1218. END OF THE CREATION GLORY OF GOD &C. It cant be properly said that the end of Gods creating of the world is twofold or that there are two parallel coordinate ends of Gods creating the T one to exercise his perfections ad extra another to make his creatures happy But all is included in one viz. Gods <exhibiting> his perfections or causing his essentially<xo JE> glory to be exercised express'd <& communicated> ad extra. 'Tis true that we must suppose that prior to the creatures existence God seeks occasion to exercise his goodness and opportunity to communicate happiness & that this is one end why he gives being to creatures & so we must conceive that prior to the creatures existence he seeks occasion to exercise other attributes of his nature that can have none but creatures for their objects as his justice his faithfulness his <'>wisdom<'> &c--. but a disposition to seek opportunity & occasion for the exercise of Goodness towards those that now have no being & so a being disposed to give being to creatures that there may be such an opportunity is not the same attribute that we commonly call goodness Any more than a disposition to seek opportunity or occasion to exercise justice & so to give being to creatures that there may be such occasion is not the same attribute that we call justice . Gods [sic] seeks occasion for the exercise of one and the other of these attributes by giving existence to beings that may be capable objects of their exercise in the same manner & for one common reason viz. because it is in it self fit & suitable that these attributes of God should be exerted & should not be eternally dormant Tis true tis from an excellent disposition of the heart of God that God seeks occasion to exercise his goodness & bounty & also his <wisdom> justice <& xo mistake, ck:ms> truth & this[ck:ms c?] in one word is a disposition to glorify him self according to the Scripture sense of such an expression, or a disposition to <express &> communicate <TS: or express ck:ms> himself ad extra.

I know there is an inconsistence in supposing that God inclines to exercise goodness & do good to others meerly for the sake of the honour of his goodness for the very notion of goodness is an inclination of heart to do good to others & therefore the existence of such an inclination must be conceived of as prior to an inclination to honour it there must first be an inclination of heart to do good before God desires to honour that inclination So in the manner it is an inconsistence to suppose that God <is inclined to> exercises [xo] justice <& do justly> only for the sake of the honour of his justice for justice itself is an inclination to do justly which must exist before God is inclined to honour it Therefore Gods glorifying himself that glorifying himself which is the end of the creation is a different thing from properly seeking his honour

They that suppose Gods inclination to make occasions for the doing good or communicating happiness by giving being to capable subjects of it to be what is properly called Gods goodness seem to have a notion of a bountiful disposition in the heart of God disposed to increase the sum of happiness which is to be found in the universality of existence. But there is no such thing. Man's benevolence and bounty taking his own good & the good of the person benefited by him together increases the sum of good and therefore 'tis more easy to conceive of a <benevolent> disposition in a creature wishing for the being of new subjects of kindness because the goodness of his nature causes him to love to see a great deal of happiness But God sees no more by making creatures that they may be happy He hath in his son an adequate object for all the desires of this kind that are in his heart, & in his infinite happiness he sees as much happiness as can be When new beings are made that are infinitely less & there is opportunity to do them good God sees not the sum of happiness in<creased. general increased ck:ms>

The <more> proper notion signified by all such words as goodness kindness bounty favour grace &c-- includes love [ck:ms] benevolence or good will but that is not properly love & <or> good-will that has the existence of the object loved first supposed a disposition to make an object from love & goodwill it self it may be an excellent quality but it must be quality of some other denomination it if be called goodness & grace it must be in a less proper sense. To desire new beings to communicate happiness to 'em especially without increasing the sum of happiness don't agree with the notion mankind have of goodness benevolence grace &c--. Men may call this disposition in the heart of God by the name of goodness if they please But tis properly refer'd to another perfection of which it is one sort of part<sort> of exercise /mg/ viz the disposition that is in the infinite fountain of good & of glory & excellency to shine forth or to flow out which shining forth or flowing out of Gods infinite fullness is called Gods glory in SS.

Men may be ready to think it may properly be distinguished from that disposition which there is in god to exercise the attributes of justice faithfulness wisdom &c-- as quite of a different nature But this probably must arise from the like imperfection in our manner of conceiving of God from whence we are ready to conceive of Gods happiness not as a part of the excellency of his nature but entirely a different sort of good from excellency but

next p. b. <yet as> all that good that is in god of whatever kind belongs to his essential glory & brightness, & there is the same fitness that each part of this brightness or glory should shine forth <in every possible way & be both exercised and communicated &> that all this good should flow out & that God is disposed that each part should do so may well be referd to one general disposition & the effect may well be called by one name viz. Gods glory, next p. b.

Indeed God in making the creature happy seems as it were to express or exhibit himself ad extra two ways not only does one of his perfections exercise it self in it viz. his goodness but there is something of God <good> actually communicated some of that good that is in God that the creature hereby has communion in viz God's happiness the creature partakes of the happiness of God at least an image of it. and we must theref[ore] conceive that there is a disposition in God not only to exercise his attributes & perfections in this but also to communicate of his divine good But then it is to be considered that God don't only communicate of happiness but also his holiness & his understanding & power or an image of these. And we must conceive that there is truly a disposition in God to communicate of these as well as his [? A; mfo]<TS: JE used catcher as a word>[ck:ms] /p./ happiness. Which general disposition tho in it self excellent seems to be a disposition besides the goodness of God or at least is called so in a less proper sense and in a more extensive sense than that which is more <frequently> called Gods goodness But altho' there are several kinds of good in God that are communicated: and tho' according to our<TS: probably> manner of conceiving things there are two ways of Gods exhibiting himself ad extra. 1. His perfections that we conceive to be an active nature are exercised ad extra, as his power wisdom justice goodness holiness .2. The good that is in him is communicated ad extra, & tho this good be of various kinds according to our manner of conceiving [ last p. d. [JE's bracket]

last p. d][JE's bracket] Both the<o>se dispositions of exerting himself & communicating himself may be reduced to one viz a disposition effectually to exert himself, or to exert himself in order to an effect that effect is the communication of himself or<TS: probably> himself ad extra. Which is what is called his glory This communication is of two sorts the communication that consists in understanding or idea, which is summed up in the knowledge of God & the other is in the will consisting in love & joy which may be summed up in the love & enjoyment of God. Thus that which proceeds from God ad extra is agreeable to the twofold subsistences which proceed from him ad intra which is the son & the holy Spirit the son being the Idea of God or the knowledge of God & the holy Ghost which is the love of God and joy in God.

Altho the things which God inclines to and aims at are in some respect two viz exercising or exerting the perfections of his nature and the effect of that viz. communicating himself yet these may be reduced to one viz Gods exerting himself in order to the effect The exertion & the effect ought not to be separated as tho' they were two ends one is so related to the other & they are so united that they are most properly taken together as <one> end and the object of one inclination in God <for tis not an ineffectual exertion that God aims at or inclines to>. And God in aiming at these makes himself his end Tis himself exerted and himself communicated and both together are what is called God's glory The end or the thing which God attains is himself in two respects he himself flows forth & he him[self] is pleased & gratified for Gods pleasure all things are and were created

God had made intelligent creatures capable of being concerned in these effects as being the willing active subjects or means & so they are capable of actively promoting Gods glory and this is what they ought to make their ultimate end in all things see N. 1225 [finis]

 

1219. COMMUNICATION OF PROPERTIES with respect to the divine & human nature of X. Such a communication of properties & characters with respect to Christ in the language of SS. which divines suppose to have its foundation in the union of the divine & human natures of Jesus is not absurd Tis no way disagreeable to the way of speaking common among all mankind that is supposing such an union of the two natures in one /p./ person. Something like this in some respects is the union of soul & body in one human person. These natures are very diverse one from another And yet "by vertue of the union of soul and body in man the properties of soul & body which are so very different are affirmed of the person tho' agreeing only to one of the principles of which he is constituted. Thus for instance we say he is fair well proportion'd &c tho' only so with respect to his body & that he is learned wise thoughtful &c, tho' only so with respect to his soul That is we affirm that of the person which only agrees to one of the constituent principles of his nature considered by it self. In other instances we af- [someth. om. at mg.] the person which agrees to neither of the constituent principles of his nature considered alone and is only true of the man as constituted of both as when we say of Peter that he served his countrey with honour, purchased such an estate &c. here we attribute that to Peter which belongs neither to soul nor body considered alone but only to the man as compounded of both. And thus it is with respect to X by vertue of the wonderful union of two such distinct natures in his person. When we say of him that he suffered and died we mean it of his human nature only. When we say of him that he thought it no robbery to be equal with God that he is omniscient omnipresent &c we mean it only with respect to his divine nature. And when we say of him that he is the Mediatour, the Redeemer & Saviour of sinners we mean it of his person constituted of both natures" See Rawlin on Justification p. 240. [finis]

 

1220. X's RIGHTEOUSNESS. How did it consist with the wisdom of God to give mankind a law at first and place him in a state of trial insisting on it that before he should have confirmed happiness he should first honour the law & honour him the Lawgiver by performing the most exact & perfect obedience under temptations & through a certain time of trial, if after all he was willing after man had sin'd 'e'n <[sic!]> to forego all this and to bestow d confirmed happiness upon him only for his being by a mediatour freed from guilt. Man was so, perfectly free from guilt when he first came out of Gods hands at the creation of the world & if finally that was all that God intended to insist on it why did he not then immediately give man eternal life (he having that qualification) without a constitution appointing such a thing as obedience through a state of trial which was attended with so much uncertainly & such a dreadful risque [sic] as all mankinds being exposed to everlasting ruin besides those extensive & dreadful consequences that have actually come on mankind in general through all ages in the dreadful havock temporal death makes & its universal reign and other dismal calamities which overspread the nations of the earth thro all generations. [finis; TS: N.B. "'e'en" and "risque". This is obv. JE's own composition--influence of Rawlin??]

