Catholic Theology Plain Pure Peaceable, Conclusion · Notes
Notes on ſome paſſages of Mr. Peter Sterries Book of Free-will.
§. 1. IT is long ſince I heard much of the name and fame of Mr. Peter Sterry, long Chaplain to Robert Lord Brook, and after to Oliver Cromwel when he was Protector (as then called.) His common fame was, that his Preaching was ſuch as none or few could underſtand: which incenſed my deſire to have heard him, of which I ſtill miſt, though I oft attempted it. But now ſince his death, while my Book is in the Preſs unfiniſhed, a poſthumous tractate of his cometh forth of Free-will: upon peruſal of which I find in him the ſame notions (for ſo far as he meddleth with the ſame ſubjects) as in Sr. H. Vane, and ſomewhat of what Dr. Gibbon ſeemeth to deliver in his Scheme; but all handled with much more ſtrength of parts and raptures of higheſt devotion, and great candour towards all others, than I expected. His Preface is a moſt excellent Perſwaſive to Univerſal Charity: Love was never more extolled than throughout his Book. Doubtleſs his head was ſtrong, his wit admirably pregnant, his ſearching ſtudies hard and ſublime, and, I think, his Heart repleniſhed with holy Love to God, and great charity, moderation, and peaceableneſs toward men: In ſo much that I heartily repent that I ſo far believed fame as to think ſomewhat hardlier or leſs charitably of him and his few adherents than I now hope they did deſerve. Haſty judging, and believing fame is a cauſe of unſpeakable hurt to the world, and injury to our brethren.
§. 2. But I find that it is no wonder that he was underſtood by few, For 1. His ſublime and philoſophical notions, met not with many Auditors, ſo well ſtudied in thoſe things as to be capable of underſtanding them. It is a great inconvenience to men of extraordinary diſcoveries and ſublimity, that they muſt ſpeak to very few. 2. And though he cloud not his matter with ſo many ſelf-made names and notions as Behmen, Para…elſus, Wigelius and ſome others, yet thoſe few that he hath, do ſomewhat obſcure it▪ 3. But above all the exceſſive pregnancy of his wit produceth ſo great a ſuperabundance of Metaphors or Allegories, that (about the deſcription of Chriſt eſpecially) they make up almoſt all his ſtyle; ſo that to any ordinary Reader his matter is not ſo much cloathed in Metaphors, as drowned, buried or loſt: And though I confeſs my wit, being to his, but as a barren Deſart to a florid Meadow, may be apt to undervalue that which it attaineth not; yet I do approve of my preſent judgement, in thinking, that (ſeeing all metaphorical terms are ambiguous,) he that exceſſively uſeth them befriendeth not the Truth and the hearers intellect, but while he is too much a Rhetorician, he is too little a good Logician: a…d as he is hardly underſtood by others, I ſhould fear leſt he feduce his own underſtanding, and can ſcarce have clear mental conceptions of that matter, which he utters by a torrent of ambiguous Metaphors, if he think as he ſpeaketh, and his words be the direct expreſſions of his mind. I had rather be inſtructed in the words of the moſt barbarous Schoolman, adapted to the matter, than to be put to ſave my ſelf from the temptation of equivocations in every ſentence which I hear, and to ſearch after that Truth (which is known only naked) under ſo florid a diſguiſe and paint.
§. 3. But I cannot deny, that though my temptations before were very great, to doubt whether the Doctrine of Univerſally-neceſſary Predetermination, as delivered by Bradwardine, the Dominicans, Dr. Twiſſe, Rutherford and Hobbes, were indeed to be rejected, the Reading of Mr. Sterry increaſed my temptation; not by any new ſtrength of argument which he hath brought, but by the power of his pious florid Oratory, by which, while he entitleth God to the neceſſitating cauſation of all ſin, and miſery, he ſeemeth to put ſo honourable and lovely a cloathing on them, from their relative order to God, to the Univerſe, and to their End, as that I felt my hard thoughts of both to abate, and I was tempted to think of them as part of the amiable conſequents of the Divine Love, and of the Harm…nious order cauſed by the manifold wiſdom of God.
§. 4. And by this I ſee, of how great importance it is in the world, not only what Doctrine is taught, and with what proof, but who ſpeaketh it, and in what manner. For as I found the ſame things reverenced in Dr. Twiſſe and Rutherford, which were not ſo in Alvarez, or Janſenius, or Thom. White; ſo I found the ſame Doctrine of Predetermining Neceſſitation almoſt commonly brought into greater diſlike by Hobbes and Benedictus Spinoſa's owning it, and applying it to its too obvious uſes, than all In Tract. Polit. Theol.argumentations had ever before brought it; And I ſee it as likely to recover its honour by the pious and florid dreſs put upon it by Mr. Sterry, as if ſome new demonſtrations for it were found out.
§. 5. If I ſhould recite Mr. Sterries mind in his own Metaphors, the Reader may not underſtand it; If I Epitomize him and change his words, ſome may ſay that I miſunderſtand and wrong him: But I will not do it willingly; and if I do it neceſſarily, his ſtile is my excuſe. He that would be ſeen muſt come into the light.
