Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

i 6 OfCod's Cracio &Operations on Man's Saul: SECT. IV. Howfar God ufeth Means. ?. ì : Hrift who is the chief means is ufed in all the Conveyances dF C Grace,to any one in theworld. , . 2. God bath adauhle work in Illuminating and Converting fours; ',.;rgid:column Rc & oo 1. Onebyactivity of exteriors:- appulf ve caufes : The other within as on the any(. dediv, noa. 1. 3. as faculties of the foul , without thofe caufes. 1 cannot better illuftrare it holding that cauerrs order e r than by the canting offht, hearing, &c. The Light without us, is not only beam of cght steaming a terminating object (as fomedream,) but an Active thing, or Aciion, down from God, as fo which operateth by appulfe upon the eye : And the sun and Aire are the many cords let down to card fes of it: eye not wiry ap The is a ave Receiver as forre dream,) but men to draw them up to God : And if a man an Organ where the vifive fpirits, and foul are Active: And God work- thould take hold of one eth internallyonthis vifive faculty by his influx, to fultain it in its acü- of hem and afhend to aitq. Andby a congrefsof thefe two firesor Aclive cantes, thefenfitive Heaven, he might ima- gine._ that Heaven did foul doth fee. Now we all know that God giveth the external lighton- indeed itnmoveth, v nen l y, per media, by thesun, &c. But how he fuftaineth and aCtuateth the bur he would drawhim: Vafave faculty. is more difficult. His own influx or Ceufätion is un- felfup to it : fo when doubted: Andthat thefame Sun tit caufa univerfalie cherifheth and mo- upon Cayeror other fe- veth the viftve fpirits :. But whether God move the fenfitive faculty or " us good, he feemech to foul it felt, by any fitperiour fpirit, or mediatecarafe, in its. motion or adj. incline and bend tous, p on towards and on the exteriour light, is all our knowledge : ( Though but iris not fo, but he is unchangeable andit's we theorder obfervedin other cafes, maketh it notimprobable.) ved for him, and by the' Even fo in theII'umination of themind, and converfonof the trill, we ufe of means by us, we are fure that betide the terminotitie objett, there is an external motion are e;oadeGods. pcfhth which by the foretold means is madeat leaft on the fenfes, and imagina_ may bedone for uswhich tion,whatever it do further on the intellect: But in the fuperiooer' influx he hah decreed : Vid. en the foul it fell, whatufe God may make of Angels or other fu eriour reliq. where he confu- _pitsor caufes we cannot tell,., - Ve are fure (as is faid)' that if there tech the contrary er- rours. -be a fecond carafe, yet as to proximity it is never the lets need; froin God: And fouls being Intellectual, and for ought we knowof the higheft nature of creatures, though not the highefl Degree, neither is improbable, that God moveth us by afecond caufe, or that hedoth itwithout. ().3.. But as Chrf1sfore-defcribect mediate caufalitÿ is fä11 fuppofed, fo it is certain that God doth not only work (as tome think) concomitantly with theword, but by it as his Inflrumefit. Though his wayes ofco-ope- ration are paff the reachof man : yet this much is fure, z. That he adapt- eth the means to do their work, both word, Minifter, be. 2. And that his concurremaketh the due Imprefhon on the fenfe and imagination. 3. And thoughno Philofopher certainly know whether the Imagesin the phantafie be meerlypafrzve as to theIntellelt, or what ufe is made of themand thepat tons to Intelléclionand Volition ; yet fachufe as is naturally to be made of themfor thefe ends, God maketh, and manageth them accordingly by skid' and power. 0.4. But here MOTION the effell ofAlliveforce, and OR DER -of motion,as the effeCfof GOVERNMENT, mutt be well diftinguifh- ed : For it is not fomuch the fecond Caufesof the fouls Állion, as fuch, that weare now enquiring after: But of the O RDE R and Rea/trade of its Actions, which is done by Government. ?). 5. That God Both work Graceon man by means, ordinarily, (as or= dinarilyhe caufechnatural e /ells by means; andMiracles arerare) maybe proved by all there following evidences. L:6. I. In

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