God hath made the occasional causes of the efficacy of the general Laws of Grace For Faith teaches us that God hath given to his Son an absolute power over Men by making him the Head of his Church and this cannot be conceived if the different wills of J. C. be not followed by their effects For it is visible I should have no power over mine arm if it should move it self whether I would or no and if when I desire to move it it should remain as if it was dead and without motion XI J. C. has merited his Sovereign power over men and this quality of Head of the Church by the Sacrifice he offered upon Earth and after his Resurrection he took full possession of this right Ioh. VII 39. 'T is upon this account that he is now Sovereign Priest of future good things and that by his many intercessions he continually prays unto the Father in the behalf of men Heb. 7.25 Rom. 8.34 1 Joh. II. 1. Joh. XI 42. And seeing his desires are occasional causes his prayers are always heard his Father denies him nothing as the Scripture teaches us Nevertheless he must pray and desire that he may obtain For the occasional physical natural causes for all these words signifie the same thing have no power of themselves to do any thing and all creatures even J. C. himself considered as man are in themselves nothing but weakness and impotence Additions I don't think that hitherto there is any difficulty if it be not in this last Article where I say that J. C. prayeth unto his Father for there are some Persons whom this very much offends For I speak as St. Paul to the Romans and to the Hebrews and as Jesus Christ himself I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter which is to be understood of J. C. after his resurrection according to these words of St. John The spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified For the Spirit fell not upon the Apostles till Ten days after J. C. was entered into the Holy of Holies a Sovereign Priest of true good things In all these Articles I speak only of J. C. as to his humanity according to which he received all power in Heaven and Earth because all his prayers or his desires which certainly are in his power or otherwise he has no power are executed in consequence of his qualities as Sovereign Priest of the House of God King of Israel Architect of the Eternal Temple Mediator betwixt God and men Head of the Church or to speak like the Philosophers for whom I chiefly write this Treatise the occasional natural or distributive cause of Grace The cause which Determines the Efficacy of the general Law by which God wou'd save all men in his Son XII J. C. having then successively divers thoughts in relation to the divers dispositions whereof Souls in general are capable these divers thoughts are accompanyed with certain desires in relation to the Sanctification of these Souls Now these desires being the occasional causes of Grace they must pour it down upon those persons in particular whose dispositions resemble that upon which the Soul of J. C. actually thinks And this Grace must be so much the stronger and more abundant as these desires of J. C. are greater and more lasting XIII When a person considers any part of his body which is not form'd as it ought to be he has naturally certain desires in relation to this part and the use he desires to make of it in common life and these desires are followed by certain insensible motions of the animal Spirits which tend to give that proportion or disposition to this part which we desire it shou'd have When the Body is altogether form'd and the flesh firm the motions change nothing in the construction of the parts they can only give them certain dispositions which are called Corporeal habits But when the body is not altogether form'd and the flesh is very soft and tender these motions which accompany the desires of the Soul do not only give the body certain particular dispositions but may also change the construction thereof This sufficiently appears by Children in the Womb for they are not only moved with the same passions as there Mothers but they also receive the marks of these passions in their bodies from which yet the Mothers are always free XIV The Mystical body of J. C. is not yet a perfect man Eph. IV. 13. it will not be so till the end of the world J. C. forms it continually for it is from the Head the whole body joyned together receives nourishment by the efficacy of his influence according to the measure which is proper to every one to the end it may be form'd and edified in love These are the truths which St Paul teaches us Now since the soul of J. C. has no other action but the divers motions of its heart 't is necessary that these desires be succeeded by the influence of grace which only can form J. C. in his Members and give them that beauty and proportion which must be the eternal object of the divine Love XV. The divers motions of the soul of J. C. being the occasional causes of Grace we ought not to be surprised if it be sometimes given to great sinners or those who make no use of it For the soul of J. C. designing to raise a Temple of vast extent and infinite beauty may desire that Grace may be given to the greatest sinners and if in this moment J. C. thinks actually for example upon Covetous persons the Covetous shall receive Grace Or else J. C. having need of Spirits of a certain merit for the construction of his Church which is not ordinarily acquired but by those who suffer certain persecutions of which the passions of men are the natural principle In a word J. C. having need of Spirits of a certain character for bringing to pass certain effects in his Church may in general apply himself to them by this application bestow upon them the Grace which sanctifies In like manner as the mind of an Architect thinks in general upon square stones for example when these sort of stones are actually necessary for his building XVI But as the soul of J. C. is not a general cause there is reason to think that it often has particular desires in respect of certain particular persons When we pretend to speak exactly of God we ought not to consult our selves and make him act as we do we ought to consult the Idea of a Being infinitely perfect and make him act according to this Idea but when we speak of the action of the soul of Jesus we may consult our selves we may suppose it to act as particular causes would act which yet are joyned to eternal wisdom We have reason for example to believe that the calling of St. Paul was the effect of the efficacy of a particular
