those whom I had chiefly in my mind when I wrote the Treatise of Nature and Grace and whom I should extreamly desire to content as well as others Additions The Will of God can be nothing else but the Love which he bears to himself Now he cannot will and act but by his own Will Therefore he cannot act but for himself But the World is not worthy of God It has no Proportion to God for there is no relation betwixt finite and infinite God therefore cannot form the Design of producing it God cannot act with a design of doing nothing for himself since he cannot act but for himself Now the World with respect to God is nothing for the relation of finite to infinite is a Cypher God therefore cannot resolve to make any thing if a Divine Person does not joyn himself to his Work to render it Divine and thereby worthy of his Complacency or answerable to the infinite Action of his Will Thus I. Since God cannot act but for his own Glory nor finding it but in himself he could have no other design in the Creation of the World but the Establishment of his Church Additions But what Divine Person shall sanctify the Work of God It must be the Eternal Word For it is the Word or the Wisdom of God which ought to be as I may so say first consulted to regulate the Divine Operation and in some sort make way for God's Action A Prophane World being unworthy of God the Wisdom of God rendred God impotent or hindred him from acting Thus supposing that God would procure to himself an Honour worthy of him which nevertheless is every way indifferent to him since he is altogether sufficient to himself his Wisdom would fail him in some sence if it did not in the first place offer its self to him to be united to his Work since otherwise his Work would not be worthy of him The Word is universal Reason 'T is he therefore who was to come and enlighten Men who could not be reasonable but by Reason 'T is according to him and by him that we are form'd 'T is therefore by him or according to him we must be perfected or reformed Thus since a Divine Person must render the Work of God Divine make Gods of us or the Adopted Children of the Eternal Father it was necessary that his only Son should be the First-born amongst many Brethren and that we all should receive of his Abundance or of that Fulness of Divinity which dwells in him I might therefore say according to these Principles speaking of the Church that it is the great Work which the Son built to the Glory of the Father Eph. 1.21.22 23. c. 2.21 22. c. 4.13.16 Col. 1.15.16 17 18 19. Eccl. 24.14 1 Pet. 1.20 Eph. 1.4 Joan. 17.5 24. Apoc. 13.8 Psal 72.17 Eph. 2.10 Rom. 8.29 II. Jesus Christ who is the Head thereof is the Beginning of the Wayes of the Lord He is the First-born of all Creatures And though he was born amongst men in the fulness of time yet he is their model in the Eternal designs of his Father It is according to his Image that all men were made they who were before his Temporal birth as well as we In a word it is in Him that all things subsist for it is he alone who could render the work of God perfectly worthy of its Author Additions Jesus Christ who is the Head of the Church is the beginning of the Wayes of the Lord. I use these Expressions because Scripture uses them The Title of Head plainly shews that Jesus Christ as Man is not only the Meritorious cause of Grace but also the Occasional Physical Distributive since He gives his Spirit to his Members which compose the Church as I shall explain more largely in the Second Discourse And it may be said That Jesus Christ is the Beginning of the Ways of the Lord Because God by the Creation of the World goes out as I may say of himself since the term of his Operation is not his own substance as in immanent Operations by which the Son is continually begotten and the Holy Ghost proceeds It is upon this account that the Wise man after these words in the Eighth Chap. of the Proverbs The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his Wayes adds for Explication * Before his works of Old Antequam quidquam faceret a principio That Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church is without dispute But that he is the beginning of the Ways of the Lord in this sence is that which may be doubted I have followed the common opinion of the Fathers upon the 22. ver of the 8th ch of the Prov. for almost all of them understand this passage which the Arrians abused Dominus possedit or as they then read according to the 70. Creavit me in initio viarum suarum of the incarnate Wisdom It is useless here to transcribe all the Quotations of Salazar upon this place of the Proverbs Jesus Christ is the first-born of every Creature primogenitus omnis creaturae Col. 1.15 He is our model since St. Paul exhorts us to put Him on or to become like unto Him Therefore as we have born the Image of the Earthly let us also bear the Image of the Heavenly It is according to his Image that all men were made in the purpose of God For the Word is universal Reason and immutable Order and God has made us to conform us to Reason and Order There are none but the Elect whom God has efficaciously predestinated to become conformable to the Image his Son Quos praescivit predestinavit conformes fieri imagini Filii sui Rom. 8.29 I confess it But God would Save all men He wills there Sanctification This is the will of God your Sanctification 1. Thes 4.3 The Wisdom incarnate is moreover our model after a sensible manner and suitable to men who only harken to their senses God foreseeing sin resolved to give unto Jesus Christ a body that it might be a victim which He might offer unto Him for every Priest must have something to offer Necesse est hunc habere aliquid quod offerat Heb. 8.3 Now God thought on the body of his Son when he form'd that of Adam and hath given unto us all a body by which we may Merit or which we ought to sacrifice as Priests and according to the Example of our Sovereign Priest Obsecra vos ut exhibeatis corpora vestra hostiam viventem sanctam Deo placentem Rom. 12.1 To conclude all things subsist in Jesus Christ Omnia in ipso constant Col. 1.19 Every thing was created in J. C. and by J. C. Omnia per ipsum in ipso creata sunt Col. 1.16 Omnia in omnibus Christus Col. 3.11 III. There ought to be some relation betwixt the World and the Action by which it is produced Now the Action by which the World was drawn out of nothing is the
done it and consequently in one sence he could not for it is not in the power of God to belie himself or to despise the Laws which his wisdom prescribes to him The same thing must be said concerning the annihilation of substances If you consider only the power of God he may annihilate them But if you consult his wisdom it appears that he will do no such thing for God acts alwayes after the wisest manner that he can or which best comports with his divine attributes He may chuse whether he will act at all in this he is very indifferent for he is altogether sufficient to himself But if he acts he cannot change His conduct must alwayes bear the impression of his wisdom and his immutability It seems to me that order which is his inviolable law requires it should be thus See the 2d discourse Articles 50 51 52. V. If therefore it be true that the World ought to have a beginning and that the creation of J. C. could not be so ancient as the eternal generation of his divine Person an eternity must needs have preceded time Thus do not think that God delayed the production of his work he too much loves the glory which he receives thereby in J. C. It may be truly said in some sence that he has made it as soon as he could For tho' in respect of us he might have created it ten Thousand years before the begining of the World yet ten Thousand years having no relation to eternity he could not have made it sooner or later since an eternity must needs have gone before VI. It is plain that soon and late are the properties of time And if it should be supposed that God had created the World sooner than he did by so many Millions of years as there are grains of sand upon the Sea-shore might it not still have been asked Why God who so much loves the glory which he receives by the Establishment of his Church had not begun many Ages before Thus it is sufficient to say that an Eternity * Ought to have gone went before the Incarnation of the World to shew that this great mistery was accomplished neither too soon nor too late It was therefore necessary that God should have created the World for the Church the Church for J. C. and J. C. for to find in him a Sacrifice and a Sovereign Priest worthy of the divine Majesty This order of the designs of God cannot be doubted of if it be observed that he cannot have any other end of his actions but himself And if it be understood that eternity is not proper to creatures it will be granted that they were made when they ought to have been These truths being supposed let us endeavour to discover something in the conduct which God observes for the execution of his great design Additions Read the Objection and Answer which is at the end of the third explication where I shew that St. Augustine did not pretend that the Judgments of God are impenetrable in this sence that the truths which Faith teaches us being supposed it is unlawful to justifie his wisdom and goodness in the execution of his intentions 'T is certain that the Fathers and all Divines have endeavoured to give a reason of their Faith and we ought to meditate upon the truths of Religion to attain unto the understanding of that which we already believe But to remove all scruple concerning my way of proceeding I shall now shew that St. Augustine himself approves it by his Example and his Reasons Consentius had some difficulties concerning the Trinity he had proposed them to Alipius that he might obtain the resolution of them from St. Augustine But having learnt that St. Augustine was in a place of retirement and proper for meditating and clearing up his doubts he writ to him himself as unto a man whose spirit * Sensum altissima mysteria perscrutantem penetrated into the highest mysteries that he would give him those explications he desired if he thought convenient Nevertheless he openly declares that 't was his opinion the reasons of our mysteries ought not to be sought after but that men should depend upon Faith only These are his words Epis 221. Ego igitur cum apud memetipsum prorsus definierim veritatem rei divinae ex fide magis quam ex ratione percipi oportere si enim fides Sanctae Ecclesiae ex disputationis ratione non ex credulitatis Pietate apprehenderetur nemo praeter Philosophos atque Oratores beatitudinem possederet Sed quia placuit Deo qui infirma Mundi hujus elegit ut confundat fortia per stultitiam Praedicationis salvare credentes non tam ratio requirenda de Deo quam autoritas est sequenda Sanctorum Nam profecto neque Ariani qui Filium quem genitum confitemur minorem putant in hac impietate persisterent neque Macedoniani Spiritum Sanctum quem neque genitum neque ingenitum credimus quantum in ipsis est a Divinitatis arce detruderent si Scripturis