already so often said and shall further say in the following Articles XLI Behold as I think the great difficulties all the Oeconomy of Religion the Idea which we have of a good wise and powerful God constant in his designs regular in his actions a thousand places of Scripture supplying us with many more against that which we see come to pass every day in the order of Grace and tho very able men have answered them yet it seems to me they cannot be so easily resolved by their principles as by that I shall lay down XLII As for my self I have always believed that God in truth wills in general that all men should be saved Both Reason and Scripture has always hindred me from doubting thereof And tho some Authors for whom I have a great respect have in the foregoing Ages publish't divers explications of this Truth I never could easily admit of those which seem'd without any necessity to set bounds to the infinite goodness and mercy of God Thus consulting the Idea which all men have of God I entertained the Sentiment which I at present expose to the censure of all those who examine it with Attention and judge of it with Equity Additions We tempt God when we desire him to do that which he ought not to do that is to say that he should act after a particular manner and not in consequence of general Laws otherwise what harm wou'd it be for one to cast himself headlong as Satan desired J. G. to do If it be as wise for to sustain an heavy body in the Air as to make it fall upon the Earth we should not tempt him we should not engage him to do a thing unworthy of him when trusting in his goodness we should throw our selves out of the windows In a word provided a man has always a good design he can never want prudence XLIII God being obliged alway to act as becomes him by simple general constant and uniform ways in a word such as are agreable to the Idea which we have of a general cause whose Wisdom has no bounds it became him to establish certain Laws in the Order of Grace as I have prov'd he has done in that of Nature Now these Laws by reason of their simplicity have necessarily woful consequences in respect of us but these consequences do not oblige that God should change these Laws for those that are more Compounded For these Laws have a greater proportion of Wisdom and Fruitfulness to the work which they produce than all those which he could ordain for the same purpose since he always acts after the most wise and perfect manner It is true that God might prevent these sad consequences by an infinite number of particular wills but his Wisdom which he loves more than his Work the immutable and necessary order which is the rule of his will do not permit it The effect which wou'd happen from each of his wills wou'd not be worth the Action which shou'd produce it And consequently we ought not to find fault because God does not confound the order and simplicity of his Laws by miracles which wou'd indeed be very convenient for our necessities but very much opposite to the Wisdom of God which it is not lawful to tempt XLIV Thus seeing we ought not to be displeased that the rain falls into the Sea where it is useless and not upon Sown-grounds where it is necessary because the laws of the communication of motions are very simple fruitful and perfectly worthy of the wisdom of the Author and that according to these Laws it is not possible that the rain should fall rather upon the Land than the Seas so that we ought not to complain of that apparant irregularity whereby Grace is given to men It is the regularity wherewithal God acts it is the simplicity of the Laws which he observes it is the wisdom and uniformity of his Conduct which is the cause of this seeming irregularity It is necessary according to the Laws of Grace which God has established in favour of the Elect and for the building of his Church that this Heavenly rain should fall sometimes upon hardned Hearts as well as upon prepared Souls If therefore Grace is given sometimes to no purpose it is not because God acts without design much less that he acts with an intention to render Men more culpable by the abuse of his favours It is because the simplicity of the general Laws permits not that this grace inefficacious in respect of a corrupted heart shou'd fall upon another heart where it wou'd be efficacious This Grace not being given by a particular will but in consequence of the immutability of the general order of Grace it is sufficient that this order shou'd produce a work proportionable to the simplicity of his Laws to the end it might be worthy of the wisdom of its Author For to conclude the order of Grace wou'd be less Perfect less Admirable less Amiable if it was more Composed XLV If God should have given Grace by particular wills without doubt for the Conversion of a sinner who had four degrees of Concupiscence he would not have resolved to have given but three degrees of Spiritual pleasure supposing that these degrees of grace had not been sufficient to convert him He wou'd have deferred his bounty till the sinner should not have been in the presence of the Object that tempted him Or rather he wou'd have given this same grace of three degrees of strength to such an one whose Concupiscence should have been less active For what an odd design would it be to give three degrees of Spiritual delight to one to whom four are necessary and refuse them to him whom they wou'd have Converted Does this agree with the