Son MOses in the second Chapter of Genesis thus relates the Marriage of the first Man The great Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof And the rib which the Lord God had taken from Man made he a Woman and brought her unto the Man And Adam said This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man Therefore shall a Man leave his Father and his Mother and cleave unto his Wife and they shall be one flesh St. Paul assures us that this Carnal Marriage is a great Mystery that it is the Figure of the Spiritual Marriage of J. C. with his Church and also that married persons ought to conform themselves to J. C. and his Church in the Duties which they are to pay to one another See his words in the Epistle to the Ephesians Chap. V. Wives submit your selves unto your own Husbands as unto the Lord. For the Husband is the Head of the Wife even as Christ is the Head of the Church and he is the Saviour of the Body Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ so let the Wives be to their own Husbands in every thing Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the Word That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish So ought Men to love their Wives as their own Bodies he that loveth his Wife loveth himself For no Man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord the Church For we are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones For this cause shall a Man leave his Father and Mother and shall be joyned unto his Wife and they two shall be one flesh This is a great Mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the Church We are the Members of the Body of J. C. formed of his Flesh and of his Bone as Eve was of Adam The Man shall leave Father and Mother and be joyned to his Wife and with her shall make but one Body This is a great Mystery and I explain it of J. C. and his Church * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacramentum hoc magnum est ego autem dico in Christo in Ecclesia The Letter which kills because it does not raise the Mind up towards him who only gives Life applies that solely to the first Adam which is said chiefly to figure the second But St. Paul inspired with the same Spirit that Moses was clearly explain'd the Mystery which the other had only darkly proposed He assures us that what seems to have been written of the first Man and the first Woman ought to be understood of J. C. and his Church The first Marriage is a great Secret for it figures the greatest of our Mysteries the Eternal Covenant betwixt J. C. and his Church a Secret hid in God from all eternity and revealed to Men in the fulness of times This is the Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Generations but is now made manifest to his Saints To whom God would make known what is the Riches of the Glory of this Mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory Col. I. 26 27. I confess that ordinary Marriages are indissoluble that married persons leave their Father and Mother and make together one strict Society and one Body but these words of the first Man Wherefore Man shall leave Father and Mother may be applied to them for J. C. proves by the same words that the Husband ought not to forsake his Wife because it is God who has joyned them together But I maintain that God has joyned them to figure the greatest of our Mysteries that Marriages cannot be broken because J. C. will never forsake his Church of which he is the Spouse that the Marriage of Christians is a * Because it figures Jesus C. it may be called a SACRAMENT in the large unrestrain'd Sense but not according to the strict and limited Sense of the Word as it signifies an Outward Visible sign which not only signifies but dispences Grace Sacrament which dispenses Grace to those who are contracted because it figures J. C. who communicates Spirit and Fruitfulness to his Church In a word that the first Marriage and all which have been since are transient figures of the eternal and indissoluble Marriage of J. C. with Men. Now the first Marriage was celebrated before Sin God cast Adam into an ecstatical and mysterious sleep he formed out of one of his sides or to speak as the Scripture he built up his Wise which he designed to give him he inspired into him words prophetical of J. C. and as yet Adam had not sinned for doubtless all that the Scripture relates concerning the first Man before his sin doth much more sensibly and expresly represent J. C. than that which is written of him after his fall Doth not this shew that J. C. and his Church is the first and chief of God's designs since 't is evident that the Figure must be for the sake of the Reality and not the Reality for the Figure When God created the first Man he made him according to his Image because he thought of him who is the Image of the invisible God he animated him with his Breath * Tertul. de Resurrect Carnis Cyril Alex. Thes p. 153. A. thanas Orat. 3. in Arianos because he then had the design of uniting his Word to our Nature which he foresaw would become altogether earthly and carnal by sin he made him Lord of all Animals because he intended to subject all things to J. C. God by the sleep into which he cast the first Man express'd the death or sleep of his Son upon the Cross and by the Woman whom he drew out of his Flesh and his Bones the Spouse which J. C. received after he awoke or was risen and which he purchased by his Blood If Adam sinned it was not according to St. Paul because he was tempted but through his fondness to his Wife 1 Tim. II. 14. J. C. likewise was not subject to sin and if he was made sin as the Scripture speaks 2 Cor. 5.21 it was in love to his Church If Adam sinned and communicated his sin to all his Posterity he is even in this tho in a contrary sence the figure of J. C. who only dispences Grace to Men. Where fore as by one Man Sin entered into the World and Death by Sin Rom. 5.12.14 and Death passed upon all Men. Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them who had not sinned after Adam's transgression who is the * 〈◊〉