§. 6. The ſumm of that which I am now concerned in, in Mr. Sterry's Treatiſe is, That the Freedom of all things is to act according to their natures; and ſo is that of the will of man; and that in God and man, Neceſſity and Liberty concurr, and that whatever we do or will, we do or will it neceſſarily, as being moved to it by the firſt cauſ… and a chained connexion of neceſſitating cauſes; by which all things in the world are carryed on: That a will not determined by God, but left to a ſelf-determination without Gods predetermining cauſality, is not to be aſſerted, as contrary to Gods Goodneſs, Wiſdom, power▪ &c. That ſin is a privation formally, and all that is poſitive in it is directly and not by accident of Gods poſitive cauſation (elſe with the Manichees we muſt hold two firſt cauſes;) And that the formal privation is from the wi…lidrawing of neceſſary Divine cauſation of the contrary, and God is the Negative neceſſitating cauſe of it: Even as he cauſeth Light by the ſhining of the Sun, and cauſeth darkneſs by its ſetting or not …hining: or as he cauſeth ſubſtances and ſhadows, Life and death; And that all ſin thus as neceſſarily followeth Gods not giving the contrary, or his leaving the defectible Creature to itſelf, as the darkneſs fol…oweth the Lights removal; And this was the entrance of ſin into the world; the Woman being Neceſſarily deceived, neceſſarily ſinned; and all good and evil is thus (as to neceſſity equally) to be reſolved into Gods cauſing and not cauſing Will; what he will cauſe cannot but be, and what he will not cauſe cannot be: And this is the beautiful variety and harmony in the Univerſe: In God himſelf is nothing but perfection, but the Greature being the ſhadowy Image of God, defectibility and imperfection is eſſential to it: ſo that he reduceth Morality to the frame, and neceſſity of phyſical motion, and maketh Moral Good and evil to be indeed as much natural good and evil and of the ſame kind (except as in another ſubject) as Summer and Winter, heat and cold, day and night, health and ſickneſs, life and death, animate and inanimate, the unavo…dable diverſifications of the will and work of God; And that every permiſſion of his will is accompanied with a poſitive volition of the thing permitted, (And yet that Will is not properly in God, but ſo called after the manner of man:) That ſin is conſidered as related to the Principle of action, which is God, and ſo it is good; or as in the terminus Man, and ſo it is horrid, deviliſh, odious, evil, as blindneſs, death, darkneſs, cauſed all by Gods deſertion, or not operating otherwiſe than he doth.
§. 7. To the quieting of the mind that cannot digeſt this, but thinketh God is thus diſhonoured, being made more than Satan the cauſe of ſin, and miſery for ſin, which the Scripture contradicteth; and that man is excuſable at the barr of Juſtice that could no more (in innocency) forbear to ſin, than to make a world; To them that think it hard that no one in all the world could ever poſſibly do more or leſs Good or Evil than they do, but that is all done, by phyſical motion as in an Engine, &c. he hath a great deal to ſay, and more than ever I elſewhere met with, and with great modeſty propoſed.
§. 8. As to the Law (whoſe tranſgreſſion is ſin) he ſuppoſeth, that Whatſoever impoſeth on us any thing to be done by us, as an antecedent condition to any conſequent good, is the Law oppoſed to the Goſpel. Pag. 173.Yea that the propoſal or preſſing of any Truth or Goodneſs on us, in a literal or moral way only, or the word as written in Letters, is the Law; and the ſpirit operating the thing it ſelf on the ſoul is the Goſpel; the firſt is the old Covenant and the ſecond the New: That the proper and next ends of the Law (or letter) are ſin, condemnation, death and the Divine wrath: To let in ſin, and heighten it that it might abound; and to bring on us ſpiritual death; Theſe flow not from the Law of it ſelf; but by accident, from the weakneſs of the fleſh and crea…ure: But both Law and ſin are brought in ultimately for good; viz. God having a deſign which he intended to enrich with the fulleſt, the higheſt glories of his Godhead, brings forth in the courſe of this deſign, a dark ſcene of all evils, ſin, death, wrath; The evil in this ſcene is carryed on to its utmoſt extent and height; Thus the variety becomes more full in the whole deſign, and the chief deſign is heightned in its greateſt Glory; God in his Infinite wiſdom ſo bringeth in this ſcene of ſin and evil, that himſelf is perfectly pure and good in the contrivance and conduct of it. He ſetteth up a Law, good, holy and ſpiritual, but ſuch that ſin inevitably may take occaſion from it through the frailty of the fleſh and of the creature, to ſpring up as an overflowing flood, to diſplay it ſelf over all things in its fulleſt fouleſt birth. This Law is to convince us of the frailty and mutability in mans primitive ſtate, &c. (viz. that he is a creature.) For Pag. 175, 176.man is compoſed of the light of God, and his own proper darkneſs; Theſe two the Schools call the Act and Potentiality, the form and the matter, being and not being, which conſtitute every Creature; The darkneſs or nothingneſs, which is the Creatures own, is the proper ground of ſin—The Law comes and diſtinguiſheth the Light from the Darkneſs—Pag. 177. (ſo that to ſee ſin is to ſee that we are Creatures;)—God withholds his Pag. 178.Divine preſence, appearances and influences from man,—and ſo the darkneſs diſcovereth it ſelf in man, and predominateth and captivateth him entirely, and becomes his choice and Lord. (ſo that ſin is but an Imperfect Creature, and the Law to cauſe and ſhew it.)
