¶1254. SUPERNATURAL PRINCIPLES. "In a state of pure and exalted nature no finite intelligence can obey the law of eternal order by its own natural and inherent force without supernatural grace and assistance

¶Finite intelligences by their own natural and inherent force can have nothing but themselves and their own happiness The natural tendency of the will towards God as beatifying & as relative good is not the love of God according to the laws of eternal order Therefore in a state even of pure and esalted nature no finite intelligence can obey the law of eternal order by its own natural and inherent force without divine supernatural grace and assistance.

¶The natural love of God as beatifying to us as relative good as the source of eternal pleasure is not loving God for himself This is not loving him according to the laws of eternal order It is only loving him for our own sakes a desire to satisfy our insatiable thirst for happiness and as I have /mg/ [shewn (?om.E)] this desire is common to us with the devils & the damned. It is nothing beyond the reach and power of finite minds or rather it is a necessary & natural consequence of the invincible love we have for self. To love God for him self if to love him as he loves himself to love him for his infinite perfections as sovereign justice and eternal order. To rise above our selves and lose our selves in him by a total perfection [? A] of self we must be enlightened inspired and animated by a superiour force continually descending upon us and investing us. As tis God alone that can enlighten us so tis he alone that can love himself in us As no man can know the Father but by the Son so no man can love the Father but by the holy Ghost. As the supernat[ural light (A; corner gone)] by which we know God is the emanation of the eternal Log[os (mto)] and a participation of that light by w[hich (mto)] he knows himself so the supernatural love by which we can love God is an emanation of the holy Ghost and a participation of that love by which he loves himself.

¶By this great principle we come to understand the true distinction between nature and grace. --- The natural properties of finite beings are those which they have by creation as inseparable adjuncts of their essence. The supernatural graces of God are perfections which the creature receives immediately from the divine action. --- Thus in spiritual agents, or the intelligent images the powers of perceiving comparing & willing of knowing their being, & of desiring their well-being are essential properties inseparable from their nature and communicated to them by God the Father in giving them existence. But supernatural light & love their seeing God as he is and their loving him as he deserves are impressions that come from the immediate operation of the eternal Word and the holy Ghost ---- ----

¶Hence tis absolutely false that there ever was or can be a state of pure nature wherein souls by their own inherent force could love God as he deserves without any supernatural grace or immediate influence of the holy Ghost. As it is impossible that there can be any state of pure nature wherein the soul can know God as he is without any supernatural illumination or irradiation of the eternal Word. Men indeed may acquire by a successive comparison of their ideas a natural knowledge & love of God but not the supernatural knowledge & love we are speaking [of (mto0] /p. 6?/ [If it (A; mto)] were otherwise the soul might [bege (A;mto)]t within it self the eternal Logos and the holy Ghost be its own light & its own love, its own perfection and its own happiness

¶Hence the will may have two motives of action natural self-love and the supernatural love of God. ----

¶Hence there is an essential difference betwixt the natural activities of the understanding concerning God and the supernatural illuminations [-s xo?] of the eternal Logos so there is an essential difference betwixt the matural tendency of the will towards God as beatifying, as relative good as the source of infinite pleasure and the supernatural action of the holy Ghost which makes [u]s love God for himself according to the law of eternal order. The one is common to us with the devils and the damned the other makes us resemble angelical and beaified spirits.

¶Since we never can love the creatures in an irregular manner but for our own interest or the pleasure they procure us Hence it follows that false self-love is the primitive source of all moral evil and a self-idolatry that erects the creature into the place of God that usurps upon all his rights [or s xo?] that renders it self the center of all the creation and the end of all its actions and thereby ingenders all passions sins and crimes" ¶ These things from Ramsays Principles Vol. 1. p. 309---315. [finis]

 

¶1255. ORIGINAL OF IDOLATRY. CORRUPTION OF ANTIENT TRADITIONS concerning the MESSIAH. &c--][E's br] [6 lines xo here]

¶"The first sages of the most remote antiquity made use of sensible signs & images to represent intellectual & spiritual truths All the different parts of nature were employed in this sacred language the sun the moon the planets & fix'd stars"----

¶Hyeroglyphicks & symbols were incontestibly the most antient manner of writing according to the sentiment of all learned men. If this be so then it is certain that according as the ' increased and was peopled after the deluge the sons & grandchildren of Noah who had heard the pious instructions of their common father & seen the terrible judgments of God upon the world ought to have been very careful & soolicitous to preserve those sacred monuments & hieroglyphical records of religion ---every head of a family might have had them copied and carried to the countrey he went to inhabit with his family. Thus the symbolical characters images & representations of truth were much the same in all nations. Of this we have uncontestible proofs. Since the symbols of the Chinese are very often the same with those wrote upon the Egyptian obelisks yet preserved for all the Chinese characters are hieroglyphics. We find also that the Gauls Germans & Britons long before they were conquered by Julius Cesar had much the same symbolical representation /p. 7?/ of their sacred mysteries & deities as the Egyptians Greeks & Romans Moreover it is certain that very oft there is a great resemblance betwixt the Hebraic symbols and the pagan hieroglyphicks. Wherefore we may reasonably conclude that wherever this similitude is found the same truths are indicated by both since the original source of tradition was the same to all nations. The most part of the primitive fathers of the chh. taught expressly that many of the pagan symbols fables and sentiments were relative to and representative of the divine mysteries of our holy religion which the first heathens had learned from the antient tradition of the Noevian patriarchs

¶By succession of time the true original sense of the sacred symbols and hieroglyphicks was forgot Men attach'd themselves to the letter and the signs without understanding the spirit and the thing signified. Thus the pagans fell by degrees into gross idolatry & vile [? A] superstition. They mistook the original for the picture the images of the sun moon & stars, of men & women, of animals plants & reptiles for sacred and divine powers residing in these visible creatures. Thus according to the expression of the divine doctor of the gentiles They changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man<e>, and to birds & fourfooted beasts and creeping things. --- The poets invented fables obscured all anew by their wild fictions --- But all the wiser nations and philosophers complain of the abuse they mad[e] of the sared hieroglyphicks and the corruptions they introduced into religion

¶As in the hieroglyphical language there are no conjugations tenses nor moods the future was often taken for the past Thus all the antient traditions & symbols that express'd our SAVIOURS preexistent suffering, & triumphant state were confounded in one and interpreted of imaginary heroes or conquerors who had signalized themselves in different countreys & corners of the earth" Ramsays Principles. Vol. 2. p. 11---16 [finis]

 

¶1256. TRINITY. See B. 8. 1249 & 1243.][E's br] concerning INTIMATIONS of the TRINITY in the OLD T. & the opinion [-s?] of the antient Jews Where it is said <in our translation> "remember thy Creatour in the days of thy youth" Eccles. 12. in the Hebrew it<its>[?] [is (om.E)] Thy Creatours, in the plural numb[er]<mg> which agrees with the manner of speaki[ng] [?A: speech] Gen. 1. "Let us make man in our image

¶Ramsay in his Principles. Vol. 2. p. 116 says, from Dr Alix, "Philo acknowledges a generation in God from all eternity. He says in many different places that God begets the word in himself; that this word is wisdom; & that this wisdom is the etermal Son of God that God is called the God of gods, not with relation to created intelligences, whether human, angelical or seraphical, but in relation to his own consubstantial powers, which are not simple attributes, but eternal uncreated infinite principles of action, represented by the two wings of the cherubim that covered the tabernacle." Moreover says Chev. Ramsay, Dr Alix has shewn that the Chaldee paraphrasts or targumists /p. 8/ speak in the same manner as Philo. "They ascribed to the word the creation of the ' , the pardon of sin,, the mediating between God the Father & the creatures. Yea they attributed all the other personal characters of acting, speaking, answering, commanding, giving laws & receiving supream worship & adoration, to the Son & holy Ghost, whom they call very oft the TWO HANDS of God". In fine the cabbalistical Jews, that are of later date than the targumists, speaki in the same manner. They fix the number of three persons in the divine essence. They speak of the emanation of the two last from the first, and say that the third proceeds from the first by the second. They call the first person EN-SOPH; the second MEMRA; and the third BINAH." The cabbalistical Jews were called so from the Hebrew word cabal, which signifies tradition; because they pretended to have collected into one body all the antient traditions of the Jewish chh. Thus far Chev. Ramsay. See Controv. pap. p 215. [finis]

[The punct. in this number looks like Jr's.]