conscious that his will is efficacious he perfectly knows without making any tryal of his strength whatsoever he is able to do Thus Scripture and Reason teach us that it is by Jesus Christ that the world subsists and that it is by the dignity of this divine person that it receives a beauty which renders it agreeable in the sight of God XXVIII It follows in my opinion from this principle that Jesus Christ is the Model or Pattern by which we are made that we are form'd according to his Image and likeness and that we have nothing beautiful but so far as we are his representations and figures that he is the end of the Law and the finishing of the Jewish Ceremonies and Sacrifices that till this succession of generations which preceded his birth had an end it was necessary they shou'd have had certain relations to him by which they were made more agreeable to God than any others That since Jesus Christ was to be the Head and Spouse of the Church to represent him all men were to proceed from one and their propagation to begin after that manner which Moses relates and St. Paul explains In a word it follows from this principle that the present world ought to be the figure of the future and that as far as the simplicity of the general Laws will permit it all they who have or shall dwell therein have been or shall be figures and resemblances of Gods only Son from Abel in whom he was sacrificed to the last Member that shall be of his Church XXIX We may judge of the perfection of a Work by the conformity there is betwixt this work and the Idea which the eternal wisdom gives us of it For there is nothing Beautiful nothing Amiable but by relation to the essential necessary and independent beauty Now this intelligible beauty being made sensible became also in this estate the rule of beauty and perfection Thus all Corporeal Creatures must still receive from him their Beauty and Splendor All minds must have the same thoughts and the same inclinations with the soul of Jesus if they would be agreeable to those who see nothing Beautiful nothing Amiable but that which is conformable to Wisdom and Truth Since then we are obliged to believe that the work of God has a perfect conformity with the eternal Wisdom we have all reason to believe that the same work has infinite relations to him who is the Head the principle the model and the end thereof But who can explain all these relations XXX That which makes the Beauty of a Temple is the order and variety of the Ornaments which are there to be seen Thus to render the living Temple of the Majesty of God worthy of him who is to inhabit it proportion'd to the infinite wisdom love of its Author all Beauties ought to be found therein But it is not with the Glory and Magnificence of this Spiritual Temple as it is with the gross and sensible Ornaments of Material Temples That which makes the Beauty of the Spiritual Edifice of the Church is the infinite diversity of the Graces which he who is the Head thereof communnicates to all the parts that compose it it is the order and the admirable relations they have by him to one another it is the divers degrees of Glory which shine on all sides XXXI It follows from this principle that to establish this variety of rewards which compose the beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem it is necessary that men upon Earth shou'd be subject not only to afflictions which purisie them but also to the motions of Concupiscence which gives them opportunity of gaining so many Victories by engaging them in so great a number of different Combats XXXII The Blessed in Heaven will doubtless have an Holiness and variety of gifts which will perfectly answer the diversity of their good works These continual sacrifices by which the Old Man is destroyed and annihelated will Adorn and Beautifie the Spiritual substance of the New Man Luke XXIV 26. And if it became Jesus Christ himself to suffer all sorts of afflictions before he entred into his glory the sin of the first Man which brought the evils into the World which accompany Life and Death which follows it was necessary that men having been tryed upon Earth might justly be rewarded with that Glory the variety and order of which will make the beauty of the future World Additions The sin of the first Man was not necessary in it self God might without this sin have found a Thousand means to make the future Church as Beautiful as it shall be but since God acts always as wisely as is possible and according to the character of the divine attributes since he invincibly loves his Wisdom There cou'd be no such means for Men to Merit the Glory which one day they shall possess as that which suffers them to be ingulf'd in sin that mercy might be shewn to them all in Jesus Christ For the Glory which the Elect shall obtain by the Grace of Jesus Christ in resisting their Concupiscence will be greater and also more worthy of God than any other See the 34 and 35. Articles St. Aug. de cor grat C. 10. XXXIII If I had a clear Idea of the Blessed Spirits which have no body perhaps I might clearly answer a difficulty which arises in respect of them For it may be objected either that there is little variety in the merits and recompences of Angels or else that it was adviseable that God should unite Spirits to bodys on which they do at present so much depend I confess that I do not see any great diversity of rewards which ought to answer the merits of substances purely intelligible especially if they have merited their reward by one single act of Love They not being united to a body which might occasion God to give them according to certain most simple and general Laws a succession of different sentiments or thoughts I can see no diversity in their combats nor in their victories But perhaps there may be an order established which to me is unknown And upon this account I ought not to speak of it It is enough for me to have setled a principle whence we may conclude that it became God to create Bodys and to unite Spirits unto them that by the most simple Laws of the Union of these two substances he might in a general constant and uniform way give us that great variety of sentiments and motions which is the principle of our different Merits and Rewards XXXIV To conclude God ought to have all the Glory of the Beauty and Perfection of the future World This Work which infinitely surpasses all others must be a work of pure mercy The Creatures ought not to boast of having any other part therein but that which the grace of Jesus Christ hath given them In a word Rom. XI 32. Gal. III. 22. it was adviseable that God shou'd
themselves to his mind very clearly without putting him to any trouble Now the soul of J. C. is personally united to the Word and the Word as the Word contains all possible being with their relations he contains all immutable necessary eternal truths J. C. as man can no sooner think of any truths but they are instantly discovered to his mind J. C. therefore knows all Sciences he knows all possible things since he may without any effort of mind see all that the Word contains as the Word For the same reason J. C. knows all the divine Perfections since the Word is a substantial representation of the divine Nature and the Father communicates to his Son all his Substance He knows even the Existence the Modifications the relations of the Creatures but by a kind of revelation which the Father gives to him whensoever he desires him according to those words of J. C. himself I know O Father that thou always hearest me For since the creatures are not the necessary emanations of the Divinity the Word as the Word does truly represent their Nature or Essence but not their Existence for their Existence depends upon the free will of the Creator which the Word meerly as the Word does not contain seeing the Divine Decrees are common to all the three Persons Thus the Existence of the Creatures cannot be known but by a kind of Revelation J. C. therefore as man knows all things In him are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God but he does not actually