་ know nothing purely-intelligible fo easily and certainly as that God is But there is nothing that we are fo far from comprehending: As we fee nothing more eafily and certainly than the Sun, which yet we fee not with a comprehenfive, but a partial and defective fight. The wifer fort of the niverfitatis invenire 0. 15. This Infinite Being can be but One. For if there were many, they could not be Infinite, and fo only Parent of the indeed there would be none: nor would there be any one universe, but durft first Cause of all things: For if one caufed one part of the not pak out what World, and another another part, no one were the first or perfections. Cicero they know, of his unity Caufe of all: And if they joyned in caufing all together, faith, Illum quafi they would all conjunctly make but one firft caufe, and each Parentem hujus Uone feveral be but part of the Caufe. If there be no one difficile; & cum inthat is fufficient to make and govern all the World, there veneris, indicare in is no perfect Being, nor no God: but the effect fheweth the vulgus, nefas, de Vfufficiency and the unity of the World (the Orbs being one niverfit pag. 2. And frame) the unity of the firft caufe. Perfection confifteth the fame be faith, lib. more in the unity of one allfufficient Being, than in a vo- Stoici dicunt unum luntary concurrence of many Beings. The moft learned Deum effe: Ipfumq; Heathens, who thought there were many to be named Gods, & mentem, & fatum, did mean but fubordinate particular Gods, that were under & Jovem dicunt : the one univerfal God, whom the Stoicks and Academicks Principio illum cum took to be the univerfal Soul, and the fubordinate Gods the effet apud fe, fubSouls of the particular Orbs and Flanets. 2. de nat. Deor. ftantiam omnem per aërem in aquam convertiffe. Et quemadmodum in færu femen continetur, ita & hanc ferendi ratio . 16. The Power of this God muft needs be Omnipotency. He that hath given fo great Power to the creatures, as is exercised by them, efpecially the Sun and fixed Stars in their feveral Vortices or Orbs; and he that could make fuch a nem in humore talem World of nothing, and uphold the being, and maintain the refidiffe, materia ad order, and cause, and continue the rapid motions of all the operandum aptiffimè Vortices or Orbs, (which are to us innumerable, and each parata, ex quâ cætera poft hæc gignerentur. of incomprehenfible excellency and magnitude) is certainly Tum genuiffe prito be accounted no less than Omnipotent. By his Omni- mum elementa quapotency I mean that, by which in it felf confidered in primo tuor, ignem, aquam, inftanti he can do all things poffible, that is, which belong dentur autem illis not to Impotency, but to Power: And by which in fecun- duo effe rerum omdo inftanti he can do all things, which his Infinite Wisdom nia principia, faciens judgeth congruous and meet to be done: And in tertio in- videl. & patiens: ftanti,can do all that he will do,and are pleafing to him. stantiam materiam: Quod autem faciat VERBUM DEUM effe quod quippe fempiternum per ipfum omnem fingula creare. Laert. in Zenone, p, D 3 D. 17. The aërem, terram. Vi Quod patitur fine qualitate effe fubipfa fit. Hunc enim (mihi) 359, 360. in 6. 17. The understanding of the first Cause must needs be Omnifcient, and infinite Wisdom. 1. He that hath given fo much wisdom to fuch a Worm as Man, muft have more than all the men in the World! Whatever knowledge is in the whole Creation, being givenby Him, doth prove that formally or eminently he hath more. Were it all contracted into one Intelligence, it must be less than His that caufed it. He hath not given more wisdom than he had to give: nor fo much as he had (cr is) himself. For if he should make any thing equal to Himself, there would be two Infinites, and there would be a perfect felf-fufficient being, which yet had lately no fufficiency or being, and there would be a being independent in facio effe, which was dependent in fieri: which are Contradicti ons. 2. The effects in the admirable frame and nature, and motions of the Creation, declare that the Creator is infinitely wife. The finalleft infect is fo curioufly made, and fo admirably fitted and inftructed to its proper end and ufes, The fmalleft Plants in wonderfull variety of fhapes and colours, and fmells and qualities, ufes and operations, and beautifull flowers, fo marvellously conftituted and animated, by an unfcen form, and propagated by unfearchable feminal vertue; The fmallett Birds and Beafts and creeping things fo adorned in their kinds, and