have willed what he doth not will yet that which he had so willed had been just yet de facto the act of his will being Eternal and immutable it is impossible any unjust thing should be done by him because impossible he should do contrary to his own will which is the only measure and rule of Justice And from this we may clearly evidence 1. That there is a most absolute unlimited Dominion and Power in the First Cause over its Effects and he is bound unto it by no other obligation but his own Will which though it doth manifest it self in all Mercy and Tenderness and Goodness and Wisdom towards it yet it is only because it is his Good will so to do 2. That therefore whatsoever Rule or Law the First Cause doth prescribe to his creature that is capable of a Law it ought unquestionably to be submitted unto for what soever he wills must needs be just inasmuch as there is no measure of Justice or Injustice but his will although we are not to look upon any thing required by the First Cause but flowing from a most Wise as well as a most absolute Will and so holding a proportion with the ability of that creature from whom it is required 3. From hence we find where is the Original of all Justice in the World it must all be resolved into that will of the First Cause and that in a double respect 1. In respect of Conformity for were there no precise Law given to rational creatures it is true there could be no Obligation yet a Conformity in the actions of rational creatures to the similar actions of the First Cause towards his Creature would be Comely and Just in a rational Creature and questionless as the irrational Creatures have certain Instincts planted in them by their first creation which though they are not properly Laws but Inclinations to Man as he came out of the hands of his Maker with the impression of his Image upon him had some conformity to the supream Justice without any reference to any Command which is not clean lost but even in Men without education doth strangely manifest it self in divers particulars 2 In respect of Obligation for there can be nothing imaginably Unjust without these two considerations viz. 1. A Law commanding or forbidding a thing under a pain whatsoever falls not within the command or Prohibition is permitted and cannot be unjust 2. A Power to exact an Obedience to that Law and to inflict the punishment that follows upon the breach of this Law. Otherwise the Law were ridiculous and vain Now as to the first without all question the First Cause in the first creation of reasonable creatures did by what way we know not give him a Law whereby he should live and which he traduced to his posterity as the Commands of the First Cause though in succession of time those grew weaker and corrupter every day than other These are those Jura Naturalia which have an influence into all the Laws of Men as to worship God to keep our Promises c. and when we come so far as to be perswaded that they are the Laws of God then it binds in a fear to offend because thereby we become liable to punishment which we are sure he hath Power and Right to inflict his Power being universal and unavoidable and his Right and Dominion over his creature absolute and uncontrolable Thus we find a plain Obligation in those Laws that are given by the First Cause and consequently admitting such a Law we have a clear Rule whereby to measure what 's Just and what 's Unjust and when I can resolve any thing into the Command or Prohibition of this Law I find my self bound in Conscience viz. under pain of Guilt to obey If I enter into a society and agree to be bound by the Laws that the greater number of that Society makes they make a Law here be now but two things that can bind me to observe this Law and consequently to denominate my disobedience thereunto Unjustice viz. The Power of the Society but that is but a thing extrinsecal I may avoid their power and then I am absolved and if external power were enough to denominate my disobedience Unjustice then if I could procure a power to overmatch theirs their obedience to their own Law were injustice The Promise and agreement to submit to that Law so made but what is that that binds me to keep my promise if nothing binds me to it then is not my disobedience any Unjustice for the obligation of the Law is resolved into my agreement and if nothing above me bind me to keep my agreement I have no obligation at all upon me therefore the Dominion Power and Justice of the First Cause is the only Bond
whereby we are bound and whereunto all Humane Justice is to be resolved both in point of Conformity as to its Pattern and Obligation as to its Law. But how these Laws were at first given to Man whether by a formal Command or whether by an immediate Impression in the understanding and will or whether by an implanted Propension or inclination in the will or partly by one partly by another it is not easy to determine Sed vide infra But what ever way it was it is impossible to have any notion or imagination of just or unjust among Men without resolving it in its original into the Rule or Law that was given to Men by the First Cause of our being 9. From the consideration of the First Cause and of the premisses it must needs follow that he is Immutable for Mutability is inconsistent 1. With his Perfection It is impossible that a Pure Act can have any Change for all Change doth necessarily infer Passibility and Receptibility of what it had not before and to suppose that were