think upon all things and this is evident For the soul of J. C. has not the capacity of an infinite mind And those who maintain that there are no succession of thoughts in J. C. and that he always knows whatsoever he does know thinking to attribute to the soul of J. C. a sort of immutability which is due only to God they necessarily make him liable to very great ignorance See the proof of this It is certain that natural effects are combined amongst themselves and with those of Grace after an infinitely infinite manner and that these combinations are every moment changed after infinite ways by reason of the mutability of Mens wills and the irregular course of the animal Spirits which change all our traces and all our Ideas in consequence of the Laws of Union of Soul and Body Now the capacity of thinking which the Soul of J. C. has as Man is finite Therefore if he knew or always actually thought upon that which he knows he must necessarily be ignorant of an infinite number of things Furthermore it is certain that the properties of numbers are not only infinite but infinitely infinite That in respect of Figures there may be for example an infinite number of Triangles of different kinds each of their sides being capable of being lengthned or shortned to infinity Now to say that J. C. knows not the properties of such Triangles or the relation of one of their sides or its Square or its Cube or its Quadrata-quadrate c. with other Sides or their Squares or their Cubes or their Quadrata-quadrates c. this is to suppose that J. C. is ignorant of that which the Geometricians know But if it be maintained that J. C. as Man always actually knows every thing that he knows it is necessary that he be ignorant of an infinite number of the properties of these Triangles Nevertheless let us suppose that Natural effects are not combined with the effects of Grace and that likewise all the thoughts of men their circumstances their combinations were something finite which the mind of man might discern all at once certainly to suppose that the Soul of J. C. does always think of them is to give unto him a very useless and troublesome knowledge It is troublesome for that which renders the soul of J. C. happy is the contemplation of the perfection of the Sovereign good Now the knowledge of all the Chimaeraes which do have and shall pass in our minds according to this supposition continually distracting the capacity of the soul of J. C. otherwise entertain'd in beholding the Beauties and tasting the sweetness of the chief Good would not be very agreeable to him For it must be observed that it is one thing to see God and another thing to see the Creatures and their modifications in God I think I have demonstrated that we see all in God in this life but this is not to see God or to enjoy him Thus it cannot be said that J. C. sees all our thoughts without dividing his capacity of thinking because he sees them all in God This actual knowledge therefore which some wou'd give to J. C. is troublesome for it is very irksome to think actually upon those things upon which we do not desire to think of A Geometrician who should have found out the Squaring of a Circle or any other more surprising Truth wou'd be very miserable should it be always present to his mind J. C. has an Object more worthy of his application than the modification of the Creatures therefore always to have an actual knowledge of our thoughts and needs pass'd and future would be very troublesome Moreover it would be altogether useless to him and to us Certainly it is sufficient that J. C. thinks of assisting me when I shall have need without thinking thereof for two or three Thousand years or rather from all Eternity For J. C. must actually think thereof from all Eternity if there be no succession of thoughts in his soul As in the Treatise of Nature and Grace which I composed for those Persons who are not over credulous I resolved not to propose any Principles which might be contested and since if I had supposed that the soul of J. C. had actually known all things my supposition might have been opposed by the reasons which I have produced and perhaps by others better I have therefore only supposed that J. C. has a clear Idea of the soul and the modifications of which it is capable to produce a noble effect in the Temple which he builds to the glory of his Father that which Reason and Faith do demonstrate Thus I suppose J. C. to act in consequence of this only supposition in the XIII XIV XV XVI Articles where I compare him to an Architect and to a Soul which should have power to form all the parts of its Body For as an Architect may form a Design and build an Edifice without concerning himself from whence the materials come he employs therein so J.C. by his union with the Word may form his designs and desires without thinking on the actual dispositions of all men He hath admonished them by his Counsels in his Gospel to put themselves in such a condition that Grace may not be useless to them It becomes him not to order his desires the distributive causes of his Graces according to the negligence or wickedness of men but according to the condition
Ideas would doubtless have imagined that the first man had no sentiment of Objects and that to eat and nourish himself he studied to know the consiguration of the parts of the fruits of Paradise the relation they might have with those of his Body thereby to judge whether they would have been proper for his nourishment In all probality they would have believed that to walk Adam had thought on the Nerves which answered to his Legs and that he had continually conveyed to them such a quantity of Animal spirits to remove them and thus they would have judged of other Functions by which Mans life is preserved We very near do the same thing as to the manner in which J. C. forms his Church We will needs judge thereof according to our Ideas and yet perhaps we understand nothing thereof God united the Soul to the Body of the first Man after a much more wise and real manner than the Angels themselves could imagine For God advertised him by sentiments after a short and undoubted manner of what he ought to do and this without dividing as little as might be the capacity which he had of thinking upon his Sovereign good For then his Senses kept silence whensoever he desired it Man may still walk and meditate both together but the first man upon all occasions might and also ought without withdrawing himself from the presence of God to give unto his Body all that which was necessary for it Why may not God at present therefore give unto J. C. certain kinds of compendious knowledge whereof we have no Idea that he may thereby better facilitate the construction of his Church so that the relation which he has to us may not divide the capacity which he has of seeing God and enjoying his happiness God appointed certain general Laws of the union of Soul and Body that the first Man might preserve his Life without applying himself over-much to particular Objects Why may not God by making his Son the Head of the Church have established such like general Laws It may be this ought to have been so that God might act in such a manner as agrees best with the divine attributes and perhaps that apparent irregularity with which Grace is given unto