conscious that his will is efficacious he perfectly knows without making any tryal of his strength whatsoever he is able to do Thus Scripture and Reason teach us that it is by Jesus Christ that the world subsists and that it is by the dignity of this divine person that it receives a beauty which renders it agreeable in the sight of God XXVIII It follows in my opinion from this principle that Jesus Christ is the Model or Pattern by which we are made that we are form'd according to his Image and likeness and that we have nothing beautiful but so far as we are his representations and figures that he is the end of the Law and the finishing of the Jewish Ceremonies and Sacrifices that till this succession of generations which preceded his birth had an end it was necessary they shou'd have had certain relations to him by which they were made more agreeable to God than any others That since Jesus Christ was to be the Head and Spouse of the Church to represent him all men were to proceed from one and their propagation to begin after that manner which Moses relates and St. Paul explains In a word it follows from this principle that the present world ought to be the figure of the future and that as far as the simplicity of the general Laws will permit it all they who have or shall dwell therein have been or shall be figures and resemblances of Gods only Son from Abel in whom he was sacrificed to the last Member that shall be of his Church XXIX We may judge of the perfection of a Work by the conformity there is betwixt this work and the Idea which the eternal wisdom gives us of it For there is nothing Beautiful nothing Amiable but by relation to the essential necessary and independent beauty Now this intelligible beauty being made sensible became also in this estate the rule of beauty and perfection Thus all Corporeal Creatures must still receive from him their Beauty and Splendor All minds must have the same thoughts and the same inclinations with the soul of Jesus if they would be agreeable to those who see nothing Beautiful nothing Amiable but that which is conformable to Wisdom and Truth Since then we are obliged to believe that the work of God has a perfect conformity with the eternal Wisdom we have all reason to believe that the same work has infinite relations to him who is the Head the principle the model and the end thereof But who can explain all these relations XXX That which makes the Beauty of a Temple is the order and variety of the Ornaments which are there to be seen Thus to render the living Temple of the Majesty of God worthy of him who is to inhabit it proportion'd to the infinite wisdom love of its Author all Beauties ought to be found therein But it is not with the Glory and Magnificence of this Spiritual Temple as it is with the gross and sensible Ornaments of Material Temples That which makes the Beauty of the Spiritual Edifice of the Church is the infinite diversity of the Graces which he who is the Head thereof communnicates to all the parts that compose it it is the order and the admirable relations they have by him to one another it is the divers degrees of Glory which shine on all sides XXXI It follows from this principle that to establish this variety of rewards which compose the beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem it is necessary that men upon Earth shou'd be subject not only to afflictions which purisie them but also to the motions of Concupiscence which gives them opportunity of gaining so many Victories by engaging them in so great a number of different Combats XXXII The Blessed in Heaven will doubtless have an Holiness and variety of gifts which will perfectly answer the diversity of their good works These continual sacrifices by which the Old Man is destroyed and annihelated will Adorn and Beautifie the Spiritual substance of the New Man Luke XXIV 26. And if it became Jesus Christ himself to suffer all sorts of afflictions before he entred into his glory the sin of the first Man which brought the evils into the World which accompany Life and Death which follows it was necessary that men having been tryed upon Earth might justly be rewarded with that Glory the variety and order of which will make the beauty of the future World Additions The sin of the first Man was not necessary in it self God might without this sin have found a Thousand means to make the future Church as Beautiful as it shall be but since God acts always as wisely as is possible and according to the character of the divine attributes since he invincibly loves his Wisdom There cou'd be no such means for Men to Merit the Glory which one day they shall possess as that which suffers them to be ingulf'd in sin that mercy might be shewn to them all in Jesus Christ For the Glory which the Elect shall obtain by the Grace of Jesus Christ in resisting their Concupiscence will be greater and also more worthy of God than any other See the 34 and 35. Articles St. Aug. de cor grat C. 10. XXXIII If I had a clear Idea of the Blessed Spirits which have no body perhaps I might clearly