 

1221. X's RIGHTEOUSNESS How X has the first & chief benefit of it. He has so not only as he is a vessel of largest capacity but also as there are some things peculiarly belonging to X some circumstances exceedingly heightening the merit of it not imputed to believers. For as Mr. Rawlin observes in his discourses on justification p. 268, "tho' by the imputation of Adams sin our state is affected and we /p./ really beca<o>me guilty yet there are many circumstances and aggravations in Adams sin which are peculiarly his. And it can be no more argued from our being justified by the imputation of Xs righteousness that we are as righteous as he than it can it can [sic] be argued from the imputation of Adams sin that every one of his posterity are in every respect as guilty & criminal in the sight of God as Adam himself was" [JE::Remember if I have opportunity more fully to consider this matter and carefully consider what is mention'd of aggravating circumstances of Adams sin not imputed to his posterity in my sermon on Gen 3. 11. & consider what circumstances in Xs obedience answering them are not imputable to believers. [finis]

 

1222. HEAVEN. The paradise of God its PLACE. That the place of the heaven of the blessed is not in the upper regions of the air may be argued from Solomons so very often calling earthly things enjoyments & affairs things under the sun when speaking of their vanity &c. The trouble fatigue vexation, the changeableness instability vicissitudes unsatisfactoriness wickedness folly confusion, mysteriousness & darkness of the methods of Gods providence injustice unprofitableness uncertainty, & the unexpected changes that attend these <o ?c> things evidently calling these things by this name as a distinguishing appellation therefore we may well argue that heaven that state of the blessed which it is evident is so far from being attended with this vanity vexation vicissitude short continuance uncertainly sin folly unsatisfactoriness darkness confusion &c-- and so much the reverse of all these things is not a world under the sun.

See Eccles. I 3, 9, 14. II 11, 17 18, 19, 20, 22. III. 16. IV. 1, 3, 7. V. 13, 18. VI. 12 VIII. 9, 15, 17. IX. 3, 6, 9, 11, 13. X. 5.

In chap X. 6 it is said of them that are dead that they have no more portion forever in any thing that is done under the sun. Which would be far from being true if the heaven of glorified saints was in our atmosphere. <see Note on Job. 22. 12.> [TS: Notes ref. at end, and prob. the 2 ¶s of texts added later]

 

1223. It is an argument that INSPIRATION & MIRACLES are not to be restored in order to to [sic] the healing of the nations of their idolatry superstitions & other corruptions & prejudices against Xtianity that it is said Rev. 22. 2. The nations shall be healed by the leaves of the tree of life that bears twelve manner fruits signifying the gospel as delivered in the doctrine of the twelve apostles The leaves of that tree which bears these twelve manner of fruits are the leaves of our Bibles especially of the New [Testament (om.E)] delivered to the chh [sic] of God by the apostles or under their direction and confirmed by them Tis under this same tree the chh is to be raised up and have that spiritual resurrection which she shall have after the fall of AntiX. which we read of Rev. 20. Here see Note on Cant. 8. 5. See forward No 1230 [finis; Notes ref. same time as number]

 

1224. MILLENNIUM or sabbatism of the T will not be much more than a thous years

1. Mankind would forget the corruption of nature would be insensible of the dredful [sic] ruin sin has brought on the nature of man would not be so sensible of the great benefit of the redemption of X

2. The curse of God on this world consisting in the calamities of it would not be very sensible The world would /p./ scarcely appear as a great wilderness in the way to a land of rest Gods people would be under great temptation not to behave themselves as pilgrims & strangers on earth forget to live as not of the T & to lay up treasure in heaven

<3. Tis not probable that so much of the Scripture would have been calculated for the church in a suffering state & both for the chh & the world in a state of so great pollution temptation & danger>

3.4. The distinguishing grace of God in election would grow much out of sight. See N. 836. B. 3. [finis]

 

1225 END OF THE CREATION GLORY OF GOD. It is a thing in it self infinitely valuable & worthy of regard that Gods glory should be known by elect creatures to all eternity The increasing knowledge of God in all elect creatures to all eternity is an existence a reality infinitely worthy to be in it self worthy to be regarded by whom <him> to whom it belongs to order that <to be which> of all possible things to be that is fittest & best & most valuable see back. 1218. If existence is more worthy than defect & nonentity and if any created existence is in it self worthy to be at <then> this knowledge of God & his glory is worthy to be The existence of the created universe consists as much in it as in any thing yea it is one of the highest most real & substantial parts of all created existence; most remote from nonentity & defect [finis]

 

1226. Need of REVELATION to reveal PARDON. reas. of SATISFACTION

[E's caret?]XTIAN RELIGION see back 1206.

"If pardon and salvation are designed for the world, it is altogether meet that they should be proclaimed and promised. If they are not proclaimed and promised, there will be no sufficient assurance of em[xo c]<them c> Patience is not pardon, forbearance is not forgiveness: And if the divine patience administer some hope, yet the judgments of God upon the world will suggest as much anxiety & dread. And so thro' fear of death and destruction the self-conscious mind must be all its time subject to terrour & bondage. --- If it be so hard so hard[xo c] for a sensible mind now upon a publick proclamation & promise, to believe the forgiveness of sins, it would be much more difficult to believe it, without any such security.

If pardon & salvation must be publickly proclaimed and promised to the guilty world, there will be an impediment or bar laid against it by the divine purity & justice. ---What sort of a Deity must that be, that has an equal respect o to good and evil? ----- Universal rectitude requires, that equity & equitable law should be maintain'd & executed, in the territories that are to be governed.

That there is vindictive justice in God seems evident, 1. from the excellency & perfection of his nature, by which he must hate all moral turpitude and all the workers of iniquity. 2. From his jealousy & concern for his own glory, by which he will be displeased with all that is contrary thereto. 3. By the judgments which are continually executed in & upon the world for transgression, and sometimes by such special judgments, that have been an evident retaliation, /p./ or have marked out the sin in the punishment 4. By the dictate of natural conscience, that often trembles upon the commission of great enormities, and expects that great transgressours should meet with some signal token of divine vengeance. When the barbarians saw the venomous animal hanging on Paul's hand, they concluded him some great criminal, whom, tho' he had escaped form the rage of the sea, yet vengeance would not suffer to live. 5. By the offence which men usually take at divine providence, when it permits men to proceed & prosper in their notorious villanies. 6. By the early & universal practice of propitiatory sacrifices in the world. If they were at first instituted by God, then God would have an acknowledgment of our sin and his righteous displeasure, in the atonement that was made him. If they were voluntarily taken up, and practiced by men, there is an indication of mind and conscience, that some deference must be paid to divine justice, and that to such a degree, that they were sometimes ready in their ungoverned imaginations to sacrifice the fruit of their body for the sin of their soul.

The righteousness of God being thus evident in it self, and acknowledged by the world, that if man was to be pardon'd by publick edict & covenant, it was altogether congruous thereto, that there should be some great valuable sacrifice slain and offered to God for the sin of the world. It was meet that there should be a publick demonstration of the holiness & purity of God and of his hatred of sin, that the world may not be tempted to abuse his goodness, and presume upon his mercy. It is meet that his dominion & authority should be supported, that had been so rejected by the world; that his law, the rule of his government, should be asserted and maintain'd; that his honour & glory, after so much contempt & disgrace, as the impious world had cast upon him, should be raised up & illustrated; that the pardoning edict being founded in sacred blood, should be establish'd and ratified; that by a joint demonstration of justice and love, the world may be driven from sin and drawn to repentance and God. And here divine wisdom shines in reconciling righteousness & grace together, & accomplishing our salvation in the way & method of an eternal redemption.

This sacrifice should be valuable above all created excellence and power. There is a world of most aggravated heinous offences to be attoned for. It is an infinite majesty that has been offended. It is an infinite impunity, an exemption from an endless punishment, an advancement to an endless felicity, that is to be procured. All that intelligent creation can do for the Creatour, is due to him on its own account. Let all the intelligent creatures taken heed to themselves, that they do not by their own fault, fall under the displeasure of God. His majesty & justice may despise their interposure on the behalf of an apostatized, sinful world". Relig. of Jesus delin. [c's line] p. 135 &c-- [finis]

 

1227. OF PROPHECIES being fulfilled in several events. "It is the glorious characteristic of the revelations of that God who comprehends the most distant futurities in one view to foretell some intermediate event of lesser importance in such majestic language as will /p/ naturally carry the readers mind forward to some more important event at a greater distance similar to it in which those august predictions have a more compleat accomplishment. Thus the reign of Solomon is celebrated in such exalted language as can fully agree to none but a greater than Solomon who now reigns over his spiritual Israel (Ps. 72.) Thus the coming of X in the flesh and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans is described both by the prophets and by X himself in such majestic strains and under such dreadful images as unavoidably suggest to us the most lively ideas of his final advent & the conflagration of the world. And thus the prophet Isaiah while he has the happy restoration of the Jews in view more immediately is transported far beyond that period to those more glorious seasons when living religion shall have a more extensive propagation thro the world when Jerusalem in a spiritual sense shall be made the praise of the whole earth and all nations her denizons [sic; ?? ; ck:ms] Mr. Davies's Sermon before the Presbytery of New-Castle p. 3. 4 [finis]

 

1228. XTIAN RELIGION <CREDIBILITY OF Xs MIRACLES> "If sin universally spread brought universal death into the world; It it was worthy of a compassionate God, to send some one into the world, to take away sin; If miracles were the best proof of his mission; If his own resurrection was the most convincing miracle that could be wrought, and at the same time carried with it the most experimental assurance of an happy victory over all the effects of sin, and a comfortable renovation of the moral world; and if it was <as> easy with God to raise up his Son from death, as it is for one man to awake another out of sleep: I think the resurrection of X very far re- /mg/ surrection [sic; xo c] of Christ very far removed from improbability." Deism revealed.<c's underline> Vol. 1. p. 24 see further N. 1231. [finis]

 

1229. FUTURE STATE. <REVEALED RELIGION> As we see that in this world the greatest prosperity don't alwaies attend vertue, nor the greatest adversity alwaies attend vice; but that it very often happens contrariwise; so the inward perturbation & remorse which arises from vice, and the pleasure of reflexion and self-approvation, are by no means of them<selves c> proper & sufficient sanctions of the law of nature. "Punishments annexed to this law, ought to be proportional be to the violations of the law. Remorse of conscience is not alwaies in proportion to the heinousness of crimes, for <an c?> old habitual sinner feels less remorse after the committal of the most enormous crimes, than the raw unpractised sinner does after transgression of a much more venial nature. so that the punishment grows less, as the crime to which it is applied grows greater. Nature left to it self runs almost unavoidably into habits of wickedness: and as fast as it does, rids it self of its remorses, which ought still be growing stronger and keener, as habit tempt it to greater enormities. From hence it appears,that some greater punishment, not [xo c; mg] not diminishable by the decay of the moral sense, ought to be expected in order to prevent our falling into the grossest crimes, or to make examples of us if we do." Deism reveal'd <C's underline> Vol. 1. p. 124.