to conclude he were not Actus Simplicissimus Perfectissimus for all Receptibility imports Potentiam or Passibilitatem 2. It is inconsistent with his Eternity for all Changes too of necessity suppose a Succession of Duration in the thing changed it is not to every intent the same simply that it was before it had that change which doth of necessity import Succession which is inconsistent with Eternity for whatsoever is Eternal hath no Succession and consequently whatsoever is affirmed of it at one instant must necessarily be affirmed of it Eternally this cannot stand with any change for before that change that could not be affirmed of him which might be affirmed after if it should be admitted 3. It is inconsistent with his Simplicity Some things have accidental changes which yet in Essence continue the same as from ignorance to knowledge from one colour to another but such accidental changes cannot be in that which is Ens Simplicissimum because there can be nothing in him which is not his Essence 4. It is inconsistent with his Infinitude for to whatsoever any thing can be added that it had not before that cannot be Infinite because still capable of a farther accession And as this Immutability is affirmed of the First Cause in point of his Essence and Nature so in some respects it is concerning his Acts. These are of two kinds viz. the Immanent Acts such are the Acts of his understanding and Will and these are Immutable as well as his Essence for indeed they are but notionally divided from it In us our Will is one thing and our willing another but that is inconsistent with the Simplicity of the First Cause hence it is that as his Essence so his Will is immutable he wills nothing now but what he ever willed and understood from Eternity what he now knows for Eternity hath neither now nor then in it 2. The Emanant Acts those are nothing else but the Execution of that Immutable Will these are subject to mutation but without the least mutation either in the Essence or will of the First Cause 1. Not in his Essence It is true here is a new relation that was not before for when the First Being produced an Effect it is true the Relation of a Cause and an Effect is now produced which was not before and so when more Effects are produced the Relations are multiplied but Relations breed no Change at all in the subject concerning whom they are affirmed the being was the same before it put forth it self in a causation as it was before it doth of necessity import a change in the thing effected viz. a motion à non esse simpliciter or à non esse tale but not in the Cause which had an absolute being before though not actually as a Cause before 2. Not in his Will. It is true when any Effect is produced that was not before here is an execution of what was not before but the will of that to be then was from all Eternity Again when a being is either changed or annihilated that is not by a Change of the will in the First Cause but only in the term or execution of that Will for by the same indivisible and eternal act of his Will he willed this or that to be made and after to be annihilated in time the Change is in the terminus or execution of his Will not in the Will or the Immanent Act of it But how can we then conceive that there should be one Immutable Act of his Will when a thing is past How can he be said to will that which is already executed and past For which we must return to what hath been said viz. that past and to come are but the measure of Successive Motions and therefore though they are applicable to them yet they are not applicable to an Indivisible Being or Act the measures of successive motion do not fit Eternity which though it be a Duration that consists with the Successive Motion and Duration of the Creature yet it holds no proportion with it The Motion of the Heavens though 10000 times swifter than the motion of a Tortois have yet a proportion one to another because both successive and so Time measures both But the Duration of the First Cause is the Duration of an Indivisible Being and consequently holds not proportion with Succession And hence it is that it is but our gross conception that do imagine any part of Eternity past or any part to come or that Time doth divide the fore part of Eternity from the future part of Eternity It is an indivisible permanent Duration nothing past nothing future but the same fixed instant consequently the Act of the Divine will always one always present This Knowledge is too wonderful for me CHAP. II. Of the Works of God of Creation and Providence THUS far have we proceeded in those inquiries which rectified Reason suggests to us concerning the Nature of the First Cause Now we consider the Emanant Acts of his Will and Power upon things without him for from this consideration that he is the First Being it likewise follows that All things besides him must needs have their being and subsistence from him This falls into these two Conclusions 1. That all thing besides himself have their being from him 2. That all things are directed and governed unto their several Ends by him Touching the former viz. That all things besides him have their original being from him that is a necessary consequent of the admission of a First being for whatsoever is not first there was a time when it was not for otherwise it must be eternal the contrary whereof is before evidenced That then which once was not and now is and consequently had a beginning of its being could not have it from it self for nothing hath a power or activity of it self to produce any thing therefore that second being must needs