men is in part a consequence of this marvelous invention of eternal wisdom Assuredly it may be the first Adam was even in this a figure of the second and that J.C. besides his knowledge and desires which we cannot deny to him without impiety hath still compendious ways worthy of an infinite wisdom by which as we by our sentiments and passions he acts in his mystical body without being diverted from his Sovereign good which he loves too much to lose the sight of or remove himself from its presence There are several passages in Scripture may countenance this opinion but I might well be accounted rash should I pretend to establish it as a point which ought to be believed That which I say may be true but I ought not to assert it as true before I am well convinced of it my self If this be not it may be or some such like thing as for my part I have not justified the Wisdom and Goodness of God but by leaving to J. C. as Architect of the Eternal Temple that we cannot take from him without offering violence to Reason and good Sense But I am glad to know that there are several ways of answering those who oppose the Quality which I give to J. C. of an occasional cause which determines the efficacy of the good will of God in respect to men and that all the Objections which can be made against me in this can upon no other account be hard to be resolved but because we are ignorant of a great many things which it would be necessary to know for the clearing them up XVII The divers desires of the Soul of J. C. giving Grace hence we clearly apprehend whence it is that it is not equally given to all men and that it falls upon certain persons at one time more than at another Since the Soul of J. C. does not think at the same time of sanctifying all men it has not at the same time all the desires of which it is capable Thus J. C. does not act upon his Members after a particular manner but by successive influences like as our Soul does not at the same time remove all the Muscles of our Bodies For the Animal Spirits go equally and successively into our Members according to the different impressions of Objects the divers motions of our passions and different Desires which we freely form in our selves XVIII It is true that all the just continually receive the influence of the Head that gives them life and that when they act by the Spirit of J. C. they merit and receive new graces tho it be not necessary that the Soul of J. C. has any particular desires which may be the occasional causes of them for the order which requires that all Merit be rewarded is not in God an Arbitrary Law it is a Necessary Law which depends not upon any occasional cause But tho he that has done a Meritorious Action may be rewarded for it and yet the soul of J. C. have actually no desires in respect of him nevertheless it is certain that he has not merited Grace but by the dignity and holiness which the Spirit of J. C. communicated to him For men are not acceptable to God and do nothing that is good John 15.4 but so far as they are united to his Son by Charity Additions Altho I say order requires that the Just Merit Grace it must not be understood of all Graces but only of those which are absolutely necessary for the vanquishing unavoidable temptations But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able says St. Paul Now Order requires that God should be faithful Quis autem dicat eum qui jam coepit credere ab illo in quem credit non mereri says St. Augustine de Praedest Sanct. Ch. 2. The just therefore may merit Grace by the assistance of Grace but he cannot in strictness merit those Graces which are not absolutely necessary for him This depends upon the good will of J. C. as he is the occasional cause of the order of Grace And in strictness good works perhaps merit only the reward of happiness But it is not necessary that I should stand to explain the different ways of understanding merit XIX Moreover it must be confest that they who observe the councels of J. C. by the esteem which they have for them and by the fear they have of future Punishments do solicite as I may say by their obedience the love of J. C. to think of them tho as yet they should act only by self-love But all their actions are not occasional causes neither of Grace since they are not infallibly attended therewith nor even of the
goods and when it is tasted by a sentiment which does not fill all the capacity of the Soul she must still further desire the sight and enjoyment of some other good she may suspend the judgment of her love she need not to rest in the actual enjoyment but may by her desires seek after some new object And seeing her desires are the occasional cause of her knowledge she may by the natural and necessary union of all Spirits with him who contains the ideas of all goods discover the true good and in the true good a great many other particular goods different from what she saw and tasted before Thus being acquainted with the vacuity and vanity of sensible goods attending to the secret reproaches of reason and to the remorse of her conscience to the complaints and threatnings of the true good who will not that we should sacrifice him to apparent and imaginary goods she may by the motion which God imprints continually upon her after good in general or the soveraign good that is towards himself stop her carrier after any good whatsoever She may resist all sensible perswasives seek and find other objects compare them betwixt themselves and with the indeleble idea of the soveraign good and love none of them with a determined love And if this soveraign good makes it self to be tasted she may prefer it to all particular goods tho the sweetness which they seem to transfer into the Soul be very great and very agreeable These Truths must be further explain'd VII The Soul is carried towards good in general she desires to possess all goods and would never confine her love there is no good which appears so to her that she refuses to love Therefore while she actually enjoys any particular good she has yet a motion to go further she still desires some other thing by the natural and invincible impression God puts into her and to change or divide her love it is sufficient to present unto her another good than that which she enjoys and to make her taste the sweetness of it Now the Soul may ordinarily seek and discover new goods she may also come near and enjoy them For in short these desires are the natural or occasional causes of her knowledge Objects discover themselves to her and approach unto her proportionally as she desires to know them An ambitious person who considers the splendour of some dignity may also think of the slavery of the constraint of the real ills which accompany humane greatness He may calculate weigh and compare all things together if his passion does not blind him For I confess there are times when the passions entirely rob the mind of its liberty and they always do diminish it Thus seeing any dignity how great so ever it may appear is not accounted by a Man free and reasonable as the universal and infinite good and since the will generally reaches to all goods this Man who is perfectly free and reasonable may seek and find others seeing he may desire them for 't is his desires which discover and present them unto him He may