continuance of being c. And when we expresly Ask for these According to the Mind of Christ We Virtually Ask for Holiness or Purity of Heart The Consummation whereof is the Fullness of Life and Glory All Desires of Holiness are Acts of Holiness Consider's with Respect to their Efficacy to make way for furhter Act or Tendencies of Heart unto God The Free Mercy of GOD in JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD is the Root and Principle of all that Good which groweth in Us or if you will in which We Grow the Sense of which is implyed in all Motions of the Heart acceptable unto God By Absolutely I mean but what we are to understand by First in the Gospel where Our Saviour sayes Seek ye First the Kingdom of God c. i. e. Chiefly and Principally so as to Ask nothing else but in Subordin ation thereunto and upon Condition if it conduce to our furtherance in the Ways of Holiness which Lead unto Everlasting Glory I do still most confidently Averr that this is a most Dangerous Disease of the Soul to Conceit that any thing can be Directly and in its own Nature the Hind'rance of Our Attainment to farther Degrees of Grace save only the Naughtiness of Our own Hearts But say you Must we not carefully avoid that which Indirectly hinders also I Answer We must Avoid or Set our Heart against nothing but what we find to be the Will of God Reveal'd in his Word that we should Loath or be Averse from Any thing which for ought we know God will bring to pass as to the Depriving us of any particular Means of Grace we must endeavour to prevent by all wayes of Duty to God and Man which we Apprehend probable to prove Successfull for the Prevention thereof But we must have a Care that our Heart be Mov'd against this which for ought we know God will effect for the Glory of His Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Exception as I spake in my last You say the penal withholding of the Operations of the Spirit is a Direct Hindrance and in its own Nature If it be True that whatsoever God is the Author of can never be in any wise Evil to us but only by our Wrong or Perverse apprehensions of it then I suppose you will grant that this Proposition of yours bears no Force against me And whether this be a Truth or no I shall referr you to Consider by taking a Review of what I have already Written of the Divine Goodness And by your most Serious and unprejudic'd Judgement of what I shall say hereafter in giving my Reflexions on your Animadversions on my saying that Gods Will is the Same with Infinite Goodness c. The Good Lord Lift up the Light of His Countenance upon Us that we may at length attain to the Full Enjoyment of the Way the Truth and the Life I shall here present you some more of my Apprehensions of the IMMENSE Influence of the Divine Goodness upon All and Every Part of the Creation I am Conscious to my self of the smalness of my Abilities to Express such a Truth in any way answerable to the Excellency and Importance thereof But some Sparklings of that Light viz. the Notion I have of the IMMENSITY of the Divine Goodness which from my Youth up has given me far greater Satisfactions than I should ever have had in all the Learning in the World without it some Sparklings I trust you will perceive in these following Lines You say to these words of mine Gods Will is the Same with infinite Goodness Very true but the Question is what that Goodness is I say it is not a Will to communicate to Creatures as much Good as he can For then the World had been Eternal c. I Answer that the Goodness of God is Himself the INFINITY of Goodness Wisdom Power of all Excellency and Perfection 'T was not Essential to Him to Create i. e. not necessary for the INFINITY of Being to Produce out of Himself these Finite Essences But they being Produc'd by His Power according to His Wisdom i. e. the Councell of His INFINITELY Good Will 't is Essential or Necessary to His being INFINITE to be ALL in them All. The Divine Power being INFINITE such Expressions as these as many Creatures as God can make c. can in no wise import any Reality to the Vnderstanding To your saying that All Saints and Angels would have the same Degree of Glory I Answer that there is no Want in Heaven no Absence or Privative Not-Being of any Degree of Glory or Communicated Divine Goodness there is nothing but Refulgency of the GLORIOVS DIVINE NATVRE That one Creature should be better to It self and to other Creatures is most Rational to conceive it being no way Inconsistent with the Notion of the One Infinite Goodness As for Damnation this I say So far as it imports nothing else but what is of God It is in its own Nature altogether Good It becomes Evil only to those to whom the Infinity of Love is a Consuming Fire There 's nothing Absolutely and in its own Nature Evil but SIN But of all Instances you say there 's non that confutes