this attribute of mercy we that have been the sinners are the greatest sharers and therefore I dare not say it is an errour of charity to assert that the Blessed Virgin had no sin to be forgiven her I may say it is an errour for it is against the Text Death passed upon all for that all had sinned Rom. 5. 12. nay I may say it is in some sort an uncharitable errour against the charity that is due to the blessed Virgin for though this doctrine may seem to adde to her honour yet it must needs detract and diminish from her joy since her self hath proclaimed these words My soul doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour and we know what his salvation was whom she calls her Saviour even that which gave him his name Jesus S. Mat. 1. 21. which was to save his people from their sins so that if she had no sin how could she have this Jesus for her Saviour and I dare not say that she had him not for her Saviour when I see her so rejoycing in his salvation wherefore the errour must be contented to go without the charity for there is no charity in denying the mother of God the greatest interest in God the interest in his mercy no charity in denying the mother of our Saviour the best interest in her own Son the interest in his salvation I dare not then exclude the blessed Virgin out of that number of which S. Paul hath spoken these words Even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you and can but wonder that some who have phansied her more tender-hearted then Christ himself should ascribe so much tender-heartedness to so little need of forgiveness for it is not unknown to travellers that in some Christian Churches where this doctrine of the Immaculate conception is maintained our blessed Saviour is pictured as one ready to pursue and smite the sinner when as his mother is pictured as one ready to shelter and to receive him which false representation seems to have proceeded from as false an imagination broached by Gabriel upon the canon of the Mass Lect. 8. Sibi reservavit justitiam Virgini Mariae concessit misericordiam there being two principal boons of the heavenly kingdome justice and mercy the King of heaven hath reserved the justice to himself but the mercy he hath bestowed on the blessed Virgin 't is very unsound and unsafe divinity that robs the King of Saints of the fairest slower in his Crown to make a garland for his mother but besides the unsoundness and unsafeness whereby it may destroy us there is also in it some unreasonableness whereby it destroys it self for all inclination to mercy in the creature is meerly from receiving it as in the Creatour meerly from giving it God being mercy in himself at first hath mercy because he will have mercy and at last will have mercy because he hath had mercy on us so that in him giving or shewing mercy is the onely cause of mercy because he cannot repent him of his own gifts but man being misery in himself learns to shew mercy by having first received it and continues to shew mercy because he still expects it so that in him receiving mercy is the onely cause of shewing mercy for that he will not be unthankfull to God for the free gift of his mercy wherefore this supposition that the Blessed Virgin needed no mercy cannot be agreeable with this position that she is most ready to shew mercy unless we will grant a non sequitur in the Apostle who thus argues concerning Christ himself the onely fountain of mercy as God to give it the onely channel of mercy as men to derive and to convey it that because he was tempted in all points as we are therefore he is the more to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities Heb. 4. 15. And the same doctrine which he preacheth concerning the head he enforceth concerning the members advising them therefore to forgive because they had been forgiven therefore to be kinde tender-hearted to their brethren because God for Christs sake had been kinde and tender-hearted to them he maketh choice of the best Topick that can be for an argument to perswade them to mercy even the infinite and undeserved mercies of God the Father Son and holy Ghost Forgive one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you here are the two first persons of the most holy blessed and glorious Trinity and if we look back upon the 30. verse we may see the third person and grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed to the day of Redemption how shall they not grieve that holy Spirit even by doing what follows in the next words v. 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kinde one to another c. this bitterness and malice least grieves your spirits but it most grievs Gods Spirit which cannot enter into a malicious soul and much less will dwell there wherefore you must put away all bitterness wrath and anger if you would have this heavenly guest come into your souls and you must keep them away if you would have him make any stay and abode when he is come the Apostle reckons up three several kindes or degrees of that fury which opposeth and grieveth Gods holy Spirit the first is bitterness a light distaste or dislike of the minde the second is wraths a violent commotion and disaffection of the heart both these contain themselves within doors and are to be rectified not by Aristotle's but by Christs Ethicks which alone reach to the inward man the third is anger an outward exorbitant passion that expresses it self in clamour and