3. He that confoundeth the Attributes of God, and distinguisheth not those which express these three Essential Primalities, or Active Principles, to which our faculties are analogous, from the rest; or that thinketh that we should cast by this distinction, under the name of an inadequate conception, so far as we can imagine these Principles to be the same, and that there is not truly in the Deity a sufficient ground for this distinction, is not the man that I am willing now to debate this cause with; I have done that sufficiently before. Whether the distinction be real, formal or denominative, the Thomists, Scotists and Nominals have disputed more than enough. But even the Nominals say, that there is a sufficient ground for the denomination, which some call Virtual, and some Relative. And they that dispute of the ⟨p. 376⟩distinction of Persons, do accordingly differ, calling it either Relative, Virtual, Formal or Modal, or ratione ratiocinata, as they imagine best. And they that differ about these, do accordingly differ about the difference of the faculties of our souls. For my part I see not the least reason to doubt, but that the Trinity of Divine Primalities, Principles and Perfections hath made its impress on man's soul, in its three parts, viz. the Natural, the Moral, and the Dominative parts: in the first we have an Active Power, an Intellect and Free-will. In the second Fortitude, (or holy promptitude and strength) Wisdom and Goodness, (or Love:) In the third, we are to the inferior creatures their Owners, Rulers and Benefactors, or End: and what ever you will call our faculties and their moral perfections, it is undoubted that in God, his Omnipotency, Wisdom and Goodness are his Essence, and yet as much distinct as is aforesaid. And what mortal man is able to say, whether the distinction of Persons be either greater or less than this? And remember, that as I speak of Motion, Light and Heat, both as in the faculties of the Sun, (as I may call them) and in the Acts or Emanations; and of the Power, Intellect and Will of man, both as in the Faculties and Acts; so do I here of the Divine Primalities; yet so, as supposing that in God, who is called a Pure Act, there is not such a difference between Power and Act, as there is in man or other creatures.
3. He that confoundeth the Attributes of God, and distinguisheth not those which express these three Essential Primalities, or Active Principles, to which our faculties are analogous, from the rest; or that thinketh that we should cast by this distinction, under the name of an inadequate conception, so far as we can imagine these Principles to be the same, and that there is not truly in the Deity a sufficient ground for this distinction, is not the man that I am willing now to debate this cause with; I have done that sufficiently before. Whether the distinction be real, formal or denominative, the Thomists, Scotists and Nominals have disputed more than enough. But even the Nominals say, that there is a sufficient ground for the denomination, which some call Virtual, and some Relative. And they that dispute of the ⟨p. 376⟩distinction of Persons, do accordingly differ, calling it either Relative, Virtual, Formal or Modal, or ratione ratiocinata, as they imagine best. And they that differ about these, do accordingly differ about the difference of the faculties of our souls. For my part I see not the least reason to doubt, but that the Trinity of Divine Primalities, Principles and Perfections hath made its impress on man's soul, in its three parts, viz. the Natural, the Moral, and the Dominative parts: in the first we have an Active Power, an Intellect and Free-will. In the second Fortitude, (or holy promptitude and strength) Wisdom and Goodness, (or Love:) In the third, we are to the inferiour creatures their Owners, Rulers and Benefactors, or End: and what ever you will call our faculties and their moral perfections, it is undoubted that in God, his Omnipotency, Wisdom and Goodness are his Essence, and yet as much distinct as is aforesaid. And what mortal man is able to say, whether the distinction of Persons be either greater or less than this? And remember, that as I speak of Motion, Light and Heat, both as in the faculties of the Sun, (as I may call them) and in the Acts or Emanations; and of the Power, Intellect and Will of man, both as in the Faculties and Acts; so do I here of the Divine Primalities; yet so, as supposing that in God, who is called a Pure Act, there is not such a difference between Power and Act, as there is in man or other creatures.