answer a difficulty which arises in respect of them For it may be objected either that there is little variety in the merits and recompences of Angels or else that it was adviseable that God should unite Spirits to bodys on which they do at present so much depend I confess that I do not see any great diversity of rewards which ought to answer the merits of substances purely intelligible especially if they have merited their reward by one single act of Love They not being united to a body which might occasion God to give them according to certain most simple and general Laws a succession of different sentiments or thoughts I can see no diversity in their combats nor in their victories But perhaps there may be an order established which to me is unknown And upon this account I ought not to speak of it It is enough for me to have setled a principle whence we may conclude that it became God to create Bodys and to unite Spirits unto them that by the most simple Laws of the Union of these two substances he might in a general constant and uniform way give us that great variety of sentiments and motions which is the principle of our different Merits and Rewards XXXIV To conclude God ought to have all the Glory of the Beauty and Perfection of the future World This Work which infinitely surpasses all others must be a work of pure mercy The Creatures ought not to boast of having any other part therein but that which the grace of Jesus Christ hath given them In a word Rom. XI 32. Gal. III. 22. it was adviseable that God shou'd
suffers us not to doubt of this truth when he assures us that we are made of the Bone and Flesh of J. C. and that we are his Members and that the Marriage of Adam and Eve was the Figure of J. C. and his Church LVI God might have form'd Men and Animals by ways as simple as the ordinary Generation is But seeing this way figured J. C. and his Church since it bore the Character of the Chief of God's Designs since it represented as I may say the well-beloved Son of his Father that Son by whom the whole Creation subsists God was obliged to prefer it before all others whereby to teach us that as intelligible Beauties consist only in the relation they have to eternal Wisdom so sensible Beauties must in some manner much unknown to us have some relation to the Truth incarnate LVII Doubtless there are many relations between the principal Creatures and J. C. who is their model and end For all is full of J. C. all expresses and figures him as far as the simplicity of the Laws of Nature will permit them but I dare not enter into the particulars of this For besides that I am afraid of deceiving my self and that I don 't sufficiently know either Nature or Grace the present or the future World to discover the relations thereof I am sensible that Mens Imaginations are so witty and delicate that one cannot by Reason lead them to God much less to J. C. without tyring them and exciting their railery The greatest part of Christians are accustom'd to a Philosophy which rather loves to shelter its self in fictions as extravagant as those of the Poets than have recourse to God and some are so little acquainted with J. C. that a Man shou'd pass with them for a visionary if he shou'd say the same things with S. Paul and not quote his words For 't is rather this great Name than the Sight of the Truth which engages them The Authority of the Scripture hinders them from blaspheming against that which they are ignorant of but seeing they think but little of it they can't thereby be much enlightned LVIII It is certain the Jews were a figure of the Church and the most holy and famous amongst the Kings Prophets and Patriarchs of this People did represent the true Messias our Saviour J. C. This truth can't be denied without undermining the Foundations of Christian Religion and making the most learned of the Apostles pass for the most ignorant of Men. J. C. not being yet come it was necessary he shou'd at least be prefigured He ought to be expected he ought to be desired he ought to disperse by his Figures some sort of Beauty in the World to make it pleasing to his Father Thus it was necessary he shou'd have been in some sense as ancient as the World it was necessary he shou'd die presently after Sin in the person of Abel Agnus occisus ab origine Mundi principium finis Alpha Omega heri hodie est erat venturus est These are the Qualifications which S. John gives to the Saviour of Men. LIX Now supposing that J. C. ought to be presigured it was expedient he shou'd chiefly be so by his Ancestors and that their History dictated by the H. Spirit shou'd in all times be preserv'd to the end that J. C. may still be compar'd with his Figures and acknowledg'd as the true Messias Of all the Nations of the Earth God loving that best which had most relation with his Son the Jews were to have been the Ancestors of J. C. according to the flesh and to have received this favour of God since they were the most lively and most express Representations of his Son LX. But if this Difficulty be further urg'd so as to demand a reason of the choice which God made of the Jews to be the principal Figures of J. C. I think I may and ought to affirm first That God always acting by the most simple ways and discovering in the infinite Treasures of his Wisdom all the possible Combinations of Nature with Grace chose that which wou'd make the Church most ample most perfect and most worthy of his Majesty and Holiness as I have already said In the second place I think I ought to answer That God foreseeing what wou'd happen to