evil speaking and malicious doing not one of these but is against some act of true mercy and accordingly the Apostle prescribes three acts of mercy which will expell them all for first he requires us to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 benigni kinde or courteous that 's against the bitterness in the distaste or dislike of the minde Secondly he requires us to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 misericordes tender-hearted or mercifull that 's against the wrath the strong inward impression of anger in the heart Thirdly he requires us to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 donantes or condonantes forgiving or pardoning that 's against the anger or fury the outward expression of exorbitant passion either in our words or works and as a sufficient motive to all this notwithstanding it is so contrary to flesh and bloud he onely wills us to consider how much kindness tender-heartedness and forgiveness we have all found from God and then we shall never think it much to be kinde and tender-hearted and to forgive one another and to this motive though enough of it self we may further adde another argument for we have need of arguments more then enough to confute
labour that they may be strengthened by piety and godliness yet will I not enter upon a particular enumeration of Gods communicable Properties I have been too long already upon this argument much less upon a particular explication of them for it will be sufficient for my purpose which is the advancement of the true Religion in the hearts and lives of men if I briefly insist onely upon these three to which all the rest may be reduced and they are Truth in his Understanding Goodness in his Will and Purity in his Action for we cannot better consider Gods Activity then in the Purity of his Action unto which we must also annex a short discourse of Liberty as belonging to all three that is to say to Understanding and Will and Action And these three Properties of Truth Goodness Purity as they are eminently in God and evidences of his perfection so are they also eminent in Religion the service of God And first of the Truth of God and of Religion God is true by a metaphysical and by a moral Truth First By a metaphysical Truth as having the true knowledge of all things Psa. 139. 2. thou understandest my thoughts long before God understandeth our thoughts before they are the angels not when they are and therefore they are defective in truth because defective in understanding for Truth metaphysically is a conformity of the thing with the understanding and accordingly our blessed Saviour is particularly called the Truth as being the Omniscient Wisdome of God and the eternal Understanding of the Father even as the holy Ghost is the eternal Love both of Father and Son Secondly God is True by a moral Truth as having his Affection Expression Action agreeable to his knowledge and that in three respects 1. As Truth is opposed to Falshood for God neither wills nor speaks an untruth 2. As Truth is opposed to Dissimulation for God neither dissembleth nor deceiveth 3. As Truth is opposed to Inconstancy for God changeth not his judgement in truths declared or determined he changeth not the event in truths foretold or prophesied for in promises he keeps his word and his truth if man perform the conditions in threats he may not keep his word and yet keep his truth because they are but conditional And as for deceiving the Prophets Ezek. 14. 9. and 1 King 22. 23. we generally and truly answer Tradit diabolo decipiendos he delivereth them over to the devil to be deceived by him so saith the Text Because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should beleeve a lie that they all might be damned who beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes. 2. 10 11 12. a text that gives us a fearful but yet a full account of all those strong delusions among men which led directly to the Father of lies the first step was a voluntary unrighteousness in not loving the truth the second step is a strong delusion in beleeving a lie the third step God keep them from treading in that who have trodden in the two former is a necessary damnation both for not loving the truth and for having pleasure in lies but still God is true though every man be a liar for God deceiveth the Prophet Ez◠14. 9. as he hardeneth the heart Exod. 10. 1. permissivè non efficienter permissively no◠efficaciously by not inhibiting or not purging those ill qualities that are already is the heart not by infusing any ill qualities into it and therefore though he saith I have hardened Pharaohs heart yet he saith unto us Harden not your own hearts and accordingly he threatneth in Ezekiel to destroy such a prophet from the midst of his people whose heart was hardned so fa◠as to deceive himself and others whereas he could not in justice destroy him onely for being that which himself had made him nay this permission is most plainly set forth in that parable of 1 Kin. 22. for all that God doth there is onely to let the evil spirit go forth that is not to inhibite him from going and deceiving not to send him down from heaven For it is evident that the evil spirit never did and never can come into heaven again since he was first thrown down from thence And thus briefly God is True Metaphysically and Morally Metaphysical truth consisting in the right apprehension of things as they are in themselves Moral truth in the right affection and profession of things as they are apprehended and this profession is either in word by veracity or in action by sincerity or in continuance of action by constancy so that moral truth is opposed to falshood because 't is the same with reality to dissimulation because 't is the same with sincerity and to wavering and floating because 't is the same with certainty And this same metaphysical and moral truth is also in Religion passing from the Master into his service for the Father seeketh such to worship him who worship him as he is that is who worship him in spirit because he is a Spirit and who worship him in truth because he is the Truth S. John 4. 