a Premonition. z5 And I never yet law any thing againft it, which is not eafily confuted; thoughmy life is not like to be long enough, nor am I idle enough, to write againft all that have writtenagainft me. In conclufìon, I mutt give notice to the Reader, that there are' many great and weighty Points of great difficulty concerning our LOVE to GOD, and the order of it in rerpe& to Faith , Repentance , the love of our felves and our felicity, and our love to Creatures , &c.. which I pafs by in this ireat:fe, as having fpoken with fome care of them in my Chr f ian Direflory, in the Appendix to the Chap. Of loving God , in Tom. I. And if that feem too intricate to any, as being too long; in brief, I fuppofe that theThonail'fs grofly err in placing beati- tude chiefly in the Intelle&, and their Reafons ( efpecially as Medina ufeth them) are very weak; and the scotfs are more found, who place it in the Will, and thofe other moft found who place it in the perfection of the whole man a&ively ; but obje&ively in God : And moil plainly that very plain judicious School-man Agidius Romanees .,uodlab. 3. Qu. 18. p. 187, 188. who faith in thort, z. That God is the final Obje& (imply; 2. That the love of God (ornelle) is the final at or beatitudeformaliter : 3. That beatitude (or ra- ther the ratio finis) is principally in. the Obje&, and next in the Aft: 4. That fubferviently or quodam genere the vifio Dei is the Obje&, and the nelle videre Deum the A&. See alto 2Egidius, uodl.4. qu. tr. clearly proving three ways that we muft love God above our felves,, yea and not ( properly) for our felves, but for himfelf, andour felves and all things for him. But I. I think he miftaketh, in Paying that the Aft of the Will is not the Òbjeft of the Will, and fo that V fo and not Amor are feli- city objellive : For as Amefus faith , Dicimus omnium gentium con- finfu volo velle; . and one Afí may be the Volition of the next; and a complacency in that part: And what doth a Believer will more than perfe&ly to love God, next to God hintfelf? And Arno Amore is an At that we have full experience of. 2. And I am part all doubt , that Beatitudo nofira, qua tails is not the principal end of man , but God , i. In his own Perfeflion or God-head ; 2. The fulfilling or pleafing of the Divine Will; 3. The Glory of Gods Image or Perfe&ions as finning, 1. In the Univerfe, 2. And therein molt eminently in the glorified Society , 3. And therein molt emi- nently in the Perron of Chrift, 4. And next in all thofe that are molt excellent in their Order, s. And among them in our felves, our holinefs and felicity: And this but in our own rank and place: For our Perfe &ion and Unity with Chrift and the glorified, will end all that narrow corrupt felfifhnefs, which now maketh men dream that they are chiefly their own ends, (that is, their own gods) and that their Beatitude is the higheft final notion, as if God were to be loved chiefly for our felves, as the means of our Beatitude: It being worth the confidering, whether it be not a wrong to God to love him at all fob ratione medii to our felves as an end, though we mutt love him as the firfl Efficient of all our Good , and our Great Benefa&or, our felves and benefits being but means to Him, though yet (not He, but) many of his Gifts, may be loved as means to our Happinefs, and that and all things for God him- felf. E Among
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=