me more than the permission of Sin To this I Answer that by Permission of Sin we must not conceive any thing of which we may say It is of God but only His making such Creatures whose Nature implies a Possibility of Sinning and the continuing them in Being after they have Sinned There is say you an Higher thing in God which is his Goodness even his Infinite Perfection and Love to himself which is to be communicated according to his Wisdom and Free Will and not as a natural necessary emanation from his Essence to the utmost of his absolute Power To this I Answer first that Vtmost Power is in no wise to be spoken of God whose Power is INFINITE Secondly I do conceive that your Notion here is not Contrary to mine though it come somewhat short of it I think your Meaning is not Opposite to what I Understand by the Diffusiveness of the Divine Goodness but only to any Conceit of the Limitation of the Divine Power which no Creature is Able to Resist There can be no Impediment to It ab extra c. but I add neither ab Intra call it Negative or Self-Limiting or what you please Therefore I say again 't is Essential to Infinite Goodness to fill the Capacities of His Creatures c. which I think I shall clearly Demonstrate thus That which does not Fill all Created Capacities is not Infinite Therefore c. But perhaps you will say is not a Sinner Capable of being Sanctified I Answer that Sin is the Creatures making It self Uncapable for the present of the Divine Goodness through a false Conceit that the Creator is not All in All. For I hold yea I know and am perfectly Assur'd that this Conceit is Virtually if not Formally implyed in all Sin or
AN ABSTRACT OF SOME LETTERS TO AN Eminent Learned PERSON Concerning the EXCELLENCY Of the BOOK of COMMON-PRAYER c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 8.1 LONDON Printed for William Crook at the Green Dragon without Temple-Bar 1679. SIR I Humbly entreat you to tell me whether you do not Judge it Sinful to stay at home on the Lords Day rather then go to Church only to hear the Common Prayer Preaching doubtless is in no wise to be Neglected but this I must say that I cannot apprehend that that person has any Actings of that Faith which worketh by Love without which All the Knowledge we gain by Hearing Sermons does not Edify but only Puff up the Mind who when he comes to the Place of God's publick Worship knowing that he may not expect a Sermon there is not Confident that he shall be as much Edified by the Prayers Chapters c. as he should be by never so good a Sermon But however by reason of the Rarity of the Habit of True Christian Faith even in that part of the World which we call Christendome and the frequency of the long Interruptions of its Actings where it is Various fresh Expressions of Saving Truths which are apt to Excite the Minds of the Vnsanctifyed by the Phantasie to give heed to the Sense they import are very Necessary But This is most evident that People are exceeding apt to take the Sensible Workings of their Soul stir'd up by the Novelty of Expressions in Sermons the Emphatical Pronunciation of the Preacher c. for Fervency of SPIRIT which Sensible Motions I presume you will grant are of no value otherwise than as they are Subservient to Rational Abhorrence of all Sin of all Inordinate Affection to Finite Objects or to a Rational or Spiritual Inclination to the ONE INFINITE GOOD through JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD the Effectual Notices of which INFINITE GOOD how is it possible but we should be continually stir'd up unto in the Hearing of the Common Prayer if we would Apprehend the Free Offers of the Spirit of Truth which the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ makes unto us in an Vnlimited Abundance in the Use of all such Means of Grace as He calls us unto Here I could Run out with much Fervor of Indignation against the Despisers of these Means of Grace Strong Guards from those Accursed Errors Socinianism c. which whilst I liv'd in Oxford seem'd to me to be coming in like a Mighty Torrent upon this Distracted Kingdom whilst the Frequent Professions of Belief of the TRINITY Gloria patri and the Three Creeds were cast out of Our Churches If it be say'd what Reformation have we now c. I Reply that one Reason of his Kingdom 's Miscarriages I might say Abominations is that some of those that are syncerely Learned Pious have not such an Esteem of our Liturgie as they Ought to have And hundreds of those that are thought by the Vulgar to be so do themselves Despise it or Countenance others in so doing You give me not any punctual Answer to my Question whether you do not Judge it Sinful to stay at home though to read Good Books c. on the Lords Day rather than come to Church when nothing is to be heard there but the Common Prayer You say you are more against spending the Lords Day in