celestiall or sublunarie bodies for exercising the functions most naturall to them That hee will not at any time lay the like restraint upon them wee are not bound to beleeve untill thus much be by his word revealed unto us That God cannot at this time bring such a generall Inundation upon the earth as hee did in the dayes of Noah we may not say or thinke but that hee will not destroy the world by water wee must beleeve because wee have his solemne promise to this purpose sealed unto us by the signe of the Bow in the Cloud But when the iniquitie of this present world shall come unto the same height and measure which the old world had made up wee beleeve hee will destroy it by fire For other mutations in the course of nature the condition or exigence of times ensuing may be such as that they may be as strange and miraculous as at any time heretofore they have beene The not interposing of miracles in these our dayes proceedes not from any Act passed by the Almightie to the contrary nor from the unchangeablenesse of his eternall will but from the condition or course which his creatures hold de facto whose condition or estate is in it selfe and by his Almighty will so to have it so changeable and so improveable to different purposes that many events which to our observation would be most strange might upon speciall occasions be produced without any change or alteration in his power whose exercise ad extra that is in respect of effects producible in the creature is immutably free untill hee promise to inhibit them as hee hath done the generall Inundation And although hee be most immutable in all his promises or inhibitions yet doth not every promise or inhibition which hee makes induce an absolute immutabilitie or necessitie of the things promised or inhibited Their immutabilitie or necessitie is the proper effect of his more solemne or peculiar promises Nor are such inhibitions as he hath set unto the water absolutely necessary from Eternity but grow necessary in revolution of time by the changeable condition of the Creature And albeit we can neither prescribe limits to his will nor conceive any reason of the mutations which fall out in the Creatures by his inhibition by his permission or by his positive enabling them to exercise their native functions yet of the least mutation that can fall out in the world he knowes a cause or reason nor doth he suffer any thing to be done for which his immutable freedome in governing the world hath not an eternall rule or reason infinitely more perfect than the wisest man living can give any for his best Acts or undertakings But suppose the Sun to have that freedome of power in the emission or not emission of his beames which men have over their breath or that dexterity in tempering or moderating its light or influence which skilfull Musitians have in modulating their voices and the former representation of that power which God hath over all his creatures and of their dependance on him in their beings and operations by the dependance which light hath on the Sunne would be more lively and full 6 But the Psalmist hath made choice of that free power which man hath over his animall faculties as over his breath or operation of his senses as the fairest picture of Gods free power creative and providence over his Creatures These wait all upon thee that thou mightest give them their meat in due seasons That thou givest them they gather thou openest thine hand they are filled with good Thou hidest thy face they are troubled thou takest away their breath they dye and returne to their dust Thou sendest forth thy spirit they are created and thou renewest the face of the earth The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever the Lord shall rejoyce in his workes He looketh on the earth and it trembleth he toucheth the hils and they smoake Psal 104. vers 27. c. Yet even in these and the like emblematicall expressions of the Creators free power over his Creatures or in the choisest that can bee taken or gathered out of the Propheticall descriptions from the exercise of mens free and purest thoughts there will still remaine this disparity We cannot alter the objects of our intellectuall or abstract contemplations without some alteration or change of Acts. It is then the prerogative of the Almighty freely to will things most contrary and different without any diversity in his will And this his free will not onely worketh greater varietie or change in the Creature than the wits of all men in the world can conceive but withall irresistibly determines the issue of every possible change without any shadow of change or alteration in his thoughts or resolutions which in him are not many but more truly one infinity than any one thought in us is one This disparity betweene the Identity of his Eternall knowledge and of his immutable freedome and the manner of our understanding or intellectuall choice I cannot yet better represent than by the former disparity betweene the circle and many sided figures Mans purest intellectuall thoughts or actuall choices are in the contemplative part of the soule as angles are in many sided figures all as different each from other as one angle