A Difcoarfe apon Providence. As .:;econdly, 1t God~s Provi dence ordains all things fo come to pafs according to the immutable Law of his purpofe, then what ncceffity is there of Prayer? We cannot by OlH. moft fervent .Prayers alter the leaft drcumftance, or punCtilio in God's Decrees. If he. bath fo laid the method of his Providence in his own Counfelsas to prepare Mercies and Bleffings_ for us, our Prayers cannot ha ... ften, nor maturate them before their time : Or if he determine by his Providence to bring AffliCtions upon us, our PraY,ers cannot prevent, nor adjourn them beyond their prefixed time. :Now to this Aquinas 2· 29. 8:3. Art, 2. Anfwcrs well, that the Divine Providence doth not only ordain what Effects fha\l come to pafs, but alfo by what means and caufes, and in what order they fhall flow. God hath appointed, as the effetl: it felf, fo the means to accomplifu it. Now Prayer is a means to bring to pafs that which God hath determined {hall be. We do not Pray out of hope to alter God's Eternal Pnrpofes, but we Pray to obtain that which God hath ordained to be obtained hy our Prayers: \Ne ask, that thereby we may be fit to receive what God hath from all Eternity determined to give by Prayer, and. not otherw.ife. ~nd ther~fore w. he~ we lie under any Af~ fl.iCtion if we langutfh under Patn or Stcknefs, If we are pmch'd by Want or Po· verry, 'if we are opprefs"d by. the Inj~ries and Perfecutions of o~he~s, Prayer is neceffary, becaufe as God by his Provtdence hath brought thefe thmgs upon us, fo likewife poffibly the fame Providence bath determined not to remove them, till we earneftly and fervently Pray for our deliverance from them. And therefore when God had promifed great Mercies to the 'Jews, he tells them by the Prophet E:z..tk, 36. 37· Yet will I for tl-.ds be e"quired of by the Houfe of lfrael to do ir for them. Prayer therefore doth not incline God to beftow that which before he was not refolved to give, but it capacitates us to receive that which God will not give otherwife. Thirdly, Another ObjeCtion may be this, If Providence ordereth and difpofeth all the Occ~.WCncesof the World, then there can nothing fall out cafually and con.. tingcntly. 1 Anfwer : In refpea of God it is t rue, there is nothing cafual nor contingent in the World. A thing may be cafual in re(pea of particular Caufes; but in refpea of the univerfal and firft Caufe, nothing is fuch. lf a Mafter fhould fend a Servanl:: to a certain place, and command him to ftay there till fuch a time, and prefently after f!lould fend another Servant to the f~me, the meeting of thefe two is wholly cafualm refpet\: of themfclvcs, but 01datned and forefeen by the Mafter that fent them. So is it in all fortuitous Events here below : They fall out unex.. pet\:edly as to us, but not fa as to God; he forefees and he appoints all the vicifiitudes of Things, and all the Surprifes of humane Accidents. So that you fee there may be Contingencies in the World, though God's Providence be moft particular and punctual. Fourthly, Some may objeCt that this would deftroy the liberty of Man's Will, and fu bjet\: all thin~s to a fatal necellity, even humane ACtions themfelves. For if Man can d0 nothJng but what God hath by his Providence fore·appointed Iball be done, bow then is Man free either to do, or not to do? This Queftion requires much more time to anfwer it at large than I can allow it. Some feeing it a very difficu l t thing to reconcile Providence and Liberty, have pr€fumed to deny that Providence intermeddles at all in fuch AftUirs as depend upon the free· will of Man . And of this Opinion 'fully feems to have been; for . which St. .A.ujlin chaftifeth him as injuric:>us to God; when he faith, VolumatttrJ. dum faw·et liberam, fecit Sac.rilegam. I fhallno t here ftand to di!tinguilh of a neceffity of CoaCtion, and a neceffity of Infallibility, and that the Providence of God doth not bring upon the Will a neceffity of CoaCtion, but only of Infallibility, which very well confilts with the liberty of the Will. All that I flJall at prefcnt anfwer, is, That God doth indeed efficacioufiy determine the \Vill to do what itdoth, yet this determinat ion leave5 it in a perfect State of liberty, becaufe the liberty of the Will doth not fo much confift in indiffere..tlcy to act, or not to aa, as in a rational Spontaneity. When we do what we have an Appe~ite to do upon Grounds that to us feem rational, then we act freely. Now though God doth abfolutely fway tho. Will which way he pleafeth, yet he never forceth it contrary to its own Inclinations. For that to which God determines it by his Providence feems at that prefent moft rational to be done ; and upon that reprefentarion 70I
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