fo admirably furnished for their proper ends, especially the propagation of their fpecies, in love, and fagacity, and diligence to their young, by inftinct equaling in those particulars the reasonable creature; The admirable compofure of all the parts of the body of Man, and of the vileft Beaft and Vermine; The quality and operation of all the Organs, humours and (pirits: The operations of the Minde of man; and the conftitution of Societies, and overruling all the matters of the World; with innumerable inftances in the creature; do all concurr to proclaim that man as mad as madness can poffibly make him (in that particular) who thinketh that any lower caufe than incomprehenfille wifdom did principally produce all this; And that by any bruitifh or natural motion, or confluence of Atomes, or any other matter, it could be thus ordered, continued and maintained, without the infinite wifdome and power of a first Cause, qua aliena eft naturæ De Caufe, fuperiour to meer natural matter and motion. What then should we fay, if we had a fight into the inwards of all the Earth, of the nature and caufe of Minerals, and of the forms of all things; If we faw the reafon of the motions of the Seas, and all other appearances of Nature which are Nec enim igno-are now beyond our reach: Yea, if we had a fight of all the poteft Deu Orbs, both fixed Starrs and Planets, and of their matter, mente quifq; fit. Ciand form, and order, and relation to each other, and their cer.de Div. communications and influences on each other, and the caufe At ignoratio rerum of all their wonderous motions: If we faw not only the na- orum; & fuftinendi ture of the Elements, especially the active Element, Fire; muneris propter imbut alfo the conftitution, magnitude, and ufe, of all thofe becillitatem difficul thoufand Suns, and leffer Worlds, which conftitute the uni- tas, minime cadit in majeftatem Deorum: verfal World: And, if they be inhabited, if we knew the Inex quo efficitur id habitants of each: Did we know all the Intelligences, bleffed quod volumus, DeoAngels, and holy Spirits, which poffefs the nobler parts of rum providentia munNature; and the unhappy degenerate Spirits, that have de- dum adminiftrari, Ciparted from light and joy, into darkness and horrour, by departing from God; yea, if we could fee all these comprchentively, at one view; what thoughts fhould we have of the wisdom of the Creator? And what should we think of the Atheist that denyeth it? We should think Bedlam too honourable a place for that man, that could believe, or durft say, that any accidental motion of fubtile matter, or fortuitous concourse of Atomes,or any thing below a Wisdom and Power infinitely tranfcending all that with Man is called by that name, was the first Cause,and is the chief continuer of fuch an incomprehenfible frame. cero ibid. Quod fi ineft in hominum genere, mens, fides, virtus, concordia, unde hæc .18. The first Caufe must needs be infinitely Good. By Goodness I mean all effential Excellency, which is in terras nifi à fupeknown to us by its fruits and appearances in the Creature: ris diffluere potuewhich as it hath a Goodness natural and moral, fo is it the runt? Cumq; fit in Index of that tranfcendent Goodness, which is the firft caufe nobis confilium, raof both: This goodness is incomparably beyond that which ceffe eft Deos hec iptio, prudentia, neconfifteth in a usefulness to the creatures good; or Goodness fa habere majora: of Benignity as relative to Man. And it is known better Nec habere folum, by the meer name, as exprefsing that which Nature hath an fed etiam his uti, in intrinfick fenfe and notion of, than by definitions. As fenfible optimis & maximis rebus. Cicero de naqualities, light, colour, found, odour, sweet, bitter, &c. are tur. Deorum. lib. known by the name, beft, which lead to the fenfitive memory, pag. 76. Deus eft fummum nem : which informeth the Intellect what they are: As the mention of things fenfible entereth the definition of fenfe, and the mention of fenfe doth enter the definition of things fenfit le; and yet the object is in order of nature before the act. And as Truth muft enter the definition of Intellection, and Intellection the definition of Truth; and yet Truth is in order before Intellection, and contemporary with the Intellect: fo is it between Goodness and the Will. But if we fpeak of uncreated Good,and of a created Will, then Good is infinitely antecedent to that Will. But the Will which is created hath a nature suited to it; and fo the notion of Excellency and Goodness