the Jews by a necessary consequence of natural Laws had more relation to the design which he had of representing J. C. and his Church than any thing which cou'd happen to any other Nation it was expedient that he shou'd chuse this People rather than any other For in conclusion the predestination to the Law is not like the predestination to Grace and tho' there is nothing in Nature which may oblige God to dispense his Grace equally to all People it seems to me that Nature might merit the Law in the sence wherein I here understand it LXI It is true that all that happen'd to the Jews who represented J. C. was not a necessary consequence of the order of Nature Miracles were necessary to render them the lively and express Images of the Church but Nature must have furnish'd the Fund and the Matter and perhaps the principal Stroaks in several things Miracles finish'd the rest But no other Nation wou'd have been so proper for so just and high a Design LXII It appears to me that we are oblig'd to think that God's Wisdom foreseeing all the Consequences of all the possible Orders and all their Combinations never works Miracles when Nature suffices and that thus he was oblig'd to chuse the Combination of Natural Effects which saving him as I may say the expence of Miracles might nevertheless very faithfully execute his Intentions For example 'T is necessary that all Sins shou'd be punish'd but not always in this World Supposing nevertheless that it was expedient for the glory of J. C. and the establishment of Religion that the Jews shou'd be punish'd in the face of the whole Earth for putting to death the Saviour of the World it was convenient that J. C. came into the World towards the end of Herod's Reign supposing that according to the necessary consequence of the Order of Nature that People shou'd be divided amongst themselves about that time that Civil Wars and continual Seditions shou'd weaken them and that lastly the Romans shou'd destroy and scatter them abroad after the total destruction of their City and Temple It is true there seems to have been something extraordinary in the desolation of the Jews But since it argues more Wisdom in God to produce such surprising Effects by the most simple and general Laws of Nature than by particular Wills I know not whether on this occasion we ought to have recourse to a Miracle For my part I don't dispute of it here this is a thing which is not easie nor indeed very necessary to be cleared I give this Example for to make some application of my Principles and to make them the
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 figure of him who was to come These words who is the figure of him who was to come in the place where they are put it out of doubt that the first Adam represented the second even by Concupiscence it self and the Death which he communicated to all Men together with his Son Hence it is that St Paul makes so many Antitheses betwixt the Earthly Man and the Man from Heaven The first Man was made a living Soul 1 Cor. 15.45.47 the second Adam a quickning Spirit The first Man is of the Earth Earthly the second Man is the Lord from Heaven God by the first Man and Woman did not only represent J. C. and his Church but also by the place into which he put them by their posterity especially those of them whose actions the Scripture doth largely recite The Earthly Paradise represented the Church J. C. keeps and Cultivates it The River divided into Four Streams to water this very Delightful and Fruitful place is the Eternal wisdom which enlightens and animates the Church I also came out as a Brook from a River and as a Conduit * Vulg. Lat. de Paradiso â—ccl 24.30.31 into a Garden I said I will water my best Garden and will water abundantly my Garden-bed It is written of the true Solomon that his wisdom ran down abundantly as the Rivers at the beginning of Harvest Who filleth all things with wisdom Eccl 24.25 26 27 as Physon and as Tygris in the time of the new fruits He maketh the understanding to abound like Euphrates He maketh the doctrine of Knowledge appear as the Light and as Geon in the time of Vintage The Tree planted in the middle of the Garden which brought forth a Fruit able to make Men Immortal is also the Eternal Wisdom according to the words of the Proverbs of Solomon She is a Tree of Life Prov. 3.18 to them that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her He who shall overcome the World shall be nourished with this Fruit for certainly these words of St. John To him that overcomes Apoc. 11.7 it shall be given to eat of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God are to be understood of no other Trees but this As for the other Tree which teaches good and evil and whose Fruits Eve found so Beautiful to the Eye and Pleasant to the Taste it represents sensible objects which at present excite in us such a strong Concupiscence and give Death to those who suffer themselves to be surprized by their Charms 'T is plain that all these relations would not be so exact if they were no more than imaginary EVE had two Sons Cain and Abel Gen. 4. they both offered their Sacrifice God rejected that of Cain's and received that of Abel's Cain was troubled hereat and slew his Brother the blood of Abel which was spilt cryed for Vengeance God declared that Cain should be a Fugitive all his Life and that he would hinder him from being slain Doth not this sufficiently represent the Synagogue who being the Elder yet offered not unto God a Sacrifice acceptable unto him That the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ was only Worthy of GOD That Jesus Christ was slain in Abel by the Jews who were his Brethren according to the Flesh That for their Punishment the Jews should be Vagabonds and Fugitives upon the Earth as Cain was and that God will not quite Destroy them tho their Crime was such that they might say more truely than Cain All they who meet me will slay me If we examine after matters of Fact and those especially whose Circumstances the Scripture more particularly recites we shall see Jesus C. expected and figured every where Expected becanse of the promise which God had made that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents Head Gen. III. 15. And Figured because the Spirit of God takes pleasure in representing unto Men him who was to be their Mediator and render all the Work of God perfectly worthy of its Author I confess that in these things we may be easily deceived and that none but the Spirit of God can make us distinctly and without fear of error see the reality of these Figures But these Figures are so lively and so express that he must be strangely Stupid who is not Affected with them and very rash who looks upon those as Ridiculous Persons and Visionaries who according to the Example of the Apostles and Holy Doctors seek Jesus Christ in the Scriptures as he himself has Commanded us in these words Search the Scriptures for they are they John 5.39 which Testify of me For in short all that is in the Old Testament relates to Jesus Christ and his Church 1 Cor. 10 11. All these things happened to them in Figures The Third Explication Where 't is prov'd that the chief of Gods design is J. C. and his Church that God truely loves Men that he sincerely desires to save all that his Conduct is worthy of his Wisdom Goodness Immutability and other Attributes What is the order of the decrees which contain the Predestination of the Saints I. BY this Term GOD I understand a Being infinitely Perfect II. A Being infinitely Perfect Perfectly knows himself III. By the knowledge which he has of his Being he sees the Essences of all things he sees all possible Creatures or all that which he is able to Produce He is Wise by Himself alone IV. The Being infinitely Perfect necessarily loves Himself He can will nothing but by his will I mean the love which he bears to himself Therefore he can do nothing but for himself V. The Being infinitely Perfect is Almighty He can do all that he knows supposing he can will it with a practical will VI. By a practical will I mean a decree or will executive of a design concluded upon which supposes in God the knowledge and choice of the ways of acting which are most worthy of himself For there are Simple Fruitful General Uniform and Constant and there are Compounded Barren Particular Irregular and Unconstant Ways of Actions The first are to be preferred before the latter for they shew Wisdom Goodness Constancy Immutability in him that makes use of them The other denotes the want of Understanding Malignancy Inconstancy Lightness of Mind VII It is visible that there is something useless in his action who does that by compounded ways which may be brought to pass by simple and he wants knowledge who hath more Practical wills when one sufficeth VIII The Conduct of a Good Wise Constant and Immutable Being must carry in it Wisdom Goodness Constancy and immutability Order requires this IX The Wisdom of GOD renders him Impotent in this sence that it permits him not to will certain things nor to act after certain ways It permits him not to will certain things for if God had made but one animal he could not have made
bears to himself All the ways of executing his designs are equally easie to him but they are not equally wise equally simple equally divine A wise Man will never undertake a design which dishonours him how easily soever it may be executed And of two designs the execution of which will unequally honour him he will always chuse that which will honour him the most because his self-love is always inlightened by his Wisdom Thus tho God be Almighty he neither doth nor can act but by the love which he bears to himself and his own attributes he always chuses both the work and the ways which all together do most honour him But 't is said the ways of God are his wills It is enough for him to will that what he wills may be done I confess it The ways of God are nothing but his practical wills 'T is sufficient for him to will the doing of any thing to the end it may be done But God cannot have two practical wills when one is enough God cannot will when 't is not wise to will And upon this account it is that the practical wills of God are not ordinarily any other than general wills whose efficacy is determined by the action of occasional causes God loves Men. He would save them all He desires that all should know and love him For order requires this and order is his law This will is agreeable to his attributes But God will not do all that is necessary to the end that all may infallibly be brought to know and love him because order permits him not to have such practical wills as are proper to this end It is because he ought not to disturb the simplicity of his ways 't is because he must fit his ways to the work and chuse the work and the ways which honour him the most Altho God need only to will that the Church should be formed to the end it might be so tho he needed only to will that Men should receive grace to the end they might receive it yet nothing is more certain than that 't is by J. C. he sanctifies Men and forms his Church