Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

and theSub-operations of Man'sWill. ?)..8. But this much I eafily concede, t. That as all Being is originallq fromGod,fo there is a continued divine caufation of them, without which they would all ceafe or be annihilated : which fone call a continued Crea- tion, and fome an Emanation, and Come a continuedA&ion or operationad rerum efe. And it is an intolerableerrour to hold that Godbath made the World or any part of it felf-fufficient or Independent as to himfelf, as to Being, Action or Perfec7ion. We grant therefore that all the world is fo far United to God, as to depend on his continued caufality : And that the Beamsdo not moredepend onthe Sun, pr Light, heat and motionon theSun andother fire, nor the branches, fruit andleaves more depend on the Tree, than the Creature on God. 19. z. Igrant that thus far the world may be faid to beone, as all thingsare unitedalonefirft taufe fromwhich they flow, and by which they are. p. 20. 3. But yet all there are noparts Of God, as the fruit and leaves are of the Tree, andas the beams are of the Sun But they are creatures; becaufe Gods emanation or caufation is Creative, caufing the whole Being of the effe& : And it feemeth liken to the sun (or fire's ) caufation ofMo- tion; Light and Heat as they are in the Recipient, diftin t ab effentîa e} ailioneAgentin quà tali. zr. 4. I grant that ( though as to proximity of effence God is nd further from one Creature than fromanother, being intimate to all, imme- diatione effentia, yet) he ufeth one Creature as a fecond Caufe to ope- rateon another ; and that the Higher andNobler, operate on the lowerand more ignoble : And in that fenfe wemay conceive that fome Creatures aré £loft from Godor neareft to him, that is, of thehighefi nature adrift. And fo wedeny not, but thatit is likethat in the Creation God made one nature exiflent, (e.g. thehigheft Intelle lual) as moreexcellent, powerful, preg- nant, active, and perfect than any of the reft : that there was in the won- derful diverfity, fome one that was Belt, and above the refl. ?. 2 2, 5. I grant that it foundeth probably that the firft and nobleft Nature infpecie Mouldbe foundbut inone Individual ; But of this there is not the leaft certainty to us mortals : viz. Whether from one God firft now one perfect Created Intelligence or Spirit ; or, abonopluses, twb, three or millions in the firft order flow fromone God r Though in nature we fee that from the trunkof the Treefewgreat members firft arife,and multipli- city is in theextremities: And we grant that the greateft multiplicity ap- peareth where things dwindle to littlenefs or bafenefs: One found Sheep it better than arotten one that hath a thoufand Worms in his Veins and In- tefïines: Anda man that hath athoufand Lice onhis Head is not the No- bler : And when theonefoul hath left a Carkafs, it may turn to thoufands of contemptible Vermine : And a Lookinbglafs broken intoan hundred pieces is not the better becaufeit will makean hundred images of the face. But yet we are ftrangers to Gods unfeen works, further than he revealeth them, andthereforemuff confefs our ignorance. p. 23. 6. Wegrant that all Gods works have tome Union, Concord and Harmony among themfelves; whichyet confifieth with numerical di- verfity: And though Men and other Animals walk about with Bodies that touch not one another, ( and therefore the ignorant conceive òf them astotally incoherent, and think that though Pears, Apples and other Fruit on theTree, andTrees in the Earth, be both Many, and Divers, and yet parts ofone Tree, and of one Earth,yet it is not fo with animals, becaufe the unionof fpiritnal beings is invifible:) yet indeed it is not probable that the fouls cif Animals have no dependant coherence with nobler fupe- q9 49 nod

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=