examine and compare them with that which he enjoys But because he can meet with none but particular goods upon earth he may and ought here below continually and without intermission seek and enquire or rather that he may not change every moment he ought generally to neglect all these transient goods and desire only those which are immutable and eternal VIII Nevertheless seeing Men do not love to search but to enjoy seeing the labour of examination is at present very troublesome but rest and enjoyment always very pleasant the Soul ordinarily stops as soon as she has found any good she fixes upon it that she may enjoy it She deceives her self because by deceiving her self and judging that she has found that she seeks her desire is chang'd into pleasure and pleasure renders her more happy than desire But her happiness cannot last long Her pleasure being ill grounded unjust and deceitful it presently troubles and disquiets her because she would be truly and solidly happy Thus the natural love of good awakens and produces new desires in her These confused desires represent new objects Seeing the Soul loves pleasure she runs after those which communicate it or seems to communicate it and because she loves repose she takes up with them She does not at first examine the defects of the present good whilst it prevents her by its sweetness she considers it rather on the fair side she applies her self to that which charms her thinks of nothing but enjoying it And the more she enjoys it the more she loves it the nearer she approaches to it the more she considers it But now the more she considers it the more defects she discovers in it and since she desires to be invincibly happy she cannot for ever be deceived When she is hungry thirsty and tired with seeking she presently satiates and fills her self with the first good she meets but she presently disgusts the nourishment for which Man was not made Thus the love of the true good still excites in her new desires after new objects and being in continual change all her life and all her happiness upon earth consists only in a continual circulation of thoughts desires and pleasures Such is the condition of a Soul which makes no use of its liberty which suffers its self to be lead at all adventures by the motion which transports her and by the fortuitous impression of objects which determine her This is the condition of one whose mind is so weak that he always takes false goods for the true and a heart so corrupted that he sells and blindly gives himself up to all that affects him or the good which makes him actually feel the most sweet and agreeable pleasures IX But a Man perfectly free such as we conceive Adam immediately after his creation clearly knows that God only is his good or the true cause of the pleasures which he enjoys Tho he feels sweetness by the approach of objects which are about him he does not love them he only loves God and if God forbids him to unite himself to bodies he is ready to forsake what pleasure so ever he finds therein He will not take up but in the enjoyment of the soveraign good to him he will sacrifice all others and how much so ever he desires to be happy or to enjoy pleasures no pleasure is too strong for his knowledge Not but that pleasures may blind him and disturb his reason and fill the capacity which he has of thinking for the mind being finite all pleasure may distract and divide it But the reason is because tho pleasures be under the Command of his Will he was not cautious to keep himself from being intoxicated therewith because the only invincible pleasure is that of the blessed or that which the first Man would have found in God if God would have prevented or hindred
of J. C. John 1.17 abundant Graces because says he the Law was given by Moses but true Grace by Jesus Christ. For in truth the Graces which were before J. C. ought not to be compared to those which he distributed after his triumph If they were miraculous it must be thought they were very rare Even the Grace of the Apostles before the Holy Spirit was given to them was not to be compared with those which they received when the Soveraign Priest of good things to come being entred by his Blood into the Holy of Holies by the strength of his Prayers obtain'd and by the dignity of his Person sent the Holy Spirit to animate and sanctifie his Church The strange Blindness of the Jews their gross and carnal Sentiments their frequent relapses into Idolatry after so many Miracles do sufficiently shew they had scarce any love for true goods and the fearfulness of the Apostles before they received the Holy Spirit is a sensible mark of their weakness Thus Grace in this time was very rare because as yet our Nature was not made in J. C. the occasional cause of our Graces as yet J. C. was not fully consecrated a Priest according to the Order of Melchisedech and his Father had not yet given him that immortal and glorious Life Heb. 5.5 10. Heb. 7.16 17. which is the particular character of his Priesthood For it was necessary that J. C. should enter into the Heavens and receive the glory and power of being the occasional cause of all goods before he sent the Spirit according to the words of St. John John 7.39 John 16.7 The Spirit was not yet given because J. C. was not yet glorified And according to these words of Christ himself It is expedient for you that I go For if I go not the Comforter will not come But if I go I will send him unto you Now it is not to be imagined that J. C. considered as God is the Head of the Church He has obtain'd this honour as Man the Head and the Members ought to be of the same nature It is as Man that J. C. interceeds for Men it is as Man that he has received of God soveraign power over his Church For since God does not interceed at all he as God has not received that Name which is above every Name he is equal to the Father and absolute Master of all things by right of his birth These Truths are evident and J. C. himself assures us of them John 5.22 to 27. since he says that his Father gave him power to judge Men because he was the Son of Man Thus we must not think that those Expressions of Scripture which teach us that J. C. is the Author of Grace ought to be understood of J. C. considered according to his Divine Person For if this was so I confess I should not have demonstrated that he is the occasional cause of it he would have been only the true cause thereof But since it is certain that the three Persons of the Trinity are equally the true causes of Grace seeing all the outward Operations of God are common to the three Persons my Arguments cannot be denied since the Holy Scripture says of the Son and not of the Father nor of the Spirit that he is the Head of the Church and that under this character he communicates Life to all the Members which compose it Object II. XIV It is God who gives to the Soul of J. C. all Thoughts and Motions which it has in the formation of his Mystical Body So that if on one hand the Wills of J. C. as natural and occasional Causes determine the efficacy of God's general Will on the other hand it is God himself who determines the divers Wills of J. C. Thus it comes to the same thing for assuredly the Wills of J. C. are always conformable to those of his Father Answer I confess that the particular wills of