Sanctis magis quam suis ratiocinationibus accomodare fidem mallent But see St. Augustin's Answer Quod autem petis ut questionem Trinitatis hoc est de Unitate Divinitatis discretione Personarum caute prudenterque discutiam ut doctrinae meae sicut dicis ingeniique serenitas ita nebulam vestrae mentis abstergat ut quod nunc cogitare non potestis intelligentiae a me lumine declaratum quodammodo videre positis Vide prius utrum ista petitio cum tua superiori definitione concordet superius quippe in eadem ipsa Epistola in qua hoc petis apud temetipsum definisse te dicis ex fide veritatem magis quam ex ratione percipi oportere Si enim fides inquis Sanctae Ecclesiae ex disputationis ratione non ex credulitatis pietate apprehenderetur nemo praeter philosophos atque Oratores beatitudinem possideret sed quia placuit inquis Deo qui infirma hujus Mundi elegit ut confundat fortia per stultitiam Praedicationis salvos facere credentes non tam ratio requirenda quam autoritas est sequenda Sanctorum Vide ergo secundum haec verba tua ne potius debeas maxime de hac re in qua fides nostra Consistit solam Sanctorum autoritatem sequi nec ejus intelligentiae a me quaerere rationem Neque enim cum caepero te in tanti hujus secreti intelligentiam utcunque introducere quod nisi Deus intus adjuverit omnino non potero aliud disserendo facturus sum quam rationem ut potero redditurus quam si a me vel quolibet doctore non irrationabiliter flagitas ut quod credis intelligas Corrige definitionem tuam non ut fidem respuas sed ut ea que fidei firmitate jam tenes etiam rationis Luce conspicias Absit namque ut hoc in nobis Deus oderit in quo nos reliquis animantibus
The last Article I have proved the same principle by Arguments a posteriori that I might touch the minds even of those who reflect upon nothing XX. Here it must be observed that the essential rule of the will of God is Order and that if man for example had not sinned a supposition which wou'd much have changed his designs then order not permitting he shou'd have been punished the natural Laws of the communication of motion cou'd never have been able to have made him unhappy For the Law of order which requires that the Just do suffer nothing whether he will or no being essential to God the Arbitrary Law of the communication of motions ought necessarily to be submitted thereunto Additions God has but two Laws Order which is his inviolable Law his natural Law his Word or his Wisdom which he loves invincibly and the divine Decrees the Arbitrary Laws with which he sometimes dispences but he never dispences with them but when order requires For it is against order that a wise and immutable Being should change his conduct without reason It is a weakness to have a changeable mind it argues want of knowledge or of constancy Man tho' subject to error is offended when he is reproached with his change We must therefore take care not to ask miracles of God or to attribute them every moment unto him This is to tempt God and to have sentiments unworthy of him See the fourth Explication in which I shew that all that is done now or which was done under the Jewish Law against those natural laws which are known to us is not always a miracle or an effect produced by God by particular wills because the Angels for example have power over the present world in consequence of some general laws which are unknown to us as I have proved by Gods way of proceeding in the old Testament XXI There are indeed some sew occasions where these general Laws of motion must cease to produce their effect But this is not because God changes these Laws or corrects himself it is because by the order of grace to which that of Nature must be subservient Miracles are wrought upon certain occasions Besides it is convenient that men should know that God is so much Master of Nature that if he submit himself to the laws which he has established it is because he chuses to do so rather than that he is absolutely necessitated Additions Since the greatest part of men imagine that besides God there is a certain Nature that does all 'T is convenient that God to make himself the better known should act against the custom of this pretended Nature God makes himself admired by the wise or true Philosophers in his ordinary works but all the world are not Philosophers There must be effects which surprise and strike the mind of those who make no reflection upon any thing that is ordinary See St. Augustine upon St. Joh Tract VIII XXVIII Christian Meditations 8. Medit. XXII If then it be true that the general cause ought not to work by particular wills and that God was obliged to establish certain constant and invariable Laws of the communication of Motions by the efficacy of which he foresaw that the world might subsist such as we now see it it may be truly said in some sence that God desires that all his creatures should be perfect that he wills not that Infants should perish in the womb of their Mothers that he loves not Monsters that he has made no laws of nature to beget them and that if he could have made and preserved a World more perfect by as simple means he wou'd not have established Laws whereof so many Monsters are the necessary consequences But that it would have been unworthy of his Wisdom to multiply wills to hinder certain particular disorders which in the Universe make a kind of Beauty Additions That if he could have made and preserved a World more perfect by as simple means he would not have established laws whereof so many Monsters are the necessary consequences This is evident