Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

Of god'sf/racioai Operations on Man's Soul 4. Durandus and his followers ( asDid. àDola ). and Aareolus partly, do hold, that if God do but uphold all creatures, as compagivate in the Univerfe, in the Nature he made them in, ( and fo natural Inclination, and media and objects all fuppofed ) this fufientgtion and Influx main- taining their (Alive Natures, and means , is fuffiéient to caufe an 4t, without another particularpredetermining premotionof God. As e.g, in Naturals, they think that if a Rock were violently held up in the Air, God continuing its Natural Gravity,. and all other circumflant Natures and Concaufes, this Rock if loofed can fall down of it felt, without ano- ther predetermining premotion of Good. And that a new A& of God (fuppofing the faid fupport ofNature ) is more necefl'ary to the notfal- ling, than to the falling of it : As it was to the fires not burning the Three Confeffors, Dan. 3, And I am unable to fee the error of this Opinion. And fo in Free agents, they think, thatifGod continue the Nature of á free-will, with all iircumflants and neceffary natures, it can freely de- termine it felf, without another ad of predetermining premotion ; And doth fo in each aet of fin : Though as Tanfeniusfaith, by accidental .cor- ruption, forConverfion we need Medicinal Grace. ;, The 7efuits, and.all others explode this Opinion of Durandusas fin- gular, but give fo little and Mender reafon of theirdiffent, as would draw one the more to fufpelï their caufe. Inftead of it they fcarce know what to áffert But Bellarmine and the chiefeft of them,, under a pretended oppofition, fpeak (I think ) the fame in other words, Even an Uoii- verfal Concurfe like that of the Sun, which operateth in fpecifrcation ac- cording to the nature of Recipients, which fpecifie the effect. Which Ilniverfal Influx, no doubt, iiureolua and Durandus include in Godsfuften- tatian of Nature: For to fuftain an ActiveNature in all its . Khase dif pofttion by a fuitable active Influx, is unifier fally to caufe its motion, The difference they areunable to affign. 6. After thefecome Hobbs, cartefoes and Gaffendús, with a fwarm of Epicureans, (aSee commonly defpifed even in Cicero's time, and yet called wits in ours by men that have no more wit than themfelves) and foìne of thefe fay, that Motion needeth no continued caufe at all, any more than non-movere : But when a thing is in motion, it willfo conti- nue, becaufe it is its fiate, without any other continued caufe than the motion it felf. And fo they may as well fay (andfome do) that when a thing is in Being, it will fo continue till it be pofitively annihilated, without any continued caufation of its being. As if effe e'r ex/ere were nothing more than non effe ; and agere were no more noble a mode of Entity than non agere, and fo needed no more ( that is, no) Caufe. ( For non effe & non agere need no Caufe: ) When this diftra&ion is worn out and fhamed, the next Age will reproach us for attempting the confutation of it And yet the wits of this .delirant Age have not the wit to underfland a Confutation. Some of them fay, that spirits cannot move bodies for want of Con tact (as Gafendns). Some fay, that MitterandMotion are eternal, and that of themfelves ; As if there were no Godbut Matter and Motion. Some fay, that there is a God who gave matter one pufh it firff, and fo fet it in that motion by which one body by a knock will move another to the end. Andcome fay, There is no other intelletl; but the won- ders of wifdom and order in the World are done by fuch fortuitous motion. Baf

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=