§. 9. Pag. 113, 114, &c. He ſaith [The Immediate cauſe of the firſt change made in the underſtanding at the fall, was the Divine Glory withdrawing or withholding it ſelf—Darkneſs is the privation of Light: Privations have no proper Cauſes, but accidental only. Thus the Divine Glory retiring from the underſtanding, or ceaſing to ſhine in it, is by accident the cauſe of the darkneſs there; as the Setting or departing of the Sun is the cauſe of Night; which is not a blemiſh to the Sun, but its glory, that in its preſence are all the beauties and joyes of light, in its abſence all the diſagreeableneſs and melancholies of night and darkneſs: Pag. 115. All evil is from the abſence of God, &c. P. 117. The fault in man is the deficiency which ariſeth from the defectibility or nothingneſs of the Creature, in its ſhadowy ſtate, in the purity of its firſt Creation. Pag. 122. The fall ſprings from the Harmony of the eternal deſign in the Divine mind, being comprehended in it as a part of it.]
§. 10. And yet he makes man Guilty and unexcuſe…ble, and God juſt i… this; becauſe [Guilt is but our being really bad: And he that cannot deny himſelf to be bad, is unexcuſeable: And the opening of this cauſeth ſhame: And Juſtice is to Judge and uſe all creatures as they are.]
§. 11. To be ſhort, he maintaineth, that man can have no freedom from neceſſitating predetermination; If he ſhould it would croſs the nature of God, of the creature, of the ſoul, and the unity and harmony of all things; But that God cauſeth all ſin negatively as neceſſarily, as he cauſeth darkneſs, or any natural privation: But then he doth with a torrent of Rhetorick ſo Praiſe Gods deſign in it, and the beauty and harmony of all things made up of good and evil, unities, varieties, diverſities and contrarieties, and ſheweth ſo largely the glory that cometh to God by ſin, and the good to the Univerſe, and that it's but our narrowneſs and weakneſs of ſight that maketh us take it to be any other than a part of the glory of the univerſe, though bad in and to the perſon that ſinneth, that I confeſs I never found my ſelf more tempted to Love ſin, or to ceaſe my hatred of it, than by his florid Oratory.
§. 12. And withall, as he reſolveth all the reſt of Morality into Phyſical conceptions, ſo he ſeemeth to judge ſuitably of Hell and of Redemption, ſuppoſing that all this darkneſs that God brings on ſinners, is but to prepare for their reſurrection to a life of unity and glory; and that it ſhall go well with them in the end.
§. 13. And as to the work of Redemption, his notions are too floridly or ambiguouſly delivered for me to undertake with confidence to unriddle: But this ſeemeth the ſumm: 1. That God is the fountain of Being by Emanation as the Sun of light: And that his eternal Wiſdom is Jeſus Chriſt in the firſt inſtant or nature. 2. That the firſt …reature that he made (or emaneth from him) is a perfect univerſal mind, the platform of all the reſt of the Creation; (ſuch as the old Philoſophers called the ſoul of the world, or an univerſal Intelligence:) And that this is Jeſus Chriſt in his ſecond nature and notion: which Arius knew, but did ill deny his divine nature. 3. That this Univerſal Spirit or Mind, maketh all the world beſides, and is in them all: And ſo the whole Creation elſe was Chriſts firſt ſhadowy Image, (or body.) 4. That the Angels are the nobleſt parts of this, and that the Deity firſt, and Chriſts ſuperangelical nature next, is one in them all, and they one with him, as the beams with the Sun, and as the lower part of the Sun-beams with the parts next the Sun. 5. That the ſoul of man is the next part of Chriſts ſhadowy Image, into which he deſcended. 6. And ſo into all Bodies. 7. And as into a ſpecial Branch, into that Body born of the Virgin Mary. 8. And in that, and in other Bodies, he dyeth, and deſcendeth to his loweſt ſtate; and 9. Then, as the Sun, doth riſe again, and bring all back to the ſtate of pure ſpirituality in his ſuperangelical nature, whence all ſprang: And this is their Redemption; which is moſt floridly ſet forth.
§. 13. This doctrine ſeemeth to reconcile Philoſophy (or Gentiliſm) and Chriſtianity: For what is it almoſt but names that are left in difference? That which a Philoſopher will call an univerſal Intelligence, or ſoul of the world, he calleth Chriſt: And if ſuch a ſoul there be, no one will deny but that it floweth into all particular ſouls and bodies, and is united to them, or is to individuals as the ſoul in the head to the ſoul in the hand and foot.
§. 14. And if I did believe that ſin, death, hell; and holineſs, life, Glory, are in the world but as Winter and Summer, Night and Day, and, as Origen, that the wicked are but in a ſtate of Revolution, and ſhall come about again into a ſtate of hope; or, as he here ſeemeth, that their ſin and miſery is but like the dying of a flower in the fall, that ſhall in the Spring again be as before, (or rather another in its ſtead;) and that it is but the retiring of Chriſt from the Creature, as the ſpirit of the Tree in Autumn from the Leaves, I ſhould then be ready to receive his Neceſſitating Predetermination to ſin, and fit all the reſt of my opinions hereunto.