at least in the order of grace in relation to which I say this For God wills that all men should be saved 1 Tim. II. 4. This is the will of God our Sanctification 1 Thes IV. 3. God has no need of the wicked Eccles. XV. 12. On the contrary He hates the ungodly and his ungodliness Wisdom XIV 9. Certainly the design of God in the CREATION is to make a Beautiful work Now all irregularity disfigures the WORK God truly deserves to be admired but much more in the simplicity of his ways than in the Beauty of the Vniverse If God has made the world for man why so much barren ground why more Sea than habitable Earth It is because all this is a consequence of the simplicity of his ways This is not because God particularly wills that such a ground shou'd want water for 't wou'd be a formal disobedience if it was so 't would be to find fault with Gods conduct and to insult over his wisdom to make new water courses Can any thing be more disorderly and less regular than the distribution of Rivers than the disposition of Land and Sea The Philosophers looked upon the Vniverse as the work of blind nature the reason is because they thought not on the simplicity of the ways by which it is preserved But if there had been as simple ways or as worthy of God capable to form and preserve a more beautiful work than the world we now inhabit it must be said things being as they are that either the Author of Nature wanted understanding or that his intention was to make an imperfect work See the 3d. Explication Christian Meditat. 7 8. Monsters make in the Universe a kind of Beauty Not that Monsters are Beautiful in themselves for all things being equal it would be better there were none at all but it is because men often judge of the beauty of certain things by the deformity of others Certainly the Church of Jesus Christ the future world shall be more perfect than the present world and have no Deformity no Monsters no Injustice no Sin Eph. V. 27. Apoc. XXII XXIII God gave to every Seed it s own bud germe which contains in little the plant and the fruit another bud which is fastned to this and contains the root of the plant which root has a new root whose imperceptible branches spread themselves in two Lobes or into the Pulp of this Seed Does not he sufficiently shew by this that he truely wills in some sence that all those seeds should produce their like For why should he have given to those grains of Corn which he intended should be barren all the parts proper to make them fruitful Nevertheless since rain is necessary to make them encrease and since it falls not upon the Earth but by general Laws which do not shower it down upon improv'd grounds only and precisely at
cou'd do acting as he ought to do that if there had been any order of Grace as simple and more fruitful as worthy of his wisdom and more useful to men he wou'd have chosen it and that thus he saves as many persons as he can save acting according to those adorable rules which his wisdom prescribes Additions Men must in my opinion be much out of humour to take it ill that they find the Wisdom and Goodness of God thus justified by the principle I have laid down For to like it well that so many Nations should perish meerly because God would not afford them the light of his Gospel and to take it ill that God should do in this what his Wisdom prescribes that Wisdom which to him is an inviolable Law that Wisdom which he loves and which he ought to love infinitely more than his work this assuredly is an extraordinary disposition of mind To desire that God shou'd every moment by particular wills give Graces useless to those who receive them and to those who he foresaw would become more culpable and more criminal by the contempt of them this is to desire that a wise Being should not proportion the means to the end or that God should not wish well to them to whom he has applyed the Blood of Jesus Christ this is to desire to maintain paradoxes XLVII Let men therefore love and adore not only the good will of God by which the Elect are Sanctifyed but also the secret judgments of his Justice by which there are so many Reprobates It is the same order of Wisdom the same laws of grace which produce such different effects God is equally adorable and amiable in all that he does his Conduct is always full of wisdom and of goodness Wo be to the wicked who condemn it without knowing any thing of it who desire that the immutable order of divine wisdom should accommodate its self to their Passions and Interests XLVIII The wise and diligent Husbandmen Labour Manure and Sow their Lands with a great deal of trouble and expence They carefully observe the most proper seasons for their different cultures and only depend upon God for the success of their labours They give up their work to the order of Nature well knowing that it is to no purpose to tempt God and presume that in favour to us he should change the order which his wisdom prescribes unto him XLIX Jesus Christ came to teach us to imitate their example As he has an immense charity for us and would save us all as far as the simplicity of the general Laws of Nature and Grace can permit him so he has forgotten nothing to bring us into the way which leads to Heaven There is not any thing more opposite to the efficacy of Grace than sensual pleasures and the sentiments of pride For nothing so much corrupts the mind and hardens the heart But has not Jesus Christ in his Person sacrificed and annihelated all greatness and all sensible pleasures Was not his life a continual example of Humility and