existence from another Paragraph 3. it must necessarily exist of it self and what necessarily exists of it self has existence essential to it and what has existence essential to it cannot but exist and what cannot but exist doth perpetually exist and consequently the first Being as it never had a Beginning so shall it never have Ending and that under the necessity of a Contradiction to be otherwise since necessarily and essentially to exist is to be impossible at any time not to exist 6. Since then Existence is essential to the first Being and that because it is the first Being and has no dependence on another but exists entirely of it self there are of necessity no more First Beings but One. For in case we should suppose there were more First Beings eternally co-existing we must grant that existence would be equally essential to them all and consequently that there could be no essential difference among them Neither could it possibly be that they should in any sort accidentally differ because their Existence being essential and so of necessity the very same thing throughout with the whole substantial thing existing would have no room or place for any accident in them whatsoever And if there were neither essential nor accidental difference there could be none at all for a meer numerical difference without either is here impossible because in that Existence is essential to the First Being it differs not from pure formal Existence and what differs not from pure formal Existence must of necessity comprehend all existence or whatever doth or can exist and consequently if any thing exist or have a Being which is not within the same it must unavoidably receive it from thence so that it is plainly impossible there should be more first Beings save one alone 7. That there is then one only First Being which is comprehensive of all Being is evident And that the same is infinite in Essence and Perfection of Being is no less evidently certain for in case it were of a finite Nature it must by some means or other be limited for what has no limitation or bounds is infinite And if the First Being be limited it must of necessity be limited by it self by reason it alone being before all other Beings there could not possibly be any thing besides it self to limit it And that it should either voluntarily limit it self or be necessarily limited by its own intrinsic Nature is impossible for the former cannot be because Existence being essential to it par 5. makes it necessarily to be whatever it is eternally nor can the latter be because its essence being pure formal existence par 6. cannot be intrinsecally limited or restrain'd by its own Nature to this or that or any determinate Mode or Measure of Existence whatsoever The First being therefore is infinite in Being a Perfection of Essence which again farther shews that there is one alone First Being for being infinite in Being and Perfection of Essence it has all possible Being and Perfection within it self and if it have all there is none besides has any but what it receives from it 8. The first Being then is necessarily infinite in Being and Perfection of Essence and what is necessarily so cannot possibly either acquire or lose any thing whereby its Perfection can in any respect whatsoever be either augmented or diminished and what cannot in any respect whatever receive either augmentation or diminution is wholly immutable the First Being therefore is Immutable 9. Whatsoever is Immutable has nothing either of Potentiality or Passibility at all belonging to it for otherwise it would not be impossible as implying no Contradiction that it should be changed from Power to Act from Acting to Suffering And what has nothing at all of Potentiality or Passibility belonging to it must of necessity be a pure essential Act the First Being therefore is a pure essential Act. 10. That which is a pure essential Act is void of all manner of Composition for else it would have a mixture of some ingredient with it And what is void of all manner of Composition is absolutely Simple the First Being therefore is absolutely and altogether Simple 11. That which is absolutely simple has no parts at all and by consequence whatever is contained in it the same is its whole entire Self and Being and thence one pure Formality the First Being therefore is one pure Formality 12. And what is one pure Formality has no formally distinct Parts and therefore neither Power nor Wisdom nor Goodness nor Mercy nor Justice nor any Attribute whatever are formally distinct in the first Being either from one another or from its self But since the prime Being eminently contains whatever excellency is intended by the Attributes we usually for expressing our narrow Thoughts by give unto it 't is not incongruous nor unuseful to ascribe them thereunto 13. And what is so absolutely simple that it has not so much as formally distinct Parts must necessarily be without Parts really exclusive of one another and what is so cannot be corporeal because a Body consists of Parts really exclusive of one another and what is not corporeal is immaterial and an immaterial Being or Substance we call a Spirit the First Being therefore is a Spirit The total then of all contain'd in this Section summ'd up together amounts to this that there necessarily is an absolutely Perfect Being which is self-existent Eternal only One Infinite Immutable a pure essential Act entirely Simple one Formality and a Spirit which we usually call by the name of GOD. SECT II. In the Vnity of the Divine Essence there necessarily is a Trinity of Persons 1. THat there is only one God has been shewn Sect. 1. Par. 6. whose Existence because it is essential to him sect 1. par 5. by the Essence of God is to be understood the Eternal Nature or Being or Thing existing which is God. For essentially to exist is to be necessary to exist and to be necessary to exist is to be impossible not to exist and for a thing to be impossible not to exist is to be a thing whose Essence is pure Existence or a direct contradiction to Non-Existence The Divine Essence therefore is a Thing Substance or Being which is a perfect contradictory Repugnancy to Non-Entity and is God alone himself or the Divine Nature eternally existing of it self 2. What is meant by the Divine Essence being explain'd we must next consider what the Word Person attributed to God is intended to denote and we find it to be this An incommunicable Substance of an intelligent Nature 3. Essence and Person thus explicated in regard God is one pure essential Act and entirely simple Being sect 1. par 9 10. it is impossible there should be any Plurality or Distinction of Persons in God unless God himself be some way differently related to and within himself and that the several Relatives answering such Relation be each of them an incommunicable Substance of an
troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour John 12. 27. And to what end came he unto it but to destroy Sin by the Sacrifice of himself upon the Altar of the Cross that Men might die unto Sin and live unto Righteousness whose Fruit is everlasting Life for so the two chief Apostles plainly tell us Now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Hebr. 9. 26. Who his own self bare our sins in his own Body on the Tree that we being dead to sin should live unto Righteousness by whose Stripes ye were healed 1 Pet. 2. 24. Knowing this that our Old Man is crucified with him that the Body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin Rom. 6. 6. That he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5. 15. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a People zealous of good Works Tit. 2. 14. For if the Blood of Bulls and of Goats and the Ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the Flesh how much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without Spot to God purge your Conscience from dead Works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 13 14. Which Scriptures since they evidently prove that Christ came into the World to undergo Death that by virtue thereof we might die unto Sin and live unto Righteousness or be converted from our wicked Courses to lead a godly Life what I have now only remaining to do is to prove Secondly That there is no Condemnation to those who forsaking their sins turn unto God or that are converted from the Love of the World and worldly Vanities to the Love of God for the certainty of the truth whereof we have the Testimony of Truth it self assuring us He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him John 14. 21. And a little after If a Man love me he will keep my Words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Ver. 23. And St. Paul in express words saith There is therefore now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1. Nor is the truth of this Doctrine averred only by Scripture but it is also evident to Human Reason for since Sin is the privation of the due Love of God in the Soul through the inordinate Love of the World Sect. 8. Par. 2 3 4. and that everlasting Misery is the necessary effect of the perpetual continuance in sin after this Life Sect. 7. Par. 1 2 3 4 5. 't is as manifestly impossible that he who has forsaken the Love of the World for the Love of God should eternally perish unless he relapse and die in mortal sin by leaving again the Love of God for the Love of the World as it is impossible that the same Man should love the World above God and God above the World both together to eternity For what end Christ died for us suffered for us bare our sins in his own Body upon the Tree for us the Word of God it self having expresly shewn viz. That we being dead unto Sin should live unto Righteousness 1 Pet. 2. 24. there is no need for the explicating those Expressions that Christ either really transferred our sins from us to himself or took upon him the Punishment due to our sins being the perpetual Loss of Heaven and the everlasting Pains of Hell to assert any of which would be no less than Blasphemy 'T is abundantly enough that in regard Christ is ΘεάνθÏωπος God-man he underwent so much in behalf of Sinners that his unexpressible Sufferings are a truly meritorious i. e. an efficacious efficient cause of cleansing us from sin of justifying us and of bringing us to Glory which they effectually are to as many as through a vigorous Faith rightly weigh the Value of them whilst the due Consideration of the immense and unmerited Love of Christ to Man manifested chiefly in his bitter and ignominious Death constraineth Men to forsake all worldly Pleasures for the Blessed Enjoyment of so gracious and stupendiously loving a God and Saviour accordingly as St Paul averreth saying For the love of God constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. which words are thus cleared unto us by the learned Dr. Hammonds Paraphrase on the place For our Love to Christ founded on his to us hath us in its Power to make us do whatsoever it will have us making this Argument from this certain acknowledged truth of Christs having died for all Men that then certainly all Men are Sinners lapsed in a lost Estate and so hopeless unless they use some means to get out of that Estate which that he might help us to do was the Design of Christ's dying for all that we might having received by his Death Grace to lead a new Life live no longer after our own Lusts and Desires but in Obedience to his Commands that died and rose again to that end to bless us in turning every man from his Iniquities Acts 3. 26. 'T is clear then from what hath been said that our Conversion to God was the very Design of Christ's Crucifixion to the end we might be eternally saved and not that he might so suffer for us as to really transfer our Sins or the Punishment thereof from our Persons to his own which that the words he bare our sins in his own Body on the Tree so very much urged and insisted on by some do not necessarily import may be certainly gathered from another Text not unlike to this When the Even was come they brought unto him many that were possessed with Devils and he cast out the Spirits with his word and healed all that were sick that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the Prophet saying himself took our Infirmities and bare our Sicknesses Matth. 8. 16 17. for none questionless will affirm that Christ transferred the Infirmities and Sicknesses of those whom he cured to his own Body from theirs When it is therefore said that Christ bare our Sins and bare our Infirmities it is to be understood that he really cured both and as truly by virtue of his Death takes away sin and the eternal Punishment thereof from all that by Faith apply it to themselves as he took away diverse Infirmities by his Word from several who believed on him so that the Socinians injuriously and blasphemously deny the Divine Power and efficacy of the infinitely meritorious and satisfactory Sacrifice of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ upon the Cross for the Redemption of Man who by the eternal Love of GOD the FATHER through the Merits of GOD the SON apprehended by Faith wrought in the Heart by GOD the HOLY GHOST is effectually delivered from the miserable Thraldom of Sin Sathan and Damnation for which ineffable undeserved Kindness is of Right therefore perpetually to be given to that ever adorable TRIN-VNI DEO GLORIA