Principles concerning other matters yet in matters of Religion the differences have ever been wonderful The reason is not only from the defect of our Understanding but likewise from the nature of the Object which falls not easily within the reach of those Mediums whereby the understanding arrives to the attainment of other Truths and therefore stands in need of some extrinsecal help to set him right in this It is true that the great points of Religion viz. the knowledge that there is a God and some things concerning his Essence that he is the Cause of all things that he made all things for his own End and those other things before mentioned may be acquired by the Light of Nature and Reason yet such is the heighth and remoteness of the Subject that it requires much Industry and Consideration to carry us step by step unto this heighth But when we have arrived to this which few attain unto yet there is so much confusion in these Notions and they are so far fetcht that they make not that clear impression upon the Understanding as is fit But admit they did yet we are still to seek what is that Rule whereby to lead us to attain to our great End and this we rove at In the ways of the Children of Men concerning Religion we may observe these Several steps of Ignorance 1. An Ignorance whether there be any God or no This is the grossest Ignorance because it is against the first and most universal Principle for the affirmation of the being of any thing is the first foundation whereupon every Inquiry is built this is Atheism and meer Brutishness 2. When a Man hath once stated that question affirmatively That there is some Superior Power the next question and the next step of Man's Ignorance is concerning the Nature of this God What he is Whether one or more Whether visible and if so What visible c. This though it may by natural Reason be stated very far as appears before and so this Ignorance receive a cure in a great measure yet so far are our Intellectuals darkened in this matter that Men are hardly set right in this And hence grew those strange varieties of Gods in the World this is the cause of Idolatry and Polytheism 3. When a Man is rightly Principle'd concerning God and consequently concludes that he is the Cause of all things the next special question is Whether God hath given to every thing his several End and Rule or Law conducing to that End and consequently Whether he hath appointed to Man any End and Rule conducing to that End different from other Creatures or Whether he be left to do as he pleaseth and not confined by the Will of God to some End and Rule conducing to it the Ignorance of this is the Cause of Supineness Epicurism Impiety and professed Injustice 4. When a Man finding that God is a free and intellectual Agent and sees as he may by natural Reason every thing ordered to a suitable End to his Being and by a suitable Means or Rule conducing to that End and finds a higher degree of being in himself than in other Creatures and consequently an higher End and consequently an higher Rule conducing to that End he doth most naturally resolve this Rule into that Law which by the Will of God is given to Man conducing to that End the Subject of which Rule must be all his Internal and External Actions both in reference to God to himself and to others but here then is the next question and the next degree of Ignorance in Men viz. What that Law or Will of God is concerning Man and from hence grow those Varieties and Errors in Worship of God. And though haply most Men knowing the true God may by the same Light of Nature concur in the general and fundamentals of Worship viz. That God is to be feared with all Reverence loved with all intention obey'd with all sincerity chearfulness and exactness all which are but natural conclusions from the Nature of God the Nature of Man and the Relation that he beareth to God as his Creator Lord and Preserver yet because we know not what that Will of God particularly is we frame several ways and Rules of Worship according as our several Fancies perswade us to be agreeable to that Will which are either unnecessary and superstructive or erroneous and offensive and which is the most dangerous Ingredient conclude both his own way necessary and the other dangerously Erroneous These Defects in the Understanding must needs be the cause of much Error and Obliquity in the whole Man and his Actions And these defects are most clearly visible in the whole World nay in the most knowing Climates Times and Persons thereof In the last part concerning the Worship of God we see several sorts of Men highly opinionated concerning their own particular Way or Worship and most Magisterially condemning the way of others as bad as Paganism when it may fall out and so for the most part it doth that what is superadded beyond the plain and sincere Fear of God Subjection to his Will Thankfulness for his Mercy Belief of the great Means he hath provided for our Salvation and those other grand Principles whereof before and anon are but meer Superstructions of Humane Invention Ignorance Imbecility or Policy and yet made the greatest part of the business and inquiries and differences among Men in matters of this Nature 2. In the Will we find several Defects 1. Those that are consequential to the Ignorance or darkness or impotence of the Understanding