"The happiness of particular nations & earthly societies bears a most minute proportion to that of Gods universal kingdom: and yet tis confess'd that the peace & pleasure which naturally attends the practice of vertue, & the remorse which attends vice, are not sanctions of the law of nature sufficient for the defence & preservation of earthly societies & kingdoms. But human laws enforced with the sanctions of civil punishments must be added. If the laws of nature were sufficiently clear (as the deists say they are) those of society need never in cases purely moral, tell us our duty; and if they were sufficiently enforced, society would have no occasion to institute other enforcements of much greater cogency, in order to their being observed. Nay & [xo c] if the law of nature were in the several respects of clearness, authority & obli-/p./gation, perfect & sufficient, society it self would be altogether needless. Men would observe justice and practice beneficence towards one another without adventitious obligations. A lover of liberty would not care to enter into society, to become subject to magistrates, to support expensive contributions, to tie himself up to burdensome forms & stoop to the will of others, if he found he could life independent, and converse and traffick safely with mankind in a state of nature. The arguments drawn from the supposed sufficiency of reason & nature, to invalidate the NECESSITY OF REVELATION, prove with the same force, be it greater or less, that society is unnecessary. If the laws of nature be able to effect their own end, and that end is moral instruction & obligation; then indeed there can be no sort of occasion for other laws, neither divine nor human. However, it will be worth while to consider, whether the evil dispositions & vices of men do not force them into society; and again, whether civil society, considered in it self, is at all able to remedy the evils they seek to shelter themselves from. --- If a law should come forth, altho' from a known authority, and conceived in the plainest terms, forbidding murder under the penalty of all that severity which men are by nature disposed to exercise upon themselves, after doing such an action, and in joining beneficence by a promise of all those rewards which men after doing good offices; are enabled by nature to confer on themselves; it would be looked upon as a burle[s]que upon laws."<c> Deism revealed.[c's line] p. 128. 129 (see further in the beginning of the next number) [TS: The second ¶ must be paraphrase rather than exact quotation; quotation marks probably by c] [finis]

 

1230. XTIAN RELIGION. THE NECESSITY OF A REVELATION to reveal PARDON & n an ATONEMENT. See back N 1206. & 1226. "Tis very clear, that natural religion hath a necessary dependence on revelation, and on that part of Xtianity which may be called supernatural. For <natural c> religion in any sense is but a name without a well-grounded hope of immortality, which no man ever had, or for ought we can tell, ever could have had, if some superiour Being had not revealed it to him. That man who does not believe in his own immortality, can never conceive himself to be any thing else than a better kind of brute, concerned only in present & sensible things, given up to appetite and passion, and after a few years existence in vanity & vexation, perishing forever in the dreadful gulf of annihilation. yet to believe in the immortality of the soul, and to be convinced we shall account thereafter for our actions to almighty God by any law, is to all men (for all have sinned) a most shocking article of faith, if an atonement for sin is not also to be believed in; because it affords us no other prospect, but that of judgment wherein as we must plead guilty, & stand self-convicted. so there is nothing to prevent our being condemned by almighty God, to a punishment of which we know not the limits, either in point of severity or duration. Now the doctrine of an atonement carries as directly to that of Christ's incarnation, and a personal distinction in God.---- so that the meer light of nature in our present circumstances, can afford us either no religion, or such an one as can serve no other purpose, but that of driving a rational and thinking mind to despair". Deism revealed [c's lines] Vol. 1. p. 172. 173. Edit. 2.

"Lucretius had good reason to object to the pagan (i.e as Lord Herbert calls it the natural) theology, that it afforded no hope of forgiveness after sinning.

-----At mens sibi conscia facti,

Praemetuens adhibet stimulus, terretque flagellis;

Nec videt interea, qui terminus esse malorum

Possit: nec qui sit paevarum denique finis;

Atque eadem metuit magis haec ne in morte gravescant. /p./

God must be considered not only as merciful, but as just also, and capable of inflicting punishments, as well as dispensing rewards. If the subjects know they are to be forgiven, the penalties of the law are of no effect. Mercy shewn publickly to all, can ha[r]dly [?] fail of encouraging all to transgress, should they be tempted to it.

And if there are any degrees of wickedness so great, that the light of nature gives us no ground to expect pardon; how shall we know what those degrees are? Does the light of nature plainly point out the limits?

God is the supreme monarch of the whole universe. it belongs to him to b see justice done, to render to every man according to his deeds, in order to support the dignity of his laws, on which the happiness of all the free and intelligent creation depends: And which if any one might transgress with impunity on meerly repenting; I cannot see how his kingdom can be preserved. Every one will repent some time or other, if he thinks he is to be pardoned and thereby exempted from intolerable punishments; by which means it will come to pass that no one shall suffer, and so the penal laws of God will be in vain, altho' the T shall be filled with wickedness; and by no temptation so much as by this very expectation of impunity on repentance deferred as long as the delinquent pleases.

Let us know, whether the law of nature promises pardon for sin, whether for all sins, or only for some; and if some only, what these sins are; & whether absolutely or on certain condition; and if the latter, what those conditions are. These are points well worth inquiring [sic] after.

Besides; Gods assistance is necessary to true repentance. Before a sinner can begin to be the object of Gods favour, he must cease to be what he was before, and commence a new man. Now no man can make a new man. None but the Creatour can make a new man or a new creature. There is a degree of strength necessary to a true repentance, such as no man is master of". Deism reveal'd [c's underline] p. 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244.

Meer repentance can make no satisfaction to justice for injuries & offences past: it can only put a man in the way of his duty for time to come, which he owes to God, & which therefore can clear no scores with him. As to the reformation of a transgressor [sic], together with his disposition to lead a new life for the time to come, it may be render'd very precarious by the supposed easiness of obtaining pardon. Man is frail, and in hopes of being pardon'd again may again transgress, unless his reason tells him he cannot be forgiven a second or third offence.

Altho' he who murders a man repents, & for the time to come carefully avoids the least approach to such an action; yet in his latter behaviour he only does what it was alwaies his duty to do & no more: but makes not atonement to his poor neighbour, whom he hath deprived of life; nor to the community from which he hath cut away a member; nor to God whose creature & image he hath defaced. The deists can never shew on their principles, that the murderer or any other criminal, can make the least atonement or preparation for either the offences he commits against God, or the wrongs he does to man, in cases where restitution is out of the question. They say the observation of the natural law alone can render men acceptable in the sight of God, and propose it as the only rule by which they are to act, and consequently to be judged. It is by this that according to the deistical hypothesis, all men must stand issue before Almighty God, and be acquitted for the observation, or condemned for the transgression of it. Now I appeal to experience; and to /mg/ to the heart & conscience of every man, whether he does not live in the daily transgression, be it in higher or lower instances, of those laws which he believes God requires the observation of at his hands; and whether after the most sincere repentance, and the most thorough reformation, he can make of his life and conduct, he finds not enough of evil dispositions [-s or xo?] & lapses to lament in himself, & put him in mind, that he is one of those debtors who having nothing to pay in towards former accounts, is still adding to and inflaming the debt. Thus I think it appears pretty plainly, that if all men have sufficient means of knowing their [there?] /p./ duty, as the deists insist they have; and if every man transgresses the rules of his duty, as his conscience cannot but inform him he does; the whole race of mankind are lost forever.

It is certainly for the good m of men in general, and of all intelligent beings, that the laws of God, on which all order and happiness necessarily depend, should be duly enforced. And this can never be, if the punishment annex'd to the transgression of them, may be evaded by repeated repentances after repeated sins: which is but trifling with the laws and the majesty of their Author. The deists themselves own that he who transgresses the law of nature is without excuse; since that law is sufficiently made known to him, and placed even within his own heart. This makes wilful offenders of all mankind, and justifies their Judge in laying on them all those severities, whatever they are, which he hath annexed to the transgression of his law, and made [last two letters by c over "was"?] fully known to men as main & necessary enforcement of that law. There is no reason to think, that sinful men will ever cease to sin, if they do not stand in awe of such severities, or whether<xo JE> <that ever>[xo c] they will /mg/ ever give up their sinful but long indulged delights, if they be not encouraged so to do, by better grounded hopes [-s?] of pardon, than the meer light of nature can give them. We may be confident they will not in this life; and to repent in the next, may, for ought nature can tell us, be too late". Deism revealed [c's line] Edit 2<d>. Vol. 1. 239-249.