is naturally in our estimative faculty, and the relish of it, or complacency in it, is naturally in the Will, fo far as it is not corrupted and depraved. As if I knew a man that had the wisdom and virtue of an Angel, my estimation calleth him Excellent and Good, and my Will doth complacentially cleave to him, though I should never look to be the better for him my felf or if I onely heard of him, and never faw him, or were perfonally beholden to him. That God is thus infinitely Excellent and Good, the Goodness Bonum, fupra om- of his Creatures proveth: for all the goodness that is in Men fubftantiam, and Angels, Earth and Heaven, proceedeth from him. If omnemque naturam; there be any Natural Goodness in the whole Creation, there quod cuncta expetunt, cum ipfe fit must be more in the Creator: If there be any Moral Goodness plene perfectionis, in Men and Angels, there must be more in eminency in him: nullius focietatis in- For he can make nothing better than himself, nor give to digus, Plato in Tim. Amor Divinus fuit creatures what he hath not. caufa fationis mun- D. 19. The Goodness of the first Being confifting in this infidi, & originis om- nite Perfection or Excellency, containeth his Happiness, his Honum rerum. Id. ib linefs, and his Love or Benignity. & quidem Deus cat: Bonus quidem Deus, 6. 20. The HAPPINESS of the first Being confiteth, fa bonorum: Malo- 1. In his BEING HIMSELF. 2. In his KNOWING rum autem omnium HIMSELF. 3. In his LOVING and ENJOYING non caufa. Idem de HIMSELF. Leg. Deus fi Vim fpe&es, The most perfect Being muft needs be the moft Happy, and valentiffimus, fi de- that in Being what he is, his own Perfection being his Happicorem formofiflirus, nefs. And as Knowledge in the Creature is both his Perfection fi vitam immortalis, and Delight, fo the tranfcendent Omniscience of the Creator denique fi virtutem muft needs be both part of his Perfection, (as diftinguished by our narrow minds) and fuch felicity as may be called Emi præftant dimus eft, Ariftot de Mun.c.6. uently nently his Delight, though what God's Delight is we know not Deus eft A&tus illis formally. And as Love or Complacency is the perfective ope- porro actus qui per se ration of the Will, and fo of the Humane Nature in Man, and cft, & optimus- & æternus.Atque Deum is his highest, final, and enjoying acts, of which all Goodness animal cfle & æteris the object; fo there muft be fomething in the Perfection num & præftantifli of the first Cause, though not formally the fame with Live in mum dicimus. Vita Man, yet eminently fo called, as knowable to us by no other igitur & avum continuum & perpetuung name. And this complacency muft needs be principally in Deo fuppetit: eft Himself, because He himself is the Infinite and onely Primi- enim hoc Deus, & ift. tive Good; and as there was primitively no Good but Him- Metaph. felf to Love, so now there is no Good but derived from Him, and dependent on Him. And as his Creature (of which anon) is obliged to love Him moft, fo he must needs be most amiabie to Himfelf. Self-love and felf-esteem in the Creature may be inordinate, and therefore called Pride: but it is impoffible that infinite Goodness it felf can be over-valued or over-loved by Himself or by any creature. 0.21. The HOLINESS of the first Being confifteth, 1.In bis feparation from all creatures; by that Tranfc.ndency, which maketh him their end. 2. In the special Perfection of his WILL, which willeth and bath complacency in that alone ad extra, which is agreeable to his perfect Nature, and infinite Wisdom. 3. And jo being the Fountain and Rule of Moral Goodness to the Rational Creature. The Holiness of Man confifteth, 1. In his feparation from common ufes unto God. 2. In the Rectitude of his Will, as habitually thus inclined and bent to Moral Good, and hating cvil. 3. Whereby it is conform to the governing Will of God. And hence we may learn what Holiness is in God, though not formally the fame with that in Man. 6. 22. The Benignity and Love of the first Being is his Effence or Nature, as inclined to complacency in all created Good; and to benevolence or doing good to creatures, freely and agreeably to his infinite Wisdom. The Love of complacency to all created Good, is neceffary in God, fuppofing the continued existence of that created Good, which is the object. But it is not neceffary that such created Good do continually exift. The Love of Benevolence is alfo natural to God in this fenfe, that it is his natural perfection as refpecting the Creature to be used agreeably to his E perfect |