A25291:249
The Marrow of Sacred Divinity
The marrow of sacred divinity drawn out of the Holy Scriptures, and the interpreters thereof, and brought into method / by William Ames ... ; translated out of the Latin ... ; whereunto are annexed certain tables representing the substance and heads of all in a short view ... as also a table opening the hard words therein contained.The marrow of sacred divinity drawne out of the Holy Scriptures, and the interpreters thereof, and brought into method / by William Ames ... ; translated out of the Latine ... ; whereunto are annexed certaine tables representing the substance and heads of all in a short view ... as also a table opening the hard words therein contained.
London: printed by Edward Griffin for Henry Overton, 1642
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
38. Hence the Will of God is the first cause of things. Rev. 4. 11. By thy will they are, and were created. But the Will of God, as it willeth to work outwardly, doth not presuppose the goodness of the object, but by willing doth make the object. James 1. 18. Because he would, he begat us, Rom. 9. 18. He hath mercy on whom he will.
38. Hence the Will of God is the first cause of things. Rev. 4. 11. By thy will they are, and were created. But the Will of God, as it willeth to worke outwardly, doth not presuppose the goodnesse of the object, but by willing doth make the object. Iames 1. 18. Because he would, he begat us, Rom. 9. 18. He hath mercy on whom he will.
39. Therefore there is no cause properly so called, to be given of Gods Will.
40. Hence it is rightly said, that God doth will one thing to exist for another: but not that that one thing is a proper cause whereby the Will of God is inwardly moved to appoint that other thing. So God would that the Sun and stars should exist, for the generation, conservation, and corruption of things below: yet the Sun and Stars, are not a cause why God would that those things should be generated, conserved, and corrupted. And so it is in all things out of God, which indeed among themselves are causes and effects, even as they depend upon the Divine will, but there is no cause of Gods Will out of it self.