As for the preservation of kinds, all propagations are from that primitive Benediction, Crescite & multiplicamini, which dropped from the divine Will. Vegetables multiply, but 'tis God who gives to every seed his own body, 1 Cor. 15. 38. Men and Beasts generate their like, but 'tis God who sows a land with the seed of man and the seed of beast, Jer. 31. 27. The man written down childless in God's Book must be without the blessing of posterity; the Member unwritten or left out in that Book, must never be extant in Nature. When Monsters are brought forth, there is an aberration in the particular Nature, but none in the Will of God: when Bastards are generated (which cannot be without a moral Monstrosity) the sin is Man's, but the Creature is God's. In brief; If we run through all varieties of Preservation, either as to the Being of Creatures, or as to the Adjuncts of order, beauty, goodness and truth, we must resolve all into the Will of God. Alas! what is the mutable Being of Creatures, unless fixed by the Will of the Necesse esse? What ⟨p. 152⟩are all the Orders and Harmonies of things, unless kept in tune by the counsel of his Will? By him all things [Greek or Hebrew], Col. 1. 17. not only subsist in their Beings, but consist in their Orders. His Will is the Virtus unitiva, which glues and tacks the whole System of Heaven and Earth together, or else all would unframe and fall asunder in a moment. What an empty nothing is Creature-beauty, unless shined upon by his gracious pleasure? 'Tis he that reneweth the face of the earth, Psal. 104. 30. or else 1the Spring would lose her fresh complexion; nay, and the face of Heaven too, or else all the Starry Beauty-spots would drop off. What is all the Goodness in the Creature, unless supplied from the great Original? 'Tis but as water in a broken Cistern, soon running out, and never to be gathered up again. What is all the Truth in the Creature but an Impress made from his Ideal Truth? The Impress the Creature can no more preserve in it self, than it could at first stamp it there. Wherefore the Will of God is that vas conservativum, which preserves and contains all things within their Beings and modes of Being, or else they ⟨p. 153⟩would immediately run into nullity.
As for the preservation of kinds, all propagations are from that primitive Benediction, Crescite & multiplicamini, which dropt from the divine Will. Vegetables multiply, but 'tis God who gives to every seed his own body, 1 Cor. 15. 38. Men and Beasts generate their like, but 'tis God who sows a land with the seed of man and the seed of beast, Jer. 31. 27. The man written down childless in God's Book must be without the blessing of posterity; the Member unwritten or left out in that Book, must never be extant in Nature. When Monsters are brought forth, there is an abertation in the particular Nature, but none in the Will of God: when Bastards are generated (which cannot be without a moral Monstrosity) the sin is Man's, but the Creature is God's. In brief; If we run through all varieties of Preservation, either as to the Being of Creatures, or as to the Adjuncts of order, beauty, goodness and truth, we must resolve all into the Will of God. Alas! what is the mutable Being of Creatures, unless fixed by the Will of the Necesse esse? What ⟨p. 152⟩are all the Orders and Harmonies of things, unless kept in tune by the counsel of his Will? By him all things 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, Col. 1. 17. not only subsist in their Beings, but consist in their Orders. His Will is the Virtus unitiva, which glues and tacks the whole System of Heaven and Earth together, or else all would unframe and fall asunder in a moment. What an empty nothing is Creature-beauty, unless shined upon by his gracious pleasure? 'Tis he that reneweth the face of the earth, Psal. 104. 30. or else 1the Spring would lose her fresh complexion; nay, and the face of Heaven too, or else all the Starry Beautyspots would drop off. What is all the Goodness in the Creature, unless supplied from the great Original? 'Tis but as water in a broken Cistern, soon running out, and never to be gathered up again. What is all the Truth in the Creature but an Impress made from his Ideal Truth? The Impress the Creature can no more preserve in it self, than it could at first stamp it there. Wherefore the Will of God is that vas conservativum, which preserves and conteins all things within their Beings and modes of Being, or else they ⟨p. 153⟩
- 1[Greek or Hebrew]. Wisd. cap. 13. 3.〈non-Latin alphabet〉. Wisd. cap. 13. 3.