§. 15. There is (among many others) one Joh. Jeſſenius à Jeſſen Doctor & Eques Hungarus, who in a Tract. de Anima & Corpore Univerſi hath written much to the like purpoſe, ſave as being a Peripatetick he differeth from the Platoniſts; viz. The world is one Animal and hath one ſoul and body, which all Creatures are parts of: That Stars are Intellectuals, or Angels, and all intuitively know each others minds, loving the good, and hating the evil here, and are our chief friends and Keepers: That Death befalleth only us lower Creatures; Mors continua ſingulis, nulli tamen aeterna: Nam poſt longiſſimum temporis excurſum, quem Plato triginta & inſuper aliquot annorum millibus determinare auſus eſt, removebitur, factâ iterum aliquâ ſecundùm naturam ſolutione, redintegratione. And the Intellectus Agens he deſcribeth as Mr. Sterry doth Chriſt in his ſecond or middle nature, pag. 165. Intellectum agentem ſubſtantia primae atque Dei fulgorem eſſe; Non accidens, ſed ſubſtantiam Intellige… tem; quaeprimò propriéque Intellectus dicitur agens:—Primae ſubſtantiae adhaerens, ab ea excurrens, indiviſus & indiviſibilis, non aliter ac Lumen à Lucido emanat: and ſo in many other particulars.
§. 16. To all this my ſhort time will allow me to give you but theſe ſhort obſervations following: 1. The doctrine of Redemption is ſo much of meer ſupernatural Revelation, as that we muſt not eaſily receive that concerning it, which is not in the Scriptures; And where Chriſts perſon hath ſuch a deſcription in Scripture as he giveth, I am not ſatisfied: (e. g. in pag. 232. where he thus ſaith [The Word made fleſh, is the whole Tree of Being, Uncreated and Created, the Root, the Body, with all the Branches, putting forth themſelves into one little top branch, now withering, that through its death, they may renew all to a freſh and flouriſhing ſpring.] I am loth to ſay that the Univerſe is Chriſt: that his Divinity is the ſoul, and the world his body, and every Man and Beaſt and ſubſtance part of it, and that he dyeth in all that dye, and that his body born of the Virgin Mary, was but one top branch of the Tree, which Chriſt thus animateth, and ſo that all other bodies are as truly perſonally united to the Word, as that.
§. 17. I will not deny that the Opinion of a Threefold nature in Chriſt, looketh very plauſibly; viz. that the Divine eternal word (the firſt nature) produced and united it ſelf to the prime created ſuperangelical Mind (the ſecond nature:) and that this ſecond nature in the fulneſs of time produced and united it ſelf to the humane (third) nature. 1. There are many texts which ſeem to countenance it. 2. It ſeemeth to give Chriſt the greateſt honour, as being the moſt excellent of all Gods Creatures; which is not ſo eaſily believed of him as Man. 3. It ſeemeth to expound thoſe texts of the Old Teſtament, which mention ſuch appearances of God to Adam, Abraham and others, which many of the Ancients ſay was Chriſt: And it ſeemeth to ſome more probable that ſome pre-exiſtent created nature ſhould aſſume a body, than the Divine nature only and immediately. 4. And it ſmileth on us as an opinion likely to reduce and reconcile the Arians, (once too great a part of the Chriſtian World, (as called Chriſtians) as not only Philoſtorgius, and Saudius ſhew, but alſo Petavius de Trinit.) who holding the prime-created ſuper-angelical nature, and denying the Divine, it's like would the more eaſily be brought to acknowledge the Union of the Divine Nature with the ſuper-angelical, if the ſuper-angelical it ſelf were firſt granted them; For they might the ſooner be convinced that the eternal wiſdom or word, which made that firſt creature, was intimately united to it. I know ſome pious worthy perſons who upon ſuch reaſons incline to this opinion of a threefold nature in Chriſt; (Though ſome of them think that this ſecond nature, was the humane ſoul, aſſuming only a body, and others, that it aſſumed both ſoul and body.) I am not forward to take men for unſufferable Hereticks, that differ from me, or hold that which ſeemeth to me hard and ſtrange; But I muſt ſay, 1. That I ſee no cogent proof of this ſuper-angelical nature: 2. That ſeeming congruities and conveniences muſt not embolden us to take up a doctrine which is new and ſtrange to the Church of Chriſt, in ſo great a matter as the Natures and perſon of Chriſt are. 3. And were it never ſo true, if it be not ſufficiently revealed to us in Gods Word, it cannot be neceſſary to our ſalvation. 4. Yea preſuming too boldly to conclude of unrevealed things, (ſo high) ſeemeth to me dangerous temerity, curioſity, and prophaneneſs, like the Bethſhemites or Uzzah's meddling with the Ark, and the Sons of A…r…n offering falſe fire. Let them therefore here thus proceed that dare. For I dare not.
