' Ofthekature, knowledge, Will * Ruin de Valun.Dei difá. Is. §.4.p. z63. prettily argueth that Si non pa- tilt dari ratio ipf:ns voli- tionis divine, fed follies denominational extrinfeoa refultantir ab offensa coa- tis, fequitur nanny effe plurimas Theologorum de ordine,dependentia vel rati- ene divinarum volitionum, pofigaaminter illos conflat quem ordinem, dependenti- am vel rationem habeant externa objeeta inter fe. The confequent is true. They are vain indeed, though he deny it. Andall his reafonsp.161, 16a, &c. to prove that dantur in ereatura rations finales movantes divinam voluntatem, .. are but tri- flings with the ambigui- tiesof the wordRatioand abutes of the word Caufa, having before confeffed that there is no Real Caufe. And are there Cones that are notReal ? I. We grant the-Crea- ture is an Obled ofGods will : and the abject e- /Mori, Preaching, Ordinances, Sanâtt cation, Ado tion &c. t. I deny it: byCome called the mate - J g p ! rial caufe of the ad in His Power, wifdom and Goodneß, and his forementioned fubordinate at- tributes are thereby Glorified alfo. - a. It is an injury to God-unworthy of a Divine, tomake God to have as many diftinót ultimate ends, as they think there are particular aptitudes ortendencies in the means. 407. For undoubtedly we muff feign in God no more ultimate ends thanone. And undoubtedly the means confifting of innumerable parts, make up one perfe&whole, in which Gods Glory fhineth fo, as it doth not inany part alone. And he that willcut Gods frame into fcraps and ¡directs, and fet uptheparts as fo many wholes, will more difhonour him than he that would fo mangle aPicture, or aWatch, orClock, or Houfe, or thepipes of an Organ, or thefiringsof a Lute, and tell you of their beauty and Harmony only diffinélly. Well therefore did Dr. Twiffe reduce all the Decrees de medlis to one : But they are one in their apt Corr oftion for one end: And the Glory of Sun, and Stars, and Angels, and the wholeCreation is a part, and theGloryof our falvation and dam- nation is but another part. 408. Theorder thereforeof Gods Decrees in refpeltof the Execution is only fit for our debate: (Any farther than that we may moreover fay that Gods will or Himfelf is all his ultimate end, and his Glory fhining in the perfeltionof his intire works is the perfe6l means.) And there is nothing elfe that we can reafonably controvert. And about this our Con- troverfie is next to none at all. Herewe may well enquire what is prior vel pòfferius, quid fuperius, quid inferius, &c. and that to our edifica- tion. 404. Seeing then that we are agreed (as is faid) with Aquinas that *Deus nonpropter hoc volt hoc, fed volt hoc effe propterhoc, that which we r. They fay but the fame and need no other anfwer. 4. They fpeak very defeólively : For it is to afcribe to God á defe6tive Decree or In- tention, whichis not for the glory ofall his revealed perfections : Doubt- lefs whatever is materially the perfetl means of glorifying God, muff glo. rifle his Greatneß and Active Power or Life, his wifdom and his Good- neß, and therein his Veracity orfidelity, his 7u(lice and his Holineß, his Benignity and mercy, his Immutability, Independency, &c. All this mutt be in the:means it felf. 405. If Mr. Perkins, Bezà,Gilbie and many other good men had wea confidered this, they had never made the glorifying of Gods Mercy and Juftice in the falvationof fome and the damnation of others, Gods ulti- mateends Therebycommitting many palpable errours. r; -Makingquid Creatumvel Creatures to be formally or properly Gods end, which is but a Means. z. Making one little parcel of that means,. to be the end. 3. Inferting two alts or parts only of that which they tbemfelves confeff to be but Means. For what fhould the names of. salvation and Damna- tion do in the defcription of the end e Are they any part of the end t Why is notRedemption, Juflification, San6liflcation,Prefervafion, Refer- rellion, &c. as well put in e Is he not Glorified in them as well as in final falvation or damnation ? Yea and in Creation and the frame of nature toot Yea why is not the glory of Angels, and all the world put in, as part of the famemeans tohisend e 406. If itbe faid that it is only Gods Glory ofMercy and Nice in mens falvationand damnation which is the end of Redemption, Convey- fpecie vel numero. a. It is the Terminus and Reci- pient of the divine in- flux. 3. It may there- forebe Caufa material's of the diverfity of the ef- fedsof Gods Milan as Received in patiente .ex diverfitate diffofrtionis. a. Our ads may be the effeds of Gods Voliti- ons. s. And may be fecond Cauces of other effeds.. 6. Thofe other effedsmay be laid tobe Gods nearer ends,fpeak- ing ofhim after the man- ner of imperfect man. :y. Where our ads are nohcaufes, they may be conditions ßne quibs -non, of many of Gods ads.quoad fioSfus, ('as Tit Is of pnm(hment at leall.) 8. In all thefere- -fpeds Gods Volition which is One in itfelf, may and muff be deno- xrtinated divers from the diverfity of thefe effeds and objefts,whichthere- fore are the - Ratianomi- nis : And he that would prove any other Ratio or Caufe of the firi Caufe, the will of God or any of his ads as in him feif, muff firft renounce all natural. and Scholaftical Theolcgie atkart. He citethDurand. Major, Richardus, Sec. Bur Durandea I. el. 4t. q. I. loth but fay that GodsAds are thus to bereckoned fecundgm rationem, as likening Gods reafoningor thoughts toours, Cut n.q.) and na
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