Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

and theSub-operations ofMan's Will. Heat. IfGod then make Fire and continue itsNature or E'fential incli- nation to theee as , and continue fuel approximate with all neceffary concau fes and media without impediments, to fay that this Fire yet all burn or aft, without another kind of Divine premotion betides l this, even an Immediate phyfical impulfe, betidesthe defcribedInflux, is aplain contradiEtion: For Fire is effentially an Inclined Power to act. And that which hath a true Power to aft, .can act : It's a contradiftion to fay , It bath power, but it cannot. And a bower naturally inclined to aci, will - alt, caterio paribus. The queftion then is, Whether it be an impoffibility for fire to burn, ifGod do but as the firft Cattle of Nature , continue its burning power and inclination with all concaufes e or rather, Was it not a Miracle for the three Confeffors, Dan. 3. not to be burnt in that fiery Furnace If you fay, that the Miraclewas, inGods withholding'his additional pre- motion, you then imply that God as principium vel caufa prima Nature Both ordinarily give that additional premotion. For that is no miracle which is not diffonant from the common courfe of nature. But nothing . can belong toGod as the caufe ofNature, but to continue Nature as he made it, and he adtually premoveth and concurreth while by his Influx as the u rft caufe, he continueth all its MovingNature, both Power and Inclination. In the motes projeftorum, fo far as the moving vis imprefa continueth and prevaileth, the motion continueth accordingly ; And who can prove that though the vis imprefa continue, e. g. in a Bullet Thor out ofa Gun, and all concaufes, yet there can beno motion, unlefs God othcrwife thruft it on, ormove it by fomeother impulfee Suppofea Stone or Rock hang in the Air quaffper filum, or by Come- what that hindereth its defcent: If God continue theNatural Gravityof that Rock, which is not only a power but an inclinationto defcend, and if he continue all concaufes and media, and if the thred be cut or the im- pediment removed that held upthe (tone,yet faith the Dominican,this Stone cannot fall unlefs God moreover by another as lon tlruft it down, or by an efficient phyfical premotion predetermine it; or as the fefuits fay, unlefs God concurr with a furthermoving Impulfe. A plain contradiái- on : That a Power of motion, flrongly inclined to aft, fo as a greater power is neceffary in the impediment thatwill hinder it, and this inge-, nere Agentis, continued by Divine Influx, yet cannot aft, unlefs other- wife moved. God worketh fo coniantly by Natural Inclinations of fecond caufes; as fully proveth to us, that ut prima caufa Natura, he hath decreed fo to work. And how is that then but by his Influx into Nature .« Nature ? If my houle cannot fall when the foundations and pillars are gone, un- lefs God otherwife ebruft it down ; If I cannotfall though I leap down from the houfe top, unlefsGod otherwife thruft me down If the Town cannot t. fired unlefs God predetermine it or concurr, befides his conti- nuation Vazure ; why fhould we fear it ; when weknow not that God decrc: note than the continuation ofnatural caufes and that attion wine' and by him as theupholder of them ? I . e of Free-agents is here confeffed to be the fame. The Ingo . ,+re and Virtues is it that continueth them in effe' fubft ._ en cr ,noto : An ./id is but the modasä fub- flan. to conceive what it is, for God 17- ForI have before (hewed how many wayes this is certainlydone. The wholeexperienceof the world lheweth, that God doth OperateBy fe- cond caufes accördingto their natures andwayes òf operation; Therefore it more concetneth us here tó know, what fe- cond cattle's 'de. on the foul in good and evil affirms, than in thefe fputes is duallyobferv- ed. Adrian. .fyodl.3.fol rB Sentrotia9)urandi Qr tissu aliaron. cortan te= net, &c. a:anOpin[Oelfn ultimo traaet soasi/ter 3q. d. a. judiciam relin- quena prudeutrs -h$ord examini.

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