J. C. are always conformable to those of the Father but this is not because the Father has particular wills which answer to those of the Son and determine them This is only because the wills of the Son are always conformable to Order in general which is necessarily the rule of the divine wills and of those which love God For to love Order is is to love God it is to will what God wills it is to be Just Wise Regular in his love The Soul of J. C. would form to the Glory of his Father the most Sacred Magnificent and Perfect Temple that can be Order requires this for nothing can be made too great for God All the divers desires of this Soul ever intent upon the Execution of its design come also to it from God or the Word to which it is united But the occasional causes of all these thoughts most certainly are its divers desires for it thinks on what it will Now these divers desires are sometimes altogether free probably the thoughts which excite these desires do not always invincibly determine the Soul of J. C. to form and resolve to execute them It is equally advantagious to the design of Jesus Christ whether it be Peter or John who does that which the regularity of his work requires It is true that the soul of Jesus Christ is not indifferent as to what respects the glory of his Father or that which Order necessarily requires but it is altogether free in every thing else nothing out of God invincibly determines its love Thus it ought not to be wonder'd if it have particular wills tho there are no such wills in God which determine those of the soul of Jesus Christ But I grant that the wills of Jesus Christ are not free I grant that his knowledge determines him to will and always to will after a certain manner in the construction of his Church But it must be Eternal Wisdom to which his soul is united which determines these wills if it is not necessary for this end to suppose particular wills in God It must be observ'd that the wills of the soul of J. C. are particular or have not any occasional cause which determines their efficacy no not the will of God For the soul of J. C. not having an infinite capacity of thinking his knowledge and consequently his wills are limited Thus 't is necessary that his wills be particular since they change according to his divers thoughts and applications For it seems to me that the soul of J. C. otherwise employ'd in contemplating the beauties and tasting the infinite sweetness of the true good ought not according to the rule of Order to think at the same time upon all the Ornaments which it designs to bestow upon his Church and the different means of executing each of his intentions J. C. desiting to render the Church worthy of the infinite Majesty of his Father he desires also to adorn it with infinite beauties and that by such means as are most
Son MOses in the second Chapter of Genesis thus relates the Marriage of the first Man The great Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof And the rib which the Lord God had taken from Man made he a Woman and brought her unto the Man And Adam said This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man Therefore shall a Man leave his Father and his Mother and cleave unto his Wife and they shall be one flesh St. Paul assures us that this Carnal Marriage is a great Mystery that it is the Figure of the Spiritual Marriage of J. C. with his Church and also that married persons ought to conform themselves to J. C. and his Church in the Duties which they are to pay to one another See his words in the Epistle to the Ephesians Chap. V. Wives submit your selves unto your own Husbands as unto the Lord. For the Husband is the Head of the Wife even as Christ is the Head of the Church and he is the Saviour of the Body Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ so let the Wives be to their own Husbands in every thing Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the Word That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish So ought Men to love their Wives as their own Bodies he that loveth his Wife loveth himself For no Man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord the Church For we are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones For this cause shall a Man leave his Father and Mother and shall be joyned unto his Wife and they two shall be one flesh This is a great Mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the Church We are the Members of the Body of J. C. formed of his Flesh and of his Bone as Eve was of Adam The Man shall leave Father and Mother and be joyned to his Wife and with her shall make but one Body This is a great Mystery and I explain it of J. C. and his Church * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacramentum hoc magnum est ego autem dico in Christo in Ecclesia The Letter which kills because it does not raise the Mind up towards him who only gives Life applies that solely to the first Adam which is said chiefly to figure the second But St. Paul inspired with the same Spirit that Moses was clearly explain'd the Mystery which the other had only darkly proposed He assures us that what seems to have been written of the first Man and the first Woman ought to be understood of J. C. and his Church The first Marriage is a great Secret for it figures the greatest of our Mysteries the Eternal Covenant betwixt J. C. and his Church a Secret hid in God from all eternity and revealed to Men in the fulness of times This is the Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Generations but is now made manifest to his Saints To whom God would make known what is the Riches of the Glory of this Mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory Col. I. 26 27. I confess that ordinary Marriages are indissoluble that married persons leave their Father and Mother and make together one strict Society and one Body but these words of the first Man Wherefore Man shall leave Father and Mother may be applied to them for J. C. proves by the same words that the Husband ought not to forsake his Wife because it is God who has joyned them together But I maintain that God has joyned them to figure the greatest of our Mysteries that Marriages cannot be broken because J. C. will never forsake his Church of which he is the Spouse that the Marriage of Christians is a * Because it figures Jesus C. it may be called a SACRAMENT in the large unrestrain'd Sense but not according to the strict and limited Sense of the Word as it signifies an Outward Visible sign which not only signifies but dispences Grace Sacrament which dispenses Grace to those who are contracted because it figures J. C. who communicates Spirit and Fruitfulness to his Church In a word that the first Marriage and all which have been since are transient figures of the eternal and indissoluble Marriage of J. C. with Men. Now the first Marriage was celebrated before Sin God cast Adam into an ecstatical and mysterious sleep he formed out of one of his sides or to speak as the Scripture he built up his Wise which he designed to give him he inspired into him words prophetical of J. C. and as yet Adam had not sinned for doubtless all that the Scripture relates concerning the first Man before his sin doth much more sensibly and expresly represent J. C. than that which is written of him after his