as it is also that he governs the Nations by Angels and produces Animals and Plants by other second Causes At present God acts no more as he did at the Creation immediately by himself This is undeniable He acts by Creatures in consequence of that power which he has communicated unto them by the establishment of his general Laws Thus his Laws or his general practical Wills are his Ways and his Ways are simple uniform and constant they are perfectly worthy of him because they are perfectly agreeable with his Attributes as I have often repeated When God created the World Men Animals Plants organized Bodies which contain in their Seeds wherewithal to furnish all Ages with their kind he did this by particular wills This was convenient for several reasons and indeed this could not be otherwise For particular wills were necessary to begin the determination of motions But seeing this way of acting was as I may say mean and servile because in one sense it resembled that of a limited understanding God quitted it as soon as he could dispense with himself from following it as soon as he could pitch upon another more simple and Divine way for the goverment of the World At present he rests not that he ceases to act but because he doth no more act after a servile manner something like unto that of his Ministers Because he acts most agreeably to his Divine attributes Thus tho God be Almighty and all his wills efficacious it doth not follow that he ought not to compare the simplicity of the ways with the perfection of the works for 't is not to Honour his Power but to Honour his Wisdom and his other Attributes that he doth all things immediately by himself In truth what wisdom wou'd it be even to save all Men and to make a World infinitely more Beautiful than that which we inhabit if he had made and govern'd it by particular wills What should we think of his Goodness and other Attributes there being in it so many Miserable Persons so many Sinners so many Monsters so many Disorders so many Damned In a word things being as we see they are he saith that he has no need of the Wicked and yet the World is full of them He hath not made Death and yet all Men are subject thereunto 'T is the sin it may be said of the first Man by which it entred into the World Very well But why did not he hinder his Fall Why did he not prevent it Why did he establish those natural relations betwixt Eve and her Children which communicate sin unto them Why did he make all descend from corrupted Parents In a word why did he not form our bodies by particular wills or by such wills did not suspend the general Laws by which the brain of the Mother acts upon that of her Child and thereby * See the Explicat of Original Sin in the Search after Truth corrupts its mind and makes its heart irregular Why I say did he not do this if it be indifferent to God to act or not to act by particular wills This is that which the Libertines demand and this is what Christian Philosophers should explain to them to stop their Mouths Reason as much as may be should be reconciled with Religion Hence it is that I Maintain it to be more worthy not of the Power but of the Wisdom and other Divine Attributes that the World should be governed and the future Church formed by the general Laws which God hath established for this end than by an infinite number of particular wills Hence it is that I assert that God has not made the World absolutely as perfect as it might have been but as perfect as he could with relation to the ways most worthy of his Attributes but has chosen the work and the ways which do most Honour him For God cannot and ought not to act but to Honour his Perfections both by the simplicity of his ways and the excellency of his work Object III. Whence is it then that a thing so evident was never perceived by any of the Fathers or the most subtil Divines Whence is it that St. Augustine who has written so much against the Manichees made no use of this Reason that God acts not by particular wills that thereby he might have proved that there is no necessity of attributing the destruction of his works one by another the generation of Monsters or other effects which are thought to disfigure his Work to an evil principle On the contrary it is certain that never any person did more than this Father own that nothing was done in all this but by Gods particular orders c. Answer 'T is not just to urge the Fathers and the Divines against me when neither the one nor the other are against me If St. Augustine
Reason which inlightens all minds and teaches the most Stupid that the Eyes were made for seeing and plac'd in the uppermost part of the Head that we might see further Is it not plain that the perfection of a work depends not upon the designs of the workman if his designs themselves be not agreeable to the Reason which enlightens us If all the parts of a Watch have such relations and connections with one another as are necessary to measure the time exactly this is a perfect work in its kind tho it should be supposed that the Watch-maker had the extravagant design of making a thing good for nothing and if a Watch should not rightly point to the hours it would have an Essential fault what design soever he had who made it Thus a Monster is an imperfect work whatsoever the design of God was in making it Ought we not to find fault rather with the works of God than with his designs Should we not rather leave in the World those visible defects which all Men observe and which we cannot remove and maintain that all these disorders are consequences