An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ,…

and so it must of necessity be, if he have any reason at all; for the reason of love or hatred ought to be in the Object, not in the Person who loves or hates; and yet in propriety of speech, God cannot be said to depend on his Creatures, or any thing without himself, for the reason of his love or hatred, but his own Nature is the reason of it: He is infinitely Holy, and therefore loves holiness and hates sin; and his natural love to holiness is the reason why he loves holy Men, and his natural hatred to sin, is the reason why he hates wicked Men: his own holiness is the reason why he loves holy Men, but the holiness of the ⟨p. 576⟩Creature is the reason, why he determines his love to any particular person; And if they will call this a depending on creatures, we must acknowledge that God does thus depend on his Creatures, in the administration of his Providence, in distributions of rewards and punishments; and he should not be wise, & holy, and just, & good if he did not, that is, if he did not put such a difference between things & persons, as their Natures require: It is a strange notion of an independent Being, that he must have no other reason for what he does, but his own Arbitrary will; which is so far from being a perfection, that it destroys all the other perfections of the Divine Nature.

and so it must of necessity be, if he have any reason at all; for the reason of love or hatred ought to be in the Object, not in the Person who loves or hates; and yet in propriety of speech, God cannot be said to depend on his Creatures, or any thing without himself, for the reason of his love or hatred, but his own Nature is the reason of it: He is infinitely Holy, and therefore loves holyness and hates sin; and his natural love to holyness is the reason why he loves holy Men, and his natural hatred to sin, is the reason why he hates wicked Men: his own holyness is the reason why he loves holy Men, but the holyness of the ⟨p. 576⟩Creature is the reason, why he determines his love to any particular person; And if they will call this a depending on creatures, we must acknowledge that God does thus depend on his Creatures, in the administration of his Providence, in distributions of rewards and punishments; and he should not be wise, & holy, and just, & good if he did not, that is, if he did not put such a difference between things & persons, as their Natures require: It is a strange notion of an independent Being, that he must have no other reason for what he does, but his own Arbitrary will; which is so far from being a perfection, that it destroys all the other perfections of the Divine Nature.