 

¶1257. OPINIONS & TRADITIONS of the PERSIANS concerning the necessity of HUMILIATION <self-denial disinterested love> in order to future happiness.][E's] "No company is more closely attach'd to us than self-love It almost never forsakes us tho none more blind & ignorant It is easier to root out & carry off a mountain with the point of a needle that to tear away pride and vain-glory from the heart of a man ---- Humility is the source of love to God and benevolence to men<a> --- Fly and make thy retreat into the kingdom of self-annihilation & there thou shalt find rest ----- A religious poverty is the privation of every thing & that glorious surrender to God with which he favours the most perfect we must be robbed of all our goods and must annihilate the soul before we can arrive at him who alone possesses all things Those who regard themselves andlive for themselves are alwaies in danger of losing themselves by a multiplicity of objects but those who entirely forget themselves are found in unity with God . Boldly destroy whatever is ascribed to your own powers & enter the royal path of self-denial By treading in this [D here inserts "path"] where we see nothing we at last reach that sacred retreat where we behold God alone The saints are those who are most united to God and consequently enjoy his intimate presence They are are [sic] enemies to themselves in this life and become the friends of God in the next ---- They have They have wiped out of their heart & mind all the traces of price & hypocrisy ---- The true marks of a good man in this state are tenderness of heart hatred of the world and a distrust of ones self on the contrary the marks of the bad man are hardness of heart a love of the ' a great confidence of himself & in the creatures & impudence---- We must absolutely renouonce an attachmt to our own light which is a manifest impiety & self-idolatry since after we hae gone the rounds [-s A] of all other beings we shall find that there is properly no other true light but God alone I serve God by love and I cannot but serve him . We must serve him independent of all fear and hope with the love of a friend for he regards us with a pure love of benevolence ---- Humility must lead us to an annihilation in [? A] the unity of God /p. 9/ Then we know perfectly that we are nothing & by this knowledge we confess that God is all. The most sublime knowledge of God can never arise in our souls till all the ideas we have of our selves and our powers are annihilated in our eyes. The rays of divine light can only arise from self-denial & annihilation And by these<o> rays alone is the heart renewed and the affections changed ---- When I retire into my self I see nothing in the universe more vile and miserable ----- Thy friend O God has no view to any other advantage in this ' than to praise thee and pretend to nothing in heaven but the enjoymt of thee. One man will demand of thee the enjoymt of paradise and its delights another a deliverance from hell & its pains . For me I ask neither the one nor the other My sole desire is that thy will may be accomplished in me. If thou shalt be pleased with me both in this ' and the next I have my desire and resign all the rest into thine hands. Thou menacest me with a separation that will forever deprive me of thy presence do with me what thou pleasest provided I am not forever deprived of thee There is no prison more bitter none more mortal. For what can the soul do that is separated from God but languish in disquiet & [xo?] be tormented with a perpetual agitation . A hundred thousand deaths tho most cruel may be born [sic] they can have nothing so terrible as the privation of thy divine countenance The acutest maladies nay all the evils of a whole age together are nothing to me and appear incomparably more easy to be born [sic] than the least distance from thee. The smallest separation from thee renders our land barren i[n]fects [D in cop. space] & dries up our waters what then would it be were it eternal. Without it the fire of hell could not burn and by it only is it made so ardent In fine it is thy presence alone that supports us & loads us with every good thing and thy absence is the cause of all our ills. The man never dies O God who lives but for thee a thousand times happy he then whom thou animatest by thy spirit."

¶These things are taken from Ramsays Principles of Relig[ion] Vol. 2. p. 422. who introduces them thus "The modern Perisians and Turks have the grandest & noblest ideas about internal piety true self-denial and self-annihilation before God as appears from the following extracts out of some of their principal writers as translated by Herbelot in his Bibliotheque Orientale" [finis]

 

¶1258. IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. FUTURE STATE.][E's] Nothing is more manifest, than that it is absolutely necessary in order to a man's being thoroughly, universally & steadfastly vertuous, that his mind & heart should be thoroughly weaned from this ' ; which is a great evidence that God intends another ' from[xo c] for [c] vertuous men. He surely would not require 'em in their thoughts, affections & expectations wholly to relinquish this ', if it were all the ' they were to expect: if he had m[ade (Rem; mto] /p. 10/ em for this ' wholly & only; & had created the ' for them, to <be>[mg] their only countrey & home, all the resting place he ever design'd em for. [finis]

[N.B. This is apprently a reflection suggested by the preceding quotations.]

¶1259. Xs RESIGNING UP THE KINGDOM TO THE FATHER.

¶"The Mediatours kingdom receives a double consideration. First consider him as Mediatour of his chh. considered under imperfection either of sin or misery or any other want `till his church shall be compleat. Or Secondly consider him as he is head of his church made compleat & fully perfected in all parts & all degrees

¶"Jesus X has a double relation to his church The one as a head simply considered. And he hath the relation of a Redeemer and Mediatour for us as we are sinners & under misery distress & imperfection. Now while the chh. remaineth thus imperfect while there is any such thing as guilt or the appearance of it or any imperfection (as `till the final sentence there is [) ?] so long is J. X a Mediatour for us to God, as under some misery some want some danger he standeth between God & us & God hath given him all power in heaven & in [on?] earth that he may give eternal live to them that believe that he should be able to free us. And so long Jesus X ruleth in a way of conquest destroying sin & death & all enemies and redeeming the body, & bringing body & soul together and lastly pronouncing a final sentence And in this sense it is that the SS usually speaks of his sitting at Gods right hand to interceed for us (as it is Rom. 8. 34. and by sitting there he meaneth reigning) to destroy eenemies to put us out of danger of death & condemnation. But when once this final sentence is past then this [A; his?] work of a Mediatour his reigning thus as a Redeemer of us considered under sin & misery ceaseth For when once that final sentence is past then all sins are forever & ever forgiven never to be remembered /mg/ more God then looks upon us as in his first project without spot or wrinkle forever then X presenteth us to the Father Lo here I am & the children thou hast given me, here they are just as thou didst look upon them in thy primitive choice. And so now considered I say his kingdom ceaseth for there will be no /mg/ no need of it. And this indeed is an answer which learned Cameron delivereth upon that place 1. Cor. 15.

¶"But yet then take J. X as our Head (which is indeed a distinct thing from his sitting at Gods right hand) so he is forever a Head we were chosen in him at first so we are considered in him forever & exalted in him our persons in his person And God then having forgiven all sin & misery and the Mediatours office for intercession &c-- being laid aside he is all in all both to X and us & so now he delivereth up the kingd. unto G. the Father. -----

¶When he hath delivered up this kingd. of his redeemership unto God the F. yet he sitteth down with this honour forever That it was he that did execute this office of a Mediatour. so that not a soul is lost, not a sin left unsatisfied for, not an enemy unsubdued. He sitteth down like a mighty & glorious conquerer He is not a general in war longer that kind of kingd. & rule ceaseth. Yet, he hath this honour that he it is that did these & those exploits brought in all those rebels, subdued all enemies and remaineth a glorious dictatour. So that indeed & in truth J. X shall thus [A; then?] reign more gloriously with his F. (tho' it is more especially appropriated to him till the d. of judgmt) than ever he did before. For then he reignith triumphantly whereas before he reigned /p. 11/ as one that was conquering to conquer And as David said when all his enemies were subdued Am I a king this day? So will J. X say he never was kinged so much as now." Dr. Goodwins Works Vol. 1. p. 440,441. [finis]

 

¶1260a. JUSTIFICATION. NATURAL FITNESS. They that object against <explaining the manner in which> faith is that in a peculiar manner BY which we are interested in X and justified by him by its being that qualification by which peculiarly it becomes naturally fit that a person should be looked upon as in X as tho' the supposition of such a fitness were inconsistent with the freedom of grace in this method of justification insisting that the gospel doctrine of justification by grace thro' faith supposes no fitness in such a condition of justification in it self at all more than in any thing else but that its being appointed the condition of an interest in X depends solely and absolutely on God's meer good pleasure and sovereign & arbitrary will Such as these might as well object against union to Xs person being requisite to communion in his benefits. All will allow that union with X a real union is accord[in]g to the Gosp. constitution the condition of partaking of his benefits and I trust that none will deny that there is a natural fitness in it that persons should be united to X or be in X in order to their being lookd upon as his belonging to him interested in him & so partaking with him & that it would be naturally unfit that they should be looked upon as relatively in him or belonging to him if not really united to him as <or> [? A: or] if their souls or minds were not united to him & that this is a requisite condition on account of the natural fitness of it & that divine wisdom appoints it on that account & yet I suppose no one will image [sic] that this in the least detracts from the freedom & sovereignty of divine grace in appointed [sic] the way of obtaining an interest in X & his benefits. [finis]

 

¶1260b PROGRESS OF THE WORK OF REDEMPTION. CREATION OF NEW HEAVENS & NEW EARTH.