§. 18. But this much I eaſily concede, 1. That as all Being is originally from God, ſo there is a continued divine cauſation of them, without which they would all ceaſe or be annihilated: which ſome call a continued Creation, and ſome an Emanation; and ſome a continued Action or operation ad rerum eſſe. And it is an intolerable errour to hold that God hath made the World or any part of it ſelf-ſufficient or Independent as to himſelf, as to Being, Action or Perfection. We grant therefore that all the world is ſo far United to God, as to depend on his continued cauſality: And that the Beams do not more depend on the Sun, or Light; heat and motion on the Sun and other fire, nor the branches, fruit and leaves more depend on the Tree, than the Creature on God.
§. 19. 2. I grant that thus far the world may be ſaid to be one, as all things are united in one firſt cauſe from which they flow, and by which they are.
§. 20. 3. But yet all theſe are no parts of God, as the fruit and leaves▪ are of the Tree, and as the beams are of the Sun's But they are Creatures, becauſe Gods emanation or cauſation is creative, cauſing the whole Being of the effect: And it ſeemeth likeſt to the Sun (or fire's) cauſation of Motion, Light and Heat as they are in the Recipient, diſtinct ab eſſentia & actione Agentis quà tuli.
§. 21. 4. I grant that (though as to proximity of eſſence God is no further from one Creature than from another, being intimate to all, immediatione eſſentiae, yet) he uſeth one Creature as a ſecond Cauſe to operate on another; and that the Higher and Nobler, operate on the lower and more ignoble: And in that ſenſe we may conceive that ſome Creatures are firſt from God or neareſt to him, that is, of the higheſt nature and uſe. And ſo we deny not, but that it is like that in the Creation God made one nature exiſtent, (e. g. the higheſt Intellectual) as more excellent, powerful, pregnant, active, and perfect than any of the reſt: that there was in the wonderful diverſity, ſome one that was Beſt, and above the reſt.
§. 22. 5. I grant that it ſoundeth probably that the firſt and nobleſt Nature in ſpecie ſhould be found but in one Individual; But of this there is not the leaſt certainty to us mortals: viz. Whether from one God firſt flow one perfect Created Intelligence of Spirit; or, ab uno plures, two, three or millions in the firſt order flow from one God? Though in nature we ſee that from the trunk of the Tree few great members firſt ariſe, and multiplicity is in the extremities. And we grant that the greateſt multiplicity appeareth where things dwindle to littleneſs or baſeneſs: One ſound Sheep i… better than a rotten one that hath a thouſand▪ Worms in his Veins and Inteſtines: And a man that hath a thouſand Lice on his Head is not the Nobler: And when the one ſoul hath left a Garkaſs, it may turn to thouſands of contemptible Vermine: And a Looking-glaſs broken into an hundred pieces is not the better becauſe it will make an hundred images of the face. But yet we are ſtrangers to Gods unſeen works, further than he revealeth them, and therefore muſt confeſs our ignorance.
§. 23. 6. We grant that all Gods works have ſome Union, Concord and Harmony among themſelves; which yet conſiſteth with numerical diverſity: And though Men and other Animals walk about with Bodies that touch not one another, (and therefore the ignorant conceive of them as totally incoherent, and think that though Pears, Apples and other Fruit on the Tree, and Trees in the Earth, be both Many, and Divert, and yet parts of one Tree, and of one Earth, yet it is not ſo with animals▪ becauſe the union of ſpiritual beings in inviſible:) yet indeed it is not probable that the ſouls of Animals have no dependant coherence with noblet ſupriour Spirits. Though (becauſe we know of no nature above the Intellectual) it is utterly uncertain to us, Whether Humane ſouls depend on any proper ſuperiour Cauſe of their Being but God alone immediately; For God cauſeth the higheſt Natures, without any mediate ſecond Cauſe: Though as to ORDER and helps of action and well being they may depend on others, as the ſeveral Wheels or parts of the ſame Watch or Clock, or as the Sheep upon the Shepherd.
§. 24. Auguſtine de Anima is put to it, whether he will hold 1. That ſouls are Many and not One? 2. Or One and not Many? 3. On both One and Many? The two firſt he rejecteth: The laſt he confeſſeth hard to defend, but ſeemeth moſt inclined to: But what Union he meant, is hard to conjecture; Whether that they were all the ſpiritual Parts of one Univerſal, or one Greater ſoul (if ſouls may be Parts?) or Whether diſtinct products of one ſuch ſoul (either Univerſitatis or hujus ſyſtematis)▪ or Whether One Relatively and Politically, by making up one ſociety; or Whether one becauſe emaning from one ſpring or Cauſa prima? The two laſt are certain: The two firſt are far otherwiſe.
§. 25. 7. If he could prove, that there is one Firſt, Beſt, Univerſal created Intelligence, or ſuper-Angelical Spirit, which God made the chief of all ſecond cauſes, by which he created and governeth all the reſt, and that this is Chriſt in his ſecond Nature, we would not deny, but that Chriſt as the Mediator of Nature (as Mr. Sterry calleth him) is in all other Creatures as the Cauſe is in the being of the effect; But it would not follow, that the Eſſence of Chriſt (or this Univerſal Intelligence) is any Conſtitutive Cauſe (or part) of each creature: For as God cauſeth them by Creative Emanation, and not as a Conſtitutive part of them; ſo we ſhould rather hold, that (under God, by a Power of producing Entities received from him) this Univerſal Spirit did the ſame in a ſubordinate ſecond place.