inferior Ends beneficial in their kind to some particular purposes may be attained and yet everlasting Misery not be prevented thereby This then being apparent that Charity is the Scope and Aim which the moral Virtues ought to look and level at let 's see in what way they compass their designed End. 2. Prudence which because it is conversant circa agibilia is reckoned with the moral Virtues is the practical Knowledg of things to be desired or shunned in respect of some honest end sought after whence it is manifest that Prudence is deeply engaged in every moral Virtue and therefore how much soever Charity is advanced by any of them Prudence always plays its part in contributing thereunto 3. Justice is said to be a Virtue whereby we give to every one what is due or right for them to have the Discourse whereof I 'le therefore omit till I come to the Decalogue or Moral Law. 4. Fortitude is that Virtue which strengthens the Soul to overcome Difficulties that would avert the Will from the Prosecution of Good for fear of Evil to be encountred with before the Good can be obtained 'T is apparent therefore to see that considering a Christians Life is a continual Warfare where daily Enemies that would hinder Mans Love to God above all things are stoutly to be combated if Victory be desired and expected Fortitude is a Virtue primely useful unto Charity 5. Temperance is a Virtue which regulates the desires of the Will about the Objects of Tast and Touch as Meat Drink and Venery and is hugely serviceable to Charity For whereas the Will through the Corruption of Mans vitiated Nature is prone to follow the Gust of the sensitive Appetite in the immoderate persuit of whatsoever is grateful to it and is apt thereby to be drawn from the Love of its chief Object the Supreme Good which is God Temperance by restraining the sensitive Appetite from excess in its desire of Meat and Drink doth thereby reduce the animal Spirits to a more moderate Quantity and Temper which otherwise through their too great abundance and activeness are wont to excite the sensitive Faculty to a violent lusting after all such things as are pleasing to it and that again disturbs and blunders the Rational Powers of the Soul and by eagerly pressing upon them averts the Understanding from the due Consideration of things and thence totally gains the Phantasie and thereby ensnares and captivates the Will. Besides Temperance is very serviceable ut Causa removens prohibens to Prayer and Meditation the two faithful Ensurers as I may well call them of Charity for they never fail to ensure it to us as will be made appear in the next Section if we fail not to make sure of employing them in their Office. Object 1. By what hath been said of the moral Virtues if true they are not bona per se good in themselves which is contrary to the Opinion of most men Solut. Whatsoever is bonum per se good in it self is of it self the Object of Desire and so having no Reference as such to any farther good in consideration of which it is desirable it ought to be desired for its own sake without respect had to any other good whatsoever to be obtained by it and consequently to be acquiesced in either as the edequate End and Perfection of the Soul or at least as a coordinate part and proportion thereof The former the moral Virtues are not otherwise God would be totally excluded from being in any sort Man's ultimate End and Sovereign Good. Nor can they be the latter First because it is impossible but that the Soul which is fully possessed of God should have all Good and Perfection whereof it is capable and Secondly for that the moral Virtues are Dispositions of the Soul for moderating the Affections of the Will about such Objects as shall have no Being in Heaven and if there be no Objects for the Virtues to be concerned about there will also be no Virtues because they receive their different Natures and Species from the diversity of the Objects they are exercised on Justice indeed seems to be eternally necessary in that we must give for ever to God Angels and Men what is their due but Charity abundantly supplies that forasmuch as to love every one of them as they ought to be beloved eminently contains in it whatsoever is to be rendred to them Object 2. Although a man that deals uprightly to obtain the Reputation of a good Name or defends his Country for Honours sake or lives temperately out of regard to his Health or that does all these for the mentioned or any other such like End be not properly a virtuous man yet he that exercises Justice Fortitude and Temperance for Honesties sake or because it is agreeable to the Principles and Dictates of Reason and so conformable to mans rational Nature to do it is certainly a moral honest man or else there is no such thing as moral Honesty in the World. Solut. He that does a thing for any End be it what it will has his Reward or all he desires in the obtaining of it if so be he have not an Eye to a farther end to be acquired by it and therefore in case every Man did exercise Justice Fortitude and Temperance for the pure Love of them only because they are agreeable to human Nature he had his Reward in doing it and thence fell short of Felicity or his chiefest Good the Fruition of God and consequently he did not act virtuously For he that acts virtuously acts rationally and he that acts rationally acts for a good End which must either be Mans ultimate End or else some intermediate End conducible to the obtaining of it because Mans ultimate End alone is desirable for its own Cause and other things only as they are in order to it as was proved before Par. 1. and in the Solut. of the first Object in this Section Such a Man indeed as is said in the Objection I am now answering to be a moral honest man if there were any such would be less miserable by what he did but so will every one be accordingly as he is less vitious Sect. 7. although he be not in any sort truly Virtuous Is there then you 'l reply no such thing as meer moral Virtue or Honesty I answer yes Meer moral Virtue or Honesty is when a man without the Direction or Help of any other Law save only of the Law of Nature doth from the Consideration of Gods transcendent Excellency in himself of the Creation of the World and especially of Man all demonstrable by Reason as is to be seen by the first third and fourth Section and from the Beauty Order and Preservation of the Universe manifest to sense raise his Thoughts from poring on Earthly things to the Contemplation of the Divine Majesty and Goodness and by frequent admiring and adoring him together with giving Praise and Thanks unto him for
