'Tis obfervable, that by the fame way of reasoning, and by the fame fort of Arguments, by which fome endeavour to destroy the divine Prefcience, and render his Decrees odious, Cotta long ago in Cicero attack'd the other Attributes, and undertook to prove, that God can neither have Reason nor Understanding, Wisdom nor Prudence, nor any other Virtue. And if we understand these literally and properly, fo as to fignify the fame when apply'd to God and to Men, it will not be eafy to answer his Arguments: but if we conceive them to be afcrib'd to him by Proportion and Analogy, that is, if we mean no more when we apply them to God, than that he has fome Powers and Faculties, tho' not of the fame nature, which are analogous to thefe, and which yield him all the Advantages which these could give him if he had them, enabling him to produce all the good Effects which we fee confequent to them, when in the greatest Perfection; then the Arguments used by *Cotta against them have no manner of force: fince we do not plead for fuch an Understanding, Reason, Juftice, and Virtue, as he objects againft, but for more valuable Perfections that are more

* Qualem autem Deum intelligere nos poffumus nulla vir. tute præditum? Quid enim? prudentiamne Deo tribuemus? Quæ conftat ex fcientia rerum bonarum & malarum, &, nec bonarum nec malarum? Cui mali nihil eft, nec effe poteft, quid huic opus eft delectu bonorum & malorum ? Quid autem ratione? quid intelligentia? quibus utimur ad eam, ut apertis obfcura affequamur. At obfcurum Deo nihil potest esse, nam Juftitia quæ fuum cuique diftribuit, quid pertinet ad Deos? hominum enim focietas, & communitas, ut vos dicitis, Jultitiam, procreavit: temperantia autem conftat ex prætermittendis voluptatibus corporis: cui fi locus in cœlo eft, eft etiam voluptatibus. Nam fortis Deus intelligi qui poteft? in dolore, an in labore, an: in periculo quorum Deum nihil attingit. Nec ratione igitur utentem, nec virtute ulla præditum Deum intelligere qui poffumus? Cic. de Nat. Deor. Sect. 15. Ed. Leni.

than

than equivalent, and in truth infinitely fuperior to them, tho' call'd by the fame Names; because we do not know what they are in themfelves, but only fee their Effects in the World, which are fuch as might be expected from the most confummate Reafon, Understanding, and Virtue.

And after the fame manner, when perverse Men reafon against the Prescience, Predeftination, and the Decrees of God, by drawing the like abfurd Confequences, as Cotta doth against the poffibility of his being endow'd with Reason and Understanding, &c. our Answer is the fame as before mention'd. If these be fuppos'd the very fame in all refpects when attributed to God, as we find them in ourselves, there would be fome colour, from the Abfurdities that would follow, to deny that they belong to God; but when we only afcribe them to him by analogy, and mean no more than that there are fome things anfwerable to them, from whence, as Principles, the divine Operations proceed, it is plain, that all fuch Arguments not only lofe their force, but are abfolutely imperti

nent.

It is therefore fufficient for the Minifters of the Church to fhew that the established Doctrine is agreeable to Scripture, and teach their People what ufe ought to be made of it, and to caution them against the Abufe; which if they do with Prudence, they will avoid Contentions and Divifions, and prevent the Mischiefs which are apt to follow the mistaken Representations of it.

§ XXXVIII. This is the Method taken by our Church in her XVIIth Article, where we are taught, that Predestination to Life is the everlasting Purpose of God, whereby before the Foundations of the World were laid, he hath conftantly decreed by his Counsel, fecret to us, to deliver from Curfe and Damnation thofe whom he bath chofen in Christ out of Man

vation.

kind, and to bring them by Chrift to everlasting SålAnd that the godly Confideration of Predestination, and our Election in Chrift, is full of fweet, pleafant, and unspeakable Comfort to godly Perfons, as well because it doth greatly eftdblifh their Faith of eternal Salvation, to be enjoy'd thro' Chrift; as because it doth fervently kindle their Love toward God. And yet we must receive God's Promifes, as they be generally fet forth to us in boly Scripture. Here you fee the two Schemes join'd together: And we are allow'd all the Comfort that the Confideration of our being predeftinated can afford us; and at the fame' time we are given to understand that the Promises of God are generally conditional; and that notwithstanding our belief of Predestination, we can have no hope of obtaining the benefit of them, but by fulfilling the Conditions. And I hope I have explain'd them in fuch a way, as fhews them to be confiftent in themselves, and of great use towards making us holy here, and happy hereafter.

Gen. 2. Ver. 16, 17.

And the Lord God commanded the Man, faying, of every Tree of the Garden thou mayeft freely eat:

But of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil thou fhalt not eat of it: For in the Day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt furely die.

D

Aily Experience fhews us that there is much Ignorance, Folly and Mifery amongst Men; that we have a profpect of these as soon as we begin to think; and that nothing more imbitters Life than that View. The Beafts are fick, and want and die as well as Men; but yet are not fo miferable, because they see no farther than the prefent, and therefore are not tormented with the remembrance of what is paft, or the fear of what is to come. Whereas Men are appriz'd that Pains and Diseases, Difappointments and Death are before them, and have not the like certainty of one fingle Act of Pleasure to ballance the difmal Confideration. This fhould make us fenfible that we are not in the State in which Nature placed us, fince a Good God can hardly be fuppofed to have made a Creature with lefs Views of Happiness than of Mifery. From whence we may conclude that our present Estate is not that wherein God created us, but that we are fome way or other fallen from it. The Text gives us the occasion of that Fall, and there is no other Account to be given of our prefent Condition, but what we receive here from the Holy Scriptures: for altho' all confidering Men have seen and bemoan'd our Mifery, yet hone could ever discover any other rational ground

for it, or give any tolerable Reafon how it came to be fo.

'Tis furely of great moment to us to be acquainted with it, because it is one Step to the Cure to discover the Disease. 'Tis a Subject not commonly handled and requires Attention in You, as well as Diligence and Care in Me to inform you in the following Particulars.

ift, Ŏf the State and Circumstances of Man, when this Command in the Text was given.

2dly, The Command itself forbidding Adam to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. 3dly, How Man was feduced to break this Command.

4thly, The Confequences of this Difobedience.

As to the State and Circumstances of Man when this Command was given.

ift, It is thanifeft, that he was then immediately created, and being juft come out of the hands of God, he was in a ftate proper to his Nature, pure and innocent, without any Stain or Corruption. He had no Law but that of his Mind, or what he received by immediate Revelation from God; nor any defect, but that which is unavoidably incident to every thing created, which may be perfect in its kind, but cannot be abfolutely fo; that being proper to God. For to fay a thing was created is to confefs that it depends on the Will and Power of him that made it; and therefore it cannot be selffufficient but needs the continual fupport of its Creator, and the affiftance of fuch of its fellowCreatures as God has been pleas'd to appoint as neceffary helpers for its fubfiftence. All the Perfection therefore to which Creatures can pretend, is to answer the design for which they were created. This is that Goodness God faw in them, This undoubtedly Man had, and in this fenfe he was very

good.