§. 26. But his Opinions which I am now moſt concerned to renounce, are thoſe about Gods Moral Government, his Laws, Juſtice, our free-will, ſin, guilt, and Gods Redemption, Judgement and Puniſhment of man; all which I think he much ſubverteth.
§. 27. And I. I take the root of his error to be, his overlooking and undervaluing Gods Deſign in Making and Governing free Intellectual agents, by his Sapiential Moral Directive way: He ſuppoſeth this way to be ſo much below that of Phyſical Motion and Determination, as that it is not to be conſidered but as an inſtrument thereof: As if it were unworthy of God to give any creature a Meer Power, Liberty, Law, and Moral Means alone, and not to Neceſſitate him Poſitively or Negatively to Obey or Diſobey. And this looking only at Phyſical Good, Being and Motion, and thereby thinking lightly of Sapiential Regency, is the ſumm; as of his, ſo of Hobbes, Spinoſa's, Alvarez, Bradwardines, Twiſſes, Rutherfords, and the reſt of the Predeterminants errors herein: And had not I other thoughts of this one thing, I ſhould come over to their Opinion: For I confeſs the caſe to be of very great difficulty.
§. 28. I think that as the Divine Life and Power glorifieth it ſelf eminently in the Cauſation of the Being, Motion and Life of the creatures; ſo the Divine Wiſdom eminently glorifieth it ſelf in the Order of all things, and in the Moral Directive Sapiential Regiment of Intellectual free agents. And that Gods Laws and Doctrine are the Image of his Wiſdom, and an admirable harmonious and beautiful frame: And that all would think ſo, and be wonderfully delighted in them, were they compleatly printed on our Minds and Hearts.
§. 29. II. And accordingly I think, that the glory of his governing Wiſdom, and Puniſhing and Rewarding Juſtice, is a great and notable part of that glory which man muſt give him now and for ever. And that this Juſtice is not his phyſical uſing all things according to their phyſical aptitude only: But his Judging and Executing according to that moral aptitude commonly called Merit, by Puniſhments and Rewards: And that to deny God the glory of all this, is no ſmall error in a Philoſopher or Divine.
§. 30. III. Accordingly I think, that God made man a free ſelf-determining agent, that he might be capable of ſuch Sapiential Rule: And that it is a great Honour to God, to make ſo noble a Nature, as hath a Power to determine its own elections: And though ſuch are not of the higheſt rank of Creatures, they are far above the loweſt: And that God (who we ſee delighteth to make up beauty and harmony of diverſities) doth delight in the Sapiential Moral Government of this free ſort of Creatures: And though man be not Independent, yet to be ſo far like God himſelf, as to be a kind of firſt-determiner of many of his own Volitions and Nolitions, is part of Gods Natural Image on Man.
§. 31. IV. Accordingly I take Duty to be Rewardable and Laudable; and ſin to be odious as it is the Act of a free agent: And that the Nature of Moral Good and Evil, conſiſteth not in its being the meer effect of phyſical premotion, but in being a Voluntary Conformity or Diſconformity to the Sapiential Rule of duty, by a free agent that had Power to do otherwiſe.
§. 32. V. Free-will then is not only the ſame with willing it ſelf, or a meer agency according to Nature, by the premotion of the firſt determining neceſſitating Mover. It is not only ſuch a freedom as Fire, Water, Beaſts, and every moved thing hath, (to be moved according to the firſt Moyers action) which is in the, will of man; But it is a Power to be a firſt determining Specifier of its own acts as Moral: Not that it is never predetermined, but that it can do this.
§. 33. VI. Accordingly I judge of Guilt, and Shame, and the Accuſation of Conſcience; which will not be a bare diſcerning what God made us do or be; but what we voluntarily did or were, when we could do otherwiſe.
§. 34. VII. And I am paſt all doubt, that he groſly miſtaketh the nature and diſtinction of Law and Goſpel: 1. To think that Gods Law, when it is not accompained with phyſical predetermination, is but to ſhew us that we are creatures, that cannot but ſin.
2. Yea, hereby he wrongeth the glory of the Creator, that made no creature with a power to do any thing but evil, unleſs predetermined phyſically thereto.