fall Doth not this shew that J. C. and his Church is the first and chief of God's designs since 't is evident that the Figure must be for the sake of the Reality and not the Reality for the Figure When God created the first Man he made him according to his Image because he thought of him who is the Image of the invisible God he animated him with his Breath * Tertul. de Resurrect Carnis Cyril Alex. Thes p. 153. A. thanas Orat. 3. in Arianos because he then had the design of uniting his Word to our Nature which he foresaw would become altogether earthly and carnal by sin he made him Lord of all Animals because he intended to subject all things to J. C. God by the sleep into which he cast the first Man express'd the death or sleep of his Son upon the Cross and by the Woman whom he drew out of his Flesh and his Bones the Spouse which J. C. received after he awoke or was risen and which he purchased by his Blood If Adam sinned it was not according to St. Paul because he was tempted but through his fondness to his Wife 1 Tim. II. 14. J. C. likewise was not subject to sin and if he was made sin as the Scripture speaks 2 Cor. 5.21 it was in love to his Church If Adam sinned and communicated his sin to all his Posterity he is even in this tho in a contrary sence the figure of J. C. who only dispences Grace to Men. Where fore as by one Man Sin entered into the World and Death by Sin Rom. 5.12.14 and Death passed upon all Men. Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them who had not sinned after Adam's transgression who is the * 〈◊〉
St. Paul to have exalted J. C. above them Writing to the Ephesians he assures us that even the Devils exercise their power over Infidels Eph. 2.2 he calls them as J. C. had done the Princes of this World that is to say of those who live in the darkness of Idolatry tenebrarum harum If the Devils themselves exercise power over Idolaters if they are Princes of this World shall the Angels have no power over it The Arch-Angel Michael is called in Daniel the Prince of the Jews because he fought for them against the Prince of the Persians Can any one fight without Strength and Power The Angels are sent as the Ministers of God to Minister to those who are to be the Heirs of Salvation A weak Ministry if God had not communicated to them his Power A useless mission if God had not established the general Law whose efficacy is determined by their desires There are in the Old Testament a great many Passages which clearly prove that the Angels had care of the Israelites they rewarded the observers of the Law and punished others it is not necessary that I should relate them But it is more to the purpose to shew that even from those passages which attribute to God certain effects without making any mention of Angels it cannot be concluded that God produced these effects by himself without the Ministry of Angels because the Angels acting only by the power of God and doing nothing but what was good the Holy Scripture attributes to God himself that which he did by their means The greatest example of this may be drawn from the manner after which the Law was given to the Jews To read only the Old Teastament it seems as if God had by himself spoken to Moses in the Burning-Bush and that he gave him the Law upon Mount Sinai without the Ministry of Angels 'T is God always who speaks even JEHOVAH that Name which is not given to Creatures And yet St. Stephen assures us that God sent Moses to deliver his People under the conduct and power of the Angel which had appeared unto him in the Burning-Bush and that he conversed also with the same Angel upon Mount Sinai St. Paul delivers the same thing in two of his Epistles and 't is upon this account that intending in his Epistle to the Hebrews to exalt the New Law above the Old he begins this Epistle with a continual comparison of J. C. the Minister of Grace with the Angels the Ministers of the Jewish Law It is evident if the Law had not been given by Angels that which St. Stephen and St. Paul assures us of would be absolutely false But the Angels having given it that which Moses says doth not ever the less cease to be true For God always as the true cause executes that which his Creatures do as the occasional causes to whom God communicates his Power according to certain Laws And because 't is God only who enlightens Spirits by the manifestation of necessary and immutable order which is the inviolable rule of his own will it is truly he who speaks to us and commands us when he who speaks to us from him does not do it till he has consulted the Eternal Laws which his wisdom contains that which the Blessed Angels never fail to do J.C. as Man is Head of the Church dispences to his Members Grace which Sanctifies them But because he has not this Power but in consequence of a general Law which God has established in him to execute by him his great design the Eternal Temple 't is very truly said that God alone gives inward Grace tho he does not in truth give it but by the Ministry of J.C. who as Man determines by his prayers or his desires the efficacy of the Divine will And 't is upon this account that Scripture often attributes to God alone the conversion of hearts In like manner the Angels had power to lead to conduct and punish the Israelites they may at present give us the outward preparations of Grace they may remove out of our way occasions of Sin and Scandal yet all that they do may in general be attributed to God as the true cause for they act only by the Power which God has given them Thus I believe that the defeat of Senacharib the Plague which David brought upon the People for numbring them the rain of Manna which fell so regularly in the Wilderness and a thousand such like effects were miraculous But I believe then since Scripture assures us thereof in several places that God did not do the greatest part of these Miracles but by the action that is to say the desires of the Angels which God chose to conduct his People after he had informed himself by his wisdom that this way would be better than any other in relation to his principal work And that it would spare as I may say a great number of particular wills I believe also that these desires were govern'd as well as the Divine wills by the necessary and immutable order the inviolable rule of all understandings by the light of the Word the fountain of all Wisdom and of all Laws both Temporal and Eternal according to these words Fons sapientiae Verbum in excelsis ingressus illius Manada Aeterna To be convinced of that which I have said supposing that God does all it is enough to endeavour clearly to understand the sence of any one of those passages which attribute to the Angels the Power of defending or punishing the Israelites See one of these passages God or rather the Angel or Prince of the Angels St. Exod. 23.20 Michael says in Gods stead to Moses after he had given him the Law Behold I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee to the place which I have prepared Beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions for my name is in him By this passage 't is evident that an Angel conducted the People and had power to punish them if they did not obey him now 't is supposed that God does all The Angel their Conducter had not his Power but because God made it as I may say a Law to himself to obey him like as I have not the power to remove mine Arm but because God has established the Laws of union betwixt the Soul and Body And the Angel does nothing actually but because God actually executes his desires and thereby his Eternal purposes as I do not actually move mine Arm but because God only does what I actually desire and what I think to do Thus the Miracles of the Old Testament are only consequences of the general Laws which God made to communicate his Power to the Arch-Angel Michael or the Angel that guided them Senacharib's Army was defeated by the Angel the revenger of Gods glory Manna was bread made by the hands of Angels nevertheless God did
