and Decrees ofgod, &c. and actions differ'; For ( as is at faid ) no manbath formal proper con- ceptions of any thing in God. If God fhould nòt fpeak to us in this im- proper language of our own, he mutt not fpeak intelligibly to us, unlefs rooGn.s21% 26.5a he create another underftanding inus. And he himfelf in Scripture ufing g,g,r9. GaLq:6.Eph, _ fuch language of hïmfelf, alloweth us to ufe it , while we profefs to 5.6. i Sam. 28. r8, difclaim afcribing to God any of the imperfeetion'which it ièemetir to &20.429.2xi g.7o32 import. 2 Chron. 34. 27. Prat. 286: On there terms not only Various Volitions are afcribed to God then óiacs lt. . 24. in Scripture,' and exteriour caufes of them, ( as John 16. vi. the Father p. 235. confidently ar- Loveth you, becaufe ye have laved me , and believed, &c.) But alto goeth, that becaufe God can Love him that he Fear, Afflitflan, Grief, Hatred, Repenting, Rejoycing, &c. Deut. 32. z7. hated or Loved not , he Ifa. 63, 9. Gen. 6. 6. Pfal. 5. 5." Gen. 6.7. I Sam. 15.1x , fuel 2..13, can therefore Predefi- er. I .6. Hof. Is. 8. Ze h. . a er. z. I 6-c. and exteriour caufes pate him whmn he re- 5 f p 3 7 3 4 decreesd'withoutge nv of them. 287. That which is to be underftood by all there, is 1. That man is change in Igranf. i anfwer, r. I grant that fo far the Caufeof theFietis ofDivine Volitions,as theDifpofatio recepptiva, God can Love a, saint may be called aCaufe. AndI before (hewed in the inftance oftheeffeéts of whom he hared as a fin- the Suns Influx,how great ahand the various Di o atsones materi.r rece tive net before , and ceafey g rp f p hating him with:ut any have in thediverfifications ofeffects. z. And that Gods Volitions them- change fave relative and, felves ace hence relativelydenominated. by extrinfeeal denomi- nation. 2. But his infe- 288. Therefore we muff fay, that Gods ele&ingPeter and his rejecting rence feemeth to me ,fridas, his Love to Peter and his hatred of Pads, are not in pecie the letsehe had mmea cs'it of fame act of hiswill , nor his LovingPeter, and his Loving Paul the fame executive ÈleOion and Numerically ; As his knowing of Peter to be a Saint , and his knowing Reprobation which he yudas to bea Saint, is not the fame numerical a&ofknowledge Though Loveand diPrZeter as they are GodsEffence, all are but one. And we mull fay that he Loy- an Objeft as .exi(ìent, eth one becaufe he is good, and hateth another becaufe he is evil ; and and by fuch connotation are named And his he juflifieth men becaufe they believe, and condemneth men becaufe they fourth ilippofition is , believe not; that heforgivethafrnnerbecaufehe repenteth,&c. Though f o'GatLoveisnothing Gods Will have no efficient Caufe. a man life Eternal. 289. Thofe Volitions of God which are but Immanent as to Èffeci- For the formal Aft of ency, but TranfientObjeflively, are fome of them to be denominated as End tis cvori yis before thethingwtfled,and forne asrafter. TheWillofeffecsingis before the another thing as I 'thingwilled : TheWill ut finis, or Complacency and Diff licency ( as allo think an effeft of Love ; or at tjte muff another Intuitive Knowledge of the thing asExiflent, eftimation, approbation, re- at of Love. And we `probation of it ) theWill ofContinuing, modifying, altering, perfecting, deny chat any abb late deftroying, fuppofe the exiftence of the thing willed in effe objeitivo. And baamthtegt hough difpl fo manyVolitionsmay be denominated as beginning in time , as connoting cease be changed : Be. theobjedls.t And it is nomore wrong to Gods Immutability fotoname Decree. dthera- g y 2.Andtherea- them, than to his Gmplicity toname themmany and divers. fonwhy. the faid Decree 290. And in this fenfe it is no more wrong to Gods Immutability, to or plopon)(fynot be fpeakofHimas being before inPotentia only as to fuch Relative denomi- denominated changed is, nations. As the Rock in the Sea bath not yet that proximity to the Wave becaufe it maketi its whicha twelvemonth hence will touch it, and yet isnot therefore mutable : ° fetli it outdpre-exi- Or as youare yet but inpotentia to the termination of his Relations who" dent, anddependeth not will pafs about you, before andbehind, on theright hand and on theleft. on it denominatively : And therefore it would SoGod wasbut Potentially the Creator and Redeemer of the World from inferr God to be meta- Eternity. Though as to any real paflion God bath no paffrve power. ble, to change it; But it 291. In this fenfe of relation to the objects and of eits , it is that we which as°to the Relation conceive of Gods actsofKnowledge andVolition in a certain order ofna- andName followeth the, as ture,`as one being before and one aber another; Though not as they are Mutable senöuredgeof Gods-"Efíence. prefent exiftents and 292. Yet becaufe the ufe and truth of words or names, is their figni- preteritions as to den:= fication of Things as indeed they are, and we fhould put noname on any o oration and connotati. a creature, 47
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