"I appeal to the hearts of all men whether to suppose, as many do of late, that God will only punish the vilest delinquents so far as to make those of them to amend their behaviour in another world, who die in their sins, would not be wholly to defeat the good ends proposed by the law; & whether such a medicine substituted in the place of a punishment, would not unchain the outrageous appetites & passions of mankind, and turn the world into an hell of confusion & misery. What a sight would this be for all the other intelligent beings of the creation, to see the evil let loose upon the good, & wretched men already too prone to wickedness, tempted to become devils by a promise of pardon beforehand. A law without penalty equal to the strong tendency to the strong tendency[xo c] to evil in many or most of the subjects, instead of being a defence to good men, would most miserably oppress them. their respect for the law and its Author would effectually tie up their hands, while the worst of men, with a license prompted by hopes of impunity and reconciliation with God, would oppress & plunder, & cut their throats at discretion". Deism revealed[c's line] Vol. 2. p. 84. [finis]

 

1231. see 1228. XTIAN RELIGION CREDIBILITY OF Xs MIRACLES.

"If the fact of Xs RESURRECTION on account of its unusualness appears improbable, it will on account of its expediency [?] appear in a higher degree probable, if duly considered. s<S c?>eeing philosophy and other ordinary means had proved insufficient to retrieve mankind from ignorance, wickedness & misery, if God has mercy on mankind, and has not utterly forsaken the world & cast it off; recourse must be had to extraordinary & supernatural means, that is, to revelation. for we cannot possibly conceive any other effectual expedient for such a purpose; nor can we conceive how the person by whom the revelation should be made, could prove himself to be a messenger sent from God, without working miracles. Were he vested with no higher signs of power, than other men, his plainer dictates would appear to be no more than the obvious suggestions of common sense, or at /p./ most of philosophy. And if he delivered any doctrines undiscoverable by the force of reason, they would appear to be less. In either respect he could only teach in his own name not in that of God and consequently without authority or effect. That it is highly probable, God would send us an instructor thus qualified and impowerd, and that this is not a probability only invented by divines to serve the purposes of Xtianity, appears evidently from hence, that PLATO fell into the same way of thinking long before our Saviour came into the world. He was strongly of opinion that God would send some person, or being into the world, who should teach mankind how they ought to serve the supreme Being. <See Miscell. B. 9. p. 855. Col. 1 c[?] & 859. Col. 2> But had such a person appear'd in Plato's time, that philosopher would no doubt have expected from him the signs & credentials of a divine commission, which could have been nothing else but miracles. For without miracles the pretended messenger could have had no right to dictate to Plato, nor to assume any higher character than that of a philosopher." Deism revealed [c's lines] Vol. 2. p. 16. 17. [finis]

 

1232. INFINITE EVIL OF SIN. SATISFACTION OF X. EQUIVALENCE OF HIS SUFFERINGS to sinners eternal punishmt.

Besides the dignity of Xs sufferings directly arising from the dignity of his person, "There is another consideration, by which the value of our Saviour's sufferings ought to be estimated. As an indignity is alwaies rated by the presumption; and as the presumption bears an exact proportion to the meanness of the person insulting, and the greatness of the party insulted; so in like manner all acts of condescension being[xo c] <are c> estimated by the humility; and that again by the dignity of the condescending person, and by the lowness & demerit of the party condescended to". Deism reveal'd Edit. 2. Vol. 1. p. 252, e. 253. a. [finis]

 

1233. There is Nothing Impossible or absurd in the Doctrine of the INCARNATION of X. "There is[xo JE ck:ms] If God can join a Body & a rational soul together, which <are c> of natures so heterogene[ous] & opposite, that they cannot of themselves act one upon another; may he not be able to join two spirits together, which are of natures more similar? [? c] and if so, He may, for aught we know to the contrary, join the soul or spirit of a man to Himself.--- Had Reason been so clear in it, that a God cannot be incarnate, as many pretend, it could never have suffered such a Notion to gain Ground and possess the Minds of so many Nations: nay & of J<I?>ulian Himself, who says, that Jupiter begat Esculapius out of his own proper substance, and sent him down to Epidaurus, to heal the Distempers of mankind. Reason did not hinder Spinosa, Blount & many other modern Philosophers, from asserting, that God may have a Body; or rather that the Universe, or the matter of the Universe, is God. --- Many Nations believed the Incarnation of Jupiter Himself. --- Reason, instead of being utterly averse to the Notion of a divine Incarnation, hath easily enough admitted that Notion and suffered it to pass almost without Contradiction, upon <among c> the most philosophical Nations of the world. MYSTERIES. [TS: Occurs on p. 77 of MS. Has large asterisk and "8." by the number. Printed as Part II, § 8 in M. O. pp.391-392. Practically all punctuation except dashes is by c. "I" and "J" mutually indistinguishable; some undoubted J's look like I's.]

 

1234. MYSTERIES. The MYSTERY of the TRINITY not absurd & <a c> contradiction. "The Point seems to be beyond the Grasp of human Understanding: However it may be observed, that in thinking of the Eternity & Immensity of God of his remaining from Eternity to the Production of the first Creature without a World to govern Of the Motives that determined him to call his Creatures into Being, why they operated when they did and not before of his raising up intelligent Beings whose Wickedness & Misery he foresaw, of the state in which his Relative Attributes Justice Bounty & Mercy remain'd thro' an immense space of Duration before He had produced any Creatures to exercise them toward [or s?] In thinking I say of these unfathomable Matters and of his[xo c]<God's c> raising so many Myriads of spirits & such prodigious Masses of Matter out /p./ of nothing, we are lost and astonished, as much as in the Contemplation of the Trinity. We Can follow God but one or two steps in his lowest & plainest Works, 'till all becomes Mystery and matter of Amazement to us. How then shall we comprehend Himself? How shall we understand his Nature or account for his Actions? In that He contains what is infinitely <what is infinitely xo c> more inconceivable [sic] than all the Wonders of his Creation put together." Deism revealed. Edit. 2. Vol. 2. p.93, 94.

Those that deny the Trinity, because of the mysteriousness of it and its seeming Inconsistence, yet generally own God's certain Prescience of ma<e ?>ns free Actions, which they suppose to be free in such a sense, as not to be necessary, so that we may do or may not do, that which God certainly foresees. They also hold that such a Freedom without necessity is necessary to morality, and that vertue [sic] and Goodness consists [sic] in a persons[xo JE]<any ones c> doing Good, when <we xoE> He might do evil. and yet they suppose,that God Acts by the eternal law of Nature and Reason, and that it is impossible that He should transgress that law and do evil; because that would be a Contradiction to his own Nature. and yet that he is infinitely Vertuous. which seems a flat Contradiction. To say that the infinite Goodness of God's Nature makes it utterly impossible for God to do Evil, is the same exactly as to say, He is <morally free ck:ms> under a Natural Necessity not to do Evil. And to say, He is morally free, is to say, He may do Evil. Now the necessity & Freedom in this Case being both moral, the Contradiction is flat & plain, and Amounts to this, that God in respect to good and evil Actions is both a necessary & free Agent. Dr Clarke in his Treatise on the Attributes labours to get clear of this Contradiction upon these <antitrinitarian[xo E?]> Principles of Liberty, but without success, and leaves it just where all men, who hold the same Principles, must be forced to leave it.

Therefore they hold such Mysteries in respect to Deity, that are even harder to be conceived of and properly expressed and explain'd, than the Doctrine of the Trinity.

When we talk of God who is infinite and incomprehensible, it is natural to run into Notions & Terms which it is impossible for us to reconcile. And in lower matters that are more within our Knowledge and Comprehension, we shall not be able to keep our selves clear of 'em. To say that a Curve <[sic]> Line setting out from a Point within a hairs Breadth of a Right Line, shall run towards that right line as swift as thought, & yet never be able to touch it, seems contradictory to common sense; & were it not clearly demonstrated in the conchoid of Nechomedes, could never be believed.---Matter is infinitely divisible, & therefore a cubical Inch of Gold may be divided into an infinity of Parts; and there can be no Number greater than that which contains an Infinity. Yet another cubical Inch of Gold may be infinitely divided also, & therefore the Parts of both Cubes must be more numerous than the Parts of one only.---Here is a palpable Contrariety of of [sic] Ideas, and a flat Contradiction of Terms.---We are confounded & lost in the Consideration i of infinites;<E ?> and surely most of all in the Consideration of that infinite of Infinities.---We justly admire that Saying of the Philosopher, That God is a Being whose Center is every where and Circumference no where [E's lines], as one of the noblest & most exalted Flights of human Understanding; and yet not only the Terms are absurd and Contradictory, but the very Ideas that Constitute it, when considered attentively, are repugnant to one another. Space and Duration are mysterious Abysses in which our Thoughts are confounded with demonstrable Propositions, to all sense and Reason flatly Contradictory to one another. Any two Points of Time, tho' never so distant, are exactly in the middle of Eternity. The remotest Points of space that can be imagined or supposed, are each of them precisely in the Center of infinite space. [no quot. marks] Deism reveal'd Vol. 2. p. 109, 110, 111.

Here might have been added the mysteries of Gods Eternal Duration, it being without succession, without [xo and "present" added by c] before and after all at once vitae interminablilis tota simul & perfecta Possessio. [an -n xo by c] See the Nature of the Human[cap H. c] soul on this Head & particularly consider the many contradictions which seem here implied.

[TS: Number has large asterisk and "9" beside it. Punctuation supplied by c, even in quotations. Printed as Part II § 9, M.O. pp. 392-394, but w. following omissions: All down to "In thinking"; then "I say of these unfathomable Matters and". At end, "& particularly Consider..." The parts omitted are encircled. Underlining is E's, but little of the rest of the punctuation.]

