of their State by Creation, did proceed trom this, Tnat according to <!le necdtiuy cotlitirunon of a Crea-~ ..-, tor , they were but Agents i1tpote111ta, they were not pure Ad-, and fo might C "!' '· cede to aCl: hnlily, w.IJilfl yet they had the poJ!e, the Power from God 10 .-I Cl:~ ho!ily. Andby rhe bwofCreation, God was not obliged tog iver i.eaCl:of \Villing holily, but the Power to will; and therefore al(o he rmght Not-wdl, when y-et he ougjlt, and fo linn'd. The act of Willing what was holy and good was not nccclfary in them, and therefore it might tall out ,he might nbt wdl it. And the firfl Sin lay not in an act of willing fomethin'g elfc than God ; nor in a polirive ACl: ol refufiog God, but a not wrlling, a ceafiog to will, as it had thrtherto done. - And yet, this was not Chance or Contingency, but accompanied with an ACl: of Will; to ceafe, or forbear, to will that holy good thing it did. So as the firll Sinning began not with a Motion of the W,Jl; but wul1 a deieCl:, or cealing toMove, as it ought to have done: Upon which, the Underllanding was, withal, deprivtd of its Spiritual light to guide the Will: In that Leaven was in the Will, (which, though but one Faculty, yet was t he proper Seat of Sin) the whole lump was leavened, and that fmall fpeck of taint, begun in the Will, fum'd up into the Underllanding , and darkned it; and that fpirituallight being gone, it began to judge what the D evil pro· pofed to be their bell Happinefs; and was deceived, as the Apofile fays. And then the Will, having been averted from clea~ing to its true and only Good, fdl into a Tum, ur( as I ftid) of affecting to be as Gods; and fo Sin grew irre– eoverably more and more upon them. This for a fecond Ground of this Mu– tability. 5. Add unto this , that farther Ground which the Fathers, ( AM1i11 efpe– cially) have run upon, viz, That thefe Creatures, though excellent, were made out of men Nothing; their Root was Nothing, and the Sap would be drawing down IOW:ards the Root , and withcrir g, if not continually watered by Efficacious Grace. The Creature as a Creature , would be mouldring to· wards Nothing again, and would do it every moment, if by the word of God's Power it did not conftfr. And although God bath by Charter endowed them with an Immortality (which is an Immutability, as to the fubllance of their being; which yet is by a meer participation; God, by Effence having only Immortality, r Tim. 6. r6,) yet llill be left this token of Mutability, That thry might lofe their wellbeing, w,bich Sin only could difpoffefs them of. And Sin is but an impereCl: tendency, or verging or Reeling towards Norhing;only in rhe falling, God keeps them ·in fubflantial Being llill , that they might live to find artd know their frailty , (!ic. To Sin , and to fail that way, is not indeed, fays A11{/i11, that which we call Nothing; but, fays he, It is a ten- vefime, "' dency unto Nothmg : And he g•ves thrs R.cafon, That, by how much any eft •ihit: !'" thing is excellent, and falls or declines, unto what is worfe; Or, by how ~mdu" ;-h•· r:nuch a thing is become worfe than God made it; by fo much, it is become '"' 1 "' '· nearer unto Nothing; and fa is in its degree, a falling towards Nothing: [ would exprefs it thus, That Sin is not a falling i11to pure NothiO£, !or Enti~y; but a falling !Jejidts, or Side-ways, into it : And yet, illlo what is worfe than Nothing, the ·perfect dellrudjon of the Well-being of it, And, God thought meet to preferve theSubftance of their Being, that thofe he Rt j:Cl:s, might have a Being continued, to feel the demerit of Sin ; and in them he meant to Recover, feparating, in the end; their Sin and their Perfons, yet, that all might fee their Original, and the Defectibility, might fee an experiment of their firfl Nothingnds, (which alfo they l1now not but by Faith) in t hat fo many of both forts are call intoSin, which is, ifnot lpwer tl1an No· thing, yet next degree unto it; and know themfelves to be but Creatures, that were Nothing; and that becaufe by the L.aw of God's Creation, he was not bound to have preferved them in Beiog, he therefore fuffered t!le Holinefs he had endowed them with, and whict) was Concreatcd with ·them , and y0t was the Flower, the Excellency and perfection of their Being, and of more Wnrril, t han all their Beings without it, utterly to come to Nothing. But yet further , the Holinefs which by Creation, bolh An~els and Men had , were but Adjuncts, Accidents, and Endowments, perfecting the well– being of them , and bellowed upon them to perfect their Nature, as noble qu1-
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