¶"The other world was six days a-making & went on by degrees so it will be in that which is called the ' to come The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard-seed which is the least of all seeds & yet the greatest in the end The Apostle speaking of conversion Gal 4 calls it a delivering us from this present evil ' old things are past away says he & all things are become new Here is a creation a beginning here is the first days work and God never will leave till he hath perfected that [? A: this] '. And because the perfection of it is not yet therefore it is said to be a world to come "It begun when X begun to preach ---Therefore it is that as the first ' hath a seventh day for the celebrating the creation of it so ha[th (A; mf)] this new ' now a LORDS [DAY (A;mfoJ)]/p.12/ and of that LORDS DAY doth the Apostle speak Heb. 4. as here he doth of this new ' Heb. 2. And the holy Ghost when X was set in heaven fell then upon the feast of Pentecost which was upon the first day of the week our [sic; D corr. to "or"] LORDS DAY, as Lev. 23. 15,16.

¶"Repent says John the Baptist for the kingdom of H is at hand. The ' to come is coming upon you and says X hims. Mark 1. 14. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand & Matt. 16. 28. There are some that stand here that shall not taste of death till they see the Som of man come in his kingdom

¶"The foundation of this ' to come was thus laid by our Saviour X in bringing in the gospel and was prophesied [sic] in Dan. 2. 44. He saith expressly there that in the days of these kings (which principalities & powers stand [sic] of [sic] these monarchies for he came stealing into the ' when the Roman monarchy first begun<a>) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed but it shall break in pieces & consume all these kingdoms & it shall stand forever. This same new ' you see is begun in the flourishing & height of the Roman monarchy Now what did J. X do when he came into the world and went up into heaven when he began his new '. ---Consider what the ' was before. The devil was worshipped in all parts of the ' Our L & Saviour X flingeth him down I say [sic] Satan saith he fall down like lightning . Where heathenism did not prevail there did Judaism all the ceremonial law. He therewith [threw (om.E.; A.)] them all down The Apostle Paul calleth it shaking of the earth Hev. 12. 1 26. Here is a great deal of this ' gone presently and falling down like Dagon before the new '. He converteth by his apostles millions of souls all over the ' and how is conversion expressd 1 Cor. 5. 17 Old things are past away all things are become new.

¶"And this is but the first days work of this ' to come the ' is yet to come. ---- After this first days work then cameth<o>[A] the night of popery But X will have a second days work He will not cease `till he hath thrown out every rag the least dross & defilement that popery brought in or continued in the ' And we are under the second days work if I may so express it . We are but working up still to a purer ' working to the perfection of the new ' And J. X will never rest `till he hath thrown out all the dross of this ' both in doctrine & worship which conforming to the ' hath brought in But for a second degree of this O [sic; work?] he will never rest `till he hath brought all the ' (i.e the generality of men) to be subject to him which is another degree of this ' to come ---- This new ' will have a further perfection that [sic; than? A] it yet hath It shall grow up to a world that the generality of mankind both Jew & Gentile shall come into J. X He hath had but little takings of the ' yet but he will have before he hath done the world was made for him and he will have it before he hath done

¶"Another degree of this ' to come is after the general resurrection of both the just & unjust."

¶These things are taken from Dr. Goodwins Works Vol. 1 . Part 1. Page 446 Beginning with Paragraph. 2. & 453. beginning with par. last & 454. par 2,3,4,5. & 455. par. 1,2,3,4,5. & 459. par 2. [finis]

 

¶1261 OCCASION OF THE FALL OF THE ANGELS.].[E's]

¶"It is supposed by some and that rationally & probably, by Zanchy, whom I account the best of Protestant writers in his judgment; and likewise by Suarez the best of the school-men that upon the very setting up, or at least-wise upon the notice that the angels had of the setting up of a kingdom for the man X Jesus predestinated for to come (which whether it was without the fall predestinated as some, or upon supposition of the fall as others, yet so much might be revealed to them,) and that the human nature was to be assumed up into the second Person, and he to be the Head of all principality & power, and that angels & men should have their grace from him, This they say being declared to be the will of God, their very refusing of this kingdom and to be subject unto X as man thus assumed was their first sin And now in opposition hereunto they did set up another kingdom against him. Thus I say these writers that I have mentiond do think And they alledge that place in the Epistle of Jude v. 6. where the sin of the angels being described it is said they kept not their first estate but left their own habitation (which say they is not there brought in as their punishmt) They left the station God had set them in, and they left their dwelling in heaven to set up a kingd. here below, in opposition to X and so to have an independent kingd. of themselves, for which God hath condemned them unto et. torment & to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment 2. Pet. 2. 4. and to set up this great kingdom is their business and therefore they do now associate thems. together, not out of love but as becameth<o> rational creatures that would drive on a project & design. These writers not only go upon this place in Jude but that Joh. 8. 44. where X lays open both the devils sin & the sin of the Jews The sin of the Jews was that they would not receive that truth which X had delivered to them as he tells them v. 45 because I tell you the truth ye believe me not and not receiving it they sought to kill him Now if you ask what that truth was which X had so much inculcated upon them you shall see v. 25. what it is They asked him there who he was even the same saith he that I have told you from the beginning. The Messiah the Son of God If the Son make you free you shall be free indeed v. 36. This was the great truth that those Jews would not receive Now he tells them likewise v. 44. that Satan their father the devil abode not in the truth he was the first saith he that opposed and contradicted this great truth & would not be subject to God who revealed this nor would he accept or embrace, or continue or stand he would quit heaven first and so from hence came to be a murderer a hater of this man X. Jesus, & of this kingdom & of mankind. For he that hateth God or he that hateth X he is in what in him lieth a murderer of him & he shewed it in falling upon man And they back it with this reason why it should be so meant because otherwise the devils sin which he compares theirs to had not been so great as theirs There had not been a likeness between the sin of the one and the other. His sin would have been only telling a lie a lie meerly in speech and theirs had been a refusing that great truth Jesus X as the Messiah & Head and so the devils sin would /p. 14/ have been less than theirs. Whereas he is made the great father of this great lie, of this great stubbornness to receive X and to contradict this truth and this saith he he hath opposed from the beginning with all his might and he setteth your hearts a [sic] work to kill me . But I say I will not stand upon this Because I only deliver it as that which is the opinion of some and hath some probability. However this is certain whatsoever his sin was he hath now being fallen set up his kingdom in a special manner against X And so X hath been the great stumbling stone and angels fell upon it & men fall upon it so that indeed the first quarrel was laid in this God himself proclaimed it at the very beginning. And a little would make one think that there was something before when God denounced the sentence against the serpent The seed of the woman shall break the serpents head which tho' spoken to the serpent comes in by way of curse as striking at the very spirit of the devils sin He shall break thy head saith he Thou wouldst have lifted up thyself he shall crush thee. God I say proclaimed the war, and the quarrel hath continued from the beginning of the war, and the quarrel hath continued from the beginning of the ' to this day and will do [so (? mg)] till Satan be put out of the air for so long he is to have his kingd. tho X beateth him out of it every day in the ' and so will continue to do `till he hath won the ' from him and then he will chain him up in the bottomless pit" This from Dr. Goodwin 1 vol of his Works, Part II: p. 32, 33 See forward No. 1266. p. 28 [finis]

 

¶1262. CONFLAGRATION. `Tis an argument that the fire of the conflagration shall be that fire in which the wicked shall have their eternal punishmt that the great deluge that destroyed the wicked world in Noahs time was a type of it

¶There are many things that make it manifest that that deluge was a designed <as a great & very signal> type and representation of the eternal destruction of the wicked and that the ark that saved Noahs family & the elect creatures of all sorts was a type of X or of the provision made by him for the salvation of the church and of an elect number of all kinds & all nations under heaven in whom is neither Greek nor Jew circumcision nor uncircumcision barbarian Scythian bond or free & in whom the wolf shall dwell with the lamb the leopard lie down with the kid &c--[[E's br] see sermons on the subject] <Gods wrath is often compared to over whelming waters>