Idea which we have of the wisdom and goodness of God Is this to love Men Is this to will that all shall be saved Is this to do all that can be done for them Yet God crys out by his Prophet Inhabitans of Jerusalem and men of Judah Isa V. 3 4. judge between me and my Vineyard What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it Wherefore had I not reason then to look for good Grapes when it brought forth wild Grapes What wisdom is it by particular wills to give so many inefficacious Graces to sinners supposing that God wills their Conversion as Scripture teaches us and that he has not that fatal design of rendring them by his gifts more Culpable and blame Worthy XLVI But if Grace be given to men by most simple and general Laws all these great difficulties vanish away The order of Grace which God hath establish't having more Wisdom and fruitfulness in respect to the work which it produces than any other God was obliged to chuse it for the establishment of his Church Thus we may be assured that God truly wills the salvation of all men that he hath done all for them that he
done it and consequently in one sence he could not for it is not in the power of God to belie himself or to despise the Laws which his wisdom prescribes to him The same thing must be said concerning the annihilation of substances If you consider only the power of God he may annihilate them But if you consult his wisdom it appears that he will do no such thing for God acts alwayes after the wisest manner that he can or which best comports with his divine attributes He may chuse whether he will act at all in this he is very indifferent for he is altogether sufficient to himself But if he acts he cannot change His conduct must alwayes bear the impression of his wisdom and his immutability It seems to me that order which is his inviolable law requires it should be thus See the 2d discourse Articles 50 51 52. V. If therefore it be true that the World ought to have a beginning and that the creation of J. C. could not be so ancient as the eternal generation of his divine Person an eternity must needs have preceded time Thus do not think that God delayed the production of his work he too much loves the glory which he receives thereby in J. C. It may be truly said in some sence that he has made it as soon as he could For tho' in respect of us he might have created it ten Thousand years before the begining of the World yet ten Thousand years having no relation to eternity he could not have made it sooner or later since an eternity must needs have gone before VI. It is plain that soon and late are the properties of time And if it should be supposed that God had created the World sooner than he did by so many Millions of years as there are grains of sand upon the Sea-shore might it not still have been asked Why God who so much loves the glory which he receives by the Establishment of his Church had not begun many Ages before Thus it is sufficient to say that an Eternity * Ought to have gone went before the Incarnation of the World to shew that this great mistery was accomplished neither too soon nor too late It was therefore necessary that God should have created the World for the Church the Church for J. C. and J. C. for to find in him a Sacrifice and a Sovereign Priest worthy of the divine Majesty This order of the designs of God cannot be doubted of if it be observed that he cannot have any other end of his actions but himself And if it be understood that eternity is not proper to creatures it will be granted that they were made when they ought to have been These truths being supposed let us endeavour to discover something in the conduct which God observes for the execution of his great design Additions Read the Objection and Answer which is at the end of the third explication where I shew that St. Augustine did not pretend that the Judgments of God are impenetrable in this sence that the truths which Faith teaches us being supposed it is unlawful to justifie his wisdom and goodness in the execution of his intentions 'T is certain that the Fathers and all Divines have endeavoured to give a reason of their Faith and we ought to meditate upon the truths of Religion to attain unto the understanding of that which we already believe But to remove all scruple concerning my way of proceeding I shall now shew that St. Augustine himself approves it by his Example and his Reasons Consentius had some difficulties concerning the Trinity he had proposed them to Alipius that he might obtain the resolution of them from St. Augustine But having learnt that St. Augustine was in a place of retirement and proper for meditating and clearing up his doubts he writ to him himself as unto a man whose spirit * Sensum altissima mysteria perscrutantem penetrated into the highest mysteries that he would give him those explications he desired if he thought convenient Nevertheless he openly declares that 't was his opinion the reasons of our mysteries ought not to be sought after but that men should depend upon Faith only These are his words Epis 221. Ego igitur cum apud memetipsum prorsus definierim veritatem rei divinae ex fide magis quam ex ratione percipi oportere si enim fides Sanctae Ecclesiae ex disputationis ratione non ex credulitatis Pietate apprehenderetur nemo praeter Philosophos atque Oratores beatitudinem possederet Sed quia placuit Deo qui infirma Mundi hujus elegit ut confundat fortia per stultitiam