23 24. The worship in spirit points at the metaphysical truth of Religion which requires a true apprehension of God the worship in truth points at the moral truth of Religion which requires an Affection Profession Action agreeable to that true apprehension and for both these hath our own Church taught us to pray Collect 7th Sunday after Tri. Graff in our hearts the love of thy Name Increase in us true Religion nourish us with all goodness and of thy great mercy keep us in the same Do you look for the metaphysical Truth of Religion 'T is in the knowledge of Gods Name which must be presupposed before the love of it since no man can love what he doth not know that you know God by his true Name such as himself hath proclaimed Exod. 32. 5 6 7. or that you apprehend God as he is not set up to your self an idol in stead of God as do all those who worship not the Father by the Son in the unity of the Spirit Again do you look for the moral truth of Religion 'T is in the love of Gods Name that you love him according to your knowledge or that you have your affection agreeable to your apprehension for to know God and not to love him is in effect to proclaim you do not truly know him since the same God is the first Truth and ground of our knowledge and also the last good and cause of our love and you may here likewise finde this moral truth of Religion in all respects First in its Reality for it is the very true Religion opposed to falshood or superstition 't is indeed Gods Name Secondly in its Sincerity or Fidelity for it is all Goodness not onely in the tongue but also in the heart
the Image of God the Son our good of Glory shall be according to the Image of God the Holy Ghost for as the Father and the Son enjoy each other in the communion of the holy Spirit so shall we enjoy them in the same communion And thus also is the Goodness of Religion in it self it is an universal and essential goodness demonstrable by way of efficiency that it makes men good those that have it though not all those that profess it by way of sufficiency that it makes men contented St Paul and Silas were better contented in their prison then the Magistrates that put them there were in their palaces and by way of eminency for that must needs be eminently good which hath filled the earth with so much goodness which were it not for Religion would be filled with nothing but rapine and unrighteousness Again In regard of us the goodness of Religion is the rule or exemplary cause of all goodness Similitudo formae est in omni agente vel secundùm esse naturale vel secundùm esse intelligibile saith Aqu. par 1. qu. 15. The similitude of every form is in the agent that labours for that form either according to its natural or according to its intellectual being so is the similitude of Religion in every man that works according to Religion God saying unto us in the Gospel Go and do likewise S. Luk. 10. 37. as he said in the Law See thou do it according to the pattern in the mount the form in the beginning of the action is the end but in the end of the action it is the form so also is Religion the end of our living and the form or pattern of our life as the knowledge and love of God was the form of man in his first creation as being the Image of God in him and yet withal the end for which he was created The third communicable property in God is Purity in his Action for as is his Power so is his Purity since all matter of impurity is also matter of Impotency and most true is that position of Divines Removentur a Deo actiones culpabiles poenales corporales inconvenientes all culpable or penal or corporal or inconvenient actions are removed far from God we may say in one word all impure actions so that in saying Gods work is pure we do in effect say it is holy as not culpable it is unpassionate as not penal it is unwearied as not corporal it is unblameable as not inconvenient But it shall be enough at present to say God is pure as loving purity and commanding it and as punishing impurity First God is pure as loving purity Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God S. Matth. 5. 8. the eye of the soul is to be refined and purged before it can behold such a heavenly beauty hence it is that the voice of reason proclaims our sinfull eyes to be as bats eyes when they should discern some more excellent created truths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Ar. 2. Metaph. how much more doth the voice of Religion proclaim our dimness of sight when we should discern that one supereminent uncreated truth for as the bird that is used to darkness cannot endure to see the Sun so also a man that is habituated to the works of darkness cannot look upon the Father of lights and much less stedfastly six his eyes upon the Sun of righteousness Secondly God is pure as commanding Purity S. Iames 4. 