and DecreesofClod, &c. acs had fo pleafed him, and his Holinefs too, without fin or Hell. It's un- pleating to me, that this good man pleadeth fo hard againft a necefsity of Chris fatisfaiiionfor fin, ( in another digreffion) and yet pleadeth as hard for anecefsity of fin; As if it were moreneceffarÿ to Gods Glo- ry than Chrift. 622. It is very obfervable in all this controverfie; that he afferteth pag. 198. ['That it's pafl all controverfie, that neither God, nor the molt fistful creature, do will any thing, but as Good. And that noman c44 be infiigdted to malice (or evil ) but only to the".which is evil ; becaufe be that is inftigated, is inftigated to do fomething. But to the evil of an all, no efficiency is neceffary, but defteience only.] How far this is true or falfe, I have opened before. I here only note, that he confeffeth that he that caufeth the Ait of fin, ( which he faithGod doth more than man) caufeth all that is caufable. 623. Yet p. 199. he faith, Sin is of man only as the taufe, when he profeffeth that man doth nothing but what God doth to caufe it ( yea, as the firft total caufe) and that as to Deficiency, man can do no more than he dothwithout predetermination, which if God withhold, man can no more help it, thanmake a World. So that all the myflerie of his lan- guage is this ; that becaufe man is under a Law, and God ù not , there- fore man doing the fame ait as moved by God, muff be called the only caufe of fin, becaufe it is no fin in God. But, if we fpake as plain men ought to do, fhould it not rather be thus expreft by you [God is the chief caufe of fin in man, but not in himfelf ?] 624. Pag. zoo, & zo1. he hath the fame over and over again, that Non abhorret à read ration Dei velle peccatum fieri ab homirtibuo -- uod ex fe habet quid condo cibile eft ad barium tanquam Materia foili cet, non tentam idonea, fed & neceffaria exercende divine jo litia mifericordie: and that this manifeftatioFi'conjunc? with fin is Deameoltò appetibilius, than that Goodwhich fin depriveth us of ( that is, Holinefs : ) Becaufe this Holinefs is only the Creatures Good, and the other is the crea- tors Good. Anfw. But as the affertion is all falfe, fo the reafon is vain For if he diftinguifh the Creatorand Creature as fubjeits, he is quitemi- ftaken': For both is the Creaturesgood, and neither the Creators : For to manifeft 7ufticeand Mercy is not Gods Effence as in itfelf, but his work of .Punifhment and Mercy, And the gloryof this, isbutthe refplendent ex- cellency of it as it is the appearance or Image ofGod. And all this is in theCreatures Holinefs : TheHolinefs ofChrifts HumaneNature,andof Angels and Saints in Heaven is as much the Creators, as is his Works of Mercy and Juflice ; And Gods glory fhineth as much in them And it is the glory of his Goodnefs, if not of Mercy which preventeth fin and mifery : yea, and ofMercy too : For thoughmercy relate tomifery, it is as well topofsible mifery prevented, as to exigent mifery. removed : And if he fpeak not of Subjects, but Proprietors, the Bonum Creature is alfo Creererie. SECT.
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