it be accompanied with frequency of Prayer issuing from an affectionate Heart will in a longer continuance of time effect as much as an higher degree thereof in a shorter so that all devout Prayer constantly kept to will at length though some sooner than other procure the Habit of Virtue prayed for Object 3. Very few are so intent in Prayer but that their Minds are often distracted and turned away from their due Object to thoughts of Vanity and how then should Prayer be of that efficacy as either to beget in such an Habit of Virtue or to preserve and strengthen it if it be obtain'd Solut. He that when he goes to pray unfeignedly desires and really strives to pray without distraction and yet finds his Mind carried away to Objects not intended will certainly be troubled in Spirit thereat which shews that that distraction is against his Will and caused by the agitation of the Phantasms in the Brain which he can neither prevent the motion of there nor the vision of them in the Soul no more than a man can hinder or avoid the sight of a thing passing by him directly before his Eyes So that such distraction as is here mentioned is involuntary and nothing that is involuntary is sinful But to take away all scruple that it is involuntary let him that is distracted in Prayer repeat over such passages at least where his Thoughts wandered which in private Devotion any one may well do till he mind their Sense and then he may be assured his preceding distraction will prove no prejudice to the prevalent effectualness of his Prayer Object 4. Forgiveness of Sin is a thing necessary to Salvation but what absolute certainty is there that every one that begs the pardon of it how unfeignedly fervently and constantly soever he doth it shall obtain remission thereof when it is wholly in God's power and pleasure whether he will pardon the same or no Solut. Since Sin is an Aversion from God and a conversion to the Creature sect 8. par 3 4 5. when the Heart is truly converted to God from the Love of the world and really and sted fastly prefers the fruition of him before the enjoyment of worldly pleasures Mortal Sin is expelled out of the Soul and taken away and consequently the penalty thereof eternal Damnation is quitted and voided the forsaking of Sin and the pardon of Sin going always of necessity together sect 11. par 6 7 8. Whence it is manifest that since he who in sincerity of heart craves pardon of his Sins and strives in Prayer to God with fervency and constancy of Devotion for the same will continuing so to do abhor his former Transgressions and leaving off his sinful manner of Life turn by true Repentance unto God and take delight in him as his sole supream Good it is manifest I say that unfeigned fervent and frequent Prayer doth evermore obtain Remission of Sin. Nor doth this at all gainsay that absolute Verity that God only forgiveth Sin seeing he alone both instituted the Means which take away Sin and gives them also Virtue to do it But to think that God ever withholds his Mercy and Kindness when men are immediately disposed by due preparation to receive them is a gross Opinion vilifying the Nature of God who is essential Goodness and repugnant to plain Scripture which assureth us that when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his Soul alive Ezek. 18. 27. Yea we have Truth it self verifying and sweetly insinuating unto us from his own sacred Mouth how ready God is to embrace men returning to him by the comfortable Parable of the Prodigal Son whom repenting of his riotous wicked living the Father received with as free and kind an heart as if he had never in the least gone astray nor once done amiss Luke 15. But nevertheless it is very dangerous to defer the use of Means which lead to Repentance even omitting the Consideration of the hazard of sudden Death and that Habits the longer they continue stick the closer not only because without that there is no Repentance unless miraculously wrought which it is great impiety to presume upon but also because when men lie sick and in pain their Affliction though it may cause remorse for Sin will not especially if it be smart and pungent permit them to exercise Prayer as it ought to be and consequently the habit of Charity not got thereby they will die in their Sins Object 5. By the account that has been given of Prayer it should seem to be a vain thing to pray for others because our Prayers for them work not on their Affections as they are apt to do on our own and yet it is a Duty injoyned us to pray for a Neighbour as well as for our selves Solut. Although we do not always profit others in praying for them yet we constantly benefit our selves in the hearty doing of it for whilst we earnestly desire their spiritual or eternal Good the only things to be absolutely prayed for Par. 4. we cannot chuse but be affected thereby towards that which we wish for them And therefore the Commandment given to pray for our Neighbour is not in vain albeit our Prayers should do him no good For if every man in the World should often and cordially pray for every other man as he ought to do every one alive would have benefit in praying for his Neighbour by augmenting his own Love both to God and Man thereby But besides the Prayers of the Faithful do alway profit their Neighbour in due Circumstances for in case he be truly penitent and earnestly crave the Prayers of some holy Person or of the Church the Prayers offered to God for him will undoubtedly do him good whilst his Opinion of their Piety and consequently of their Favour with God will encourage his Trust and Confidence in God's Mercy for their Prayers sake and thence elevate his Affection to God for the hope of Mercy and Kindness from God and Affection to God go still hand in hand and mutually of necessity strengthen each other Yea though there be no Request made by the party prayed for the Prayers of the Godly when performed with very great ardency constancy of Devotion as the Prayers of the pious Mother Monica for her Son Augustine were will undoubtedly obtain their desired event because in that they are for certain the effect of the special Grace of God they cannot fail of an happy issue lest otherwise God's own Work continued in should not have the event which it designedly by the Divine Favour tended to Object 6. Miracles have been obtained by Prayer which because they interrupt the Course of natural Causes instituted by God seems to import a Change in God's Mind which has been said to be immutable or however that the influence such Prayer had was wholly upon God and not at all upon Man.