is from another in a quadrangle and every one is as distinct from the substance of the soule wherein they are as angles in a quadrangle are from the sides or surface of it But those which wee terme or conceive as severall Acts or exercises of the Divine power as the Act of creation the act of preservation the act of conseruation the production of miracles c. are in the Almighty not so much distinct one from another or from his incomprehensible essence as the Angles in a circle are from the sides or from the circumference which notwithstanding is a totangle in which there is no sensible distinction betweene sides and Angles albeit both of them bee truly contained in the circumference as all power and freedome of power is contained in the immutable infinite and incomprehensible Essence CHAP. 10. The usuall and daily operations of naturall causes with their severall events or successes are as immediately ascribed to the Creator by the Prophets as the first Creation of all things with the reasons why they are so ascribed 1 FRom the forementioned hundred and fourth Psalme which is no other than a sweet paraphrase upon the sixe dayes work of Creation and from the like propheticall emblazoning of Gods glory which amounts from consideration of his workes the intelligent Reader will informe himselfe that the continuall rising and setting of the Sunne and Moone their incessant diffusion of light through this visible World the perpetuall ascent of springing waters into the hills their continuall decursion from them into the Sea the limitation of the Seas ebbing and flowing the daily growth of plants and vegetables the motion of living things on
some secret impulsions unto goodnesse and some retractions from evill But as Seneca well observes It is no marvaile that we do not amend what we know to be amisse in ourselves seeing errors in every other mystery or profession make the professor ashamed Onely such as erre in matter of life manners are delighted with their errours The Mariner takes no delight to see his vessell overturned nor the Physitian in sending his Patient before his time unto his grave The Oratour rejoyceth not when his Clyent is through his errour overthrowne Contrariwise every criminous person is delighted with his crime One solaceth himselfe in Adultery and taketh courage to prosecute his desires from the very difficulty of accomplishing theÌ„ Another delights in over-reaching others and in theft never displeased with his faultinesse untill it prove unfortunate All are apt to dissemble their faults being content when they fall out fortunately to reape the fruit of them whilest they subduct the faults of them but a good conscience delighteth to set it selfe forth and to have notice taken of it whereas naughtinesse is afraid of darknesse it selfe And as Epicurus elegantly saith A malefactor may have the hap but not the assurance to be undiscovered But as this Author replyes what availes it him not to have his naughtinesse discovered without hope or assurance that it shall not be discovered His conclusion is Naughtines may be safe but it can never be secure 4 The reason why their naughtinesse an never be warranted with security is because conscience in men most vicious still beares evidence against them that they live not as shee would have them For as Seneca in the same place well observes though bad custome may worke a delight in naughtinesse yet even in minds drencht in the very dreggs of filthinesse there still remaines a sense of goodnesse nor is it so much our want of knowledge as of our right estimate of what we know to be nought which maketh naughtinesse to be so little abhorred The minde of man in that it is indued with reason hath the rules of Equity imprinted in it which it alwaies seekes to instampe upon the inferior faculties of the soule But this divine light of reason hath as small force to kindle the love of vertue in hearts overgrowne with sensuall desires as the Sunne in a mist hath to set moist stuffe on fire The unsetled affections of youth somtimes admit the impression of these ideall characters in actuall retired speculations so will the water take the same shape from the seale which the waxe doth but hold it no longer than the seale is held upon it The heart which maturity of years hath hardened with vast desires will as hardly bee wrought into a new forme as the stone which cannot take any other shape but only by losing some of its masse or substance yet if those vast desires be cut off or their hopes of supplyes from externalls interecepted the soule thus freed becomes more fashionable unto reason Affability which is as the superficiall draught of reason indeavouring to stampe the heart with reall and solid kindnesse is as naturall 〈◊〉 Epicure as to another man so long as the exercise of it is not prejudiciall to his belly And the less his desires were to satisfie it the larger would the extension of his bowels of compassion be towards his brethren or poore neighbours some drops of kindnesse may distill from him in the overflow of plentie or store sufficient to feed both eye and appetite But in the daies of scarcity he suckes in cruelty as wine and feedes upon the needy