are of and by the means of external things let in by the Organs of the Senses which are as Conditions in this life at least of our receiving such Cogitations the Indisposition of the Senses or want of those Conditions leaves us without those Thoughts if wholly indispos'd but if only in part the Thoughts are weak and pass unremembred and not reflected on and so are by some inconsiderately suppos'd not to have been But tho' our Eyes are shut in sleep and we then see nothing we have visible Ideas sometimes from the Remembrance of things seen tho' confused for no one born blind and so continuing ever dreams he sees yet the other Senses are not quite laid by we feel hear and smell c. tho' but remisly and our Thoughts or Perceptions are but faint and so it is no wonder if we forget them as fast as they pass and so suppose we had none And which to me makes the matter past doubt I have discours'd with a Person fast asleep who hath answer'd me distinctly to many Questions without so much as dreaming of any thing that was said But moreover if we do not think when asleep we do neither understand nor will or which is the same have no Understanding or Will but every Morning or perhaps twice or thrice every Night a new Mind for Understanding that understands not or Will that wills not is no Understanding or Will but an Absurdity And it is the same as to say I am Thinking and yet do not think But we remember we think sometimes in sleep and that strongly and though most commonly it is but weakly yet it is Thinking And such weak Thinking we may suppose a Child in the Womb may have none perhaps but what comes by Feeling or Tasting I speak according to the common Meaning for all Senses are but different ways of Feeling and yet the very Ideas that come by the grossest of the Senses are Thoughts still it being the Mind that perceives not the Body From these Considerations to name no more we may be perswaded that we always think tho' we don't always reflect and remember our Thoughts and so that Thinking is real and constant But to the second Objection That Thinking is but an Act of something else the Agent or an Attribute of something else the Subject I answer First by demanding what this more real and noble Agent is What Notion have we of it I have long try'd and can find nothing an Object of my Understanding but either Thinking or Body what others may chance to do who never try'd and are resolved they never will I know not Let them tell us what thought they have of it different from Body and Thinking if they can But if neither they nor we have any notion of such a third Being we cannot with any reason affirm any thing of it or that such a thing is If they have any thought of it they have some knowledge of it and so need not acknowledge themselves at such a loss as they commonly do when this Question is put them What is the Soul or expose themselves as they commonly do by talking of that whose Essence they acknowledge themselves wholly ignorant of But if any suppose Thinking an Action or Attribute of Body or that it is Body some way or other posited or moved how they cannot tell that is Thinking or that as they rather would say thinks they must suppose Body more noble as the Cause or Agent which I believe they will hardly do But we can suppose Body not to be we may be ignorant of it and yet think which could not be if it were Body that thinks besides if Body thinks it knows it self to think and so the Dispute is at an end but Body does not know it self to think because it is doubted whether it thinks or no Whatever thinks cannot be ignorant of its Thinking nor can any thing be well thought to be an Agent that is ignorant of its being so or does not will to be so If Body could be suppos'd to think and know it self to think it would be Thinking consequently not Body for of Body and Thinking there are wholly different Notions But Body we affirm to be no Agent of any thing or Creator of Ideas or Thoughts God alone must be supposs'd with good reason to be the Cause and Contriver of our Thinking As we find our Thoughts do not cause our Body much less can we suppose Body to cause our Thoughts or act any thing in us our Body is moved according to our Will and our Will and Understanding is often affected by means of our Body but Body is not the Cause or Agent of either Besides one half of our Thoughts are Passions nothing but our Desires or the Application of our Will about Objects seems properly our Action And tho' Thinking be look'd on as an Attribute requiring a Subject different we may as well suppose an essential Attribute or Attribute that is Identical the same with the thing it self in the created Mind as to say what-ever is in God is God or that there is not another thing which is not Wisdom Goodness Power c. which is God in which Wisdom Goodness Power c. reside as things accidental Nor is it so strange an Expression as that it may not be admitted to say Cogitatio est cogitans or Thinking thinks for in truth I take it to be the same as to say Thinking is Thinking which is no worse than an Identical Proposition But to leave this Question with these few touches to give others occasion to consider as besides my main purpose I shall pass to that Knowledge of our selves which most concerns us and even that Knowledge is the Knowledge of our selves as Thinking and that as Thinking well or ill If our Thoughts are well in order that something else that some fancy is the Agent of the Action Thinking in us that unknown Soul that Chimera or that Body whose Particles are very far from one another or friggle about very nimblely such is the common Notion of a Spirit is of little value If my Thoughts are duely apply'd to their due Objects I care not for that unknowable Soul for it is in the right order of our Thoughts that Happiness consists and whereby we come to attain the End of our Being 8. Having thus found our selves to be imperfect Minds variable limited caus'd or created Cogitations let us consider our Cause or Creator and that First as he must needs be thought to be in himself and then we shall the more fully discover the Second thing which hath been partly discours'd already What he is to us And the first notion that occurs to my Mind of God or the Cause of caused insufficient things as consider'd in himself is That he is Self-sufficient or Self existent Having found my self insufficient and consequently that I must have a Cause sufficient to be so which he could not be were he himself caused