Solut. That God is immutable has been proved Sect. 1. Par. 8. and therefore his changing the Course of Nature can truly import no Change in him that which may rightly be inferred from thence being only this that God from eternity determined the same should be done in time when occasion required which because it could never happen on God's account for any good that might redound thereby to himself when ever Miracles are wrought they are always done for the good and benefit of Men. And in regard nothing is truly good and beneficial to them but Holiness and the Fruit thereof everlasting Life Sect. 14. the intent of working Miracles is to cause Holiness in their hearts in order to the bringing them to Eternal Bliss And forasmuch as Holiness is not wrought in the heart but by Instruction and Motives Sect. 9. par 4. Miracles are intended for the confirmation of the Truth of some Doctrin requisite for directing the Understanding or for affording Motives to incline the Will to Virtue or for both at such certain times and on such occasions when the constant course of Providence and usual Series of Causes appointed by God to draw Men from the Love of worldly Vanities and sinful Lusts to the sincere Love of himself generally fail of effecting it not only in those who through perverseness of Will but in others also who by reason of the imbecility of corrupted Nature cannot be won thereby For as to the former sort neither the ordinary nor extraordinary workings of God unless in a juncture perhaps of some pressing Circumstances use to work a Reformation in them as is apparent by the Examples of Korah Dathan and Abiram opposing and reviling Moses and Aaron and of those Jews who heard Christ's Doctrin saw his holy Life and beheld his Miracles of Wonder and Mercy and yet would not receive him but barbarously and ungratefully prosecuted him to Death As Miracles we have seen are done for the benefit of Men so was it likewise out of design for their good that the Wisdom and Goodness of God ordered them to be done at the Instance of some or other holy Person or with reference to him For that Men whose holy Lives were known and observed by the People should be concerned about the working of Miracles was requisite on this account that notice might be taken of the great and special regard the Almighty had to Holiness which otherwise they would not have understood however not by far so well and by consequence the Miracles done would have had small or no influence on them more than to have caused astonishment or admiration and so have missed of their due and designed end of being instrumental Means of leading Men to the Love of Truth and Virtue for the gaining of everlasting Bliss Object 7. There is nothing said in all this Discourse of Prayer or the other mentioned means of Beatitude of the Power of the Holy Ghost without which notwithstanding all other Helps are not able to work a through Amendment of Life to Salvation Solut. It is readily granted that without the Power of the Spirit of God all Helps and Means whatsoever are ineffectual to the obtaining of Felicity but in the right use of the Means the Power of the Holy Ghost is evermore supposed to be present For since Christ's Ascension into Heaven all the Aids and means of Salvation are ordered and applied by his Holy Spirit whom he promised to send after his departure to abide with the Church But to assert that all the Means which God the Father appointed God the Son prepared and God the Holy Ghost makes application of to particular persons should really work nothing would be too absurd to suppose any rational Person guilty of For in case they work or effect nothing to what purpose is their use or wherefore did Christ undergo what he did both in Life and Death to prepare them and cause his Disciples also to publish them to the daily hazard and at length the loss of Life But if any thing be effected by them in what is their effective Virtue terminated Do they not reach the Understanding to convince it nor the Will to incline it if not whence is Man's Conversion wrought If you say that the Spirit of God comes after the Means used and causes by his own immediate operation the Conversion made in the Soul you attribute that to God which cannot be truly affirmed of him for since he is a pure essential Act and that whatever is in God is God Sect. 1. Par. 9. and 11. it is not possible that he should effect any thing save only by willing it without any physical action operation or emanation issuing from him and terminated in the Object whether the effect be to be brought about with or without means for if it be to be brought about without means it unavoidably follows from God's sole willing of it as the Creation did there being no need nor use of any thing besides to produce it But if Means be appointed by God to be used then will not the effect follow without the use of the Means appointed they immediately yet but instrumentally producing it by virtue of the principal Cause which employs and invigorates them to that End or wills that the Effect should be brought to pass by them If it be urged that Christ himself saith None can come unto me unless the Father which hath sent me draw him John 6. 44. I answer by granting the infallible truth thereof but withal deny that it can be gathered from thence that whom the Father draws he draws them not by Means there being no mention made of the Manner of his drawing Yea is it not plain that the Father drew men to Christ by means of a Voice from Heaven when he said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him Matth. 17. 5. And what were the Works but Means to draw men to believe in Christ which he speaks of to the Jews saying If I do not the Works of my Father believe me not but if I do though ye believe not me believe the Works John 10. 37 38. In a word since God sent his Son into the World that whosoever believed on him should not perish but have everlasting Life it is manifest that every thing our Blessed Saviour either taught did or suffered whereby men are induced to believe and trust in him for Salvation is a Means by which the Father draws them unto Christ Object 8. If the Means of Salvation through the Power of the Spirit of God assisting them be the Cause thereof why are not all men saved to whom Salvation is tendered and the means conducible thereunto applied Solut. As a material Instrument cannot effectually work on matter not qualified to be wrought upon as for Instance a Knife cannot cut Brass or Iron asunder but a Straw or Stick it can so the means of Salvation held forth by the Gospel though being