 

1235. THE FULLNESS OF TIME when X came][JE's bracket] "had X been sent & his religion fully & finally revealed in the first age of the world both the memory of the first & the effect of the last must have been entirely lost or so distorted and corrupted in a few ages that posterity would have been little the better for such a mission or revelation or else God must have made an infinity of other revelations in order to ascertain or perpetuate the Xtian [religion (? om.JE)] to future times. Arts sciences, language commerce must have been all taken out of the natural course of invention & improvement and all at once revealed & all at once revealed [sic] or else it would have been impossible to transmit our religion to very distant times or countreys with any tolerable degree of unity or admitting it had been possible yet what opinion must posterity have entertain'd of a religion handed down to them from no body knew whom form times & by means utterly unknown, which no mortal could account for as being previous to all memory all records & all history. How would our libertines so nice and scrupulous about authorities have liked such a religion as this Deism reveald Ed. 2. Vol. 2. p. 142, 143.

Alexander the great went over to Asia and conquered all the countreys from the Mediterranean and the Hellespont to the Ganges and he & his followers established the Grecian arts & language throughout that extended empire which comprehended Egypt also and the adjacent countreys The language of this empire which exceeded those of other countreys in beauty regularity & preciseness of expression was also the learned & fashionable language of the Romans who after making themselves masters of the western world added the Greek Empire to their conquests by which means the Greek tongue being understood both in the East & West became an admirable vehicle for the religious knowledge that was to be conveyed by it to the T. Such were the preparatives to that fullness of time spoken of in SS. for the introduction of a true and universal religion. After the nations had thus been united by conquest by commerce and by a general language tho Jews who saw by the prophecies of Jacob and of Daniel that the time for their deliverance was approaching vainly believing that their Messiah was to be a temporal prince and to advance them to an empire over all the world published certain verses under the name of Sybilline Oracles to give 'em the greater credit with the Romans In one of these (which were all founded on the prophecy of Daniel) it was foretold that at the time when Pompey took Jerusalem nature was about to bring forth a king for the Roman People at which says Suetonius the senate being frightend made a decree that no child born that year should be brought up. In another they foretold the rise of an heavenly kingdom which should prevail as soon as the Romans should conquer the Egyptians. In a third they predicted the same upon the extinction of the Lagean Lake which happened at the death of Cleopatra. These pretended oracles which the Jews spread about every where received no small addition of credit from a very old prophecy which according to Suetonius & Tacitus was taken from the sacred writings of the priests and foretold that a mighty king should be born among the Jews who should govern the whole world. By these & such like means the expectation of some very extraordinary person was raised & that expectation universally spread and directed to one and the same place & time. In that place and at that time was Christ born

From the transgression of our first parents the means of redemption & salvation commenced in a revelation A promise was given to our first parents that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent. The celebration of the sabbath an abhorrence of incest, the practice of sacrificial attonements, and of sacerdotal mediation, with many other notices of the like nature were divinely revealed and handed down to posterity. The propagation of these with the improvemt of arts sciences & languages, the planting of colonies /p./ the rise and growth of empires the extensive intercourse occasioned by trade warlike expeditions both by land & sea; the general course of conquests captivities, and political alliances were all so disposed and directed by almighty God as to prepare the world for his sons arrival. Curiosity & vanity may raise disputes among philosophers and these disputes create infinite doubts and uncertainties. Ambition & revenge may breed quarrels among kings and those quarrels make hideous havock and distraction in the world yet out of all this confusion shall God bring order. The short-sightedness of human science shall prove the necessity of divine revelation the pride and tyranny & wars of princes shall pave the way to true liberty & peace. The philosopher shall dispute and the commander tho' he thinks nothing less shall conquer for X. Who tho he was brought as a Lamb to the slaughter yet shall now have his portion with the great & divine the spoils with the strong He gathers where prophets & philosophers have strewed he reaps where kings have sown. That prodigious empire which it cost so much worldly wisdom & labour & blood to raise which was extended for Scythia to Numidia from India to the British Isles after it had ten ties made war upon him and persecuted him with fire & sword X conquers with the celestial armour of truth righteousness peace and the word of God. We cannot sufficiently admire the wisdom of God in such a wonderful disposition of events in sending the necessary religion into the T in the most knowing age when its credentials could be best examined and its vouchers best recorded [accorded? ck:ms] Nor his power in supporting it against the united policy & strength of the whole T But such are the effects when God works. Occurrences & transactions at an infinite distance shall by the extensive schemes of providence be brought together & united in his designs". Deism reveald. Vol. 2. p. 148----151. [finis]

 

1236. TRADITIONS OF THE CHINESE concerning THE MESSIAH & THE TRINITY. "It is probable that some of the Israelites that had been carried into captivity penetrated as far as China long before the Xtian Aera because in that countrey notices are yet to be found to which we cannot rationally assign any other original than some acquaintance with the Jews. If we may believe the tradition of the Chinese Confucius their great philosopher who lived above 500 years before X had this remarkeable saying often in his mouth It is in the West that the true saint is to be found. And Lao Sun [?] who lived before Confucius was as remarkable for another saying which seems to point at the Trinity Eternal reason produced one one produced two two produced three & three produced all things. They tell us further that Mimti [?] one of their emperours who reigned about 60 years after Christ sent ambassadours at the instigation of an apparation [sic?] to look for the saint that heaven had informed him was in the West" Deism revealed Ed. 2.Vol. 2. p. 148 [finis]

 

1237. IMPUTATION OF SIN & RIGHTEOUSNESS. "These are by many supposed to be contrary to common sense But if so that is contrary to common sense which is confirmed by universal experience The son every where suffers for the sin of his father in hereditary poverty & sickness To say it is inconsistent with the justice of God is to run into atheism & blasphemy. Estates are often & justly settled on the posterity of a person who died in the service of his countrey and they enjoy the benefit of their patent [A: parent] without any merit of their own while unattainted of high treason merely [sic] for the merit of their ancestor This legal imputation of merit or application of the fruits /p./ fruits [sic] arising from the merit of another is never deem'd unjust among men even when the reward is pecuniary and arises out of the public funds those who are tax'd for these funds never grudge the bounty paid out of their own pockets to the descendants of such as have sacrificed their lives for the good of the community In this channel estates annuities & honours descend to many generation. And I question much whether any other tenure gives in the eye of reason so equitable a title. Thus the entail both of merit & demerit does down from a good or bad man to his posterity by a necessity of nature or a constitution of state independent of the will & previous to the behaviour of him who inherits Now it will be impossible to shew that God may not do that by grace which he hath done by nature and which the head of every community hath a right to do by legal & civil appointment. ---The son is often pardon'd even the crime of high treason on account of his fathers services & fidelity and nothing can be more consistent with justice than a pardon so obtain'd provided sufficient security can be produced for the future loyalty of the son And surely we must own that God is vested with an higher plenitude of power to prescribe terms on which imputed and vicarious merits may be accepted than any earthly legislature or king.

And as to the objection against laying on one person the punishmt due to the sins of another that God tells us by the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel that the father shall not suffer for the iniquity of the son nor the son for the iniquity of the father but that the soul that sinneth it shall die That passage hath no reference to the case in question The Israelites complain'd that they had been punish'd for the sins of their forefathers & nothing can be plainer from a variety of passages than they had actually suffered severely by means of the idolatry & other sins of their ancestours & kings which brought on them a long train of calamities such as drought famine pestilence the sword and captivity But God in this passage declares that it shall be no longer so and that for the future every man shall suffer only for the sins /mg/ of his own committal. This now is only a particular dispensation & contrary to another that had continued 'till that time and therefore cannot but by implication be applied to the supposed substitution of our Saviours sufferings in the room of our own Nor can it even by implication shew that this substitution is unjust" Deism reveal'd Vol. 1. p. 250, 251. [finis]

[TS: in mg, in Dwight's (?) hand: "Out under the head Original Sin"]

 

1238. HUMILIATION: "The spirit of self-sufficiency is older than the world. It was self-sufficiency made the devil aspire to independency He thought himself too wise too great & glorious a being to be any thing less than God He said I will exalt my throne above the stars of God I will be like the most high The sin of Eve implied the same spirit The devil intimated to her that the prohibition laid on her was the effect of meer will and arbitrariness that to eat the forbidden fruit would open her eyes she being as yet kept in the k dark by her fear of God it would make her wise like God knowing good and evil. The devil infused his own pride & love of independency