Penance How was he born how did he dye how did he converse among men All the world knows it What is the sum of his Doctrine or whither tended all his Councels Is it not to Humility and Penitence to a general privation of all things that flatter the senses of all that corrupts the purity of the Imagination of all that maintains and fortifies the concupiscence of Pride That which he has said that which he has done that which he has suffered has been to prepare us by his doctrine by his example by his merits to receive the Heavenly showers of grace in such a manner as that they may operate best in us Since he cou'd not or ought not See the last Explication of the Search after Truth to change the laws of Nature tempt God nor trouble the order and simplicity of his ways he has done for men all that he could to inspire them with the most extensive the most diligent and the most ardent charity L. I fear not to say that the Charity of Jesus Christ is immense and incomprehensible after that which the Scripture says of it And tho all men do not receive the effects of it it would be rashness to set bounds thereto He died for all men 1 Cor. 8.11 even for those who daily perish Why do not sinners enter into the Order of Grace why do they not follow the Councels of Jesus Christ why do they not prepare themselves to receive the rain of Heaven They cannot merit it 't is true but they may promote its efficacy in respect of themselves Can they not by Self-love or by the fears of Hell avoid a great many occasions of sinning deprive themselves of pleasures at least of those which as yet they have not tasted and to which consequently as yet they are not enslaved They may also remove some impediments of the efficacy of Grace and prepare the soil of the heart so that it may become fruitful when God shall send his rain according to the general laws he hath prescribed But they desire that God should save them without any pains of theirs like to those idle and sloathful Husbandmen who without bestowing the ordinary labours upon their field presume that God ought to send them such fructifying and plentiful Rains as may spare their pains False and Sottish Confidence God causes it to rain upon fallow Lands as well as upon those that are Cultivated But let the Proud and the Voluptuous know that the rain of Grace shall fall much less upon them than upon other men and that in the mean time they put themselves in such a conditition that to convert them they have need of much more LI. Since God does not ordinarily confer his grace but by general Laws we clearly see the necessity of the counsels of Jesus Christ It appears that we ought to follow his wise counsels that God may save us by the most simple ways and that giving us as little grace as may be he may operate much in us It clearly appears that man on his part ought to labour continually that he ought to till the ground before the heats of Concupiscence has dried and hardened it or at least as soon as the rain has taken away this driness and hardness that he ought carefully to observe the moments when he is at liberty from his passions that he may make his advantage thereof that he ought as much as in him lies to weed out all that may Choak the seed of the Word and not foolishly imagine that he shall be Converted after he has made his fortune in the World or shall be ready to quit it For besides that it depends not on the Husbandmen to cause it to rain according to their necessities after a piece of ground has a long time lain fallow the Briars and Thorns have taken such deep root that they who have not accustomed themselves to labour
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
are abrogated than the ways of God that are changed for those Laws which God had given to the Jews by the Ministry of Angels were to be abrogated at the coming of J. C. The Figures were to cease in the presence of the true Messias and his Mysteries But the Power which the Angels have over Men shall never be changed because the general Laws by which God hath given them this power shall never be abolished unless perhaps when the holy City shall be built and Jesus Christ shall have given up his Kingdom to his Father and brought to nought all Powers and God shall be all in all till this happy time the Angels in dependance upon J. C. their Head will always work in the Spiritual Building of the Church and God acting in them and by them according to the same Laws will produce a thousand and a thousand different effects and yet according to my Principles cannot be supposed to be in the least unconstant For tho by particular wills he cures as I may say the defects which might follow these Laws when order requires it I have sufficiently explained this elsewhere tho he guides our Conductors that they may faithfully execute his designs yet since his ways are always the same it sufficiently appears that it is not through inconstancy that he sometimes acts against the ordinary course of his Providence but because he is obliged to have respect unto all his Attributes as well as his Immutability Object VI. The Author of the Treatise says That he is perswaded that these two natural Laws which are the most simple of all viz. That all Motion proceeds or tends to proceed in a right line And that when Bodies strike upon one another their motions are communicated proportionably to the magnitude of the Bodies which strike upon one another are sufficient to produce such a World as we see I mean the Heaven the Stars the Planets the Comets the Earth the Water the Air and