Idleness or in any thing which is worse than in Hearing that alone I thank God I was never so Mad as to make a question of This I have nothing to say to it but that I dislike these words worse than the Common Prayer which seem to insinuate that It is not Good I am not guilty of slighting Preaching as 't is taken in contradistinction to Reading c. as you seem to Conceit I Affirm that to Suit or Proportion our Expectations of Grace in the Use of All Means whereunto we are Called to the Apprehensions of INFINITE Bounty c. is a Property of Saving Faith But say you GOD who appointeth several Means doth usually work according to them and when he withdraweth them it is a Judgment which it were not if he had promis'd as much Grace without them as with them I grant that God who appointeth several Means doth usually work according to them But I utterly Deny that when he withdraweth any Particular Means of Grace it is a Judgment to Him who is in the Act of syncere Love to the Blessed Jesus for such a one is at All Times and in All Places Under the Gracious Influences of the INFINITY of Light and Love directing him how by Submission to the Divine Will withdrawing any Particular Means of Grace and by the Renewing his Resolutions to make a Right Use of all such Means as God shall at any time call him unto c. He may Receive of the Fullness of Christ in as great Measures as he could have done in the Use of the Means withdrawn from him The LORD give us both Understanding in all Things Now I have found the way by your Letter to discover your Thoughts concerning the Common Prayer in your Printed Papers I shall not trouble you with any more Post-Letters on that Subject but shall stick to the Defence of this Great Truth that the withdrawing of any particular Means of Grace is not a Judgment to him that is in the Act of Divine Love Against which you Argue thus That which tendeth to hinder his continuance in that Act of Love is a Judgment but such is the withdrawing of some Means of Grace I Answer the withdrawing c. is so far from being Directly and in its own Nature that which tendeth to hinder c. that as It is in its own Nature viz. the work of the Infinitely Good GOD It is the Means of Grace and he takes it for Such that is in the Act of Divine Love as I endeavour'd to shew you in my last We question not say you Gods bounty but his Will shew us a Promise that when a man is deprived of the Preaching of the Gospel the Communion of the Church the Company of all good men and cast amongst impious deceivers and haereticks he shall have his love continued and encreas'd as much as if he had better Means I Answer This Promise of Our Saviour Whatsoever ye shall Aske the Father in my Name he will give it you John 16.27 would Ingage the Heart of any one in the Act of Divine Love if God should put him into such a Condition as you express to expect from GOD through Our LORD JESUS as much Grace or Improvement of his Divine Temper under that Dispensation of Providence as he knows he could have grounds to Expect in the Use of those Means of Grace which the Only Wise GOD has thought fit to Withdraw from him But I am ready to say with you If God should take away the Bible and Preaching from the Land I would take it for a Judgment though the Common
to all the World Good Sir Be not so hasty do not run on in a conceit that my words import that we make our selves to Differ from the Vnsanctified Doth God do no more say you for any but offer them Grace I answer that Gods Offering of Grace is the making of men presently Capable of Doing his Will by the Assistance of his Good Spirit So that All the Acts or Inclinations to Act of Gracious Souls as such are the Gift of God The Recipient's Expectancy is the Gift of God but the Non-Vltra or Desiciency of it is of himself Can God make no man better than he is To this I Answer Any mans being Better than he is is not the Object either of Gods Volition or Nolition Not of the former for then you know His Will would be Resisted Not of the latter for then he would be the Direct Cause of the Creatures not Doing what He hath Commanded him to Do the onely Cause then that any man is not what he Ought to be is the Perverseness of his own Will As to the words following Nor take c. If you think sit to continue this Dispute and express what you mean by them in a plain way of Opposition to any thing that I have said I shall give you an Answer Doth a Clod or Stone c. I Answer Any such Creature may be Annihilated and another Angel Created but that It should be made an Angel if we speak in sensu rigoroso implyes a Contradiction Every Creature is in its own Nature Res OPTIMA though some Creatures are Better to Us than others because they do more Exhibit to us the Notice of the Divine Goodness and some Creatures are better to themselves than others because they do more Enjoy It which