Reason which inlightens all minds and teaches the most Stupid that the Eyes were made for seeing and plac'd in the uppermost part of the Head that we might see further Is it not plain that the perfection of a work depends not upon the designs of the workman if his designs themselves be not agreeable to the Reason which enlightens us If all the parts of a Watch have such relations and connections with one another as are necessary to measure the time exactly this is a perfect work in its kind tho it should be supposed that the Watch-maker had the extravagant design of making a thing good for nothing and if a Watch should not rightly point to the hours it would have an Essential fault what design soever he had who made it Thus a Monster is an imperfect work whatsoever the design of God was in making it Ought we not to find fault rather with the works of God than with his designs Should we not rather leave in the World those visible defects which all Men observe and which we cannot remove and maintain that all these disorders are consequences of the simplicity of the Natural Laws then pretend that God directly and positively wills them and attribute to a Being absolutely Perfect such designs as are unworthy of his Wisdom his Goodness and his other Attributes Not that I assume to my self a Right of pronouncing concerning all natural effects For I confess there are an infinite number that are Equivocal of which we cannot determine whether they do or do not render the World more Perfect But there are such Monsters whose Deformity is visible and which are so far from making the World more perfect that God seems to have repented that he brought them to Light seeing he strikes them with Death presently after their Birth in this number I put not only those effects which we call Monsters but all Creatures which want parts necessary for their preservation I hold that God directly wills the Perfection of the World and of all the parts that compose it For a World made up of Creatures which want nothing which they ought to have is more Perfect than a World full of Monsters and a great many Beings which have not that which Reason teaches us they ought to have for their preservation But it should always be remembred that all this is but accessary to the Question in hand the Principle is that wicked Men are not necessary to the perfection of the Universe and if we meet with a great many of them therein notwithstanding God abhors them it is because altho he may hinder them by his Power his Wisdom permits him not to have practical wills for this end and because his Justice subjecting them to the Law of Order they contribute whether they will or no not to the Sovereign Perfection of the Universe but rather to the glory of its Author and do admirably set forth the wisdom of his Conduct But it may be said you do not consdier the the World in all Ages you look only upon the present time Cast your Eyes further And if you have a Soul large enough admire the Relations which there are betwixt this World and the future Church betwixt the different States of the World in different Ages I Answer I confess that these Relations are admirable But it is because God wonderfully serves himself even of those disorders themselves which happen in consequence of the natural Laws and makes even the ill use which spirits make of their Liberty subservient to his glory Once more it is not because Monsters are necessary to render the World more perfect It is not because he positively willed that the number of the Damned should be the greatest part Infernal Babylon is not properly his work but the Devils By the Rigours of his Justice the Wicked are reduc't to Order But he wills not their Malice tho he uses it to brighten and set forth the virtue of his Saints He figures Morality by Nature Sinners by Monsters but he directly wills neither the one nor the other He suffers them because he can reduce both to Order But if he suffers them 't is because the simplicity of his Laws require it and because he ows this to himself that his Conduct should bear the Character of his Attributes That which renders the World admirable in all its Conditions is not so much the perfection it contains as the simplicity of the ways which have produced and do preserve it If the future Church was more ample and Hell not so full of Reprobates If the Elect were still more Holy and the Devils less Wicked If all the Creatures did Praise the Lord and not the greatest part Blaspheme his Holy Name is it not evident that the World would be more perfect than it is The Devils therefore and the Damned render it less perfect And tho God corrects this disorder in his Creatures yet nevertheless 't is a disorder that the greatest part of Men should Blaspheme their Creator But God is not concern'd that there should be disorders in Hell provided that there be none in the Heavenly Jerusalem he is willing that there should be faults in his work but not in his Conduct and in his designs The Damned are in disorder but God's conduct in respect of them is perfectly agreeable to order The faults of any work oblige those who would judge of it to compare it with the ways that at the same time they may admire both the work and the ways but the faults of any design directly suppose either malice or ignorance in the Workman Hence we are forc'd to say that God has made the World not absolutely as perfect as he could but as perfect as it could be with respect to the ways which his Wisdom and other Attributes did oblige him to observe which is the Foundation of the Treatise of Nature and Grace I desire it may be examined without prejudice and with that attention which is necessary to understand it in its utmost extent and with reference to all its consequences and then let Men judge of it Then I hope it will have that effect upon them it has had upon many persons tho prevented with the sentiments which it overthrows without leaving any other difficulties if I am not mistaken than those which have always been look'd upon as incomprehensible to the mind of Man I do assure my self that they will clearly see that there are no such certain Principles to prove by reason that which Faith teaches and to silence both the Libertines and the Hereticks in a matter wherein they use to insult and pretend to triumph Object V. What would the Author of the Treatise have by his great Principle That the Ways of God ought to bear the Character of his Immutability Is it that God cannot do one thing to day and another to morrow without being inconstant Cannot he will to day that the Vine should put forth and to morrow