3. It's groſs to ſay, that all the Doctrine of Redemption, and Faith, and Juſtification by Chriſt, as a meer ſignum, Letter or Law, is the Law or Covenant of Works, and ſo that every Command is the Covenant of Works, and Phyſical Efficiency of Good in us is the Goſpel or Covenant of Grace. For that which we call the Goſpel is not true, if this be true: For this Goſpel is a preached word ſpoken by mans mouth, which ſome believe, and ſome believe not, but reject and diſobey, and therefore periſh: Matth. 4. 23. & 11. 5. & 24. 14. & 26. 13. Mark 16. 15. Luke 4. 18. 1 Cor. 9. 14, 16, 18. Heh. 4. 2. 1 Pet. 1. 25. 1 Pet. 4. 6. 2. Theſſ. 1. 8, 10, 11. Matth. 13. 10. Acts. 13. 7. It is a Law by which men ſhall be judged to life or death, Rom. 2. 16. Mar. 16. 15, 16. 2 Theſ. 1. 8. Rom. 10. 16. John 3. 19, 20, 21. 2 Cor. 4. duplicate page duplicate page 3, 4. It is a word which ſome pervert, Gal. 1. 7. and many ſin againſt, Gal. 2. 14. 1 Pet. 4. 17. The rejecters of it are to ſpeed worſe than Sodom and Gomorrah, and they cannot eſcape that neglect ſo great ſalvation. Whereas by his deſcription, 1. No man ever yet ſinned againſt the Goſpel or Covenant of Grace: For it is not that Covenant or Goſpel further than it is a phyſical effect on the ſoul. 2. And every Heathen that hath any good effect on his ſoul by Common Grace hath ſo much Goſpel; 3. Yea, why is not then all Gods Creation, being a phyſical effect, the Covenant of Grace; if that he doth be it, and all that he commandeth as ſuch be the Law of Works? 4. And how then can the Law of Works and Grace be two, if every proper Law be the Law of Works? For a Law is ſub genere ſigni, and a produced event is another thing. 5. And what ſenſe will be found throughout the Scripture, if we muſt hold, that It is the Covenant or Law of Works which telleth us, that the Law of Works is aboliſhed, and calleth us to believe in Chriſt for free Juſtification, and not to expect Juſtification by the Works of the Law, and offereth us pardon and life in Chriſt? &c. But I will add no more, ſeeing the plainneſs of the matter makes it needleſs.
§. 35. The truth is, he diſtinguiſheth between the Law and the effect of the Law and Spirit of God, and calleth one the Law of Works and the other the Goſpel: whereas the Scripture only maketh it the excellency of the Goſpel, that by it the Spirit effectually worketh on the ſoul more uſually and more excellently; and no meer Law (of Works or Grace) will renew us without the Spirit.
§. 36. VIII. And if Redemption be nothing but Phyſical efficiency by Chriſt, (who as a creating Mediator firſt giveth all creatures what they have, and next faileth them and leaveth them in darkneſs, as the Sun ſetteth, and then Riſing again revolveth all things into his original pure ſpirituality, like the revolution of day and night, Summer and Winter,) it is ſure another thing than the Scripture deſcribeth it, which maketh it a noble part of that Sapiential frame of Moral Government which ſome deſpiſe.
§. 37. IX. But let it be noted, that we hold, that as the Almighty Father is the glorious Creator, Motor and Life of Nature, and the Eternal Wiſdom, Word and Son, the Glorious Ordinator, Rector and Redeemer, ſo the Eternal Love, and the Holy Ghoſt is the final Perfecter of believers, even of Gods Elect; and that this Sanctification and proficiency, is by more than Moral Sapiential Regiment, even by the Real ſhedding abroad Gods Love upon the ſoul, or by a Quickning, Illuminating, felicitating Communication of Divine Life, and Light, and Love, which yet maketh not the Sapiential Regiment vain.
§. 38. And as to Free-will I further ſay, that we are far from holding that it is a ſtate of man in which he is Above God, or Independent and as a God to himſelf, or that God is any way a defective or idle (as they call it) Spectator of mans ſins, or free acts: But that this rank and ſtate of free agents is Gods own wiſely-choſen work in which he is delighted. And that he doth truly attain his ends in all.
§. 39. Therefore as Mr. Sterry magnifieth the harmony which a…ſeth from Moral Good and Evil as deſigned and neceſſitated by God, ſo we firſt admire the harmony which ariſeth from Natural and free agents and their works; which muſt not be diſhonoured and left out.
§. 40. And more than ſo, we doubt not but all Gods works are perfect, it being their perfection to be ſuited to his own will. And the difference between us and Mr. Sterry, Dr. Twiſſe, &c. is not▪ Whether God be Glorious in all his works, or they be perfect: For we ſay, that though mans ſin be found upon Gods works, and that ſin be none of his works, nor any means (properly ſo called) of Pleaſing or Glorifying him, nor at all willed or cauſed by him, but hated and puniſhed; yet he loſeth none of his complacency or glory by it, but notwithſtanding its malignity, ſhineth gloriouſly in the perfection of all his works.
§. 41. Yea, more we ſay, that men ſin under his Diſpoſing power, and that he will make uſe of their evil unto Good, and ſin ſhall become an occaſion of that Glory to God (as ſickneſs to the Phyſicion) of which it is no Cauſe or proper Means, nor of it ſelf cond…ceth thereunto. Yea, and that no Act as an Act, how ſinful ſoever, is done, but by Gods cauſation as he is the fountain of nature, and prime Motor: Yea, more; that all the Effects and Conſequents of ſin that are not ſin it ſelf, are under the Cauſal Government and diſpoſal of God, who will attain his Ends in all.
§. 42. Therefore we differ but in this, Whether God get not all that glory which Mr. St. floridly deſcribeth, notwithſtanding ſin, or on ſuppoſition of it as barely permitted (negatively, but with a Decree or Volition of all the good conſequents occaſioned by it,) rather than by ſin it ſelf, as a willed, deſigned effect of his own neceſſitating▪ Negations, and in the poſitive part of the acts as circumſtantiated, of his determining premotion? Whether mans permitted ſin, be any of Gods works? And whether Gods glory be not rather non obſtante peccato, and alſo by occaſion of it, ſuppoſed to be mans work only; and by all the good conſequents cauſed by God, than by the ſin it ſelf as a Means conducible, or a Cauſe?