¶The Apostle Peter evidently speaks of this deluge as a type of the final conflagration, 2. Pet. 3. 5,6,7. For this they are willingly ignorant of that by the word . That by the word [sic] of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water & in the water whereby the world /mg/ the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the heavens & the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment & perdition of ungodly men . Here these two great events these grand destructions of the ' are evidently compared one with [the other (om.E. mg)] as represented one by the other The Apostle plainly speaks of that deluge as containing the instruction argument & evidence of a type /p. 15/ that if properly attended with an unbiassed judgmt & right disposition of heart would convince these<o> scoffers of the truth of the antitype or thing signified viz. the final conflagration [finis]

 

¶1263. GODS IMMEDIATE & ARBITRARY OPERATION in all instances of it at least in this lower world whether through all ages on mens minds by his Spirit or at some particular season extraodinarily requiring it in what is called miracles is that which there is a strong & strange disposition in many to object against and disbelieve But for what reason unless it be something in the disposition of the heart is hard to imagine. <See concerning such prejudices McLaurin's Discourses p. 314, 315. &c.>

¶If there be a God who is truly an intelligent voluntary active being what is there in reason to incline us to think that he should not act upon his creatures which being his creatures must have their very being from his action & must be perfectly & most absolutely subject to & dependent on his action And if he acted once why must he needs be still forever after & act no more what is there in nature to disincline [us (om.E; mg)] to suppose he <maynt>[A] continue to act towards the ' he made & is under his government & if he continues to act at all towards his creatures then there must be some of his creatures t[hat (A; mg. bad)] he continues to act upon imme[di]-ately Tis nonsense to say he a[cts] upon all mediately because in so doing w[e] go back in infinitum [a w missing?] from one thing acting on anoth[er] without ever coming to a prime present agent & yet at the same time suppose God to be such a present agent.

¶There are many who allow a present continuing immediate operation of God on the creation (and indeed such are the late discoveries & advances which have been made in natural philosophy that all men of sense who are are [sic] also men of learning are comp[elled (A; mto)] to allow it.) But yet because so many of the constant changes & events in their continued series in the exter[nal (A; mto)] ' come to pass in a certain exact method according to certain fix'd invariable laws are averse to allow that God acts any otherwise than as limiting himself by such invariable laws fixd from the beginning of the creation when he precise[ly (mg; A cop & D omit word] marked out & determined the rules & paths of all his future operations (-s? so A; mto)] and that he never departs since that departs [sic] from those path[s (A)] so that tho they allow an immediate divine operation now in these days yet they sup[pose (A mto)] it what is limited by what we call LAWS OF NATURE and seem averse to allow an ARBITRARY OPERATION /p. 16/ to be continued or [A; ever] to be expected in these days.

¶But I desire it may be well considered whether there be any [rea]son for this.

¶Of the two kinds of divine operation viz that which is arbitrary & that which is limited by fixd laws the former viz arbitrary is the first & foundation of the other and that which all divine operation [-s?][note above &in mg] must finally be resolved into & which all events & divine effects whatsoever primarily depend upon even the fixing of the method & rules of the other kind of operation is an instance of arbitrary operation.

¶When I speak of arbitrary operation I don't mean arbitrary in opposition to an operation directed by wisdom but in opposition to an operation confined to & limited by those fix'd establishments & laws commonly called the laws of nature The one of these I shall therefore for want of better phrases call a natural operation the other an arbitrary operation.

[¶?]The latter of these as I observed is first & supream [a]nd [is that (? om. E)] en<to> which the other is wholly subject & absolutely dependent and without which there could be no divine operation at all & no effect ever produced & nothing & nothing [sic; mg] besides God could ever exist . Arbitrary operation is that to which is owing the existence of the subject of natural operation [-s?] the manner measure & all the circumstances of their existence tis te arbitrary operation is ewing the that fixes determines & limits the laws of natural operation.

¶Therefore arbitrary operation being everry way the highest it is that wherein God is most glorified. Tis the glory of God that he is an arbitrary being that originally he in all things acts as being limited & directed in nothing but his own wisdom tied to no other rules & laws but the directions of his own infinite understanding . So in those that are the highest order of Gods creatures viz. intelligent creatures that are distinguished from other creatures in their being made in God's image Tis one thing wherein consists their highest natural dignity that they have an image of this They have a secondary and dependent arbitrariness They are not /p. 17/[lim (mto)]ited in their operations to the [mg. gone when E wrote?] the laws of matter & motion so [? A; mt)] but that they can do what they please The members of mens bodies obey the act of their wills without being directed meerly by the impulse & attraction of other bodies in all their motions.

¶These things being observed I would now take notice that the higher we ascend in the scale of created existence and the nearer we come to the Creatour the more and <[mg]> more and more arbitrary we shall find the divine operations on the creature or those communications & influences by [A; mfo] which he maintains an intercourse with the creature and it appears beautiful and every way fit & suitable that it should be so <See vol 1 B. 1. tt>

¶But before I proceed particularly to shew this I would observe how any divine operation may be said [to (om.E)] be more or less arbitrary or to come nearer to that which is absolutely arbitrary in [A; partly gone at mg] the sense I have spoken of viz. [A; mg. faint] in opposition to a being limit[ed (A;mtp)] by that <thos>[?] general [r]ules [sic] called laws of nature

¶An operation is absolutely ar[bi]trary when no use [is (A; mto)] made of any law of nature [and (A; mto)] no respect had to any [su]ch fix'd rule or method

¶There are three ways that th[ose (A)] operations which are not absolutely & perfectly arbitrary may approach near to it

¶1. One is by arbitrary operations being mix'd with those that are natural i.e when there is something in the operation that is arbitrary & tied to no fix'd rule or law & something else in the operation wherein he [sic] the laws of nature are made us [sic] and without which the designed effect could not take place Instances will be given of this afterwards

¶2. Another way is when tho some law or rule is observed the rule is not general or very extensive but some particular exempt rule being an exception to general laws of nature and a law that extends to comparatively few instances

¶This approaches to an arbitrary operation for the less extensive the limitation of the operation or the smaller the number of instances or cases by which it is limited tis manifest the nearer the operation is to unlimited or limited to no number of cases at all

¶Thus supposing there were an exception to the general /p. 18/ law of gravitation towards the center of the earth and there were one kind of bodies that on the contrary had an inclination to fly from the center & that in proportion to the quanitity of matter but that sort of bodies no where to be found but in some one certain island & very rarely to be found there This kind of operation would be nearer to arbitrary & miraculous than other divine operations than those that are limited by the general laws of nature that obtain every where through the world.

¶3. Another way wherein a manner of operation approaches to arbitrary is when the limitation to a method is not absolute even in the continued course of that sort of operations so that the law fails of the nature of a fix'd law as all that are called laws of nature are God generally keeps to that method but tie not himself to it sometimes departs from it according to his sovereign pleasure

¶Having mentiond these things I now proceed particularly to observe how the higher we ascend in the scale or series of created existences & the nearer in thus ascending we come to the Creatour the more the manner of divine operation with respect to the creature approaches to arbitrary in these respects or in one or other of them. Thus in the

¶1. First place if we ascend with respect to time and go back in the series of existences or events in the order of their succession to the beginning of the creation & so till the limits and rise of the laws of nature we [sic] shall come to arbitrary operation The creation of the matter of the material ' out of nothing the creation even of every individual atom or primary particle was by an operation perfectly arbitrary And here by the way, I would observe that creation out of nothing seems to be the only divine operation that [is (A; om. E)] absolutely arbitrary without any kind of use made of any antecedently <such [out of place]> fixd method of proceeding as is called a law of nature

¶After the creation of the matter of the ' out of nothing the gradual bringing of the matter of the world into order was by an arbitrary operation It was by arbitrary divine [operation (om.E)] that the primary particles of matter were put in motion and had the direction & degree of their motion determined and were brought /p. 19/ into so beautiful and useful a situation one with respect to another But yet the operation by which these things was [sic] done was not so absolutely purely & unmixedly arbitrary as the first creation out of nothing for in these secondary operations or the works of what may be called a secondary [creation (? D; om.E)] some use was made of laws of nature before established such at least as the laws of resistance and attraction or adhesion <& vis inertiae> that are essential to the very being of matter for the very solidity of the particles of matter it self consists in them But the putting these particles into motion supposes em to exist in the moving <inert> resisting and adhering matter there is use made of the laws of resistance and adhesion they are presupposed as the basis of this secondary operation of God in causing this resistance <vis inertiae> & adhesion to change place and in causing the consequent impulses & mutual influences which is the end of those motions & dispositions of the situation of particles.