is ALL in them All. God knows I do not Affect Obscurity of Expression but such Deep Things cannot be set forth in Vulgar Phrase To what you say of the Heathen World I shall make no other Reply but this that Gods Judgments are Vnsearchable and his Wayes past finding out But though we cannot shew How Many Truths concerning his Boundless Goodness c. do comport with what we apprehend of His Wayes in many Instances of His Dealings with the Sons of Men it does not follow that we should thereupon in the least Scruple at these Truths That Gods Offers of Grace are in an Vnlimited Abundance which you say you do not believe I prove thus If God cannot be the Direct Cause of Stinting the Influences of His Grace or Goodness into the Hearts of Men Then his Offers of Grace are in an Vnlimited abundance But God cannot be the Direct Cause c. The Minor is evident in this That the Essence of God is Infinite Goodness I shall in this Paper give you my Reflexions but on some part of your last Letter wherein there are many things so pertinently Express'd in Opposition to what I have written to you that my Reflexions or rather Animadversions thereon are exceeding Advantageous unto me for the Improvement of my most Satisfactory Speculations concerning the Divine Goodness whose Infinity we must be ever Careful that we do not derogate from upon any Pretences of Preserving the Liberty of the Divine Will Liberty of Will so far as it implyes Perfection must of necessity be implied in the Notion of the Infinity of Being I declare This to be the Root of all my Apprehensions in Theological Matters EST VNVM SIMPLICITER INFINITVM I shall now betake my self to the Consideration of what you say in your last Letter I think I need not give any other Reply to that you say No man doth use all possible Means for the Recovery c. but only to tell you that by all possible Means I understand All things which we Know to be such Means being also Assur'd that 't is possible for us to use them as such On my Explication of what I understand by an Act of Divine Love your Animadversion is this How easie had it been for you to have told me whether you mean a perfect Love or an Imperfect culpably and a perfect Aversion c. or a culpably Imperfect I must confess I have observ'd so many Learned men needlesly Entangling themselves in the hardest Knots of Controversie by reason of these words Perfection and Imperfection Attributed to the workings of mens Hearts that I have thought it my Duty to do what I can do to avoid the use of them but since you Urge me to it I shall Tell you that the Motion or Tendency of the Heart which I call an Act of Divine Love does not imply or include in its Nature any culpable Imperfection but is as contrary to all Love of Creatures or Finite Objects unless only such as arises from their Relation to the First Being as Light is to Darkness To my saying that he who is in the Act of Divine Love has All things that are of God Actually Good unto him you Answer thus While he is sinfully imperfect in this Act he hath not the perfection which he wants nor that complacential acceptance with God nor that perfect freedom from castigatory Penalities internal or external nor that Glory which would be good to him and all this is of God I Answer As to Castigatory Penalties so far as they import nothing but what may be imputed unto God as the Author thereof they are Actually good to Him viz. they All ork together for his Good whilst he is in the Act of Divine Love and all his Reflexions thereon are the Rejoycing of his Heart The Perfections he wants c. are not but only in GOD the Fullness of All that he Wants and certainly it is actually Good for him That there is in God whatsoever is Wanting unto him By being Actually in this Divine Temper I mean the exerting of an Act of Divine Love or Adhaerence of the Heart unto God in which Act there is nothing Culpable though there may remain Dispositions in the Heart very contrary thereunto from which it often comes to pass that many of us who are in some measure Sanctified Sink deep into such Impurities of Heart and Mind as we sometimes Fancy our selves Elevated so far Above that there 's no Danger of Falling into them But I can far more easily Describe what it is to be Holy i. e. to be in the Light than Discourse accurately and Clearly of the Works of Darkness He cannot Ask any thing not Agreeable to the Divine Will who Desires nothing but This or in Subordination thereunto that his Will may be Conformable to the Divine Will in All things Whether he Pray Directly and Expresly for Things Temporal or Spiritual he Actuates his Heart in a way of Conformity to the Will of God who Prays as he Ought viz. Asking in Faith which worketh by Love I suppose by what I have already say'd you will perceive that in Asking for Holiness we Virtually Ask for Justification or Pardon and the