I answer nothing is a being of it self, by heritage, essentially, and without dependence on another, as its father, cause, Author, Creator, but God; and nothing lives, worketh, doth good, independently, infinitely, immutably, from and of it self, but God only. And all Creatures, Angels, and Men, are but borrowed beings, beings by adoption, gift, loan, and little shadows,1 remaining shadows, by the essence, goodness, and free pleasure of God. And as their being is dependent, so are they Gods dependent tools, and instruments of working, they do, and do good, but dependently and so as both power and actual doing, and doing good is from God principally, by moving, exciting, and determinating them to do, and from, ego, egoitas, ipseitas, from themselves actively as instruments and tools in Gods hand, if the creature seek a world of its own, in being and working without God, that egoitas, that I, that my self, is the great Lord of pride, but otherwise the creature is not in its essence God. There was a comparative self-denial required in Adam, and is in the man Christ and the elect Angels, though no sinful self was in any of these three, and it is that the sinless creature should yield its being, lust, will and desires, rather to be trampled on, despised, or turned to nothing, before God be dishonoured; All the essential attributes of goodness, holiness, wisdom, grace, justice, power, sovereignty, &c. that are all infinite in God, proclaim that there is an infinite distance between the Creature and the Creator, but if we speak of a borrowed being, and a borrowed working, at the second hand, and by loan, then it is no sin, for creatures to say they are creatures, for the Holy Ghost saith it, and biddeth man say, that he is clay, and a living soul, nor is it sin to the Creature to ascribe doing of good to it self, as the Church saith, I have sought thee, O Lord, Isa. 26. and David, I love thee, O Lord; and Paul, I have laboured more abundantly then they all; though it was a labouring borrowed from grace, and sure the Creature acts sin and against a law, and not in subordination to God as Law-giver acting him against a Law.
I answer nothing is a being of it selfe, by heritage, essentially, and without dependence on another, as its father, cause, Author, Creator, but God; and nothing lives, worketh, doth good, independently, infinitely, immutably, from and of it self, but God onely. And all Creatures, Angels, and Men, are but borrowed beeings, beeings by adoption, gift, loane, and little shaddows,1 remaining shaddows, by the essence, goodnesse, and free pleasure of God. And as their beeing is dependent, so are they Gods dependent tooles, and instruments of working, they doe, and doe good, but dependently and so as both power and actuall doeing, and doeing good is from God principally, by moving, exciting, and determinating them to doe, and from, ego, egoitas, ipseitas, from themselves actively as instruments and tooles in Gods hand, if the creature seek a world of its own, in being and working without God, that egoitas, that I, that my self, is the great Lord of pride, but otherwise the creature is not in its essence God. There was a comparative self-deniall required in Adam, and is in the man Christ and the elect Angels, though no sinfull selfe was in any of these three, and it is that the sinlesse creature should yeeld its beeing, lust, will and desires, rather to be trampled on, dispised, or turned to nothing, before God be dishonoured; All the essentiall attributes of goodnesse, holinesse, wisdome, grace, justice, power, soveraignty, &c. that are all infinite in God, proclaime that there is an infinite distance between the Creature and the Creator, but if we speak of a borrowed beeing, and a borrowed working, at the second hand, and by loane, then it is no sin, for creatures to say they are creatures, for the Holy Ghost saith it, and biddeth man say, that he is clay, and a living soule, nor is it sin to the Creature to ascribe doing of good to it self, as the Church saith, I have sought thee, O Lord, Isa. 26. and David, I love thee, O Lord; and Paul, I have laboured more abundantly then they all; though it was a labouring borrowed from grace, and sure the Creature acts sin and against a law, and not in subordination to God as Law-giver acting him against a Law.
- 1How creatures are under-causes of their own working, and yet in be•ing and working, depend on God.
