54 Of the Creatures, and the Condition ~of knowing God, not fatisfied and filled up, as by Faith it could never have BooK II, been, th,is hod been to have 11ir'd up defires in vain, and to have made his ~Condition, not in its own Sphere, ·perf, Cl: and compleat; yea; miferable in this, that he fhould have wanted that Coujide11ce which our faith flirs up in us, together with our longings, which 11ills our defires: Yea, it had left him dcfpairing of ever doing fo. And therefore, fourthly, Our way of Faith mu!1 needs be Supernatural, and alti01·is ordi11is, to his,and fo our knowing God •bove his; becaufe it is thus a Prehbation or tai1e of that Vifion which is ordained to us in Heaven. Faith is an imperfcll prclibation of rh':lt Knowledge of God we lhall have hereafter, aod the inchoation of it: So as by Faith, we come at leai1 to know what an happioefs it is to know God in his Effence, as in Heaven , and lo to long after it. And therefore, accordmg as we have morcF31th, fo there comes to be greater degrees of Glory in Heaven given, even in a like proportion .as mens Faith was more flirring up earnei1 groanings, hoppincfs being expletio appttJttmm, the farisf) ing our defires. And therefore Faith doth,in an imper– feCl: obfcure '!Nay, know God in himfelf; for it helps us to fee and tai1e the happinefs of knowing God fo as he is, and fo !1irs up defires accordingly. Now that Knowledge of God in Heaven is acknowledged by all to be fo tranfcen– dcntly Supernatural, that it is oo way, io any refpeCl:, natural to any Crea– ture, but only to Jefus Chri!1; ·as I lhall !hew hereafter. And therefore our Faith, that is the Inchoation of it, and is a hholdittg the Glory of' the Lord Chrifl, 2 Cor, j.tdt. and eternal life begun, mui1 needs be ejufdem o•dit~is, o£ the fame Rank, and fo doth differ from natural Faith and Knowledge of God in this, That the one is a feeing him in his Works and EffeCl:s, only from an inbred Light of his Attributes; the other is a feeing God, though obfcurely, as in himfelf; though as prefented in another, yet with a tai1c imperfcCl: of what it JS to fee God in himfelf, which 11irs up the heart to long after it. Which puts the true!1 difference between knowing God naturally and fupernaturally , and betweenAd,Jm's way and ours, . And therefore, as an Evidence of this our way, God hath ordained a Tem· porary Faith in men enlightned, as the counterfeit of our way, as he doth and did that Natur•l Knowledge in Heathens, and the Viuon of old to the Fore– fathers,as the Rcprefentation of what Adam's way of knowing God was. And therefore thefe Temporaries are faid to be enlightned, and to partake qf the heavenly Girt of Faith, and the Holy Ghoi1, and to ta!1e of the powers ofthe World to come, Hcbr. 6, 4, )• as acounterfeit of that enlightning and Spirit of Wifdom and Revelation through the Holy Ghoi1, whereby Believers know the hope of their Calling, 1 Eph, •7. 18. which work, even in them, is not Supernatural only to corrupt Nature, but to pure Nature, though not fancti– fywg as Adam's was; yet working an a!Tent to, and tai1c of the things of that World, fuch as Adam fhould never have had: Into which World A dam lhould never have come, and therefore he no ways tailed it. And therefore it is call'd the heavmly Gift, and wrought by the Holy Gho!1, in a way above Nature. To co~clude: Thus learned Camerotl, though he gives but a touch in a word, yet his Judgment falls this way, when ditferencing the Faith in Adam, and in us, he fays,Fides in fredere Natttrt£ •fl a 'Dto, ttlloqutmtur in Scholis, per modum 1laltert£: AI fides lfll£ rcqttiritflr i11 fredere grati£, J 'Deo efl, /(d per modt1111 grati£ Jitpenwturalis. The[. '4· de fredere. Now, as to the oppofite Branch, That our Faith, and God's Revelation to us, is Supernatural, this will appear in three or four refpeCl:s. 1. In refpeCl: of the Objells revealed to our Faith, which his Mind llwuld never have arrived at. z. In regard to the Light by which our Minds are aCl:ed and elevated, corn· pared with that inbred Light by which he !mew things, that Can~le which the Lord fet up in his heart, and was inbred in him, j· lo
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