as upon delicates Were there no more sweet morsels in the market then would serve one man not one of this crew but would cut them out of his Fathers throat rather than suffer his owne weasand to bee defeated of its intemperate expectations Indigence then though Epicurus could not see so much is upon different occasions the mother as well of cruelty and oppression as of bounty or pitty 2 From doing to all as we would be done unto by any nothing doth hinder us so much if ought befides doe hinder us at all as our conceipted or opinative want of somewhat which either for the present we doe or hereafter may stand in need off for satisfying the variety or unconstant longings of our unknowne desires How well soever they may speake or protest experience schooles us not to trust any that fixe their expectations upon great matters or have one eye alwayes upon their private ends but with this limitation if the premisses they now make shal not crosse their opportunities when matters come to tryall But if wee know a man of meanes more than competent for maintaining that estate wherein his constant resolution hath pitcht content one otherwise of temperate desires and composed affections able to discerne what is fitting betwixt man and man we thinke him a fit rule for directing others a patterne whereto would all conforme themselves nothing should goe amisse in Church or Common weale No man that conceives his owne cause to bee just and good but would commend it to his arbiâ—rement before anothers For internall moderation mixt with outward competency is the onely supporter of true constancy Yet cannot this mixture in any created Essence bee so firme or permanent but possibilities or opportunities of satisfying some internall latent capacities by externall proffers may dissolve it For finite existence hath possibility of nonexistence to controll it and possibility of nonexistence includes possibility of being otherwise than it is And therefore it is never impossible to finite being either to lose it selfe or change his properties A more particular root of this contingency or unconstancy in reasonable creatures or intelligent is the infinite capacity of their conceits or desires within whose compasse their finite motions may become excentricke and irregular as it were a starre fixed in too wide a sphere The desires of collapsed Angells were once tuned by their Creator in as perfect harmony as any creatures could be They had all coÌ„petency that could be desired whether of internall faculties or of objects to coÌ„tent theÌ„ Howbeit whilst the chiefe Ringleader of this rebellious Rout sought to satisfie this infinitie of his desire not by participation of his joyfull presence who was infinitely good but by affecting that greatnesse and Majesty infinite which he was enabled to conceive but whereof his nature was more uncaple than a whirry of an Argoes-eyes saile his capacities did overcope And his intemperate longings while he was in travell of this prodigious birth hath imprinted that vgly shape upon him which now he beares Hee is become the monstrous brood of his owne monstrous and deformed desires his mouth opening too wide to swallow that which is incomprehensible could never since be shut his ravenous appetite cannot bee satisfied Like the grave he feedes on rottennesse and by continuall gnawing and devouring that which cannot satiate he continually encreaseth his
rule which all the former inductions can afford is this There can bee no reall effect whether artificiall naturall or supernaturall without an efficient Nothing which now is not or sometimes was not could possibly bee made without some agent or maker betweene every naturall Agent and its patient betweene every Artificer and his worke there alwayes results a mutuall relation of efficient and effect But this rule will not abide the turning Betweene every efficient and its proper effect there alwayes results a mutuall relation of agent and patient if by this terme patient wee understand a matter or subject praeexistent to the exercise of the agents efficiencie 4 The usuall division of Agents into artificiall naturall and supernaturall supposeth a three-fold diversitie in their objects betwixt which there is this proportion As nature alwayes affordeth art a compleat naturall subject to worke upon so the supernaturall agent or supreme efficient exhibits that imperfect substance or matter unto nature which shee brings unto perfection Nature doth so unto Art as it is done to her by a benefactor supernaturall Vnto this observation upon the former division wee can adde no more nor can any more be required besides a just proofe that there is an agent supernaturall which sometimes had no matter at all to worke upon but made even Nature her selfe and the passive capacitie or subject whereon shee workes of no worke or matter praeexistent The matter it selfe and nature it selfe are the immediate effects of his active force or efficiencie Now to beate the Naturalist at his owne weapon wee are to make proofe of this assertion by full induction and strength of reason grounded upon experiments in every subject wherein the Naturalist can instance First it is universally