the Fire in a word the Elements and all Bodies except those which are organized and animated This therefore would have been the most simple way of producing the World to have stayed till it had formed it self of the matter which God had created and put into motion according to these two Laws without imploying therein particular wills This supposed I see not what the Author could answer to a Libertine who should thus accost him Therefore according to you that which is said in Genesis is not true For on the one hand you maintain It is evident that God cannot falsifie himself and being infinitely wise cannot but act wisely and that it would not to be to act wisely to do that by compounded ways and particular wills which he may execute by simple ways and general wills And on the other you teach me that the World such as we see it to be might have been produced by these two natural Laws which are the most simple of all other Therefore God has made it after this manner and not as it is said in Genesis where the Creation is described as if it had been made by particular wills and not by these simple ways which yet you teach us is unworthy of the wisdom of God Would you tell him that God has his Reasons for this But this Libertine will answer That there can be no reason why God should falsifie himself why he who is infinitely wise should not act wisely why it being in his power to have form'd a work worthy of himself by an uniform constant and regular Conduct he has chosen one which is unequal changeable irregular and which shews inconstancy and ignorance in him who observes it c. Answer I should say to this Libertine that he little understands what he says and he who undertakes to overthrow the sentiments of any Author should take them aright for nothing is more easie than to confound things when the matters treated of are obscure in themselves According to your opinion says this Libertine that which Moses relates of the Creation of the World in Genesis is not true Fairly and softly I should answer you neither understand what the Scripture saith nor what my sentiments are as for Genesis I shall not explain it to you But this is my sense observe it well I maintain that God always acts by the most simple ways but it must be always supposed that there is an equality in all things else whether in the ways or in the works as I have so often explained it must also be supposed that Order doth not require that he should compound his ways God never falsifies himself Very well But to change Conduct is not always to falsifie himself God may nay he ought to compound his ways when that which he owes to his Wisdom his Justice to any one of his Attributes is more considerable than that which he owes to his Immutability God would falsifie himself if upon some occasions he did not change his Conduct for he would not do that Justice which he owes to himself and his divine attributes and thus would not observe that immutable Order which is properly his Law or the inviolable Rule of his proceedings He would cease to love himself to act for himself he would sin You look upon things only on one side You compare the Conduct of God only with his Immutability Compare his ways with all his attributes and you may easily comprehend that tho there can be no reason which obliges God to falsifie him self there may be many which oblige him to change his Conduct And do not ask me in such and such occurrences what are his reasons for neither I nor any person else can be assured that we know them This in reason is enough to silence this Libertine for tho I do not take upon me to know the particular reasons why God ceases to follow his general Laws or to act by the most simple ways I think I know that he never ceases to follow these Laws and that he never compounds his ways but when Order obliges him thereunto And this I think I have proved so many ways that it is to no purpose to do it any more Nevertheless let us examine the difficulty to the bottom I maintain that God has made the World by the most simple ways For I say that in forming the World he has observed these two Laws as far as 't was possible The form of Bodies proceeds only from the various motions of those Bodies which are about and within them Now I maintain that this variety of motions which is at present observed and that of the Motions which have been made from the beginning of the World is the effect of the same Law of the communications of motions by which this Libertine would have had the World made successively by little and little that God might have spared his particular wills This Libertine doth not observe that he puts into his consequence that condition which renders it
Action of God which is of infinite value and the World how perfect soeve◠〈◊〉 might be is not infinitely amiable and cannâ—◠〈…〉 unto God an Honour worthy of him Thus separate Jesus Christ from the rest of the creatures and see if he who cannot act but for his own glory and whose Wisdom has no bounds cou'd resolve to produce any thing from without But if you joyn J. C. to his Church and the Church to the rest of the World out of which it was taken then you will raise to the Glory of God a Temple so august and so holy that you 'l perhaps be surprized that the foundations of it were laid so late Additions See then the order of things All is for men men for J. C. and J. C. for God Whether things present or things to come all are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods 1. Cor. 3.22 God hath Subjected all things to J. C. All Power is given to