Praedicationis salvare credentes non tam ratio requirenda de Deo quam autoritas est sequenda Sanctorum Nam profecto neque Ariani qui Filium quem genitum confitemur minorem putant in hac impietate persisterent neque Macedoniani Spiritum Sanctum quem neque genitum neque ingenitum credimus quantum in ipsis est a Divinitatis arce detruderent si Scripturis Sanctis magis quam suis ratiocinationibus accomodare fidem mallent But see St. Augustin's Answer Quod autem petis ut questionem Trinitatis hoc est de Unitate Divinitatis discretione Personarum caute prudenterque discutiam ut doctrinae meae sicut dicis ingeniique serenitas ita nebulam vestrae mentis abstergat ut quod nunc cogitare non potestis intelligentiae a me lumine declaratum quodammodo videre positis Vide prius utrum ista petitio cum tua superiori definitione concordet superius quippe in eadem ipsa Epistola in qua hoc petis apud temetipsum definisse te dicis ex fide veritatem magis quam ex ratione percipi oportere Si enim fides inquis Sanctae Ecclesiae ex disputationis ratione non ex credulitatis pietate apprehenderetur nemo praeter philosophos atque Oratores beatitudinem possideret sed quia placuit inquis Deo qui infirma hujus Mundi elegit ut confundat fortia per stultitiam Praedicationis salvos facere credentes non tam ratio requirenda quam autoritas est sequenda Sanctorum Vide ergo secundum haec verba tua ne potius debeas maxime de hac re in qua fides nostra Consistit solam Sanctorum autoritatem sequi nec ejus intelligentiae a me quaerere rationem Neque enim cum caepero te in tanti hujus secreti intelligentiam utcunque introducere quod nisi Deus intus adjuverit omnino non potero aliud disserendo facturus sum quam rationem ut potero redditurus quam si a me vel quolibet doctore non irrationabiliter flagitas ut quod credis intelligas Corrige definitionem tuam non ut fidem respuas sed ut ea que fidei firmitate jam tenes etiam rationis Luce conspicias Absit namque ut hoc in nobis Deus oderit in quo nos reliquis animantibus
suffer all men to be engaged in Sin that he might have mercy upon them all in Jesus Christ XXXV Thus since the first man was able by the strength of his Love to persevere in original righteousness it was not necessary that God shou'd keep him to his duty by preventing pleasures he having no concupiscence to overcome it was not fit that God shou'd prevent his free will by the delectation of his grace In short having all that was necessary for meriting his reward God who does nothing that is useless ought to have left him to himself tho he foresaw his fall since he intended to raise him up in Jesus Christ to confound free will and to make his mercy Illustrious Let us endeavour at present to find out the ways by which God executes his eternal purpose of Sanctifying his Church XXXVI For tho in the establishment of the future World God acts by ways very different from those by which he preserves the present nevertheless we ought not to imagine that this difference is such as that the Laws of grace do not carry in them the character of the cause which has established them Since God himself is the Author of the Order of Grace and of that of Nature it is necessary that these two Orders agree with one another in respect of all that which they have in them relating to the Wisdom and other Attributes of their Author Thus since God is a general cause whose wisdom has no limits it is necessary for reasons which I have already mentioned that in the Order of Grace as well as in that of Nature he should act as a general cause that having for his end his own glory by the raising of his Church he should establish the most simple and general Laws and which compared with their effect have the greatest proportion of Wisdom and Fruitfulness XXXVII The more any Agent has of knowledge the more extensive is his will A mind much limited every moment takes up new resolutions and when he undertakes to execute any one of them he uses several means some of which are always useless In a word a stinted mind does not sufficiently compare the means with the end the strength and the Action with the effect which they shou'd produce On the contrary anextensive and penetrating spirit compares and weighs all things He does not take up his resolutions but by the knowledge which he has of the means of executing them and when he sees that these means wisely relate to their effect he employs them The more simple any Machines are and the more different their effects the more Spiritual they are and more worthy of Esteem The great number of the Laws of any State often shews the want of penetration and comprehension of mind in the Law-Makers It being rather experience of the want of 'em than a wise foreknowledge which has ordained them God whose Wisdom has no bounds must make use of the most simple and most fruitful ways in the formation of the future World as well as for the conservation of the present He ought not to multiply his wills which are the executing laws of his purposes but so far as necessity obliges him thereunto He must act by general wills and thus establish a constant and regular order according to which he foresaw by the infinite comprehension of his Wisdom that such an admirable work as his is might be form'd Let us see the consequences of this principle and the application which may be made thereof for the explaining those difficulties which may appear sufficiently entangled Additions I don't think