true of all the workes as well of Nature as of Art which now are perfect and sometimes were not so that they did not make themselves but had respectively their severall makers or efficient causes which brought them unto that perfect estate and condition which now they have The most perfect works of nature cannot put themselves into a perfect artificiall forme without the help of some Artificer Stones doe not naturally grow into Statues nor trees into the pictures or Images of men or birds Brasse and Copper with other metalls conceived in the bowells of the earth doe not either by themselves or by the help of naturall causes which produce them cast or mould themselves into Guns or Bullets The Earth and Water doe not worke themselves into the live-substance of plants or vegetables but are first wrought and as it were kneaded together by the heate of the Sunne first altered then incorporated into the substance of such trees by the vegetative faculty which is actually resident and praeexistent in the trees or plants which are nourished by them There is no sublunarie substance which did not take beginning either entirely and together or piece-meale and successively The elementall bodies of the ayre and water were not totally the same a thousand yeares agoe that now they are both continue the same they were by equivalencie of succeeding parts or daily addition by new generation Now successive generation supposeth an end or destruction of that that was a beginning of that which succeedes in its place and the beginning of every thing supposeth a beginner or cause efficient to give it being The race or continuation of more perfect sublunary substances as of vegetables and moving creatures remaines the same not by equivalency of succeeding parts but by a totall production of distinct individualls And every distinct individuall tree or liuing creature hath its immediate and proper efficient as well as its materiall cause nothing can give it selfe a distinct numericall being 5 What is the reason then why the workes of nature which are perfected in their kinde by their proper efficients as trees come to full growth cannot transforme themselves into bodies artificiall without the worke of the Artificer What is the reason why the imperfect masse wherein the seeds of nature are contained cannot grow up into a perfect or compleate body naturall without the efficiencie of some other in the same kinde already compleate Fortes creantur fortibus Nature makes nothing perfect but by the help of some Agent formerly made perfect Doth the perfection of bodies artificiall by an indispensable Law of necessitie require a perfect worke of nature praeexistent to the operation of Art and doth this perfect worke of nature bee it brasse wood or stone by a like indispensable Law of necessitie require an imperfect masse or matter praeexistent to the naturall Agents or efficients which mould or kneade it into its perfect or specificall forme And shall not this imperfect masse with all its severall Elements or ingredients that can be required to the perfection of any naturall body more necessarily require some precedent efficient cause of its imperfect being or existence This cannot be conceived for if these imperfect substances whereof any naturall body is made could eyther give beginning of being to themselves or have it from no cause efficient they should bee in this respect much more perfect than the more perfect workes of nature in that they eyther make themselves or have no maker Vpon this principle of nature or from this impossibilitie in nature That any visible work whether naturall or artificiall should either give it selfe being or have its being from no cause precedent did Tully rightly argue that as a man comming into an house wherein were no live creatures saue Rats and Mice could not conceive that either the house did make it selfe or had no other maker besides these Rats and Mice which were found in it So neither can it be imagined that this visible spheare wherein the workes of Art and Nature are daily seene and doe daily begin to be and expire could either make it selfe or have beeing of it selfe without beginning without a Maker super-artificiall or an efficient supernaturall Every part of this Vniverse considered alone is a worke of nature but the exquisite harmony betweene them is a worke more then Artificiall All that nature can adde to art or art to nature is but a shadow of that great Artificers skill which composed the severall workes of nature into so excellent a forme and tuneth their discording qualities into such exact harmony The induction of Tully is more briefly but more pithily and expressely gathered by our Apostle Heb. 3. ver 4. Euery house is builded by some man but hee that built all things is God But if every house bee built by some man how is God said to build all things shall every builder of an house be a God No but whatsoever man doth build God doth likewise build For except the Lord doth build the house they labour in vaine that are builders of it Psalm 127. 1. Better it were to bee idle or to doe nothing then either to be laborious in building houses or watchfull in guarding Cities strongly