whose Decisions doth or should preceed the act of the Will Were the Understanding truly principle'd with the knowledge of God of his Perfection Power and Will with the knowledge of our selves our Nature and the Dependence we have upon him in our being and continuance those practical Conclusions that would most clearly and necessarily arise from these viz. of Love to his Majesty Fear of Offending Care to conform to his Will Dependance upon him Thankfulness to him Contentedness and Chearfulness in him Valuation of the World according to its true Estimate c. would most effectually follow in the Will and those Affections that are subservient to it and consequently in the Life and Actions of Men one Divine Principle soundly and clearly seated in the Understanding would improve it self into infinite practical deductions for the regulation of the Will But where these are wanting the motions of the Will must needs be excentrick But where they are but weakly and doubtfully received in the Understanding the operation of the Understanding upon them is but weak the inclinations in the Will weaker and easily overmatcht with the least difficulty and seldom arrive to action or constancy in the life for according to the measure and intention and clearness of the Conviction of the Understanding concerning any Object the more fruitful rational and powerful are those practical Conclusions deduced from it and
without any actual Causality upon the things These though they are not so much as accidentally differing in God yet in our Apprehensions there is a difference so that we conclude there is not only a Prescience in God of all things that shall or may be Known unto the Lord are all his Works from the beginning but likewise a Predetermination by his Divine Will of all things that shall be and of the several means conducing to it And this Counsel of God is in truth the supream Cause of all things for as that Power whereby all things do move themselves or other things is put into them by the great maker of all things by the mere and immediate act of his Will as hath been before observed so the managing of all these several Powers to the production of the several things in the World is the act of the same Will of God they move in their several Series according to that Counsel of the great God of Heaven Now this Counsel of God is represented to us in the Scripture under these several qualifications 1. An Eternal Counsel 2. An Immutable Counsel 3. A Free Counsel 4. A Wise Counsel 5. An Active and Irresistible Counsel 6. An Universal Counsel 1. It is an Eternal Counsel a Purpose and Counsel before the Foundation of the World the indivisible and unsuccessive act of his Will. It is true the Counsels of Men as their Conceptions are successive one consideration supplying the defect or imperfection of the former and oftentimes the Counsels of Men are taken up pro re nata principally because they have not either the power to manage all the Emergencies and Ingredients into an Action according to their own Wills nor to foresee those Accidents that might enervate or impede the fruit of his Counsels but the Will of God is the Cause of all things and therefore as nothing can have a Being without his Will so nothing can impede or hinder the Counsel of his Will. 2. From hence it follows that it is an Immutable Counsel otherwise it cannot be Eternal for what began to be otherwise than it was before cannot be Eternal The Change of Counsels and Purposes among Men arise from one of these Causes either from an intrinsecal Unsetledness and Unconstancy which is their imperfection or from some extrinsecal Emergency which either was not forâ—seen or cannot be mastered but neither of these can fall upon God. It is true what he wills he wills freely and therefore ex natura rei he might not have willed it yet what he wills he wills from all Eternity with him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning I the Lord change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed And as there is no ground of change in himself so neither is there any possibility of change from any thing without him because the same Act of his Will which is his Counsel is the cause and measure of the being of all things and therefore it can no more hinder or alter his Counsel than it can give it self a Being against his Will. But because there be some things that owe not their Formality to the Counsel of God as Sin which how far it falls within the Counsels of God shall be hereafter considered yet that cannot any way elude the Counsel of God as shall be hereafter shewn Therefore those several passages in holy Scripture that tell us that God repented of Evil when Man repented of Sin Joel 2.14 Jonah 3.4 are not to be understood of the Nature or Counsels of God for in that respect Balaam spoke a Truth of God Numb 23.19 God is not a Man that he should lye nor the Son of Man that he should repent For the same Counsel of God which appointed Jonah to be the Instrument of Nineveh's Repentance ordained likewise their turning upon that preaching and ordered the diversion of that Judgment which the same Counsel had ordered to be imminent but not executed But because there was the execution of such a real change which in Man is ordinarily the effect of a change of purpose or repenting therefore it is called a Repenting yet the very same Counsel that appointed the denunciation of an imminent Judgment appointed their repenting upon that denunciation