§. 43. For we deny not, that God could have ▪prevented all ſin if he had ſo reſolved, and yet we believe not that ſuch a permiſſion is equivalent to a neceſſitating Motion, or Privation, as Mr. Sterry would perſwade us: To make a creature no better than ſuch as can do good if he will, and can be willing, (with a decree to make many willing,) is much different from making the creature bad, and then condemning him to Hell for being ſo, as an act of Juſtice. Yet we doubt not, but the Divine Light will ſhortly give us all a fuller diſcovery of that which ſhall vindicate the Wiſdom, Goodneſs and Juſtice of God, in his Government of man, than yet the wiſeſt mortals have.
§. 44. Either you ſuppoſe that God doth all that he can do, or not. If yea, then you ſuppoſe that he cannot (nor ever could) make any one Creature, Worm, or Graſs, more or leſs, greater or ſmaller, ſooner or later, or otherwiſe, than he doth: which few will believe: (It being not for want of Power, but through perfection of Wiſdom and freedom of Will that he doth no more.) But if God can make one creature more, or one Motion more, and yet doth not, I ask Whether you dare call that non-agency by the name of Idleneſs or deficiency? If not, why ſhould the Non-cauſation of ſinful Volitions in ſpecie morali, or the leaving free-will to its own determination, be ſo called? Not to make more creatures, or more phyſical motion, or not to give more Grace and Glory, is as much a non-agency as not to determine a ſinning Will.
§. 45. As to all Mr. Sterry's Reaſons againſt Free-will, they are ſo Rhetorically rather than Logically delivered, that I think it not meet to trouble the Reader with any further anſwer of them, or to ſuppoſe them to have any more ſtrength than thoſe that other men plainlier have delivered.
§. 46. I conclude with this repeated profeſſion, that I am fully ſatisfied, that all the reſt of the Controverſies, about Grace and Nature, and Predeſtination and Redemption, as they ſtand between the Synod of Dort and the Arminians, are of no greater moment than I have oft expreſſed in this Book, nor worthy any of that ſtir and contention, which men that ſufficiently difference not Words, Methods and Matter have made to the miſchievous injury of the Church: And that the true life of all the remaining difficulties, is in this controverſie between the defenders of Neceſſary Predetermination, and of Free-will; that is, (not, What free-will ſinners have left, but) [Whether ever in Angels or Innocent man, there was ſuch a thing, as a will that can and ever did determine it ſelf to a Volition or Nolition in ſpecie morali, without the predetermining efficient neceſſitating premotion of God as the firſt Cauſe?] or as Hobbes ſpeaketh, Whether ever a created will, did act, without a neceſſitating premotion? And whether to will and to will freely, be all one? And whether the will (except as to the kind of action) be not as much neceſſitated to will or not will, as my Pen to write or not write? are we call not its acts Contingent or free, either becauſe they are what they are (Volitions,) or though Ignorance, becauſe we ſee not the moving Cauſes?
§. 47. And if this hold, for my part I muſt confeſs, that I think the Religion which agreeth with it, muſt neither be ſo good as Dr. Twiſſes, Rutherfords, Bradwardines, or Alvarez's, nor yet ſo bad as Hobbes's, or Spinoſa's; but juſt ſuch as Mr. Sterry's or the old Platonick or Stoick Philoſophers: I mean not ſuch as Mr. Sterry's was, (for I hear he was an excellent perſon;) but ſuch as his Book (though obſcurely) intimateth. And if any of that judgement have a better or worſe, it is not in conſiſtency with his own principles.
FINIS.
Catholick Theology: The Second BOOK. The
SYNODISTS and ARMINIANS
CALVINISTS and LUTHERANS
DOMINICANS and JESUITES
Reconciled: OR, AN END OF THE CONTROVERSIES ABOUT GODS DECREES and GRACE, and MANS FREE-WILL, MERIT, &c. If men are willing. A RETREAT TO THE MILITANT DIVINES, WHO HAVE TOO LONG WARRED ABOUT WORDS, and UNREVEALED THINGS; and KEPT THE CHURCH OF GOD IN FLAMES, and DRAWN CHRISTS MEMBERS TO HATE, REPROACH and PERSECUTE EACH OTHER FOR THEY KNEW NOT WHAT. In a Dialogue between C. (a …alviniſt) A. (an Arminian) and B. (the R…conc…ler): and others. By Richard Baxter.
Tim. 2. 14, 15, 16.
Of theſe put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord, that they ſtrive not about words, to no profit, but to the ſubverting of the hearers. Study to ſhew thy ſelf approved unto God, a Workman that needeth not to be aſhamed, rightly dividing the word of Truth. But ſhun prophane and vain bablings; for they will encreaſe unto more ungodlineſs: and their word will eat as doth a Canker.
LONDON: Printed for Nevil Simmons, at the Princes Arms in St. Pauls Church-Yard. 1675.