that any one can read this Article and those which go before with attention without granting that seeing God cannot be false to himself nor act by those ways which do not agree with his Attributes he is obliged to perform his designs by the most simple means the most general uniform and constant ways Therefore I shall net spend time to prove this in particular by the Idea of a being infinitely perfect and by all the natural effects of causes which we know Besides all that I am to say I have proved this principle several ways in the Search after Truth by overthrowing the pretended efficacy of second causes in the Med. Christ from the fourth to the eighth inclusively and also in the Explications which are at the end of this Treatise But let us see if the use which I am about to make of this principle for explaining the truth which faith teaches us does not at once demonstrate both this principle and these truths XXXVIII The H. Scripture teaches us on the one side that God wills that all men shou'd be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth and on the other that he doth all that he wills and yet nevertheless Faith is not given to all the World and that the number of those who Perish is even greater than of the Predestinated how shall we make this agree with his Power Additions It is because his Wisdom renders him unable For since it is that which obliges to him to act by the most simple ways it is not possible that all men shou'd be saved by reason of this simplicity of his ways XXXIX God from all eternity foresaw Original Sin and the infinite number of Persons whom this sin wou'd carry down to Hell Nevertheless he created the first Man in an Estate from which he knew he wou'd fall and also made such a relation between this Man and his Posterity as must communicate to them his sin and render them all worthy of his Aversion and his Anger How does this agree with his goodness Additions It is because God more loves his Wisdom than his work For since his Wisdom prescribes unto him the ways which best suit with his Attributes and since his ways require that Adam being otherwise able to persevere should not have had preventing Grace that which did happen ought to have happened to him XL God often communicates his Graces tho they have not the effect for which his goodness obliges us to think they were given He makes some persons to encrease in Piety till towards the end of their life and then sin reigns over them to their death and throws them into Hell He makes the dew of grace to fall upon hardn'd hearts as well as upon prepared Souls men resist it and render it useless for their Salvation In a word God unmakes and renews continually it seems as if he will'd and will'd not the same thing How can this agree with his Wisdom Additions It is because since God ought not to Sanctify men by particular wills he does not give Grace to such an one upon such an occasion to the end that it should have such a certain effect and nothing more It becomes limited Vnderstandings to act after this manner But God having an infinite understanding it became him to establish general Laws for the executing of his designs This is what I have
World is full of disorders Who can resist God but God himself But on the other hand who can be displeased that God loves his Wisdom more than his Work Let all those who love order adore and love his Conduct who makes it his inviolable Law let them love and adore his goodness who being fully sufficient to himself has vouchsafed to form a design of making them eternally happy LVI It may be said perhaps that these Laws are so simple and so fruitful that God must needs prefer them before all others and that loving only his glory his Son must needs become incarnate that thus he has done nothing only for his Elect. I confess that God hath done nothing only for his Elect 1 Cor. 3.23 for St Paul teaches us that he has made his Elect for Christ and J. Christ for himself If to render God Amiable to men he must be made to act only for us or after such a manner as is not the most wise I had rather say nothing than talk at this rate Reason teaches me to render God Amiable by considering him infinitely perfect and representing him so full of Charity for his Creatures that he hath made none of them with a design to render 'em miserable For if all be not so happy as to enjoy his presence it is because order requiring that so great a good should be merited all men do not merit it for Reasons which I have already mentioned Is not this to render God Amiable to represent him such that even the Reprobate cannot but adore his conduct and repent of their negligence Additions Altho Predestination be not founded but upon the prescience of God and the freedom of grace as may be seen in St Aust de dono Pers. from the 17. C. to the end nevertheless the greatest part of men to the Idea which answers to this word fix a divine decree so absolute that one seems to them to oppose free grace when he maintains that God was obliged by reason of his wisdom which he loves invincibly to choose those whom he hath chosen As the Palagians suppose that the reason of Gods choice is to be found in the natural merits of men and St. Augustine with the whole Church having maintained that this depends upon the will of God many imagine that he opposes predestination who asserts that the choice of the Elect depends upon the will of God tho it be a will enlightned and conducted