no influence at all from them but is wholly miraculous as every Effect immediately produced by God is To me it seems more rational to say that as those Children who live till they be of years capable of understanding the Reason and Use of Baptism are appointed by the Church to be informed thereof that they may make good the Engagement of their Sureties without doing of which their Baptism will not avail them to Salvation so Infant-Children upon the separation of Soul and Body are illuminated by their Angels for are they not ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1. 14. And that Baptized Children are such we be taught by the Answer to the second Question in our Catechism where the Word Inheritor is rendred in the Latin Haeres and in the Greek κληÏονόμος with the Knowledg of their Baptism for then they are capable of apprehending any thing offered to the intellect it proceeding from the disposition of their Bodies and not from the nature of their Souls that they are ever uncapable of actually understanding And seeing the inclination to the Creature through Original Sin is not by far so strong as that which is contracted by frequent Acts of sinning their affections will be instantly turned to God by virtue of their Baptism signified unto them But however the Truth in this obscure Point stand this is certain that in regard Felicity consists in the Love of God sect 4. par 13. baptized Infants must some way or other obtain Charity before they arrive at Bliss or at least upon the very instant of being possessed thereof And how their Baptism should be useful to them for the obtaining of Charity except they have Knowledg of it and by whom it should be made known unto them but by their Angels unless miraculously and Miracles are not wrought where there 's no necessity of them I do not understand Yet since I know of no Divine Revelation nor of any clear demonstration after what manner their Love of God depends upon their being baptized I do not presume to affirm that my delivered Thoughts are positively true SECT XVIII In the exercise of the hearty Love of God or Charity consists the sincere observance of every Precept of the Decalogue But the absolute entire fulfilling of the Moral Law is not accomplished till Charity have attained its ultimate Perfection in Heaven 1. WHen treating of the Moral Virtues I shewed the Assistance which Prudence Temperance and Fortitude exhibit to Charity sect 14. par 2 4 5. I said I would defer my intended Discourse on Justice till I came to the Explication of the Ten Commandments whither being now come I shall endeavour to make it appear that every Precept of the Decalogue tends to the causing a firm establishment of Charity in the Soul of Man and that in the exercise thereof when it is acquired the sincere observance of the whole Law is practised albeit the absolute exact fulfilling of it be not accomplished till Charity have obtained its utmost Perfection which human Frailty will not permit the attainment of while Men carry about them a Body of Flesh 2. For since to love God with all the Heart with all the Soul with all the Mind and with all the strength Mark 12. 30. is required to the compleat exact fulfilling of the Law and that such Love would perpetually take up all the Powers of the Soul it is plain that in regard while we live in this world our Thoughts must be often employed in taking care for the necessary accommodations of Life and in using Means to further our own and others Welfare here and hereafter we cannot in this mortal state so fully fix our Affections on God as to have our Souls fully possessed of him 3. And yet forasmuch as to give God the pre-eminence in our Affections and to despise all other things in comparison of the fruition of him to eternity so as that when we are tempted to violate any of his holy Commandments the ardent desire we have for the enjoyment of him enables us to resist and overcome the Temptation forasmuch I say as thus to love God permits us not wilfully and advisedly to break any of his Precepts but engages and puts us upon the keeping them all in sincerity of Affection and unfeignedness of heart it is apparent that in the exercise of Charity is virtually contained the sincere unfeigned Observance of the whole Moral Law. 4. Which Law consists of Ten Commandments the four first whereof totally respecting Man's Behaviour towards the supream Being the only Object of these is God whom therefore they command us to look up to as he is the Author and Finisher of Eternal Salvation in which respect we are to esteem him as he truly is the prime Verity whom we are to believe the sovereign Power in whom we are to trust and the chiefest Good whom we ought to love above all things or the Object of Faith Hope and Charity 5. And seeing neither Faith nor Hope are available to Salvation save only as they contribute to Charity either in helping to produce the Habit thereof or being obtained to confirm and strengthen it sect 13. 't is clear that the Precepts of the Former Table are not observed till we love God as our Sovereign Good or be endued with Charity 6. Whosoever therefore exerciseth the Grace of Charity he is all the while employ'd in the sincere keeping of the Four first Commandments the whole design of God's forbidding us to have any other Gods besides himself to make any graven Image to fall down before it and worship it to take his holy Name in vain and to do any unnecessary worldly Business at Times appointed for Divine Offices being totally accomplished in this to cause us to fix our Souls Affections on God and to pursue with earnestness the eternal Fruition of him as our sole Sovereign Good. Object 1. If Faith and Hope be not absolutely necessary to Salvation in themselves abstracting from this that they are Ministerially beneficial to Charity then are the opposite Vices to them Infidelity and Apostacy Presumption and Despair not Sins damnable in themselves or as destructive of the contrary Virtues but only as they cannot consist together with the Grace of Charity But Infidelity and Apostasie Presumption and Despair are Sins damnable in themselves or as they are destructive of the contrary Virtues Faith and Hope abstracting from this that these are Ministerially beneficial unto Charity Ergo Solut. The Minor Proposition must be denied and justly I conceive may for although it be most certainly true that Infidelity and Apostasie Presumption and Despair debar Men of Felicity yet the Reason thereof is not because of their immediate opposition to Faith and Hope but for that they are totally inconsistent with Charity For since that no Habit is truly virtuous but in virtue of the End whereto it serves and that the End of all Virtues is Charity
