§. 7. Yet I deny not but the effect is answerable to the Cause; And as Active-Power causeth Action, and Wisdom and Government causeth the Order and Rectitude of action, and Love and Goodness the Perfection of it and the agent; so Gods Vital-Power, Wisdom and Goodness, are equal, which are the Principles of all: As the Father, Son and Spirit are coequal: And God is indeed glorious in the Motion of Sun and Stars, &c. as well as in the Wisdom and Holiness of man. But besides the foresaid suitableness, this difference must be considered, that as Life, Intellect and Will, Power, 1Wisdom and Goodness, are Inadequate conceptions of One God, so all together are a more perfect expression of him, than one of them alone. Now in all these the former is still implied in the latter, as to the very sense of the word, but not contrarily. Power doth not alway signify Wisdom or Love; but Wisdom signifieth the wisdom of one Potent, including power, (for there is Potentia Intellectiva.) And Will or Love include Power and Act. So Action may be without ORDER or Rectitude, and Perfection, but the order and perfection of Acts, include or suppose the Acts.
§. 7. Yet I deny not but the effect is answerable to the Cause; And as Active-Power causeth Action, and Wisdom and Government causeth the Order and Rectitude of action, and Love and Goodness the Perfection of it and the agent; so Gods Vital-Power, Wisdom and Goodness, are equal, which are the Principles of all: As the Father, Son and Spirit are coequal: And God is indeed glorious in the Motion of Sun and Stars, &c. as well as in the Wisdom and Holiness of man. But besides the foresaid suitableness, this difference must be considered, that as Life, Intellect and Will, Power, 1Wisdom and Goodness, are Inadequate conceptions of One God, so all together are a more perfect expression of him, than one of them alone. Now in all these the former is still implyed in the latter, as to the very sense of the word, but not contrarily. Power doth not alway signifie Wisdom or Love; but Wisdom signifieth the wisdom of one Potent, including power, (for there is Potentia Intellectiva.) And Will or Love include Power and Act. So Action may be without ORDER or Rectitude, and Perfection, but the order and perfection of Acts, include or suppose the Acts.
- 1By special Grace, some mean two distinct things: viz. 1. Our Love to God and other holy Habits and acts, or an Inclination to them. 2. Gods favour to us, and acceptation of us, and that as relating to the Glory which he will give us: so that the first they call the Habit of Grace, qu• ens & qualitas, &c. and the latter they call the formal nature of Grace, viz. quatenus Deo gratiosi seu amati sumus. So Alvarez de Aux. disp. 60. p. 275. [Gratiam augeri in esse gratiae, (& similiter charitas in esse charitatis,) nihil aliud est quam quod per illam acceptetur justus ad majorem gloriam.] By which he decideth the question, whether Grace or Charity be increased by remiss acts, or only by intense acts, saying that [1. Gratia in esse gratiae, & similiter Charitas in esse Charitatis statim augentur, etiam per actus remissos (that is, We are made more acceptable to God, for greater glory:) But augmentum gratiae & charitatis in esse Habitûs, quod homo meretur per actus remissos, dabitur postea in primo instanti glorificationis.] And it seems that so they sometimes take Charitas too, both for the Habit and Act of our Love, and for our Amability or Dearness to God. Now this is ill done: For these equivocal words signify these, not as one, but as two distinct things: Amor & Amabilitas or Dearness are two things: Though Love be materially our Loveliness▪ yet not formally: the latter being an objective relation resulting from the former.By special Grace, some mean two distinct things: viz. 1. Our Love to God and other holy Habits and acts, or an Inclination to them. 2. Gods favour to us, and acceptation of us, and that as relating to the Glory which he will give us: so that the first they call the Habit of Grace, qu• ens & qualitas, &c. and the latter they call the formal nature of Grace, viz. quatenus Deo gratiosi seu amati sumus. So Alvarez de Aux. disp. 60. p. 275. [Gratiam augeri in esse gratiae, (& similiter charitas in esse charitatis,) nihil aliud est quam quod per illam acceptetur justus ad majorem gloriam.] By which he decideth the question, whether Grace or Charity be increased by remiss acts, or only by intense acts, saying that [1. Gratia in esse gratiae, & similiter Charitas in esse Charitatis statim augentur, etiam per actus remissos (that is, We are made more acceptable to God, for greater glory:) But augmentum gratiae & charitatis in esse Habitûs, quod homo meretur per actus remissos, dabitur postea in primo instanti glorificationis.] And it seems that so they sometimes take Charitas too, both for the Habit and Act of our Love, and for our Amability or Dearness to God. Now this is ill done: For these equivocal words signifie these, not as one, but as two distinct things: Amor & Amabilitas or Dearness are two things: Though Love be materially our Loveliness▪ yet not formally: the latter being an ob•ective relation resulting from the former.