by eternal Wisdom To say that the reason of Gods choice is in man is to be a Pelagian and maintain that grace is given to merits But to assert that the reason of this choice is in the eternal wisdom which is the Law of God or the rule of his proceedings This is to cry out with St. Paul O altitudo divitiarum Sapientiae Scientiae Dei But many men do not understand these words in this sence they pretend that one is chosen and another reprobated meerly because God wills it and that his will is his only reason and that it is upon this account that the Elect are more especially obliged to God It is in condescension to this disposition of mind which I have observed in a great many honest men that I have composed this Article But they who will Meditate a little may easily see what are my thoughts thereof LVII In the mean time to satisfie those who suppose that God has predestinated every one of the Elect by a particular will it may be said without injuring the sentiment which I have Proposed that God before he created Souls to unite them to bodys foresaw all that should happen to them according to the general Laws of Nature and Grace and all that they should do in all possible circumstances Thus according to this supposition it being in his power to create the Soul of Paul or that of Peter and to unite it to such a body which he foresaw would be the body of one of the predestinated he resolved from all Eternity to create the Soul of Paul thro' the good will he had for him and to predestinate him by this choice to Eternal Life Whereas he creates the Soul of Peter and unites it to another body by a kind of necessity by reason of the Laws of Union of Souls with Bodies which he has very wisely established for as soon as Bodies are made he has obliged himself to unite Souls unto them which was advantageous for all before sin Now the Body of Peter being begotten by an Heathen Father or by a Father who has no care to Educate his Children or lastly Peter by Birth finding himself engaged in times places and employments which led him to that which is evil he will infallibly be amongst the reprobate In the mean time Peter will be useful to the designs of God for tho he himself does not make one of the Predestinated yet some of his posterity may He will promote the Beauty and Greatness of the Church of Jesus Christ by the many relations he will have to the Elect. In short he will not be miserable but proportionably to the ill use which he shall have made of his liberty For God does not punish with grief any but voluntary irregularities This is all I can say to satisfie the inclination of some persons But I do not clearly see that any one ought to stop here LVIII They who pretend that God has particular designs and wills for all the particular effects which are produced in consequence of general Laws do ordinarily make use of the authority of Scripture whereon to found their opinion Now seeing Scripture is made for all the World for the simple as well as for the learned it is full of Anthropologies It gives to God not only a Body a Throne a Chariot an Equipage the passions of Joy of Sadness of Anger Repentance and other motions of the soul but also attributes unto him those ways of acting which are usual among men that it may speak to the Vulgar after the most sensible manner If J. C. was made Man this was partly to satisfie the inclination of men who love that which resembles them and attend to that which affects them It is to persuade them by this true and real kind of Anthropology of those truths which they would not have been able to comprehend Thus St. Paul to accommodate himself to all men speaks of the Sanctification and predestination of the Saints as if God continually acted in them by particular wills And even J. C. himself speaks of his Father as if he did by such wills adorn the the Lilies and preserve even the hairs of the heads of his Disciples because in truth the goodness of God towards his Creatures being extream these expressions give a great Idea thereof and render God amiable even to those minds which are most gross and have most of self love in them Nevertheless since by the Idea which we have of God and by those
or any other Father had considered my opinion and afterwards refuted it then he would truely have been against me and his authority might have been urged against my sentiment But where can it be found that St. Augustine and St. Thomas have opposed that which I lay down probably neither the one nor the other ever thought of it And therefore neither the one nor the other could approve or disapprove it They answered the objections of HERETICKS and LIBERTINES after another manner than I do I grant it But are we forbidden to prove Religion by all ways possible St. Augustine answered the Manichees according to the principles which these Hereticks received and I answer the Hereticks of these times according to those principles which they receive Ought we not to speak unto Men according to their Ideas The Treatise of Nature and Grace I have often said was not made for all Men I pretend only to justifie the Wisdom and Goodness of God in the Construction of his Work to the minds of some certain Philosophers notwithstanding all the Disorders which may be observed therein and the Damnation of the greatest number of Men. Neither St. Augustine nor St. Thomas have written any thing either for or against the Cartesians of whom they had no knowledge How