Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

a Premonition. ment which is not for fin, but calleth it Afliflion orCruciatum only. And he fpeaketh not what God may doby his ordinate Will: But I think that you are in the right, and he in the wrong, becaufe the vefy making us men, and fogoverned subjects, is a declaration of Gods ordi- nate Will, not tomakeus miferable but for fin. 3. M. s. Adam'swhole man wasfanitified, andfofitted to obey, and to glorifie Juftice : füs.free-will was not an indirency, but ( asGib.) that noble virtue ofhis soul, by which he could go aboveall created good, fo that Libertyand Eupraxy or Obedience are all one : But we cannot fur ara inch to God, above the Creature. Liberty is to imitate God, whole Will clofeth with 'himfelf, and refleth in himfelffor ever : And mutability is but anadjuna of our Liberty. An. I have better opened and diftinguifhed Liberty before, Lib. t. Natural Liberty is to be diftinguifhed from moral, which you defcribe 5 and vehemently affert the former under the name of caufa con(ilio that cannot be forced: But meet indiirency or mutability is no Liberty it felf. 4. M. s. Adamwas not made with notions inhis Mind, no more than with colours in his Eyes 5 but he was made able and fit to fee God in the frame of Nature, efpecially inhisown Will, as inclinedto univerfal good-- -. An. scaliger and others think, that Idea's areborn in its, which ma- keth the Chicken flyat the fhadowof the Kite, &c. But I rather fay as you, that it is but ,a Difpojition 5 which will fo eafily a&, that fome call it an Idea, and it is the fame thing that they mean while they differ about the name. g 5. M. S: Do this and live, is the way that Jufticewill be glorified in : And that doing would merit life, Adam either knew by nature, orfu- pernaturally, at leaf! wasconfirmedin it byfupernatural revelation. An. This is alltrue. 4. 6. M. S. Do this and live, as the only terms of lifeare agatholick and Theological axiom : Not the words5 but Energetic& Wifdom printed on theframe. And themeaning is, clofe'with the lall end 5 or with the true Vniverfal Godasfilch, which is thefum of the Decalogue: Thou fhalt love theLordthy Godwithall thy heart, &c. The Wills dolingwith God : And Obedience is in the fubordinate faculties executing the pleafure of the Will.] An. t. Obedience is firft in theWill it felt. 2. Tou do not intelligi- bly acquaint us whether by [ Do this] you mean any fincere clofng with God as God and our End, above all Creatures, as the godly now do, though with culpable remifsnefs and imperfeElions 5 or only the molt perfef Loveand Obedience, without any imperfe&ion or remifsnefs, or vain irregular thought that is culpable. But by [Do this] I perceive you mean, Take Godfor thy God, and love, adore, and trufi him. 4.7. M. S. This was to be exprejdby eating of the Tree of Life, andnot of that of GoodandEvil, facramentally, toacknowledge alfothe soveraignty of God: An. i. All Obedience formally refpe&eth Gods Soveraignty. 2. No doubt theTrees were fymbolical, and the remembrance of them fhould yet teachus to prefer living to God, before afelfh, d urfuful, needlefs knowledge 5 the increafe of which increafeth forrow. 3. But that Adam was commanded to eat of theTree of Life, I cannot prove, unlefs the general obligationto choofe the heft was as a Command. 4. S. M. S. To be naturally happy is proper to God : therefore Adamwas to be led to itfreelyby aCovenant. An.

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