¶So that the creation of particular natural bodies as the creation of light the creation of the sun moon & stars of earth air & seas stones rocks & minerals the bodies of plants & animals, was by a mix'd operation partly arbitrary & partly by stated laws. And thus as we descend from the first creation out of nothing through the rest of the operations of the six days But it may be proper here to remark these following things.

¶1. Immediate creation seems not entirely to have ceased with that first work by which the ' in general was brought out of nothing But after that there was an immediate creation in making of the souls of Adam & Eve and also with respect to the greater part of the body of Eve.

¶2. The mixing of arbitrary with natural operations was not only in arbitrarily making use of laws already established as in setting material things in motion variously compounding them & the like but also in establishing new more particular laws of nature with respect to particular creatures as they were made as the laws [wwxo] the laws of <electricity> magnetism many laws observable in plants the laws of instint in animals and the laws of the operation of the minds of man<e>

¶3. Most things in the visible ' were brought into their perfect state so as to [be (om.E)] of such a particular kind <or to <[be (om.E)]> as to their sped[ies (A; mfo)]> /p. 20/ & species of creatures by a secondary creation which is a mix'd operation excepting the creation of the highest orders of creatures viz. intelligent minds which were wholly created compleat in their kind by an absolutely arbitrary operation. What may be said hereafter may lead us to the reason of this.

¶And if we proceed in the succession of existences till we come to the supream Being the other way viz. to the end of the ' For tho' proceeding to future be according to a more common way of speaking descending yet `tis as truly ascending towards God as proceeding the other way For God is the first & the last the beginning & the end Now I say if we ascend up to God this way proceeding in the succession of events till we come to the end of time this way of proceeding will again bring us to a disposition of the ' by a divine arbitrary operation through [throught?] the universe for God will not leave the ' to a gradual decay languishing thro' millions of ages under a miserable decay `till it be quite perished & utterly ruin'd according to a course of things according to the laws of nature but will himself destroy the ' will roll the heavens together as a scroll will change it as a man puts off an old garment & wears it not till it gradually drops to pieces and will take it down as a machine is taken down when it has asnwered the workmans end. And this he will do by an arrest on the laws of nature every where in [A; on] all parts of the visible universe & by an <entire> [xo?] new disposition & mighty change of all things at once For tho all the laws of nature will not be abolished those laws before mentiond on which the being of the primary particles of matter [depends (om.E)] will be continued yet the arbitrary interposition entirely beside & above those laws & in some respects contrary to em & interrupting their influence may be said to be universal as it will be in all parts of the material creation and very many of the laws of nature /p. 21/ will be utterly abolished particularly many of the laws peculiarly respecting plants & animals & human bodies & mens<a> animal life

¶If we ascend towards God in the scale of existence according to the degrees of excellency & perfection the nearer we come to God the nearer we shall come to arbitrary influence of the most high on the creature till at length when we come to the highest rank we shall come [to (om.E)] an intercourse as is in many respects quite above those rules which we call the laws of nature. The lowest rank of material things are almost wholly under the government of the general laws of matter & motion . if we ascend from them to plants which in many things are governed by more particular laws distinct from the laws common to all material things <The laws of vegetation are doubtless many of them distinct from the general laws of matter & motion> and therefore (by what was observed before) nearer akin to an arbitrary influence. if we ascend from the most imperfect to the most perfect kind of plants we shall come to more particular laws still and if from thence we rise to animal[s] we shall come to laws still more singular and when we rise to the most perfect of them we shall find particular laws or instincts yet nearer akin to an arbitrary influence . If we rise to mankind and particularly the mind of man by which especially he is above the inferiour creatures & consider to the laws of the common operations of the mind they are so high above <such a kind of> general laws of matter that th & are so singular that they are altogether untraceable <the more particular laws are the harder to be investigated and traced.> And if we go from the common operations of the faculties of the mind and rise up to those that are spiritual which are infinitely of the highest kind and are those by which intelligent beings <the minds> are most conversant with the Creatour & have their very next union with him ¶? Tho' these are not altogether without use made of means & some connection with antecedents [A; -s?] & what we call tho' improperly in this case second causes yet the operation may properly be said to be arbitrary and sovereign the connection after the manner of the invariable laws of nature never erring from the degree and exact measure time & precise state of the antecedent. And if we ascend from saints on earth to angels in heaven & constantly receive his commands on every occasion the will of God not being made /p. 22/ known to them by any such methods as the laws of nature but immediately given on all emergences we shall come to greater degrees of an arbitrary intercourse. And if [we (om.E;mg)] rise to the highest step of all next to the supream being himself even the mind of the man X Jesus who is united personally to the Godhead, doubtless there is a constant intercourse as it were infinitely above the laws of nature <N.B. When we come to the highest ranks of creatures we come to them, who themselves have the greatest image of Gods arbitrary operation who `tis therefore most fit should be the subjects of such operations.>

¶And if we ascend towards God conjunctly proceeding in our ascent both according to the order of degrees & the order [of events (D; ?? ; om. E)] we shall find the rule hold still the more arbitrary shall we find the divine influence and intercourse & to a higher degree than by ascending in one way singly

¶Thus if we ascend up to intelligent creatures men and angels who are next to the Creatour and then go back to the beginning of the ' even to their creation we shall find more of an arbitrary operation in their creation <& being brought to perfection in their kind> than in the creation of any other particular species of creatures Thus it was not in the creation of angels as it was in the formation of sun moon & stars minerals plants & animal[s] who were formed out of preexistent principles by a secondary creation as it is called presupposing making use of & operating upon these<o> principles as subsisting by certain general laws of nature already established but the angels were immediately created & made perfect in their kind at once by an immediately arbitrary op <a primary creation> operation absolutely arbitrary as perfectly so as the creation of the primary particles of matterr themselves And so with respect to the creation of the soul of man.

¶And after these intelligent beings were created at first the divine intercourse with them must be much more arbitrary than it is now They could not be left to themselves & to the laws of nature to acquire that knowledge and exercise of their faculties by contracted habits & gradual association of ideas as we do now gradually rising from our first infancy If man had been thus left he must needs have soon perished but we must suppose that there was an extraordinary influence & intercourse God had with man far above the law of nature immediate[ly (om.E)] instructing [sic] enlightning & conducting him & arbitrarily fixing those habits in his mind which now are gradually established through a great length of time. So afterwards for some time God continued a miraculous intercourse /p. 23/ with our first parents & we see that for many of the first ages of the ' and arbitrary in[ter (mg)] course of God with mankind [note by TS] (not only some particular prohpets of one nation or posterity) but with eminent saints of all families I say such an arbitrary intercourse was much more common in those first ages than afterwards.

¶And if we proceed in the order of time the other was to the end of the ' & till we come to him who is the End as well as the Beginning tis true we shall find that an arbitrary influence will then be exerted every where throughout the creation but more especially <& many more ways> towards intelligent beings for instance towards mankind in bringing souls departed from the other world in raising the dead to life in miraculously changing the living in taking up the saints to meet the Lord in gathering all both good & bad before the judgmt seat . and in all the process of that day things must[&c] the laws of nature must be innumerable ways departed from & an extraordinary operation succeed in the manifestation of the Judge in the manifestation of the judged one to another in manifesting & declaring the actions of particular persons & the secrets of their hearts & the gro[u]nds [-s xo? <no s in> A] of the sentence & in all the process of that day. If the laws [-s? A] of nature were not in numberless ways to be departed from in these things the day of judgmt would take up more time by far than the world has stood . An[d] in the execution of the sentence on both the righ. & the wicked the glorious power [A: powers] of God will be wonderfully & most extraordinarily manifested in many respects above all that ever was before in the arbitrary exertions of it p. 25. . c.

----------------------------------------------------------------- p. 26. . a.

/ And if we consider the church or that part of mankind that society of intelligent beings which God hath choosen for his part & portion his peculiar treasure that part that is united to god conformed to him & truly actively answers the end of the creation and are Gods own family which are truly the head of the creation and the end of all the rest & next of all to God I say if we consider this society & go back to its beginning till we come to God the Father of [it (om.E)] & to Christ the foundation of it at the times when the chh had its foundation laid & when it was as it were formed & established /p. 24/ we shall come to arbitrary operations .

