34 Ofgod's gracious' Operations on Man's Soul : cos Thomiftæ di cunt, Deum fuo auxilio efficaci phyfice predeterminareVo- luntatem ad allum bonum, non excladunt Notions Moralem, fed earn prrn- fupponunt. Alvarez de Auxtl, ddp. a3. p. m8. 4. That God as the God of Nature doth uphold the foul in this Á`t Nature, affording it that concurfe or Influx necelliery thereto, which in Nature he made dueto it : As he doth to the Sun in itsanion, and to the fouls of Brutes. So that Activityas fuch, diftind% from the due order of ip, is given by God inNature. 5. AndGod bathplaced the foul in theUniverfe, as a wheelin aWatch, where it mull needs have fome effedts of the co- operation ofconcaufes, or faperiour agents. 6. And Angels and Devils who have verymuch to do with our fouls; do work as Voluntary Agents, in Political Order , though not without the regulation ofGods Law or will. 7. And God can do what he will on fouls without any fecond caufei though whether hedo fo, or what, weknow nor. 8. All this being fuppofed for Efficiency, objets duly qualified may dd much for the Order ofAar, though properly they do nothing: fo that though they be but act Materia adferinam, occafions fine quibus non; yet the rea(ons of thegreat alterations in the World , being admirably, fetcht from thevariousPafve or Receptivedi /pofitionsof matter, no won; der if it be fo withmans foul alto. A fpark of fire which long was unfeen, if you put Straw, Gunpowder or other fuel to it, may burn a City or Kingdom, when yet the fuel is not an efficient caufé ( Cave the fire that is in it) but an objee`live, Matter. What work doth aStudent find all his life among Books ? What abun= dance ofknowledge doth he learn by them, which he had none ofin his Infancy ? And fo do Travellers by viewing the allions of the World. And all thefe are but fuel to thefire. The foul only is the Agent,;andall thefe are figs and objects that do nothing really on the foul at all. You may lead a Beaft up and down, and govern them by objects which yet all nothing on them. SoSatan doth by the Drunkard,Glutton, Fornicator, Gamefler, Cove= sous, &c. What Reputed work do objells make on them by doing - nothing? Thus rertssn & Bosom are faid to work. And the cafe is this, The Active spirit, isnot onlyNaturally Active, but Efentially Inclined tofame certain objects (Truth and Goodnefs ): And this Inclination being their +very Nature, *hen the objeil is dulyprefented to it, and it Pelf delivered from all falfe objects, and erroneous Action on them, and ill habits thence contralted, it will Naturally work accordingly. And therefore duly (ex- ternally and internally) tobring God andHoly objects to the profpell of thefoul, is the wayofworking them to God. And lure theWorldwould never make fuch a flit about Preaching, tel get fit men , and to perfwade them to diligence, and to keep found do- etrne,,be. if thefe objective camfes, as fuel to the fire,did not domuch; by occafioning the Active foul too its proper work. 9: Yet Rill remember ( again) thatJefus Chrift is the Political Head ofInflux (if not more,) who fendethforth the spirit, as he pleafe, but ordinarily upon his fetled Gofpel terms , towork on fouls, by his three.. fold fore- mentioned influx, with and by thefemeans, according to them; but in an unfearchable manner; AsGod doth inNatureby the Sun and other Natural Caufes. SECT.
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