ὰγαπῶν τὸν ἕτεÏον hath fulfilled the Law Rom. 13. 8. And therefore Charity as it is taken for the sincere Love of God above all things doth not alone justifie Solut. One and the same Word ὰγάπῶν is used in Scripture for God's Love to Man for Man's Love to God and one Man's Love another so that no Argument can be drawn from the bare Word αγάπη Love or Charity for it is rendred both ways in Holy Writ to make it clearly out in what Love or Charity Righteousness is placed And therefore although it be infallibly true that he that loveth another ὠἀγαπῶν τὸν ἕτεÏον hath fulfilled the Law yet the Reason thereof is not that the Love of ones Neighbour doth formally justifie but because it is impossible for any man to love his Neighbour as he ought to do until and by reason he loveth God in sincerity of heart above all things Sect. 18. Par. 7 8 9 10. by which he is formally justified And alike impossible it is for him that loveth God with sincerity of Affection but that he should also love his Neighbour as himself Sect. 11. Solut. of Obj. 2. and sect 18. par 9 10. consonant whereunto are the Words of the Beloved Disciple If a Man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a liar 1 John 4. 20. It is no wonder then that he that loveth his Neighbour is said to have fulfilled the Law albeit the Love of God alone be that which formally justifies sect 11. par 6 7 8. Object 2. No man in this Life can love God with all his heart with all his Soul with all his strength and with all his mind therefore no man alive is justified by Charity Solut. Because no man can so love God in this Life by reason of the Frailty of the Flesh 't will rightly follow that none is perfectly justified or clear from all impurity while he breaths a mortal Life But there is an imperfect Righteousness or a state of Grace here consisting in sincere Charity sect 11. par 6 7 8. which is plainly held forth by Scripture The End of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure Heart and of a good Conscience and of Faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1. 5. And such Charity or Righteousness is attainable in this Life There is no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1. Neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Abusers of themselves with Mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God and such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. v. 9 10 11. In a word the love of the World and the false Pleasures thereof are so diametrically opposed to the Love of God and the solid Delight of the same that they cannot habitually possess on individual Soul at once Love not the world neither the things that are in the world Iâ— any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him For all that is in the world the lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eyes and the pride of Life is not of the Father but is of the world 1 John 2. v. 15 16. The Love therefore of the one always excludes and expels the Love of the other and their Ends are as distant as Heaven and Hell the Result of the Love of the World being eternal Misery and the Consequent of the Love of God everlasting Bliss as was proved Sect. 7 11 12. whereunto the Holy Scripture so fully agrees for confirmation of its truth that it would be superfluous to produce any particular Texts to that end Which Bliss that Mankind might attain unto by a Way suitable to their Rational Nature is the great Design of the Gospel of Christ the Christian Religion being evidently if the preceding Treatise be true a Divine Art for making Man eternally blessed or a Method instituted by God the best and most connatural that could be for the perfecting of Human Nature by duly preparing it for the enjoyment of the Beatific Vision The like Assertion to which I meet with in a most pious and highly valued Author by all I will only add for an Accomplishment and Confirmation to my Discourse these his excellent Words whether we take Christianity in its whole complex or in its several and distinct Branches 't is certainly the most excellent the most compendious ART of happy living its very Tasks are Rewards and its Precepts are nothing but a divine sort of Alchimy to sublime at once our Natures and our Pleasures Art of Contentment sect 1. par 2. If in this Treatise or in the Appendix to it there be any Assertion of mine which is repugnant to Catholic and Apostolic Faith I do hereby as in duty bound heartily revoke the same and for ever renounce it as an Erorur to be detested by me and every good Christian whatsoever FINIS AN APPENDIX OF OBJECTIONS TO Several Things Asserted in the preceding Treatise With their Respective ANSWERS Objection 1. IT is said sect 1. par 3. That an actual infinite Series of things is impossible which Assertion if it were true then could not the Omniscient comprehend at once all the Thoughts which the Glorified Saints and Angels shall have to Eternity Answer The Omniscient knows at once all the Thoughts which Men and Angels shall ever have but their number is not infinite For when Christ has delivered up the Kingdom to his Father there will be no more Change but whatever the present state of the Blessed shall then be 't will never admit of any alteration afterward so that the Thoughts of the glorified Saints and Angels will be perpetually the same without any succession of new Conceptions incident to them For if after they have obtained their utmost Perfection in the full Fruition of God their chiefest Good they should receive a Change especially in their Thoughts wherein the Prime of their Felicity consists such Change to whatever it were would of necessity be for the worse and so they should depart thereby from the Perfection and Fulness of Bliss enjoyed by them which is impossible sect 4. par 14. Objection 2. God you say is one pure essential Act and simple Being sec 1. par 9 10. and yet you put two essential Acts in God viz. Knowing and Loving sec 2 par 2 9. Answer I do not say in the cited places that Knowing and Loving are two essential Acts in God I say there and no where else to the contrary that they are God himself differently related or relatively opposed to himself so that in my sense the Trinity of Persons in the Vnity of Essence is the very self-same pure essential Act and simple Being under distinct Relations to it self in the manner set forth