then should we find any thing in their works either condemning or approving the Reasons which I have drawn from the principles of these Philosophers to convince them that God sincerely wills the Salvation of all Men and that if he doth not save all it is because he loves his Wisdom more than his Work Assuredly it is to abuse the simplicity of the Readers and the respect which they have for the Fathers to raise prejudices in them by a many citations out of great men and endeavour by their suffrages to condemn those principles which probably were not known to them so far were they from rejecting them as untrue For at the bottom all such passages tho different from what I say tend to prove the same truths of Faith which I maintain for I have not and never shall I hope quit this Maxim of the Search after Truth That novelty in matter of Divinity is a sign of Error I distinguish the Truths of Faith from those of Reason and shall always seek for Theological Doctrines in Tradition But I shall endeavour to prove these Doctrines to others by those Philosophical principles which they receive or however those whereby I may hope to be able to convince them St. Augustine has not answered the same objectijections as I do What follows from hence That they did not come into his mind Not at all That he did not approve them By no means That he has condemned them as contrary to the Faith Still less 'T is because he did not perhaps think them proper to perswade those against whom he wrote For had I lived in St. Augustine's time and had written for all men and not for some particular Men who are accustom to certain Principles I should not have spoken as I have done in the Treatise of Nature and Grace because common sense requires that we should speak to Men according to their Ideas in a Language which they well understand and willingly hearken unto No person can think that the Principles which I suppose in the Treatise were known to the Manichees so that it would have been an odd undertaking to have perswaded them of the truth thereof that afterwards they might be convinc't by these Principles that they were in Error Moreover all Men are not capable to understand these principles to this end a great deal of time and application is necessary without mentioning several other requisite qualifications which all Men have not In truth the greatest part of publick Disputes such as those were which St. Augustine had with the Manichees will not permit Men to make use of abstracted notions to give light to the Truth It was therefore better done to deny for example That Monsters made the Work of God less Perfect by comparing them to the Dissonances in Musick and the Shades in Painting which give more Body and Life to the Figures It was much the shorter way for the Manichees to shew them that the mind of Man is too weak to judge of the Designs of God and compare all the parts of the World together thereby to discover the just relations of them than to explain to them those principles which are necessary to make Men comprehend that certain dismal effects are the necessary consequences of the simplicity of the ways by which God executes his designs These Hereticks would perhaps have learnt nothing by these principles and their rebellious imagination was to be humbled by sensible Reasons and suitable to their capacity And if this was not enough to content the understanding and convince by light and evidence it was however sufficient to oblige them to silence restrain their Pride and to give satisfaction to the Catholicks who assisted at St. Augustine's Conferences or read his works with a pious disposition of mind I should my self fear that I should be wanting to Religion if I should use such like Reasons to satisfie those who should make such objections to me if I saw that they could not attend unto Truths much abstracted and yet that it was necessary to satisfie them with respect to their doubts wherewithal they were intangled And assuredly it would be unjust for any man thence to conclude either that I contradict my self in my works or that I have not those sentiments of which I am convinc't For we ought to satisfie all Men the Simple as well as the Philosophers and keep both the one and other in that submission which they owe to the Truths of Faith This certainly was St. Augustine's design in his writings against the Manichees and 't is also of all the Fathers and of all Divines They all laboured only to maintain the Faith by reasons fitted to the capacity of those they had to deal with and according to such Principles as they received But if some Philosophers full of sublime Metaphisicks come and tell me that God as positively and directly wills evil as he doth the good that he doth not truely will the Beauty of the Universe and by no means the particular perfection of any of his Creatures That the World is an Harmony whereof Monsters are the necessary dissonances That God wills there should be Sinners as well as just Persons and that as the Shades in Painting make the Face to appear and gives as it were body to the Picture So the the wicked are absolutely necessary in the work of God that the virtue of good Men may be more remarkable And that thus God himself is the Author of Sin who wills it and works it in us and by us as truely as our good works and that Free-will is no more than a vain title of Honour wherewithal Men generally flatter themselves What shall I answer to these