8. cleanse your hands you sinners and purisie your hearts ye double-minded an impure minde is a double minde so thinking of heaven as also and much rather of earth that minde onely is pure which is a single minde and that minde onely is single which thinks of heaven where is very much to settle and to compose but nothing at all to distract divide the soul wherefore he that thinks wholly of earth cannot draw near to God and consequently God will not draw near to him and what is the effect of Gods being at a distance from us is most terrible to think and yet more terrible to finde which made the Psalmist cry out so earnestly Psal. 69. 19. Draw nigh unto my soul save it for if God be far off we can have no hope of salvation Thirdly God is Pure as punishing impurity Our Saviour did cast out all wicked spirits but he is said most of all to have rebuked the unclean spirits and S. Paul advising us to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit as having the promises 2 Cor. 7. 1. doth plainly shew that we can have no good of Gods promises as long as we continue in any filthiness either of flesh or spirit and if we have not a share in his promises we are sure to have a share in his punishments And thus also is Religion pure in its action as doing what is pure and pure in its affection as wishing and requiring others to do it and pure also in its disaffection as punishing those who delight in impurity nor can any man be impure and impenitent in his impurity and not be excommunicated by the Canon of Religion though haply the Canon of the Church may not take notice of him or not be able to reach him This consideration of Gods Purity should make us repent and abhor our selves in dust and ashes because of our manifold impurities for the heavens are unclean in his sight Job 15. 15. nay the purest bodies of heaven the moon and the stars Job 25. 5. nay the purest spirits of heaven the angels Job 4. 18. he charged his Angels with folly so that we need not with Rabbi David be overmuch inquisitive why Isaiah's Seraphins have six wings when Ezekiels Cherubins have but four for the Prophet himself gives the reason of six Isa. 6. 2. twain to sly withall there 's the readiness of their obedience twain to cover their faces as not daring to see saith Targum there 's their reverence and twain to cover themselves as not daring to be seen saith the same Paraphrast there 's their fear if these three vertues Obedience Reverence and Fear be so truly angelical what are our contrary vices not onely in Gods presence but also in his service but such as we may be ashamed to name and much more afraid to own that is to say diabolical for if all these purest creatures of heaven be impure in his sight and tremble at the thought of their impurity how much more we that are of earth nay of the most contemptible part of the earth of the dust of the earth Gen. 2. 7. and daily groveling in that dust by our affections before we return to it by our dissolution and in that respect alone fitly called worms twice together in one breath Job 25. 6. man that is a worm and the Son of man that is a worm we then who have the most impurity ought not to have the least
shall our heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him S. Luk. 11. 13 the word Father is there titulus argumentosus not so truly a word as 't is an Argument if father be the antecedent how shall not giving the holy Spirit be the consequent and yet 't is observable that no such gift is asked explicitely in our Lords most holy Prayer to which this promise hath immediate relation to teach us that much more is asked in that most holy prayer then is mentioned and yet much more is given then is asked when we do indeed say Our Father with a true filial affection Thirdly True Religion teacheth us to honour God as a Father by loving him with all our strength with all our soul with all our might for every childe doth love his natural Father unless himself be a monster of nature and doth therefore love him because he is principium vitae because he is the beginning of his natural life much more do the children of God love thir spiritual Father who hath be gotten them again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that sadeth not away reserved in heaven for them 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. our fathers here do beget us but to dead hopes for we are born to dye and are often unable to maintain us when we are begotten but our Father in heaven hath begotten us to a lively hope or to the hope of everlasting life and is no less able to preserve life then he was to give it for he hath an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that fadeth not away reserved in heaven to bestow upon his children so that he is infinitely more to be loved not onely as the giver of life but also as the preserver of it thus doth the true Religion teach us to honour God as a Father by Faith Hope and Charity and it doth also teach us to honour him as a Master by due and lowly reverence for to worship and reverence and to fear God is to take and acknowledge God for God because it is to take and acknowledge him for the chiefest excellency for reverence alwaies presupposeth excellency and therefore according to the proportion of reverence is the opinion of excellency Let me then shew what opinion