considerable part of the Divine Workmanship were at first made in the highest invigoration of the spiritual and intellective Faculties which were exercis'd in Virtue and in blissful Contemplation of the supream Deity Here we see the chief Faculties of the Soul are supposed to have once enjoyed the perfectest Bliss for quality that their Natures were capable of which if in truth it had ever been so their Condition would have been in all reason eternally happy For First The Intellect and the Will being in their highest inactuation and exercise they could not purely of themselves without some Argument or Motive desert the Beatific Object because the one most perfectly understanding and the other most perfectly loving being in their highest invigoration the same they should otherwise without regard had to any Object withdrawing them from God have left and forsaken what was most clearly known by the Intellect to be the Soul 's chiefest Good and as such practically delighted in with all the strength of the Will which is a thing impossible the Intellect being never drawn but by some Argument true or false nor the Will inclined without a Motive really or apparently good Neither Secondly could the Souls copartner the Body nor the inferior Powers of the Soul relating to the Body have drawn the supream Faculties from that which they fully experienced to be amiableness it self and the only true Felicity to gratifie any or all of them for the Soul was united with the most subtil and aethereal Matter that it was capable of inacting and the inferior Powers those relating to the Body being at a very low ebb of exercise were wholly subservient to the Superior and employed in nothing but what was serviceable to that higher Life so that the Senses did but present occasions for Divine Love and Objects for Contemplation and the Plastic had nothing to do but to move this passive and easie Body accordingly as the Concerns of the higher Faculties required Lux Orientalis Chap. 14. pag. 114. Whence it plainly appears that the Souls inferior Powers and the Body were so far from having a stronger propensity to Objects of Sense than the superior Faculties had an inclination to God that those were wholly subservient unto these in the exercise of their proper Functions and so could be no inducement to make them forsake their enjoyed Felicity Nor Thirdly could long continuance through Torpitude or Defatigation in performing their Offices be a Cause why the Soul should desert its Bliss because when it shall be re-estated therein to Eternity it shall according to the Praeexistentiaries have a Body of the like pure aethereal Matter and the same innate triple congruity for ever which it had at first For since the supream Faculties were by Creation in their highest inactuation exercise and invigoration that their Natures rendred them capable of and the Soul united to the most tenuious pure and simple Matter as the fittest instrument for the most vigorous and spiritual Faculties as the Author of Lux Orientalis Chap. 14. pag. 114. expresly says they were the first and last state of Soul and Body will not be different which if really so then if ever we had been in perfect Bliss we should have continued therein to Eternity for the last Estate of the Blessed shall abide the Praeexistentiaries grant for ever The Annotator upon Lux Orientalis I know offers pag. 116 117 118. several things to evade this Consequence That if the last estate of the Blessed be unalterable the first would have been so also for he says First That it may be a Mistake that the Happiness is altogether the same that it was before For our first Paradisaical Bodies from which we lapsed might be of a more crude and dilute Aether not so full and saturate with Heavenly Glory and Perfection as our Resurrection-Body is I answer that tho the Annotator makes some scruple whether the Body was by Creation such as the Author has described it to be yet I do not find that he differs from him as to the state of the Soul which in regard it was in its highest inactuation exercise and invigoration the Body that it might be adapted thereunto was of necessity to be of the most subtil and pure aethereal Matter that the Soul was capable of inacting as the Author we have seen says it was or else there would have been that disproportion between the Soul and Body as that the praeexistent state should not have been the best that Rational Nature was capable of which the Praeexistentiaries cannot admit of to be true without yielding the very Foundation of their Hypothesis to be subverted thereby since they lay it as hath been seen in this That the Eternal and Almighty Goodness the blessed Spring and Root of all things made all his Creatures in the best happiest and most perfect condition that their respective Natures rendred them capable of The Annotator's first Reason why happy Souls might formerly fall albeit they shall never hereafter in the future world do so again being you see of no validity let 's proceed to examine the rest for he saith 2ly The Soul was then unexperienced and lightly coming by that Happiness she was in did the more heedlesly forgo it before she was well aware and her Mind roved after new Adventures although she knew not what 3ly It is to be considered whether Regeneration be not a stronger Tenure for enduring Happiness than the being created happy For this being wrought so by degrees upon the Plastich 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with ineffable groans and piercing desires after that divine Life that the Spirit of God co-operating exciteth in us When Regeneration is perfected and brought to the full by these strong Agonies this may rationally be deemed a deeper tincture in the Soul than that she had by meer Creation whereby the Soul did indeed become holy innocent and happy but not coming to it with any such strong previous Conflicts and eager Workings and Thirstings after that state it might not be so firmly rooted by far as in Regeneration begun and accomplished by the operation of God's Spirit gradually but more deeply renewing the Divine Image in us 4ly It being a renovation of our Nature into a pristine state of ours the strength and depth of impression seems increased upon that account also 5ly The remembrance of all the hardships we underwent in our lapsed condition whether of Mortification or cross Rancounters this must likewise help us to persevere when once returned to our former Happiness 6ly The comparing the evanid Pleasures of our lapsed or terrestrial Life with the fulness of those Joys that we find still in our heavenly will keep us from ever having any hankering after them again 7ly The certain knowledg of everlasting punishment which if not true they could not know must be also another sure bar to any such negligences as would hazard their setled Felicity Which may be one reason why the irreclaimable are eternally punished