Immediate Work of God as the first Man was Whatever comes immediately out of the hands of the Creator cannot be thought to be other than pure but out of an unclean thing cometh that which is unclean That Christ might be a Second Man in Innocence he must not be begotten by the sinful Will of Man as other Men are Conceptions of Self Will and Erring Understanding so determin'd to Evil rather than to Good that their at first weak Understanding or Reason is not sufficient to counter-ballance the manifold Temptations by occasions of Evil within and without Instructions and Examples to sin they meet with very early from Parents and others whom they little suspect such Enemies to them who use them to those Actions which tho' Ignorance makes innocent Reason when they come to know what they do makes culpable and use determines to But Christ besides his pure Original doubtless had the special Grace of God keeping him from Temptation so long as God saw fit that he might have at least the same advantage of strength of Reason the First Man had who was to undergo far greater Temptations But tho' he might not be a Soul derived from Man's corrupt Soul yet his Body might well be taken from the Matter of Mankind without his being thereby sinful or the more inclinable to sin For the Body is not the Subject of Sin or that which infects the Soul it may be an occasion of Temptation to Sin but Sin entirely resides in the Mind being but a disorderly Act of the Will That a Soul coming pure out of the hands of God should become a Sinner by using a Body taken from a Person that was a Sinner is unreasonable to be thought while Matter has nothing in it but Quantity Figure and Motion which howsoever disposed or modified has nothing of the Notion of Sin in it We might as well suppose a Man must needs become a Thief or a Murderer if he dwell in a House given him by one that was such Christ we all acknowledge received the Body God prepar'd him from the Virgin Mary whom all suppose a Sinner except some of the Roman Church yet we suppose him not made a Sinner thereby It was convenient Christ should receive a Body from Mankind that he might be a Real Man and a near Kinsman or Brother A Rational Soul using an Organical Body such as a Man's is really a Man tho' the Soul do not begin mediately by Generation as much as if it did otherwise the first Rational Creature using an Organical Body would not have been a Man the same in kind as others The First Adam's Soul could come no way but by Inspiration and his Body was a more Immediate or Special Work of God than the Bodies of others his Off-spring therefore he is called the Son of God in a nearer respect than they And that Christ's Soul was produced by the Immediate Power of God and his Body by a Special Work of the Most High he is the more properly said to be the Second Man or Adam God forming a Seed in a Woman a Virgin that we might be sure he was not a common Man when a Woman is naturally or commonly a Creature whose Seed is not in her self originally but in the Man or perhaps to speak more properly that hath no Seed This Seed of the Woman inform'd with this Holy Soul this One Exception from the common Order of the Production of Men is therefore with good reason call'd the Son of God eminently as distinct from others who on any lesser or more common Accounts are said to be his Children And the same reason for Subsistance we have given us in the Gospel Luke 1.31 The Angel said unto Mary thou shalt conceive in thy Womb and bring forth a Son and shalt call his name Jesus Ver. 32. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God shall give him the Throne of David 〈◊〉 his Father Christ is said to be the Son of Abraham the Son of David only according to the Flesh because Mary from whom he received his Body materially was of the Off-spring of Abraham and David Ver. 34. And Mary said unto the Angel how shall this be seeing I know not a Man V. 35. And the Angel answering said unto her a Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee therefore also that holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God And to strengthen the Virgin 's Faith he tells her ver 36. Her Cousin Elizabeth who was old and accounted barren had conceived For v. 37. with God nothing shall be unpossible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every word shall not be unpossible viz. whatever can be said in reason to be a thing to be done shall not be unpossible with God He brings her from the less to the greater he that has caused the Old and Barren to be with Child a thing above the power of Nature can do more even cause thee a Virgin to conceive without the means of a Man Thus Christ that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that holy Soul Spirit or Mind that received his Body from Mary and so became the Compositum call'd a Man was truely call'd the Son of the Most High as God the Father of all was in a special manner his Efficient Cause and the Son of Mary and her Progenitors as she was the Material Cause of what was material in him And least any should think the Holy Ghost the Efficient Cause of Christ's Conception and so rather to be called his Father from whence would arise a great difficulty from those Expressions ver 35. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Math. 1.18 and 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let it be considered that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spirit is put without the Article and is rather to be rendered a Holy Spirit and of a Holy Spirit then the Holy Spirit A Holy Spirit shall come upon thee or into thee Signifying thereby either that she should have a Holy Disposition in order to the over-shadowing Power of the Highest viz. of the Father coming to effect such a Conception or that she should receive a Holy Conception in her or both So she was found with Child of a Holy Spirit That which is conceived in her is of a Holy Spirit that is she hath a Holy Conception in her was found with Child of a Holy Conception neither a Spurious as Joseph thought nor a Common Conception The Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does not denote the Efficient Cause any more here than it does when spoken of Mary Luk. 1.35 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of thee in thee or by thee and Matth. 1.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Mary or in Mary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was born or conceived Jesus not that she was the Cause