me both in Heaven and Earth St. Mat. 28.18 Heb. 2.9 That J. C. might subject all things to God and give up his Kingdom at the end of the World having destroyed all Principalities and all Powers 1. Cor. 15.24 That the Son himself may be for ever subject to him that put all things under him and that thus God may be all in all Ver. 28. This is the Spiritual Temple which must be altogether filled with the Majesty of God and remain eternally because its immovable foundations are laid on J. C. before those of this world which must Perish * I was set up from everlasting from the begining or ever the earth was Fundavit me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Sept. Ab aeterno ordinata sum ex antiquis antequam terra sieret Prov. 8.23 God has elected us in J. C. before the Creation of the World Eph. 1.4 His grace is given to us before the world began 2. Tim. 1.9 And J. C. himself in his Prayer after the celebration of the holy Supper beggs of 〈◊〉 Father that glory which he possessed in him before the world was i. e. before he resolved to form the World St. John 17.5 To conclude J. C. being the first of the predestinated since we are not predestinated but in J. C. God who has made the world only for the predistinated Omnia propter electos must as I may so say have thought of J. C. before all things For if these passages and such like be interpreted only of the Eternal prescience it also may be truly said that the motion of a straw is in God before all ages as well as the Incarnation of his beloved Son who renders all the Work of God Amiable to him If the different manner after which the H. Spirit speaks of the works of God in the H. Scripture be observed it cannot be doubted in my opinion that J. C. and his Church is truly the design of God See wherefore it is evident by reason and certain by Faith that God never repents or changes his design God is not as the Son of man that he should repent Numb 23.19 Yet nevertheless the H. Scripture says that God repented he had made man Gen. 6.6 And that the Jewish Priest-hood their Ceremonies their whole Burnt offerings were not at all pleasing to him Isa 1. Psalm 50. Why did God make a World which he was obliged to destroy Why has he established a worship which he is bound to reject he who is constant in all his purposes It is because he would thereby signify that the present world is not properly his work or his true design nor the Jewish worship a true worship or worthy of him But what then is his immutable design The Lord sware and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec God will never repent of having made J. C. Sovereign Priest He thereby receives Divine Honours His Priesthood shall continue for ever having been confirmed by an Oath Heb. ch 7. c. God repented that he had made Saul King over the people Saul I say the figure of Herods and the Image of Politick Kings who only seek their own greatness But David the figure and Father of Jesus Christ is after Gods own heart God never repented that he had made him King over his People I have Sworn once by my Holiness that I will not fail David His Seed shall endure for ever and his Seat is like as the Sun before me Psal 89.34 35. Behold thou shalt conceive and bear a Son and of his Kingdom there shall be no end When Abraham by the sacrifice of his only Son had represented Jesus Christ raised from the Dead God assures him and that also with an Oath to render this promise irrevocable that in the Antitpye of Isaac delivered from the Dead that is to say in J. C. raised from the Dead set at his right hand made a Priest according to the order of Melchisedec and a King over his People all the Nations should be abundantly blessed By my self have I Sworn saith the Lord in thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be Blessed Thus we see when God speaks of the Incarnation of his Son and of his Priesthood he thereunto adds an Oath to shew that this is his irrevocable purpose or rather his purpose for since God never repents all his designs are irrevocable But I think I ought to advise that what I have hitherto said is not essential to my purpose which is principally to justify the Wisdom and Goodness of God notwithstanding Monsters Sinners and all the irregularities found in the World If I place J. C. at the Head of all things if I make him the principal design of God it is because I hope by this means to justifie the thought or desire which God had to go out of himself by communicating himself to his Creatures and by the regular order of Meditation it seems to me I ought to begin there IV. In the mean time if you observe that the glory which redounds to God from his work is not essential to him if you grant that the World cannot be a necessary Emanation of the Divinity you 'll plainly see that it was not to have been eternal tho' it never should have an end Eternity is the Character of Independence it must needs be therefore that the World had a begining The annihilation of substances is a mark of inconstancy in him that made them they therefore shall never have an end Additions I mean that Eternity does not imply independence But independence implys Eternity for nothing can be independent that is not Eternal Eternal existence therefore is the manner whereby that thing which is independent exists GOD could not give Eternal existence to Creatures To consider only the Power of God he was able to have created the World from all Eternity for he never was without his Power But if his Wisdom which is his inviolable be consulted he ought not to have