and that diversion upon that repenting 3. It is a Free Counsel it is nothing else but the act of the Will of God. It is true the determination of that Will imposeth a necessity of the existence of the thing willed yet the determination it self was an act of the freest Agents This excludeth any Stoical Necessity 4. It is a most Wise Counsel And this is evident even in the lowest and most inconsiderable execution of this Counsel and therefore Isa 28.29 the dispensation of this Counsel of God even in the sowing and threshing of Fitches concludes this also cometh forth from the Lord who is wonderful in Counsel and excellent in working This Wisdom is eminent in this 1. In that it doth not only predetermine the End or Event but likewise all those Means that are conducible to the bringing to pass of this End. It is true God by an act of his Power might and sometimes doth per saltum bring to pass his own Purpose by his own immediate Power but this is not the ordinary course of the execution of his Counsel but produceth the End Decreed by Decreed Means Acts 27. Paul's dangerous Voyage is predetermined to end in a safe Arrival Verse 24. Yet Verse 31. Except these Men abide in the Ship ye cannot be saved This Perswasion of Paul's becomes prevalent and they stay The Counsel of God that determined the Ship 's safe arrival predetermined the stay of the Men in the Ship to be the means of that safety and the perswasion of Paul to be the means of their stay Here is the Link of God's Counsel coupling the Event to his Purpose with subordinate and purposed Means When I see a Counsel of God discovered that had not its compleat Execution in many hundreds of years after and observe how many thousands of strange connexions of Accidents do intervene between the Counsel discovered and the Execution of it although till the execution the event seems as unlegible as any thing in the World nay oftentimes these Antecedents that seem most probable of any to the producing of the expected Event with a contrary wind quite driven off and blasted yet when after all these several Meanders of Successes I see the Effect come to pass even by most improbable and accidental Means I must needs acknowledge this seeming Confusion is methodically managed by the same Counsel that predetermined the End I must conclude as the Wise Man doth in another case Eccles 7.14 God hath set the one over against the other to the End that Man should find nothing after him Let us consider it in the great Business of our Redemption by Christ God in his Eternal Counsel had appointed Man to be partaker of
in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 1.13 Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus Gal. 5.5 For we through the Spirit wait for the Hope of Righteousness by Faith for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing noâ— uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love 1 Cor. 13.13 Now abideth Faith Hope and Love c. But of these distinctly and how any or all of these do either unite or move us unto Union with our Saviour 1. Faith which is taken in a double sense 1. For that firm and sound Assent of the Mind to Divine Truths wrote by the Spirit of God and so differs little or nothing from supernatural Knowledge and thus Heb. 11.1 Faith is the evidence of things not seen and hath for its Objects all Divine Truths And as Christ dwells in our Hearts by Faith thus taken Ephes 3.17 so other Truths dwell in the Heart by this Faith viz. objectively so that Faith thus taken is more properly an act upon the Soul than an act of it for in our Assent to any Truth our Soul is in truth passive the strength of the Conviction conquers the Soul. 2. For that motion of the Soul whereby it rests casts and adventures it self upon the Promises of God in Christ for Remission and Salvation and so differs from the former in these three respects 1. In the Latitude of its Object it is more restrained than the former 2. In the Order of its Being it is subsequent in the Order of Nature to the former and produced by it 3. In the Manner of its working In the work of supernatural Knowledge or Assent the Soul is passive in this though it be the work of God yet the Soul is more active As the Sun when it shines upon a solid Body doth cause a reflection of his own beaâ—s so when the Light of Grace falls upon the Heart in this special act of Faith as in that or Love there is a reflection from the Soul back to God. And therefore those Expressions of Faith in the Scripture import a motion in the Soul Christ comes into the Soul by his Light and Spirit and the Soul again comes to Christ Joh. 6.45 He that hath learned of the Father cometh unto me As Christ abides in the Heart by the former act of Faith so by this latter the Soul abides and incorporates into him and both these we have joyned together John 15.4 Abide in me and I in you Now this act of the Soul is the most natural result upon the true discovery of a Man 's own Condition God's promise and Christ's mediation unto the Soul. When a Man finds that the Sentence of Death is passed upon him that nevertheless God in infinite Love and Mercy hath sent his Son to be his Satisfaction and Righteousness and hath promised and proclaimed by him and in him and only by him Peace and Reconciliation and that without exception of any person though laden with never so much guilt and sin and without any difficult Conditions Whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3.16 John 6.40 