Thence it was that conceit affectation of knowledge & inordinate love of pleasure became the source of all sin And it is worth observing that in proportion as these<o c> dispositions render any one self-sufficient they to this day also render him corrupt & wicked. The mother of mankind having eat the forbidden fruit became self-sufficient and was qualified to be a teacher of libertinism to her husband. The sacrifices of Abel were better received than those of Cain The pride of Cain could not brook this preference altho the effect of infinite wisdom but swelling him with self-sufficiency put him upon arraigning God of partiality & murdering his brother Were not Korah & his company very self-sufficient when they said to Moses & Aaron Ye take too much upon you seeing all the congregation is holy every on of /p./ them will ye put out the eyes of these<o c> men Saul being made king was lifted up with self-sufficiency and invaded the priestly office thinking there was no necessity that a meaner man should come between God & him. His independent spirit was the sin of Jeroboam who rather than suffer his subjects to worship the true God at Jerusalem which might have brought them again under the dominion of Davids posterity set up the golden calves at Dan & Beth-el and gave the Israelites a religion of their own. ---In later times the Jews forsaking the simplicity of that religion God had given them follow'd the various & contradictory traditions of their rabbi's by which the commandments of God were explained away & render'd ineffectual. Those must certainly be very self-sufficient instructors who had the commandments of God were explained away & render'd ineffectual. Those must certainly be very self-sufficient instructors who had the boldness to make the word of God speak a language contrary to its own end and intention because more agreeable to their. It was self-sufficiency that dictated all the idolatry of /mg/ of the Gentiles What an high opinion must they have of themselves who chuse or make their own gods. All their philosophy excepting that of Socrates & Plato who acknowledged the blindness of human nature and the necessity of a divine instructor was evidently derived from the same source For not one but those two founded his morality on any sense of religion or ever dreamt of an inability in man to render hims. perfect & happy ----Had all men Jew as well as Gentile in the times of our Saviour & his apostles been sensible of their own ignorance would not this have procured Xtianity an easier admission in every countrey where it was preachd Men must feel their own wants before they will either look for or accept a supply. A man who thinks himself hail and sound will laugh at the physician who pretends to prescribe to him. It was nothing else but self-sufficiency that made our religion appear foolishness to the Greeks and indeed to all whoever in any age pretended to a reason for rejecting it Of those who received it there were not a few disgusted at its simplicity & confident enough of their own abilities to imagine they could improve it by alterations or additions of their own. The foremost of these were those hereticks conceitedly styled by themselves Gnosticks. The rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity was only a compliment made to their own reason by the Sabellians the Photinians the Samosatanians[sp?] the Arians & after them by the Mahometans who disbelieved that doctrine on no one argument in the T but because it was not to be accounted for by their all-sufficient understandings. --- Popery borrows a great deal from the belief of human sufficiency For on what else is such an abundance of human inventions of ceremonies unknown to the primitive ages and of pious frauds if that chh allows Xtianity as its author left it to be sufficient and does not think her self able to new-model & alter it for the better? And since the Reformation the Pope no sooner ceased to be the sufficiency of some man than they set up a sufficiency of their own and became popes to themselves Hence arose a crop of wild extravagant fancies as monstrous as it was various. I shall only take notice of the Socinians who of all men the deists only excepted pay the highest respect to their own understandings ---- Deism revealed Ed. 2. Vol. 2. p. 206. e. 207--211.

How wise how perfect how independent a creature is man in human speculation. But how weak & purblind how corrupt & prone to wickedness when weighed in the balance of experience. When the necessity or revelation is to be invalidated man is by nature a gloriously enlightend a well-disposed a just & benevolent being. Yet when he is to be taught & train'd to either religious [? A: religion] or social duties he is for the most part found either very stupid or perverse And when he is to be dealt with in a way /p./ business all manner of precautions and securities are found necessary to guard against the effects of his disingenuity. This being who by the strength of his unassisted reason can know so little & who by the corrupt disposition of his will can practice less stands in no need of Gods instructions nor of strong [a; -er?] motives to the performance of his duty than what arise within himself is in a word perfect & self-sufficient. The experiments of five thousand years all ending in the grossest folly & wickedness are not enough to convince him that he can neither be good nor happy without the divine assistance" Deism revealed Vol. 2. p. 215. [finis]

 

1239. NECESSITY OF REVELATION. One thing wherein the deficiency of natural light appears is this, that if men without revelation should suppose, that they should be forgiven on repentance and reformation, and also that there is a future state; yet the light of nature alone never could be sufficient to ascertain the limits of their day of probation, & satisfy em on sure grounds, that repentance shall never be accepted in some future state; or whether ever the time would come, when the case of sinners would be hopeless or past remedy by repentance. [finis]

 

1240. The CERTAINTY and SENSIBILITY of that future DAMNATION which God hath threatend may be argued strongly from these<o c> words Ezek. 6. 10. And they shall know that I am the Lord and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them. Tho the punishment there spoken [of (om. JE)] is not the punishmt of sinners in a future world. [finis]

 

1241. See back this book 1197. TRINITY Intimations of it in the Old T. Ps. 58. 11. "Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth; Elohim Shophetim." Which literally is, Elohim, Judges (in the plural number) <See the evident distinction made between Jehovah sending & Jehovah sent to the people & dwelling in the midst of them, in Zech. 2. 8, 9, <10 c>, 11. & 4. <8 c>, 9,<11 c>> <[Quote those texts] c> see 1243. [finis]

[TS:Printed after 1197 in 2nd. paragr. on p.475 of Misc. Obs. Large asterisk by the No., and the caption is encircled. Most of punct. is by c.

 

The texts are quoted in the Misc. Obs (tho not by E. himself), on pp.475-476, as follows:

 

"For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, After the glory hath He sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of His eye."

 

"For behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me."

 

"Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord."

 

"And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto thee."

 

"Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the founda-/mg/ tion of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto you."

 

"Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick, and upon the left side thereof?"

 

1242. THREATNINGS ABSOLUTE the certainty of their fulfillment][JE's bracket] In Josh. 23. 14, 15, 16. Joshua makes use of the exact fulfillment of all Gods promises to the people of Israel as an argument with them to assure them of the certain fulfilmt of his threatning. [finis]

 

1243. TRINITY. See N. 1241] [JE's bracket] Joshua 24[xo c]<XXIV. 19. c> And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve Jehovah; for he is an holy God, Elohim Kedhoshim". [last 2 ww. in large letters] He is the holy Gods [c's lines] not<N c> only is the word Elohim properly plural, the very same that issued. v. 15 <The gods which your fathers served &c c> --But the adjective Holy[c's line] is plural. A plural sustantive & adjective are used here concerning the true God, just in the same manner as in 1 Sam 4. 8. "Who shall deliver us out of the hands of these mighty gods". and in Dan. 4. 8 "In whom is the spirit of the holy gods". So v. 9, 18 & chap 5. 11, 14[xo JE]. -- That the plural number should thus be used with the epithet Holy agrees well with the doxology of the angels, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts" &c-- Isai 6. & Rev. 4. See 1249. See many instances of this kind in SSS. on Deut. 4. 7. [finis; Synopsis ref. later.]

 

1244. TRADITIONS of the heathen concerning ORIGINAL SIN. The author of the Strength & Weakness of human Reason &c as cited by Mr Moncrief against Dr. Campbell p. 55. 56 says That the opinion of the degenerate and corrupt stae of man "is not peculiar to the Jews & Christians for several of the hethen philosophers acknowledged and maintaind it by the meer influence of thelight of nature and reason. Antoninus the philosophic emperour confesses that we are born meer slaves (i.e in the /p./ snese of the Stoics slaves to our vicious inclinations and passions) destitute of all true knowledge and f sound reason. The Platonists are well known to believe a preexistent state wherein all souls sinned. Their own daily experience in themselves and their wise observations ofthe world convinced them that all manking come<a> into the world with propensity to vice rather than virture and that man is not such a creature now as he came from his makers hand." Thus far the author of the Enquiry &c-- Mr. Moncrief adds p. 56. Plato speaks of the human nature as greatly degenerate and depraved and infested with all manner of disorders And Democritus is said to affirm the diseases of the soul to be so great that if it were open'd it would appear to be a sepulcre of all manner of evils Mr Gale in his court of the Gentiles who takes notice in his book of the manner in which these philosophers have express'd themselves having likewise cited some expressions of Seneca's he tells us that Jansenius breaks forth into a rapture upon observing these philosophers speak more truly about the corruption of mans nature than Pelagius & others of late. [finis]

[TS: NB: E's note of the sepulcre quot. again, & also the influ. of Gale]

 

1245. <See 760 at the end of that number> ELECTION. Eph. 1. 4 "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we might be holy & without blame before him in love". The question is in what sense are we said to be chosen in X[ck:ms]. The meaning as Dr Goodwin, (in his Works Vol. 1. p. 54 &c) shews cannot be a being chosen because it is foreseen we shall believe in X Nor yet <2 [xoc?]> is it choosing us from a foresight of his satisfactions & merits as our surety. X purchased our salvation but not our election but God first loved us & then gave his son for us X loved us & then gave himself for us God first gave us to his Son that he m in eternal election that he might take care that we might be redeemed & not lost Nor in the 3d place is the meaning that God hath chosen us that we might be in X Tis not said God hath chosen us that we might be in X & that we might be holy. but he hath chosen us in him that we might be holy. We are chosen in him before the foundation of the world[JE's line] that we might be holy. Tis not likely that those words before the foundation of the wor[l]d would have been placed where they are between being chosen in X and that we might be holy[JE's lines] if the meaning had been that we [wxo] we were chosen before the foundation of the world to be in X & to be holy And that this is not the sense is confirmed by the connection with what is said in the foregoing verse where it is said he hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in X, & then for examples sake or explanations sake adds According as he hath chosen us in him which argues that[xoE] that the meaning is not merely that we are chosen to be in him but our being looked upon in him is some way the ground of our being chosen from eternity to be holy & happy as it is the ground of being blessed with spiritual blessings in time. and besides that it is thus is confirmd by other scripture. so God is said to give us grace in X before the world was <2 Tim. 1. 9> which implies that our being beheld in x is the ground of our having a title to grace by an act of divine donation before the world was See also Eph [E's deletion] chap III. 11 According to the eternal purpose which he proposed in X Nor in the 4. place is the meaning only that we are elected with X that X & we were elected together at the same time for so one saint is elected together with another saint but yet he is not said to [be (om. E)] chosen in him. But we must suppose that X in some respect is first in this affair /p./ & some ways or other the ground of our being chosen & Gods election of him some way or other including & inferring the election of particular saints o].

Therefore for the explaining of the matter what follows may be observed.