¶Now thus to ascend to the laying of the foundations of the chh. is a different thing from going back to the beginning of the creation because [wxo] because the chh. is established & built up by a quite different work of God called the new-creation or creation of new-heavens & new earth which is a work carried on from the beginning to the end of the ' & the foundation of the chh was laid by several remarkable degrees, periods at each of which God appears in an extraordinary manner & operates by an arbitrary influence

¶One period wherein the foundation of the chh was laid was immediately after the fall, when God appeared in arbitrary manifestations & operations to his chh & continued for ages so to do

¶Another period was after the flood where again we shall find [God (om.E)] extraordinarily manifesting himself to Noah & maintaining an arbitrary intercourse with him & his family

¶Another & yet far more remarkable season of laying the foundation of the chh. was the time of the calling of Abraham which was attended & followed with many great & extraordinary revelations & an arbitrary influences [sic]

¶Another time which may in an especial manner & above all others be called the time of laying the foundation of the Jewish [churc (om.E)] was in Moses & Joshuas time & how many & great were the miraculous & extraordinary operations & influences of God towards his people at that time

¶Another season was the time of calling David the great ancestour of X to the throne & setting up his kingdom & the building the temple & establishing the temple worship which was attended with the beginning of a succession of prophets which lasted to the captivity & a very extraordinary intercourse with David & innumerable revelations made to him

¶But far above all was the time when X came was incarn[at]ed lived on earth died rose again ascended into heaven & sent the Holy Sp. from thence the time of laying the foundation of the church of God all the preceding were but the forerunners & preparatives for this This especially was the time of laying the foundation of the new creation or the new heaven[s?] & the new earth.

¶And that time even that age wherein X and his apostles lived being about 100 years was above /p. 25/ [every other age (? om. E)] that ever was an age of supernatu[ra] (om.mg.)] extraordinary & arbitrary operations & communications from heaven, on several accounts 1 Then the greatest things were done by arbitrary power & most out of & beyond the course of nature as the incarnation of X the conception of a child in the womb of a woman without intercourse with a [xo?] man<e> the union of the soul of the child conceived in such a manner of [sic] the divine Logos the rising of X from the dead to everlasting life the alteration made in the human nature of X at his ascension into heaven and the alteration made in his state <from such meanness abasemt suffering & subjection to his enemies> See note on Eph. 1. 19, 20 [? 23? wr. over]

20 &c.

----------------------------------------------------------------- ¶The great degrees in which the miraculous influences of the Sp. of [God (om.E)] was given to X & to his apostles And the great degrees in which a spirit of saving grace was given which is properly supernatural & in many respects arbitrary in its operation. 2. In the multitude of the instances of arbitrary operation on the minds of so great a number of persons, and the number of extraordinary arbitrary revelations gives [sic] & effects wrought. 3. In the greatness importance and vast extent of the influence of these extraordinary operations & effects in the system & series of things.

-----------------------------------------------------------------These are infinitely greater effects than the creation of the '

----------------------------------------------------------------- such wonderful effects of Gods arbitrary operations were there in laying the foundation of the church & so at the finishing of the superstructure the compleating of the chh. & its full consummation in perfection glory & happiness at the day. The effects of Xs arbitrary operation towards his church will be unspeakable [sic] greater than towards the wicked (tho they will be exceeding great) as the Apostle says according to the exceeding greatness of Gods power which wrought in X in his resurrection exaltation & glorification then will all the work of sanctification & glorification of all the saints begun in their conversion be compleated in its highest conformity to X glory by a work far greater than the creation of heaven & earth [[E's] next col. a.

-----------------------------------------------------------------p. 23. . c.][E's] And if we look to the beginning and end <the birth & death of each individual> of particular persons [sic] of mankind we shall find the same rule hold as concerning the beginning & end of the race of mankind in general The soul of every man in his generation or birth must be immediately created and infused or if we say that it is according to a fix'd law of nature that the Creatour forms & introduces the soul it being determined by a law of nature what the precise state of the prepared body shall be when the soul shall begin to exist in it yet it must be a law of nature that is most peculiar and widely differing from all other laws of nature & independent of them /p. 26/

¶And so again the Creatour immediately & arbitrarily interposes when a man comes to die in disposing of that soul that he infused in his birth. see p. 23. . c.

----------------------------------------------------------------- last col. c. ][E's] So if we consider the beginning or creation and end of each individual saint or member Thus in their beginning or creation I mean their beginning as saints or their conversion commonly at the time of that Gods sovereign arbitrary interposition & influence on their hearts is much more visible and remarkeable [sic] than ordinarily they are the subjects of in the course of their lives. And when they come to die the positive effects of Gods arbitrary influence are immensely greater in the souls of the saints in their glorification than in the souls of the wicked in their damnation.

¶Thus let us proceed which way we will in the series of things in the creation still the higher we ascend & the near [sic] we come to God in the graduation or succession of created things the nearer it comes to that that there is no other law than only the law of the infinite wisdom of the omniscient first cause and supream disposer of all things who in one simple unchangeable perpetual view comprehends all existence it [sic] is [sic; A: in its] utmost compass and extent & infinite series

`Tis fit that it should be so as we proceed and go from step to step among the several parts & distinct existences & events of the universe that which was soever we go the nearer we come to God the less & less we should find that things are governed by general laws & that the arbitrariness of the supream cause & governour should be more & more seen. For he is not seen to be the sovereign ruler of the universe or God over all any otherwise than he is seen to be arbitrary . He is not seen to be active in the government of the ' any other way than it is seen he is arbitrary It is not seen but that he himself in common with his creatures [A; -s?] is subject in his acting to the same laws with inferiour beings any other way than as it is seen that his arbitrary operation operation [sic] is every way & every where at the head of the universe and is the foundation & first spring of all. [finis]

 

¶1264. THE DEVIL BEFORE THE FALL THE HIGHEST OF ALL CREATURES.] The devil, having respect to hwat he was before his fall is called Lucifer or the morning star. A star is /p. 27/ very often in SS. used as the symbol of a prince or ruler. This is very evident particularly in Matt. 2. 2. Where is he that is born KING of the Jews for we have seen his STAR in the East & are come to worship. See also Num. 24. 17. Rev. 8. 10,11 The moon & the stars are said to RULE by night. So we read of the DOMINION which the stars have in the earth Job. 38 31---33. And as the angels in general are calld stars signifying in part that dominion which they have whereby they are called in the N. Test. thrones dominions principalities & powers. So as Satan was Lucifer or the morning star the brightest of all the stars this naturally leads us to suppose that he was that creature that was set at the head of the universe in greatest authority as Gods prime minister of state. Xs being of the highest authority as well as greatest glory of all is represented in the Rev. by his being called the bright & morning star. So Satans being called the morning star represents his excelling all other creatures in authority. [finis]

 

¶1265 TRINITY Intimations of in the OLD TESTAMt][E's] Zech. 2. 8. For thus saith the Lord after the GLORY hath HE sent me to the nations that spoiled you Here is a plain distinction between the Lord of hosts that was sent & God sending <Isai. 54. 5 Thy makers are thy husband Ps. 149. 2. In his makers. Isai. 44. 2. The Lord thy Makers And as Dr. Goodwin says in multitudes of places.> [finis; last is later addition]

 

¶1266. [a] GLORY OF GOD, THE END OF THE CREATION.][E's] God's glory as it is spoken of is SS. as the end of all Gods works is in one word the EMANATION of that fulness of God that is from eternity in God ad extra & towards those creatures that are capable of being sensible & active objects of such an emanation

¶It consists in communicating himself to those two faculties of the understanding & will by which faculties it is that creatures are sensible and active objects or subjects of divine emanations & communications

¶God communicates himself to the understanding in the manifestation that is made of the divine excellency & the understanding idea or view which intelligent creatures have of it He communicates his glory & fulness to the wills of sensible willing active beings in their rejoycing in the manifested glory of God in their admiring it in their [wxo] in their loving God for it and being in all respects affected & disposed suitably to such glory wherein consi & their exercising & expressing those affections & dispositions wherein consists their praising & /p. 28/ glorifying God & in their being themselves holy & having the image of this glory in their hearts and as it were reflecting it as a jewel does the light of the sun <& as it were partake [sic] of Gods brightness> & in their being happy in God whereby they partake of God's fulness of happiness

¶This twofold emanation or communication of the divine fulness ad extra is answerable to the twofold emanation or going forth of the Godhead ad intra wherein the internal & essential glory & fulness of the Godhead consists viz. the proceeding of the et. Son of God God's eternal idea & infinite understanding & wisdom & the brightness of his glory whereby his beauty & excellency appears to him. and the proceeding of the Holy Spirit or the et. will temper disposition of the Deity the infinite fulness of Gods holiness joy & delight <Exod 33. 18. I bessech thee shew me thy glory in the LXX thy light> [finis]

 

¶1266. b. Add this to No. 1261. ending p. 14. . e.][E's] OCCASION OF THE FALL OF THE ANGELS The same Dr. Goodwin in the 2d vol. of his Works in his Disc. on the Knowl. of G. the F. & of his Son J. X. speaking of the pride of some, has these words "A lower degree of accursed pride fell into the heart of the devil himself whose sin in his first apostatizing from God is conceived to be a stomaching that man should be one day advanced unto the hypostatical union and be one person with the Son of God whose proud angelical nature (then in actual existence THE HIGHEST OF CREATURES) could not brook." [finis]

[N.B. Here is JE himself making a secondary number out of mat. earlier simply designated as "after No. ..."--if the "b" is his]

[No, the "1266" was wr. same time as the rest, but the "b" is later addition by E.]