I have of Gods excellency by my reverence and let me worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord my maker and not onely my maker to call for my lowest reverence but also my Master to quell and punish mine irreverence for though I may easily draw near him with my lips yet I can hardly draw near him with my knee whilest my heart is far from him there is indeed the same natural distance of the knee and of the mouth from the heart but not the same moral distance for so the mouth is much farther from the heart then is the knee the profession of godliness may be altogether without the heart but not so the practise of it 't is much easier for a man to be an hypocrite in his words then in his deeds in his pretences then in his practises for actually to serve God is a matter of labour and vexation even in regard of the outward man who all that while is withheld from serving himself either in his profit or in his pleasure but verbally to serve God that is to talk of serving him is nothing at all it being as easie a peece of lip-labour to say to God as it is to say to man Your humble Servant and yet still be far from doing him any service thus did that Son who being commanded to go work in the vineyard presently answered I go Sir but went not S. Matth. 21. 30. and those who are most ready to promise their fealty and homage to their master in heaven are too too often least ready to perform their promises which is the cause of that reiterated complaint in the Text this people honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me a complaint that needs still be much repeated because it is still so little regarded for setting aside this empty honour of our lips and what have we left but Ichabod where is the glory for in truth the glory is departed from our Israel the ark of God is taken nay trampled under our feet and all this irreligion and profaneness must needs be where men will have a Religion that shall so honour God as not also fear him that shall pretend to honour him as a Father but not care to fear him as a Master for a Son that refuseth to be a servant will soon refuse to be a Son and he that once begins not to fear his Father will soon begin not to honour him and a servant that cares not to continue a servant by fearing his Master will easily not care to turn an enemy by provoking him for he cannot desire to please him if he do not fear to displease him either by disrespect to his person or by disobedience to his commands and therefore it is very necessary that we all think of Gods Majesty which is able to confound us no less then of his mercy which is willing to save us and come into his presence with fear and reverence to acknowledge his incomprehensible greatness no less then with Faith Hope and Love to acknowledge his infinite and undeserved goodness thus doth Hierotheus speak of God in the language of the divine Arcopagite libro de divin nom cap. 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his being is above all being to shew the greatness of his Majesty his loving is above all loving to shew the goodness of his mercy which made Damascene undertaking to write of the Orthodox Faith after he had begun his first Chapter de Deo immediately give this Title to his second Chapter de Effabilibus Ineffabilibus Cognoscibilibus Incognoscibilibus because the things concerning God are both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as we can neither know nor express and hence it is that our knee is fitter to proclaim the Majesty of God then is our tongue for the tongue cannot express what the man doth not know but the knee can and will acknowledge the Majesty of God though we cannot know it if so be we do indeed but truly beleeve it and it is observable that in the 99 Psalm after the Psalmist had declared the greatness of Gods Majesty he exhorts men to glorifie him in their words but much more in their deeds for he calls upon them but once to praise him v. 3. let them praise thy great and terrible Name but he calls upon them twice to worship him v. 5. Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool for he is holy and again v. 9. Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy hill for the Lord our God is holy taking it for granted that the Name
also conformable thereto in our lives either by our obedience or by our repentance so saith the Psalmist Psal. 119. V. 104. Through thy precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way as if he had said Through thy word I get the knowledge of the saving truth and that makes me avoid and abandon whatever is destructive of salvation for every way is a false way that leads from truth and from the God of truth wherefore the Greek translation thus renders the latter part of the verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I hate every wicked way for a false way is a wicked way and a wicked way is a false way the Urim and Thummim being inseparably joyned together so that what is against the light of the truth is also against the perfection of life and indeed the way of wickedness is a false way according to Aristotle's own determination of falsity who in the fifth of his Metaph. cap. 29. saith that things are said to be false 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either because they are not in being so a Chimaera or a castle in the air is said to be false or because they make a false appearance and beget in us false