That he is appointed a Sacrifice by him whom we offended John 3.16 God so loved the world c. The Son of God and able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him Heb. 7.25 The most genuine and natural motion of the Soul in such a condition and thus convinced is Trust Affiance and Divolution of the Soul upon this Promise of God in Christ And it is an observable thing how the Wise and Merciful Providence of God hath ordered all things so that we might be even necessitated to the right way of our Salvation and to cast our selves upon it All were concluded under a common guilt by the voluntary offence of Adam Rom. 5.12 And if we could derive our Being from another then we might escape the Guilt and that Guilt brought with it Death in the World both eternal and temporal bound upon us by irreversible Sentence of an omnipotent God. But cannot I by my future obedience emerit this guilt No. What thou doest for the future is but thy Duty and thou canst not out-act it But grant thy future obedience might satisfie for the guilt under which thou liest thou shalt have the Copy of that Rule which I required from thee and once enabled thee to perform Do this and live But be sure thou do it without turning to the right hand or the left with thy whole Might and Mind and Soul without the least aversion and that out of the meer Principle of Love and Duty and Obedience and thy future observance may expiate that original guilt yet our Condition had been still dâ—sperate because as the Obedience was impossible so the least miscarriage had been fatal for cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them Gal. 3.10 So we find an universal Guilt and Curse gone over all and all this discovered to drive us to a Saviour Galat. 3.22 The Scripture hath concluded all under a sin that the promise by the â—aith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe We find a righteous Law given to our Nature but as the Obedience is unsatisfactory for a past Guilt so the Observance is become impossible by reason of our Corruption whereby our disobedience is rather excited than abated Rom. 7.8 When the commandment came sin revived and I died And all this still to drive us to the necessity of a Saviour Rom. 8.12 What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh Thus in the midst of all those difficulties a Saviour presents himself with the suffrage of God the attestation of Types and Prophecies with reconciliation of all the difficulties which perplexed our Inquiries with Ability to save to the uttermost with Mercy and Acceptation and Pardon and Righteousness and Happiness offered and proclaimed to all and that upon most unhazardable and easie terms only believe him and trust on him So then Faith is nothing else but that result of dependance upon and confidence in and adherence unto Christ which follows upon the sound Conviction of the Truth of God concerning him It is true the Faith of the Ancients differed much in the distinctness of its acting and object from the Faith which is now required as Abraham's Faith Caleb's Faith c. But in this they both agreed 1. That it was a Confidence and Trusting upon God in that which was revealed unto them by God. The Promises of a Son was made to Abraham and he rested upon God for the performance The Promise of Canaan to the Jews and Caleb and the believing Jews rested upon the Power and Truth of God to perform it So with us God hath promised Mercy
and consequently the Life to the Will of God the Mind of Christ for the same Spirit of Christ which dwells in Christ our Head dwells likewise in those that are the Members of the same Body and as the oneness of the Soul in Man makes that oneness of motion in all the Body and that Conformity that is in all its motions to the mind of the Soul so that oneness of the Spirit in Christ and his Members makes that Conformity of the Members of Christ unto the Mind and Will of Christ which is the uncreated Image of God This is Regeneration the birth of the Spirit the forming of Christ in us the Sanctification of the Spirit 2 Thes 2.13 2. That whereof before is spoken Love unto God which is always the Soul of all true Obedience The Soul finds the Goodness and Rectitude and Beauty of God and of all his Commands and therefore out of a Judicial Love it is sensible of the ingagement that it ows to God and therefore out of Gratitude it will as far as the strength of the Soul can reach obey the Commands which are so Righteous of her God that is so Gracious It finds that it was the Purpose of God he created us unto good Works Ephes 2.10 that as many as are in Christ ought to walk as he walked 1 John 2.5 That the Son of God died to destroy the works of the Devil 1 John 3.8 to purifie unto himself a People zealous of Good Works Tit. 2.14 That Christ hath ordained that his Disciples should bring forth Fruit John 15.16 That for this cause Christ died c. that from thenceforth they that live should not live unto themselves c. 2 Cor. 5.15 Now the true Love of God makes the Will of God to be his Will and the Glory of God his End if there were no Beauty in the thing commanded yet shall I dispute his Will that hath redeemed me shall I go about to disappoint him in the End of his Death for me ordinary Reason teacheth me to subscribe and yield Obedience to the Commands of God for they are all most Wise and most Just Commands and though I see not the Wisdom Usefulness and Justice of them yet the same Truth that tells me his ways are unsearchable and past finding out teacheth me to obey when I discern the Authority though not the Reason of the Command But if it were not so suppose I could be a loser by my Obedience I cannot lose so much as I have freely received from him that commands me When Abraham received a Son from the Goodness of God and God required him again Abraham obeys though his Obedience had left him as Childless as the Promise found him But the greatest Command that I can receive from my Saviour cannot return me to so bad a Condition as his Pity and Mercy found me in If he require my Riches my Liberty my Life yet he leaves me somewhat which without his Goodness I had lost and doth more than countervail all my other Losses even my Everlasting Soul When he requires these of me he pays me interest for them Matth. 