 

¶1267. OPINIONS OF THE ANTIENT JEWS CONCERNING A FUTURE PUNISHMENT.][E's] "We have an account in the books of Maccabees that Eleazar one of the principal scribes of the Jews an aged man and discreet when he was advised by his friends to make as if he did eat of the flesh taken from the sacrifice commanded by the king that in so doing he might be delivered from death with great scorn rejected their advice upon this consideration that tho' for the present time he should be delivered from the punishmt of men yet should he not escape the hand of the Almighty either alive or dead And the son of Syrach tells us that sinners are kept against the mighty day of their punishmt And the seven brothers mention'd in the Maccabees were plainly full of the belief of a future retribution" A. Bp. Dows's Works Vol. 2. p. 38, 39. [finis]

 

¶1268. NATURAL CONSCIENCE, ITS FOREBODINGS OF PUNISHMENT. TRADITIONS OF THE HEATHEN CONCERNING THIS.][E's]. "So great is the power of conscience that those who have committed any fault live in perpetual fear of punishment." Tull. Orat pro Milone "Many sorrows & perturbations of mind repentence and continual tumults & disorders diffidence concerning even their present state and black & melancholy suspicions of their future ones are the natural consequences of mans evil actions" Plutarch p. 556. Edit. Paris. "In proportion to mens sins their fears will grow upon them & never let them be quiet for these they will be scourged and mightily tormented" <Seneca Epis. 97, 98, 105> "Wicked men night & day carry about in their own breasts a witness against themselves which doth secretly terrify last & torture them and fill them with dreadful apprehensions of punishmt to come" Juvenal. Sat. 13. Nay even Lucretius himself doth more than once acknowledge this to be the common case of mankind. These things from A. B. Dows's Works Vol. 2. p. 5. 6. [finis]

 

¶1269. TRADITIONS & OPERATIONS OF THE HEATHEN CONCERNING A FUTURE JUDGMENT.][E's]. Diodorus Siculus expressly tells us of the Egyptians that "the Greeks imitated their funeral rites in relation to the punishment of the wicked in hell and the pleasant meadows provided for the good" And the Greeks were so fully perswaded of the certainty of future punishments that many of their learned men are said to have written books professedly concerning them And their wisest & gravest [A: greatest] philosophers as well as their poets have given us very particular descriptions of the torments of the wicked in hell And therefore Justin Martin [sic] tells them "that in what we Xtians say as to the punishmts of wicked men after death and the rewards of good men we say the very same things with their poets & philosophers" And much to the same purpose Eusebius & Theodoret Nor do the Latins fall a whit short of the Greeks as to their opinions in this point --- And accordingly Tertullian and other apologists for the Xtian faith to the Latins frequently tell them that "their learned men agree so exactly with the Xtians in what they hold as to future punishmts that it is hardly to be doubted but that they first received their knowledge of these things from the Xtians ancestours or their books." To hte Greeks & Romans we may add several other nations which were contemporary with them as the antient Indians & Gauls the Britons the Getae /p. 30/ the Hyperbo<e>rei & c. who are all upon reconrd in history for agreeing either directly or by natural consequence in the belief of future punishments for the wicked ----- we shall find the same amongst our new discoveries in the West & the remotist parts of the East-Indies. ¶ These things from A. Bp. Dows's Works. Vol. 2. p. 41, 42, 43. [finis]

 

¶1270. GREATNESS OF HELL TORMENTS.][E's] "The very heathen themselves by the meer light of nature seem to have been perfectly well assured of the inconceivable greatness of hell torments For not only their poets but also their best & gravest philosophers do both expressly assert the extremity & intolerableness of hell torments and likewise give us such terrifying and amazing descriptions of them as may abundantly convince us that they did really believe them to be infinitely great --- A small taste of which you may be pleased to take in Plato only who under the person of one who is supposed to have seen hell and afterwards to have returnd to this ' again tells us what dreadful spectacles he there saw how he beheld men tortured with numberless tortures of all sorts some burning in rivers of fire others shivering & freezing in streams of excessive coldness some tossd about & torn by wild beasts others incessantly burnt with the lamps of the furies and more particularly some bound hand & foot then flead [sic] & thrown upon thorns & prickles to be tortured --- This from A. Bp. Dows's Works. Vol. 2. p. 100, 101. [finis]

 

¶1271. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS by which believers are justified is called GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS not meerly because `tis a righteousness of God's providing Nor is thereby meant only that `tis a fruit of Gods wonderful contrivance and extraordinary dispensation But because tis a righteousness of God's working and inherent in God i.e in a divine <person> This is agreeable to the style of the gospel. Thus the rest that remains for the people of God the rest which God has provided for them & which they enter into is called God's rest in that sense that tis Xs own rest the rest which he himself enters into compare Heb. 3. 11, 14. & chap. 4. 5,9,10. So it is said in Gods light we shall see light & that the saints shall drink of the river of Gods pleasures & shall enter into the joy of their Lord And the glory of the saints which is the fruit of righteousness is glory of God Rom. 5. We have sinned & come short of the glory So the kingdom of God is promised to them and the inheritance /p. 31/ which is reserved for the saints in heaven (or in the holy places) is called Xs inheritance Eph 1. 18.

¶See SS. B. 2. No. 318. [finis; ref. at end prob. same time]

 

¶1272. DEVILS. Their Present State in Hell.][E's] Dr. Goodwin in his Exp. on Ephesians. Part II, p. 39. "If the devil were full of torment it is certain he could not be busy to tempt and the reason is clear for the fulness of Gods wrath which men shall have in hell takes up all the intention ---- The wrath of God would distract the creature when it cometh in the fulness of it Now the devil hath all his wits about him all his wiles all his methods Therefore certainly they are not full of torment.

¶And likewise if they had not ease yea a pleasure in wickedness in some respect they would not be so busy for they have lusts & desires ---- The lusts of your father the devil says X Ye will do Now then when they have put men upon what they do desire there is a satisfaction of their lusts and there [is (om.E)] in some respects some pleasure arising that sets them on work. And this may seem to be one difference between the place of mens souls departed that go to hell that are in a place of torment as it is called Luke 16. & the devils place God having not appointed them a ministry to work in the children of disobedience as he hath done the devils." [finis]

 

¶1273. How the POPE IS ANTICHRIST.][E's] Dr. Goodwin Ibid (see foregoing No) p. 40,41.

¶"The devil was worshipped in the ' as God and therefore it is said Rev. 12. that he & his angels were in heaven. why? Because they were worshipped as gods and he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. When Constantine turned Xtian all the ' turned Xtian too. Then all his devils were thrown down from having that worship as they alwaies had before --- But when he ceased to be a god --- that he might imitate God who hath set up his Son J. X he likewise hath set up his son AntiX whose kingdom & the devils are in many things just alike --- Tis said Rev. 14. 2. The Dragon did give the Beast his power & seat & great authority . AntiX is the o<e>ldest son of Satan as X is the eldest Son /p. 32./ of God" [finis]

 

¶1274. THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN shall partake of Xs own happiness & glory and of the enjoymt of that LOVE OF GOD by which God loves his own dear Son.][E's]. Thus Dr. Goodwin. (Ibid p. 158) on that ext Eph. 2. 4. For his great love wherewith he hath loved us says "It is the same love, wherewith he loveth his Son For that you have a known place in Joh. 17. 23. 26. At the 24 v. saith S Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the ' And thou hast united me to thyself Thou art in me and I in thee. So v. 21. And thou hast united a company of thine unto me I in them & thou in me (so saith v. 23) and then what follows That the world may know that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me. As he is united to God & we to him so God loveth us with the same love wherewith he loved him and then again you have the like expression v. 26. That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them -- God loved all his creatures he loved Adam but not with that kind of love wherewith he loved X but he loveth his elect with the same with the same [sic] kind of love wherewith he loved him . he loveth as his Son & he loveth them as daughters married to him . as a father loveth a son & a daughter married unto him with the same kind of love and differing from his love to the servants or to any else that are about him. And therefore you shall find that still this love comes in with a distinction Rom. 8. ult. Nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in X Jesus"

¶<Here see forward. p. 35 & p. 36 > Ibid. p. 190. Speaking of our being quickend together with X. "Do but consider the excellency of this life. It is a greater life than when we were in Adam infinitely greater We are quicken'd with X with the same life that X is quickend with Joh. 10. 10. I am come that ye might have life and that ye might have it more abundantly."