apprehensions and so a glass that represents those colours and those proportions which are not in the object is called a false glass In both these respects is the way of wickedness properly said to be a false way both because it is defective in a true being for it is a meer non entity and also because it is excessive in a false being making a false appearance and begetting in us false apprehensions as if it were pleasant and profitable when as it is the onely cause of all our wo and misery of all our punishment whether of sense or of loss And it is observable that every irreligious man hath in himself these two properties of a liar a wilfull liar which is the falsest of all false men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first he loves and embraces that which is false and secondly he desires to propagate and derive it to others so the irreligious man whether he be irreligious out of superstition or out of faction delights in the errour of his own way and desires to bring others into the same perdition as we finde it spoken by the mouth of truth S. Matth. 23. 15. That Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites compass sea and land to make one proselyte and when he is made they make him twofold more the childe of hell then themselves factious men and hypocrites are much more zealous for their own new and false opinions then for Gods eternal and undoubted truth so that were there nothing else in impiety and irreligion but onely its own falseness yet that alone were enough to make it eternally odious to God the God of truth and to the godly man the lover of truth for God cannot but be true even as he cannot but be God and as he is God he is truth for God is truth and for this reason some Schole Divines do answer negatively to this question Whether God can dispence with a lie as he can with the other commandments and the reason is because in his own essence he is truth so the master of Advertencies upon S. Chrys. and the four Doctours of the Church S. Hierome S. Ambrose S. Augustine and S Gregory An Deus possit in mendacio dispensari sicut in aliis praeceptis Decalogi Negatur Quia ex sua Essentia est Veritas But we may go much further because the truth will go along with us for not onely the ninth Commandment which requires us to be true men is indispensable but also all the rest of the moral Law which requires us to be good men for indeed we cannot be one without the other therefore is all the moral Law alike indispensable that is all that is intrinsecally moral by its own nature whereby we do not onely obey God but also imitate him and not extrinsecally moral being made so by Gods command or by Divine precept whereby we onely obey God but do not imitate him and the reason is because all that is contrary to what is intrinsecally moral is a lie and consequently contrary to the truth of God and God cannot will not dispence with his own truth And this is the cause that whatsoever is evil in it self is necessarily displeasing unto God and that indeed under a twofold reason for as it is evil in it self and defective in a right being so it is opposite to his goodness and as it is a lie and redundant or excessive in a false being by a counterfeit appearance and representation so it is opposite to his truth Men may and do too much out of stomack and animositie oppose one another in matters of disputation but 't is out of some spice of atheisme if they wilfully oppose Gods undoubted truth in matters of Religion either speculatively by going in a false way or practically by going in a wicked way The next communicable property in God is Goodness in his Will which appears in that he hath been so diffusive of himself in communicating his being to the creature therefore is our creation put as a ground of our thankfulness and thanksgiving Psal. 149. 2. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him which could not be if God had not created us out of his Goodness to give us a good being to make us the object of his mercy but out of his power that by his absolute dominion he might give us an everlasting ill being to make us the object of his justice Therefore 't is an excellent position of the Protestant Divines in Colloquio Mempelgertensi recited by Osiander Neque ex lege neque ex ratione humana sed ex solo Evangelio de praedestinatione electorum judicandum est That neither out of the law nor out of humane reason but onely out of the Gospel can we rightly judge of the predestination of the elect and the Gospel condemns none for reprobates but those who despising the riches of Gods goodness and forbearance by their infidelitie and impenitencie heap upon themselves damnation But let us more particularly consider this Goodness of God both in regard of it self and also in regard of us First In regard of it self and so it is an essential and universal Goodness demonstrable these three ways per viam efficientiae per viam sufficientiae per viam eminentiae as saith Bonavent by the way of efficiencie for he made all that is good by the way of sufficiencie for he satisfieth the desire of all with good by the way of eminencie for all that is good being made by him is most eminently in him that made it Secondly Consider we this Goodness of God in regard of us and so 't is the rule or exemplarie cause of all goodness in man for our good of Nature is according to the image of God the Father our good of Grace is according to