19.29 But if he did not yet the Price of my Soul in ordinary Gratitude may deserve the life of my Body for what can a Man give in Exchange for his Soul Matth. 16 26. CHAP. XIII Concerning the putting off the Old Man and 1. What it is NOW concerning the putting off the Old Man two things are considerable 1. What this Old Man is 2. How we must put him off For the former it is nothing but that Ataxy Disorder and Corruption which by sin did fall upon our Nature It is not our Nature in its essentials for that is still good but the absence of the Goodness and Perfection of the reasonable Soul which consisted in the Conformity to the Will of God which is the Beauty and Perfection of every thing And from this disorder in the Soul proceeds the disorder in the Life and Actions And this Old Man hath a double strength and advantage uâ—on us 1. In it self the Corruption and Disorder is so universal that the whole Soul is bound under it it hath no supplies of its own to rescue it self for they are all corrupted it is therefore called a Dominion of Sin Rom. 6.12 a body of death Rom. 7.24 a Law of Sin bringing the Soul into captivity Rom. 7.23 2. Accidentally the Prince of the Power of the Air taking advantage of this confusion and disorder of the Soul gets as it were into it and so worketh in the children of disobedience Ephes 2.2 inhabits it as his Castle and useth the Faculties of the Soul as the Weapons wherein he trusteth became a Ruler of Darkness in the Soul Eph. 6.12 Is Judas covetous the Devil gets into that covetousness and acts it even unto the betraying of the Lord of Life Luke 22.3 Is Peter lifted up upon his Master's atâ—estation of his Confession the Devil gets into that Pride and he becomes a tempter of our Redeemer Matth. 6.23 Is a Man immoderately angry the Devil gets into that Anger and will turn it into Malice Ephes 4.27 The Prince of the World could get no advantage upon our Redeemer he had nothing in him John 14.30 but so much of the Old Man as remains in us such a party hath the Devil in us to entertain nourish and actuate his temptations We shall therefore consider wherein this Corruptition or Deficiency in our Soul consists It is in every part and faculty of the whole Man as may evidently appear by tne enumeration of particulars 1. In the Vnderstanding there wants Light Rom. 1.21 Their foolish heart was darkened Ephes 4.18 And from hence the imaginations become vain Rom. 1.21 and not only vain but evil and continually evil Gen. 6.5 pursues unprofitable Curiosities Acts 19.19 Lusts of the Mind Ephes 2.3 Fables and impertinent Questions Tit. 3.9 1 Tim. 1.4 vain deceit Colos 2.8 It wants a capacity to discern things of greatest concernment 1 Cor. 2.14 the best habits of the Understanding are corrupt The Wisdom of the World is not only Foolishness 1 Cor. 3.19 but Enmity to God is earthly sensual devilish James 3.15 These and the like are the Old Man in the Understanding for the Light being either out or dim the actings of the Understanding are irregular and it is one of the great works of Christ in our renovation to give us the Spirit of a sound Mind 2 Tim. 1.17 2. In the Conscience This is the tenderest part of the Soul the receptacle of that Light and Authority of God which he hath left in us to be our Monitor and his Vicegerent Rom. 2.15 And yet the Old Man hath mastered and corrupted this also puts it awry or out 1 Tim. 1.19 defiles the Mind and Conscience Tit. 1.15 sears the Conscience so that it is insensible and past feeling Ephes 4.19 And if the Conscience be so vigorous as not to be stifled by means of this
the two latter for his love to himself makes him love all things else in order meerly to himself and so far forth only as is conducible to his own mistaken good so that God shall be no longer loved served or obeyed than he is subservient to that End. Now it is easie from this Consideration to see the Original of most of the Evil in the World whether it relates to God to Men or to a Man's self From this Original grows the very Hatred of God. This distemper wrought by sin in our Souls hath not only deprived God of our chiefest Love which we justly owe to him and turned that Love into our selves but hath made us haters of God by our corrupred Nature Rom. 1.30 He strengtheneth himself against the Almighty Job 25.25 that say unto God Depart from us Job 22.17 For having made himself his End he cannot chuse but be a hater of God upon a double ground 1. Because the Presence and Purity and Commands and Admonitions of God either by his Word or Conscience or the outward Dispensations of Providence do extreamly thwart that End which we pursue Hence grow the Blasphemies in the