¶Ibid. 226 & 227. <228> Speaking on those words in Eph. 2d. Heath [sic] made us sit together in heavenly places in X Jesus, says "The Apostle had /p. 33/ used the word sit of X chap. 1. v. 19, 20 He hath set him at his own right hand in heavenly places. It noted out there the advancement of Jesus X to that glory & happiness which he hath in heaven at Gods right hand and it must needs imply as much done for us only here he leaves out at Gods right hand and the reason you shall see anon. It is as much as to make us partakers of the same kinglly state of all the same pleasures & honour[s?] & powers [s?] and glory of his kingdom which Jesus X himself possesseth. The raising up is but fitting the body with those heavenly properties, such as Jesus X had that he might be fit for the glory & pleasure of heaven. Now when he hath put such endowments upon the body at the resurrection then he placeth them in the midst of that glory and those pleasures which X is in And look what seats of glory he runs thro' they shall run thro' too and be partakers of In a word it is thus J. X is King of the other ' and you shall all be nobles of that ' of that kind. & sit together with him Even as it is said of Joshua the high-priest & the other priests that sat in a ring, and so they sat all before him, but yet they sat all with him. This is a type and was a type of J. X and his fellows as they are called Ps. 45 and that in respect of glory they being partakers of the same kingdom with him. And in that place in Ze[c]hary he saith that these men that sat before Joshua the high priest were men of wonder or men of signs The word is taken for being types & signs for Joshua and all those priests that say before him were but types of our great high-priest that sits in heaven & of all that sit there with him. ---- So in Luke 22. 29. I appoint unto you a kingd. as my F hath appointed unto me and what follows you shall sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel & Rev. 3. 21. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my F. on his throne. so as indeed it is all one to be partakers to be partakers [sic] of that kingdom J. X is advanced unto to be heirs and to be coheirs with him.

¶Sitting together in heavenly places in X implies First the pleasures of that kingdom --- Now 'tis familiar in the O.T & in the New, to express the pleasures of heaven by sitting at a table to banquet it with the great king that maketh that feast so in that Luke 22. 29. That /p. 34/ you may eat & drink at my table in my kingdom" --- The poets set forth the pleasures of heaven by nectar & ambrosia which was but an imitation of the Jewish & SS. language. The same our Saviour useth in the N. T. Matt. 26. 29. --- I will not henceforth drink of this fruit of the vine `till I drink it new with you in my fathers kingdom --- We need not have recourse for the interpreting of that place to his drinking with his D. [isciples (A)] after his resurrection for it is clearly meant of his drinking with them in heaven after he hath delivered up the KINGDOM TO GOD THE FATHER for we shall sit in heaven then and enjoy this new wine, which is the holy Ghost filling us with the Godhead that is filling us with the pleasures & blessedness that is in God himself. Here then is one thing that sitting in heavenly places doth imply it is enjoying the same pleasure & happiness that our Lord & Saviour J. X. himself doth

¶Secondly it implies not sitting only as at a table but it imports also the honour & power of that kingdom that we are all fellow-nobles with J. X. Luke 22. 30 You shall sit on thrones judging & c-- Rev. 3. I will grant them to sit with me on my throne"

¶Ibid. p. 247. "All that God will bestow upon us in heaven it shall be out of the same kindness which he beareth to J. X himself He will use you kindly when you come thither. Do but think how kindly he used his Son when he said Sit here till I make thine enemies thy footstool. Why the same kindness he bears to X he bears to us and out of that kindness he bears to x he will entertain us there forevermore & heartily & freely spend his utmost riches upon us. Here he shews that it is the same kindness the same kindness wherewith he embraced J. X as the head he embraceth the whole body also and out of that kindness will entertain them everlastingly as he hath done J. X. As we and X make but one body so Gods love to X and us is but one love. There is one Father one Spirit and one love and indeed one X for both body & head make but one X. I need not stand upon this you have it in Joh. 17. 23 Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me v. 22. The glory which thou gavest me have I given them. And what can be said more to shew us what great glory that in heaven will be whenas J. X is not only an example and pattern of it but when it proceeds out of the same kindness that Gods heart/ p. 35/ is set upon towards J. X himself"

¶Ibid. Part III. p. 56. "When Adam was alone before God made the woman he blessed Adam, and in him blessed her afterwards to be made This you may find Gen. 2. 26,27. He gave all the ' to Adam and in giving it to him he gave it to his wife and to his seed that should come of her So was it here when J.X and God were alone in heaven before the ' was he undertaking to be an husband God considering the chh in him he did bless us wiwth all sp. blessings in heavenly places in him he gave all to X and in X gave all to her & to all her [A; his?] seed and to all that should come of her All is yours saith the Apostle because ye are Xs & X is Gods 1 Cor. 3. ult.

-----------------------------------------------------------------< see p. 32 . c.> Part II. 187, 188. On those words we are quicken'd together with X. "You must know brethren God the F. who is the great Quickener he is the Author the great Fountain of life, and Jesus X as God man hath life given from the F. to him that he might raise us <mg> You have two places Joh. 5. 24,25,26 At the 26 v. As the F. hath life in himself so he hath given to the Son to have life in himself And Joh. 6. 57. As the living F. hath sent me & I live by the F so he that eateth my flesh shall live by me So that now it is plain that God having infinite life and happiness (For what is the life of God but his own holiness & happiness and the entireness of his own nature for his own blessedness for his own pleasure) God hath ordained and laid up eternal life in his decree. But Jesus X is to be eternal life to communicate that life that is in himself to us 1 Joh. 1. 1. God purposed that man should live in union & communion with him and partake of that life that he himself lives and communicates it as far as the creature is capable. He hath given us eternal life Well where hath he put it for us to have it? And (saith he) this life is in his Son-- so he gives it unto them he living by the Father They live by him. So that to express it more fully The Godhead dwells in the human nature of X and is a quickening Sp. to him and by vertue of our relation to him haaving union with him he quickens us & never rests till he hath brought us to that union with God in our measure and proportion that X hath ---- We are said to be quicken'd with X because the same life that J. X is quickend with we are It is called the life of Jesus. 1 Cor. 4. It is the same life the same Spirit that quickend him quickeneth us Rom. 8. 10. If we be quicken'd truly we live with the same life that X did."

¶Part. 3. p. 76. "Christ is worth all God is worth -- He is heir & shall have all And the gospel makes him yours with /p. 36/ all his riches Thus the Apostle argues & pleads the evidence of the right the Xtian hath to all things 1 Cor 3. ult. All things are yours & ye are Xs and X is Gods. God himself can be worth but all things: X is worth what God is -- And you have as much as X hath al things are given to be inherited Reb. 21. 7. By the same and as sure a title as X Rom. 8.7. we are put into Gods will joint-heirs with X --- Rom 8. 30. If he hath given us X shall he not with him give us all things freely ---- You know says the Apostle 2 Cor. 8. 9. the grace of Christ how when he was rich he became poor for your sakes to enrich you How what must these riches come to think you which are laid up for you Whereas X was as rich as God himself had as good as estate everry whit now of all these he imptied himself left himself not worth one farthing had not a hole to hide himself in made himself of no reputation of no account or reckoning making over all to you and what must this come to? The riches of God put out to use to be received with advantage again."

p. 32. . c.][E's]. Ibid Part 3. p. 114. a. "In him we are beloved with the same love X himself is Joh. 17. 23. Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me & therefore v. 27. adds & makes this a further favour granted at his request that they might be where he is." [finis]