of the simplicity of the Natural Laws then pretend that God directly and positively wills them and attribute to a Being absolutely Perfect such designs as are unworthy of his Wisdom his Goodness and his other Attributes Not that I assume to my self a Right of pronouncing concerning all natural effects For I confess there are an infinite number that are Equivocal of which we cannot determine whether they do or do not render the World more Perfect But there are such Monsters whose Deformity is visible and which are so far from making the World more perfect that God seems to have repented that he brought them to Light seeing he strikes them with Death presently after their Birth in this number I put not only those effects which we call Monsters but all Creatures which want parts necessary for their preservation I hold that God directly wills the Perfection of the World and of all the parts that compose it For a World made up of Creatures which want nothing which they ought to have is more Perfect than a World full of Monsters and a great many Beings which have not that which Reason teaches us they ought to have for their preservation But it should always be remembred that all this is but accessary to the Question in hand the Principle is that wicked Men are not necessary to the perfection of the Universe and if we meet with a great many of them therein notwithstanding God abhors them it is because altho he may hinder them by his Power his Wisdom permits him not to have practical wills for this end and because his Justice subjecting them to the Law of Order they contribute whether they will or no not to the Sovereign Perfection of the Universe but rather to the glory of its Author and do admirably set forth the wisdom of his Conduct But it may be said you do not consdier the the World in all Ages you look only upon the present time Cast your Eyes further And if you have a Soul large enough admire the Relations which there are betwixt this World and the future Church betwixt the different States of the World in different Ages I Answer I confess that these Relations are admirable But it is because God wonderfully serves himself even of those disorders themselves which happen in consequence of the natural Laws and makes even the ill use which spirits make of their Liberty subservient to his glory Once more it is not because Monsters are necessary to render the World more perfect It is not because he positively willed that the number of the Damned should be the greatest part Infernal Babylon is not properly his work but the Devils By the Rigours of his Justice the Wicked are reduc't to Order But he wills not their Malice tho he uses it to brighten and set forth the virtue of his Saints He figures Morality by Nature Sinners by Monsters but he directly wills neither the one nor the other He suffers them because he can reduce both to Order But if he suffers them 't is because the simplicity of his Laws require it and because he ows this to himself that his Conduct should bear the Character of his Attributes That which renders the World admirable in all its Conditions is not so much the perfection it contains as the simplicity of the ways which have produced and do preserve it If the future Church was more ample and Hell not so full of Reprobates If the Elect were still more Holy and the Devils less Wicked If all the Creatures did Praise the Lord and not the greatest part Blaspheme his Holy Name is it not evident that the World would be more perfect than it is The Devils therefore and the Damned render it less perfect And tho God corrects this disorder in his Creatures yet nevertheless 't is a disorder that the greatest part of Men should Blaspheme their Creator But God is not concern'd that there should be disorders in Hell provided that there be none in the Heavenly Jerusalem he is willing that there should be faults in his work but not in his Conduct and in his designs The Damned are in disorder but God's conduct in respect of them is perfectly agreeable to order The faults of any work oblige those who would judge of it to compare it with the ways that at the same time they may admire both the work and the ways but the faults of any design directly suppose either malice or ignorance in the Workman Hence we are forc'd to say that God has made the World not absolutely as perfect as he could but as perfect as it could be with respect to the ways which his Wisdom and other Attributes did oblige him to observe which is the Foundation of the Treatise of Nature and Grace I desire it may be examined without prejudice and with that attention which is necessary to understand it in its utmost extent and with reference to all its consequences and then let Men judge of it Then I hope it will have that effect upon them it has had upon many persons tho prevented with the sentiments which it overthrows without leaving any other difficulties if I am not mistaken than those which have always been look'd upon as incomprehensible to the mind of Man I do assure my self that they will clearly see that there are no such certain Principles to prove by reason that which Faith teaches and to silence both the Libertines and the Hereticks in a matter wherein they use to insult and pretend to triumph Object V. What would the Author of the Treatise have by his great Principle That the Ways of God ought to bear the Character of his Immutability Is it that God cannot do one thing to day and another to morrow without being inconstant Cannot he will to day that the Vine should put forth and to morrow