1. All things that God ever decreed he decreed for the sake of his beloved Son [xo by mistake] and all was decreed to be brought to pass by his Son He being the end of all Gods works ad extra therefore the accomplishment of all was committed to him it was left with him to bring all to effect Colos. 1. 15,---19 Who is the image of the invisible God the first born of every creature For by him were all things created that are in heaven &c----all things were created by him and for him And he is before all things and by him all things consist And he is the head of the body the chh who is the Beginning the first-born from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. Therefore probably it is that the sum of Gods decrees is called the purpose which he proposed in X Jesus Eph. 3. 11. by the particle signifying that what God purposed he purposed for X & purposed to accomplish by X.

2. That which more especially was Gods end in his eternal purpose of creating the world and of the sum of his purposes with respect to creatures was to procure a spouse or a mystical body for his Son. Therefore if Gods purpose of the creation of all things and purpose of the whole series of events may be called a purpose which he purposed in X Jesus <because the end of all was to procure a spouse or body for his [Son (om.E)] & all was decreed to be effected by him> more especially may his purpose with respect to the [wwxo] those very individual parts of the creature [sic] that in the decree were chosen to be the very spouse herself. His decree in appointing the individual creatures that were chosen to be members of his body the accomplishment of Gods purposes with respect to which were [sic] more especially committed to X I say this purpose may well in a more peculiar manner be called a purpose which God purposed in X Jesus and the determination or election of these individual created beings might be called an election in X and they said to be chosen in X.

3. As God determined in his eternal decrees to create a world to communicate himself, and his Son might have an object for the communi object of his infinite grace & love so God determined that this object should be one His special aim in all was to procure one created child one spouse & body of his son for the adequate displays of his unspeakable and transcendent goodness & grace Therefore tho many individual persons were chosen yet they were chosen to receive Gods infinite good & <Xs c> peculiar love in union as one body one spouse all united in one Head. Therefore they were all chosen to receive those divine communication[s] no otherwise that [than] in that Head. < next p. but one. d.>

<next p. but one e> As God chose every particle of inanimate matter that should be animated and receive life in the body of <a ck:ms> man when man<e> should be created that should be animated either at the first creation of that body or afterwards by nourishment every individual particle was chosen singly to recieve [sic] life. but it was not chosen to receive life as a single separate particle but no otherwise than in that living body and as partaking of the vital /p./ influence of the head & vitals of that body & of the soul that should animate it. Thus are particular elect persons chosen to spiritual life to holiness & happiness in X. They are chosen singly but in their very first election there is respect to their union in the body of X. They are first chosen to be in the intended body of X to be members of his spouse And this is a ground of their being chosen to be conformed to the Head & their partaking of the life the holiness & happiness of the Head. And after this is the [wwxo] the consideration of the circumstances of the individual chosen members as sinful & miserable &c-- and the appointment of the particular way how they should come to conformity to the /mg/ with & participation with the Head how way should be made for it by Xs satisfaction righteousness &c--

4. God in thus determining to communicate his peculiar love & goodness to [wwxo] to many individual creatures as all united into one body of his Son He chose the race of mankind to be that species of creatures out of which he would take a number to constitute one created dear child and one body of his Son. And therefore he chose one of that species to be the Head of the body who should be also the head of the whole creation the first born of every creature who should have the most transcendent union with the eternal Logos even so as to be one person & the rest to be strictly united to him. Therefore X with respect to his human nature more especially is called the Elect of God Gods love to the eternal Logos it self is not by sovereign election but by merit & natural necessity in the highest degree but that that individual creature should be so exalted was the fruit of sovereign election. Therefore he was as it were the first elect & the head of election. all are elected only as his members that in all things he might have the preeminence. When God had determined that the elect object of his love should be one all i the members one body united in one Head the first thing was to choose a Head. even as when a man goes about to choose materials for a building the first thing is to choose a stone for the foundation.

Now upon these things, I would observe

(1) That as in that grand decree of predestination or that sum of Gods decrees called the purpose which God purposed in X Jesus the appointment of X or the decree respecting his person in the order wherein we must consider these things must be considered first as X was appointed as the author & foundation of what was appointed with respect to the rest & that both as the [xo by mistake] accomplishment of the decrees was wholly committed to him & left with him to bring all to effect & also as the man X Jesus is to be considered as the first of the elect the Head of the elect body The foundation of the whole building. &

(2). The election of all Xs elect people is for the sake of X in two respects. First it was for the sake of X that God determind there should be a created body for the special communications of his goodness it was that his /p./ Son might have a spouse provided. But this is not a reason of the distinction in election or why one was elected & not another which was Gods sovereign pleasure.

Secondly it was [for (om.E)] the sake of X that God set his love on the elect and determined to make em holy & happy. Because he had chosen 'em to be members of X body & gave em to X to that end & so looking upon them as now his he loved them for his sake. It must needs be so the nature of things shews For as after the fall [he (?D adds "God")] had given the particular persons to X <til> X hims. thenceforward looked upon them & loved them as his own & had their names written on his heart so it must be that God the Father after he had given them to X must love em as as [sic] his sons on account of their belonging to him and this is a quite different thing from his justifying them & accepting them as the objects of complacence & favour for the sake of Xs righteousness. The former is loving them for X infinite divine eternal dignity & glory the latter is accepting them on the account of the righteousness X performed as their stead the price he paid after he was incarnate to purchase favour & rewards for them.

Concerning this it must be noted that this is not distinguishing them from others first of all <for Xs sake to be fr> choosing em from amongst others to be some of Xs for his sake that is of Gods meer /mg/ goods [sic <Gods?>] pleasure but tis loving them and appointing them to holiness & happiness for Xs sake after thus selected and distinguished

(3.). The appointment of the elect to holiness & happiness or to conformity to the Son of God was consequent on their being in the decree insisted<ck:ms> into the body of X & united to such a head in this respect that one ground or reason why God appointed them to this conformity was the fitness & requisiteness of a conformity between head & members in the same body. God wou[l]d have the members holy & happy because it was altogether suitable that the members should be as the head. but this requisiteness is a result of the decreed union of those<e> members with this head.

last p. but one d][JE's brackets] Here are very worthy to be noted the Apostles words in the 9 & 10 verses following which is a continuation of the same discourse & where still the Apostle has reference to that election in X spoken of here in this 4 v. "Having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in X both which are in heaven an which are on earth even in him". [ last p. but one e [JE's bracket] [finis]

 

1246 THE SAINTS HIGHER IN GLORY THAN THE ANGELS. Tis evident that the four & twenty elders in the Revelation do represent the church or company of glorified saints <ck:ms> by their song chap. 5. 9.10 Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou wast slain & hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and /p./ tongue and people and nation and hast made us unto our Gods [sic] kings & priests and we shall reign on earth. But these are represented from time to time as sitting in a state of honour with white raimt & crowns of God [sic] & in seats of dignity thrones of glory next to the throne of God and the Lamb, being nextly the most observable and conspicuous sight to God & X and the four animals chap. 4. 4. And round about the throne were four & twenty seats and upon the seats I saw four & twenty elders sitting clothed in white raiment and they had on their heads crowns of gold. So chap. 5, 6. And I beheld & lo in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders stood a Lamb as it had been slain. --- And the angels are represented as further off from the throne than they being round about the throne and the beasts & the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand & thousands of thousands So chap 7. 11. And all the angels stood round about the throne and about the elders & fell down before the throne on their faces and worshipped God. --- These things make the matter of the superiority of the priviledge of the saints in heaven very plain. [finis]

 

1247. ANGELS. That they are as nobles & barons of the court of heaven as dignified servants in the palace of the King of kings is manifest by Matt. 18. 10. See my notes So in their being called thrones dominions principalities & powers [finis]

 

1248. The influence and fruits of the SPIRIT that are mainly insisted on in the New Testament are not the extraordinary gifts of the spirit, is manifest by this. The Apostle speaks of the Corinthings [sic] as remarkably abounding in miraculous gifts of the Spirit The Apostle <mg> 1 Cor. 1. 5, 6, 7. that in every thing they were enriched by X in all utterance and in all knowledge so that they came behind in no gift And it appears by many other passages in his epistles to that chh. that they excelled in miraculous gifts of prophecy knowledge tongues miracles &c-- But yet the Apostle charges 'em with not being spiritual but carnal & babes in that which is spiritual. 1 Cor. 3. 1, 2, 3, 4. And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as to carnal even as unto babes in X I have fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto ye were not able to bear it neither yet not are ye able For ye are yet carnal For whereas there is among you envying & strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as men. For while one saith I am of Paul & another I of Apollos are ye not carnal. [finis]

 

1249. [see 1243.].[JE's brackets] TRINITY. 'Tis an argument that the Jews of old understand,<sic> that there were several persons in the Godhead; and particularly that when the cherubim, in the 6. of Isaiah, cried, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord of hosts", that [xoc] they had respect to three persons; that the seventy interpreters in several places, where the holy one of Israel is spoken <of, c> use the plural number;. as in Isai. 41. 16. "Thou shalt glory in the holy one of Israel", in the LXX it is, Isai 60. 14. "The Zion of the holy one of Israel": Tis . So Jer. 51 5. "filled with sin against the /p./ holy one of Israel." . See B. 9. p. 7. [finis]

 

1250. JUSTIFICATION. How it is BY FAITH. That it is by uniting us to X so that we should properly be looked upon as IN HIM by the following places as the words are in the Greek Gal. 2. 17 justified in X Eph. 4. 32. In X hath forgiven you---Gal. 3. 11, 12, 13, 14. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God it is evident For the just shall live by faith And the law is not of faith but the man that doth [sic] them shall live in them christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles IN CHRIST JESUS That they might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Isai 56. 6, 7. The sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord (which is the same with actively uniting themselves to him) ----and taketh hold of my covenant, Even them will I bring to my holy mountain &c. [finis]

 