incites him to forgive him If he forgives him the Debter is no longer obliged to pay the Debt or a Debter in that matter if the Creditor will not forgive the poor Man that would and cannot pay he looseth the Condition of Forgiveness with God who will not require what the Creature cannot do God has not been wanting to the Creature he first made him innocent and capable of continuing so as well as of sinning and he has made him capable of repenting and becoming obedient and happy tho' he has sinn'd He has given him a Faculty of considering and reasoning with himself whereby as aforesaid he may be and is whenever he is convinced Now if Man notwithstanding he hath sinn'd shall repent and become as he should be obedient he will also become happy and the end of his Being will be attain'd what-ever means God may please to make effectual to this end 35. And that God has given divers means tending to this end ever since Man hath sinned is plainly seen Every Man hath a Conscience a kind of Court of Judgment in himself accusing more or less as he hath seen his Actions to have been more or less disorderly and telling him he ought to do otherwise Besides the experience of the Disquiet or Unhappiness every Man has as the fruits of his own and other Mens Sins a little consideration will make an Argument to perswade him to repent or do no more such things as make him so uneasie The due Consideration of God and himself will certainly give every Man an Argument enough to perswade him to behave himself according to God's Will even for his own profit But besides this Natural Light of Conviction and these Motives in self to Repentance which are or may be always present with a Man it cannot be thought unbecoming the Goodness and Power of God sometimes himself to make more strong Impressions on the Mind of Man or immediately to cause him to have such or such more serious and right Thoughts He that made us Thinkers may if he please inject particular Thoughts into our Minds without any Medium yet it is not unreasonable to suppose that he may and does often employ the Good Spirits in such Errants to instigate Men to Good as he suffers the Evil ones to tempt to Wickedness The Existence of both which sort of Spirits any one may easily be perswaded to believe from the consideration of his own Mind as a Spirit capable of subsisting without a Body either obedient or disobedient But to distinguish these Thoughts which come into our Minds by the silent Language of Spirits if I may use such an Expression may not be so easie The Good Thoughts are easily known from the Bad the bad must be our own or from Evil Spirits but commonly those that come thus by way of Injection are strong and suddain But to distinguish the Injections from Good Spirits and those from God himself seems more difficult Some will not be pleas'd with these Considerations but those that attend seriously and judiciously to what passes in their own Minds may easily find something of these things But to leave this Digression God has made Man capable of and given him yet more External Motives to Repentance for the rectifying his Disorders as the beholding the Actions of others in whom the Disorders are more easily seen The fond Love of Self may sometime make my own Action seem well to me but an Action in another is judged more impartially but then from the Judgment I make of another I may reflect back again to my self and say If a thing seem uncomely and ill in another I may easily conclude the Action is alike ill in me For instance I presently see the Injustice of another doing any thing that abates my Happiness or takes away any Good from me or confers to my Misery thence I cannot but conclude there is the same Unreasonableness in my hurting him or another But there is yet a more extrinsick way of Conviction and leading to Repentance and that is the express Admonitions and Perswasions of those who have repented and do repent If I have seen the Evil of disagreeing with my Maker the Unhappiness and farther Tendency to Misery of Sin and have left it if I have seen the Reasonableness of loving and obeying God and consequently do it I shall also be desirous that my Fellow Sinner should come to his right Mind What measure of Love to God I have or see I ought to have I shall desire in another The Love of God infallibly influences me not only for God's sake but even for the Creatures sake to love my Fellow Creature and endeavour to perswade him to Repentance Obedience and Happiness Such repenting Sinners have there been in all ages tho' sometimes but a few perswading others and one another to Repentance and such repenting Sinners God may expresly command to preach Repentance and Obedience to others But yet in all these tho' by them many have been perswaded there is still wanting something of the height of external Argument These repenting Sinners have been Sinners sometime and in some measure Sinners still and may possibly err as well as my self and be partial in their Admonitions and Councels and speak more or less than God's Will and above all may sometimes give Examples not agreeing with their Precepts or may change and say and be one thing now another thing anon as the ballance of Good and Evil goes up and down with them Therefore if God will give the greatest and most suitable means to perswade Sinners as it is agreeable to his Wisdom and Goodness to do there ought to be some Infallible Instructer in the Will of God confirm'd to be such beyond all exception giving an Example with his Instructions of perfect Obedience to his Maker a Creature perswading both by Perfection of Precepts and Exactness of Example to the perfect way of Obedience One that hath no false by as for which he may be question'd to be defective of being a perfect Rule to the rest of the Creatures but is capable and sufficient to give the most convincing Arguments to enforce Repentance and Obedience That God has given such a means to reduce Man's disorderly Will we shall consider by and by when the thread of our Discourse brings us to speak of Revelation and the Perfection and Substance of all Revelation Divers repenting Sinners God has expresly commanded and sent to the rest of Mankind to manifest his Will and Pleasure by them and to assure them that they will therein find their own Interest and Advantage 36. And this Consideration brings me at length to the business of Express Revelation which when considered in the Sum and Substance Design and End of it will be found to dictate and enforce no other thing to Men than what we call Natural Religion of which we have been somewhat discoursing It is but as it were a more fair Edition of the same Law