World Revel 16.21 Men blasphemed God because of the hail The Disappointment and Controll and Interruption that Men have in the pursuit of their Ends do make them hate the Presence the Word the very Being of God himself because they take it to be a hinderance of their End and their Happiness 2. The Soul that was once united to God is by sin gone a whoring from him and hath taken up another End yet God in Mercy still perswades the Soul to return Turn O back-sliding Children saith the Lord for I am married unto you Jer. 3. The skill of the enemy of God within us is as much as may be to divert the access of such perswasions to the Soul or the Entertainment of them lest thereby he should be dispossess'd and therefore as Ahitophel to Absolom to secure his Party with impossibility of reconciliation to his Father perswades him to the highest Villany that so he might be abhorred of his Father 2 Sam. 16.21 so the Devil and Sin in us ingage the Soul in the greatest Villanies and Blasphemies against God that so the Soul abhorring God may be abhorred of him Thus Sin taking occasion by the Command works in the Soul all manner of Concupiscence Rom. 7.6 From hence likewise proceeds the Slavish Fear of God. We have shewen before that all Love of God is accompanied with the Fear of God but this Fear is without the Love of God but proceeds from Love to our selves as a Man fears that which he doubts will be destructive to that which he makes his End. When God sent Lions among the captive Israelites it is said they feared the Lord and served their own gods 2 Kings 17.33 their fear and their Love was divided From hence proceeds Atheism it self for it begins in the Affection not in the Understanding The desire of that not to be which the corrupted Soul conceives an impediment or check to the prosecution of his supream End is that which at length breeds a half perswasion in the Understanding that that which he desires should not be indeed is not From hence proceed Idolatries and misapprehensions of God. When we will not frame our selves to God we endeavour to frame him to our selves thou thoughtest I was such an one at thou art And from this cause are all those will-will-worships contrary to the Command of God. Did our chiefest Love settle upon God our Obedience would be Universal but especially in this matter of his worship but when we make our selves our Ends we measure him out such a Worship as may best please our selves and suit with our own Contentment From hence proceeds Hypocrisie a Form of Godliness without the power thereof 2 Tim. 3.5 The Power of Godliness which is nothing else but the entire and intense Love of God cannot consist with that End a Man hath chosen viz. himself yet the shape and form of it according as the occasion is is conducible to his Ease Greatness or Preferment so the same self-love puts on the shadow and rejects the substance In matters relative to others From this making a Man's self his End proceed all the acts and habits of Injustice Oppression Cruelty Malice Envy that is in the World because he that makes himself his End doth with all vigor pursue that which he conceives good for himself and if he meet with any obstacle or fear of an obstacle from another it engageth per fas nefas the ruine of that which he finds so hindring him for all these Acts proceed from the Love of himself In reference to a Man's self He that makes himself his own End is subservient unto himself to the uttermost in the pursuit and enjoyment of all those things which may please and content himself according to the varieties of Constitutions Ages and Circumstances If it be in the Lusts of the Flesh it will teach him to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Rom. 13.14 It will put him upon studies and inquiries and pursuits of unnatural impurities Rom. 1.26 it will make him give himself over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness Ephes 4.19 because what a Man makes his chiefest End he strives by all means to please in whatsoever way it discovers its delight or acceptation If it be in Luxury and delights in Meat and Drink it will make a Man to serve his Belly Rom. 16.18 It will make a Man's Belly his God Phil. 3.19 A Man making himself his End observes which way the vein of his mind and delight runs he doth serve that affection or delight with the same intenseness of pursuit as if it were his God for what a Man makes his End he makes his God. If it be in the Lust of the Eyes after Wealth or Possessions a Man pursues that with the same violence as a Heart well set pursues after God There shall nothing stand in his way neither the Command of God nor Lives nor Laws nor Justice nor Reputation nor a Man 's own quiet ease health life For Self hath discovered her self in this desire and he doth pursue the satisfaction of it as the first-born of his End. The like for the Pride of Life Ambition c. And from hence grows the Pride of the Heart of Man. Every Man that makes not God his Chiefest Good and highest End makes himself so But this Self discovers it self according to varieties of Constitutions and Circumstances Self in one Man is his Lust in another his Wealth in another his Honour Power and Command in another Wit Learning Policy And these he pursues as the first-born of his End And such as is his earnestness in the pursuit such is his fulness and contentedness when he enjoys or thinks he enjoys it and that especially in those pursuits that are less bruitish makes the Man