1251. The ETERNAL DEATH of the wicked not ANNIHILATION. Death under the notion of annihilation is spoken of as an end to suffering Thus death which is an annihilation as to any concern in the enjoyments or calamities of this T and all temporal actions and sensation [sic] is frequently spoken [of (om.E)] as a refuge from the miseries of the world & is often wished for as such. Rev. 9. 6. Job. 3. 20, 21 so Moses tho the meekest man on earth desired rather to die than to have the burden which lay upon him continued that he might not see his wretchedness Num. 11. 15. <so Elijah> But future punishment is spoken of often as sensible misery which the wicked shall see & know and which shall convince em &c-- & therefore is not of that kind that implies a most effectual and and absolute & everlas[ting (hole in mg)] abolishing all sensibility of wretchedness or misery & all capacity of any sensibility. And as the SS. represents the matter the wicked on the approach of the last judgmt will desire eternal death in this sense as a refuge from the punishment approaching crying to the mountains & rocks to fall on them see Rev. 6. 16. Hos. 9 <10 c> [? "10" wr. over it]. 8. Luke 23. 30. But how inconsistent is this with the punishment feared & which they seek refuge from being nothing else but eternal annihilation [finis]

 

1252. UNITY OF THE GODHEAD. "Absolute infinite excludes all negation, privation and defect." (Ramsays Philosophical Principles of Religion, Vol. 1. p. 42.). "Absolute infinite excludes all duality & plurality of substance. If there were two or more absolute infinites their perfections powers & forces united in one sum would be greater than those of one singular absolute infinite. Therefore they cannot be in nature a duality nor plurality of distinct self-existent independent and absolutely infinite substances. That which exhausts the whole plenitude of perfection in all senses can admit of no others of its kind" Ibid. p 48. [finis]

 

1253. TRINITY <Ramsays Principles. p. 74.---85. Vol. 1.> "The absolutely infinite mind must be infinitely eternally & essentially active and productive of an absolutely infinite effect.

Absolute infinite contains all possible perfections infinite activity as the production of an infinite effect is a supream perfection. Therefore the absolutely infinite /p. mind must be infinitely eternally & essentially active and consequently productive of an absolutely infinite effect, since an absolutely infinite cause acting according to all the extent of its nature must necessarily produce an absolutely infinite effect.

Men generally imagine that God is infinitely active only because he can produce innumerable beings from without or distinct from himself. But unless the faculty be forever reduced into act it is not infinite activity but infinite power It is a real inaction tho it supposes an infinite capacity of acting. Now such inactive powers as ly [sic] dormant during a whole eternity in God are absolutely incompatible with the perfection of the divine nature which must be infinitely eternally & essentially active. ---- And since God cannot be eternally active from without or upon any thing external he must be eternally active from within And since his essence is indivisible, and cannot act by parcels he must be necessarily & immanently active according to the whole extent of his infinite nature Now an absolutely infinite agent that acts according to all the extent of its absolutely infinite nature must necessarily produce in it self an absolutely infinite effect otherwise the effect would not be proportionate to the cause and so the cause would not act according to all the extent of its absolutely infinite nature which is contrary to the supposition. Moreover the production of an absolutely infinite effect is a far greater perfection than the creation of any number of finite effects how great soever. And therefore this immanent fecundity must be an essential coeternal consubstantial perfection of the divine nature.

Hence absolutely infinite in his pure & and solitary essence antecedent to all creation must have produced within himself an eternal, necessary absolutely infinite effect.

Hence an absolutely infinite mind or intelligent subject supposes an absolutely infinite object or idea known otherwise it would be only an infinite capacity of knowledge and not an infinite understanding that knows & possesses its object. Let us now examine what this infinite effect & object of the diving mind must be.

The absolutely infinite effect and object of the absolutely infinite Mind can be no other than its own IDEA IMAGE or REPRESENTATION.

An absolutely infinite and infinitely active Mind supposes an absolutely infinite effect produced and an absolutely infinite object or idea known God cannot produce any absolutely infinite effect from without and consequently can have no other absolutely infinite object of his thought but himself or his own Idea image or representation Therefore Gods own idea image or representation of himself must be an absolutely infinite effect and object of the absolutely infinite Mind

The deists unitarians & Socinians deny this eternal generation of the Word because they do not fully enter into their own spiritual natures to examine what passes in themselves. When we think, it is clear that the object of our thought it [?is?] is distinct from our thinking faculty otherwise we would think equally at all times and have alwaies the same idea since we have alwaies the same powers. Our ideas are changeable and imperfect modes of the mind, whereas Gods idea of himself is a permanent necessary & essential image and not a free accidental mode. All our simple ideas are produced in us by other objects that act upon us while we are altogether passive whereas this consubstantial idea of the divine mind is not produced by any other object distinct from it self It is conceived from within not received from without it is produced not perceived. We may therefore /p./ in comparing absolute infinite with finite spirits (which as we shall shew are his living images) distinguish in him the thinking subject of MIND CONCEIVING from the object of this thinking essence or the IDEA CONCEIVED.

Some moderns will say that intelligence is not action & that to know is not to produce. I answer that perception is not an action but conception is the highest act of understanding. To receive ideas sensations or modifications from objects that act upon us is purely passive but to form or create in the mind new ideas is a real production. We do not form our simple ideas we receive them from external objects that act upon us God is impassible and eternal and so cannot be acted upon by other objects he does not perceive but he CONCEIVES his essential consubstantial idea image or representation he does not receive this idea from others he produces it in himself. We form our complex ideas by a successive combining of our simple perceptions God forms his consubstantial idea by one unsuccessive act. Now this is the highest & most exalted of all activities & perfections.

Hence absolute infinite in his pure and solitary essence, antecedent to the production of any finite ideas is infinitely intelligent, self-knowing & self-conscious as well as infinitely active and productive of an eternal immanent and absolutely infinite effect object or idea.

Hence this generation of the LOGOS or of Gods consubstantial idea is sufficient to compleat the perfection of the divine understanding for an infinite mind can desire nothing more to fill enlighten and satiate it than an infinite object

The eternal permanent, consubstantial idea God has of himself produces necessarily in him an infinite eternal and immutable LOVE.

Thus it is certain that antecedent to all communicative goodness towards any thing external God is good in himself and just to himself as he is infinitely, eternally & essentially active and intelligent because as he produces within himself an absolutely infinite effect or I and [sic] idea so he is infinitely eternally & essentially good and just. Infinitely good because from the knowledge and enjoyment of his consubstantial idea flows an infinite sensation of joy an unbounded love an unspeakable pleasure and an eternal self-complacency which constitute his uninterrupted happiness infinitely just because it is this permanent love that constitutes his essential justice for by this love he renders to himself all that is due to his supream perfection. He does not therefore want to create innumerable myriads of finite objects to exert his essential beneficence and equity since he produces within himself from all eternity one infinite object that exhausts [s]o to speak, all his capacity of loving, beatifying & doing justice.

The deists, unitarians & Socinians who deny the doctrine of the Trinity cannot explain how God is essentially good and just antecedently to and independent of the creation of finite [beings (? om.E)] for God cannot be emanantly<e>[sic] good and just where there is no object of his beneficence and equity If then to be essentially eternally & necessarily good and just he must be so immanently, he must be so in himself to whom he displays all his essential love beneficence and equity

Hence Gods consubstantial love of himself is sufficient to compleat the /p./ felicity of his infinite will here all its motions tendencies and desires fix concenter & reunite Wherefore all other acts and productions that do not necessarily flow from and enter into this consubstantial love are not essential to the perfection of the divine will

To compleat the idea of perfect felicity there must be an object loving as well as an object loved. Such is the nature of love that it must be communicative infinite love therefore, must be infinitely & necessarily communicative it must have an object on which it exerts it self & to which it displays it self into which it flows & that flows back to it again There is a far greater felicity in loving & being loved than in loving simply It is the mutual harmony & correspondence of two distinct beings or persons that makes the completion of love and felicity. Hence God could not have been infinitely & eternally loved if there had not been from all eternity some being distinct from himself and equal to himself that loves him infinitely since as we have shewn creation could not be coeternal.

The eternal infinite & immutable LOVE which proceeds from the idea God has of himself is not a simple attribute mode or perfection of the divine mind but a living active consubstantial intelligent being or agent" These things from Ramsays Principles. p. 74---85 Vol. 1

Therefore we may represent the divine essence under these three notions as an infinitely ACTIVE MIND that conceives, or as an infinite IDEA that is the object of this conception or as an infinite LOVE that proceeds from this idea. --- There are three, there can be but three and all that we can conceive of in the infinite mind may be reduced to these three infinite LIFE LIGHT & LOVE. -----Ibid p. 88.

They are not three simple attributes or modalities because they are distinct intelligent principles & self-conscious agents. They must therefore be three distinct beings, realities, somethings, or persons, because the idea of personality includes that of an intelligent self-conscious agent. Ibid. p. 91.

Hence we may conceive in the divine nature three real distinctions and we can conceive of no more since all we can comprehend of absolute infinite i.e either MIND conceiving, IDEA conceived, or LOVE proceeding from both GOD self-existent, GOD OF GOD, & GOD THE HOLY GHOST. these three distinctions in the Deity are neither three distinct independent minds, as the Tritheists alledged nor three attributes of the same substance, represented as persons as the Sabellians affirmed, nor one supream & two subordinate intellectual agents as some refined Arains maintain. But three coeternal, consubstantial, coordinate persons coequal in all things self-origination only excepted." Ibid. p. 97

This eternal commerce of the coeternal three is the secret fund of the Deity All those who are ignorant of the doctrine of the Trinity of the generation of the Logos of the procession of the eternal Spirit and of the everlasting commerce among the sacred three look upon God's still eternity, and solitude, as a state of inaction and indolence. Ibid. p. 100. [finis]