him through the universal Corruption of Nature Now he hath manifested himself a God of Truth mindful of his Promise in Blessing all Nations in the Seed of Abraham The Fury of Devils and the Violence of Men could not hinder the propagation of this Gospel Its Light hath been dispersed as far as that of the Sun and that Grace that sounded in the Gentiles Ears hath bent many of their Hearts to the Obedience of it 5. Observe That Libertinism and Licentiousness find no encouragement in the Gospel It was made known to all Nations for the Obedience of Faith The Goodness of God is publish'd that our Enmity to him may be parted with Christs Righteousness is not offered to us to be put on that we may roul more warmly in our Lusts The Doctrine of Grace commands us to give up our selves to Christ to be accepted through him and to be ruled by him Obedience is due to God as a Soveraign Lord in his Law and 't is due out of gratitude as he is a God of Grace in the Gospel The discovery of a further perfection in God weakens not the right of another nor the obligation of the Duty the former Attribute claims at our hands The Gospel frees us from the Curse but not from the Duty and Service We are delivered from the hands of our Enemies that we might serve God in Holiness and Righteousness Luke 1.74 This is the will of God in the Gospel even our Sanctification When a Prince strikes off a Malefactors Chains though he deliver him from the punishment of his Crime he frees him not from the Duty of a Subject His Pardon adds a greater obligation than his Protection did before while he was Loyal Christs Righteousness gives us a Title to Heaven but there must be a Holiness to give us a fitness for Heaven 6. Observe That Evangelical Obedience or the Obedience of Faith is only acceptable to God Obedience of Faith Genitivus speciei noting the kind of Obedience God requires an Obedience springing from Faith animated and influenced by Faith Not Obedience of Faith as though Faith were the Rule and the Law were abrogated but to the Law as a Rule and from Faith as a Principle There is no true Obedience before Faith Heb. 11.6 Without Faith it is impossible to please God and therefore without Faith impossible to obey him A good Work cannot proceed from a defil'd Mind and Conscience and without Faith every mans Mind is darkned and his Conscience polluted * Tit. 1.15 Faith is the Band of Union to Christ and Obedience is the Fruit of Union we cannot bring forth fruit without being Branches †John 15.4 5. and we cannot be Branches without Believing Legitimate Fruit follows upon Marriage to Christ not before it Rom. 7.4 That you should be married to another even to him that is raised from the dead that you should bring forth fruit unto God All Fruit before Marriage is Bastard and Bastards were excluded from the Sanctuary Our Persons must be first accepted in Christ before our Services can be acceptable those Works are not acceptable where the Person is not pardoned Good Works flow from a pure Heart but the Heart cannot be pure before Faith All the Good Works reckoned up in the 11th Chapter of the Hebrews were from this Spring those Heroes first believed and then obeyed By Faith Abel was righteous before God without it his Sacrifice had been no better than Cains By Faith Enoch pleased God and had a Divine Testimony to his Obedience before his Translation By Faith Abraham offered up Isaac without which he had been no better than a Murderer All Obedience hath its Root in Faith and is not done in our own strength but in the strength and virtue of another of Christ whom God hath set forth as our Head and Root 7. Observe Faith and Obedience are distinct though inseparable The Obedience of Faith Faith indeed is Obedience to a Gospel Command which enjoyns us to believe but it is not all our Obedience Justification and Sanctification are distinct Acts of God Justification respects the Person Sanctification the Nature Justification is first in order of Nature and Sanctification follows They are distinct but inseparable every Justified Person hath a Sanctified Nature and every Sanctified Nature supposeth a Justified Person So Faith and Obedience are distinct Faith as the Principle Obedience as the Product Faith as the Cause Obedience as the Effect the Cause and the Effect are not the same By Faith we own Christ as our Lord by Obedience we regulate our selves according to his Command The acceptance of the Relation to him as a Subject precedes the performance of our Duty By Faith we receive his Law and by Obedience we fulfil it Faith makes us Gods Children Gal. 3.26 Obedience manifests us to be Christs Disciples John 15.8 Faith is the Touchstone of Obedience the Touchstone and that which is tried by it are not the same But though they are distinct yet they are inseparable Faith and Obedience are joyned together Obedience follows Faith at the heels Faith purifies the heart and a pure Heart cannot be without pure Actions Faith unites us to Christ whereby we partake of his Liâ—e and a living Branch cannot be without fruit in its season and much fruit John 15.5 and that naturally from a newness of Spirit Rom. 7.9 not constrained by the rigors of the Law but drawn forth from a sweetness of Love for Faith works by Love The Love of God is the strong Motive and Love to God is the quickning Principle as there can be no Obedience without Faith so no Faith without Obedience After all this the Apostle ends with the celebration of the Wisdom of God To God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ for ever The rich Discovery of the Gospel cannot be thought of by a gracious Soul without a return of Praise to God and Admiration of his singular Wisdom Wise God His Power before and his Wisdom here are mentioned in conjunction in which his Goodness is included as interested in his establishing Power as the ground of all the Glory and Praise God hath from his Creatures Only Wise As Christ saith Mat. 19.17 None is good but God so the Apostle saith None Wise but God As all Creatures are unclean in regard of his Purity so they are all Fools in regard of his Wisdom yea the glorious Angels themselves * Job 4.18 Wisdom is the Royalty of God the proper Dialect of all his Ways and Works No Creature can lay claim to it He is so Wise that he is Wisdom it self Be glory through Jesus Christ As God is only known in and by Christ so he must be only worshipped and celebrated in and through Christ In him we must Pray to him and in him we must Praise him As all Mercies flow from God through Christ to us so all our Duties are to be presented to God through Christ In the Greek verbatim
use them no better than Men do devouring Fish and untam'd Beasts with a Hook in the Nose and a Bridle in the Mouth Those States-men in Isa 29.15 thought their Contrivances too deep for God to fathom and too close for God to frustrate They seek deep to hide their Counsels from the Lord surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the Potters Clay of no more force and understanding than a Potters Vessel which understands not its own form wrought by the Artificer nor the use it is put to by the Buyer and Possessor or shall be esteemed as a Potters Vessel that can be as easily flung back into the Mass from whence it was taken as preserved in the Figure it is now endued with No secret Designer is shrowded from Gods sight or can be shelter'd from Gods Arm He understands the Venom of their Hearts better than we can feel it and discovers their inward fury more plainly than we can see the Sting or Teeth of a Viper when they are opened for mischief and to what purpose doth God know and see them but in order to deliver his People from them in his own due time I know their sorrow and am come down to deliver them * Ex. 3.7 8. The Walls of Jerusalem are continually before him he knows therefore all that would undermine and demolish them None can hurt Zion by any ignorance or inadvertency in God 'T is observable that our Saviour assuming to himself a different Title in every Epistle to the Seven Churches doth particularly ascribe to himself this of Knowledge and Wrath in that to Thyatira an Emblem or Description of the Romish State * Rev. 2 1â— And unto the Angel of the Church of Thyatira write These things saith the Son of God who hath his Eyes like to a flame of Fire and his Feet like fine Brass His Eyes like a flame of Fire are of a piercing nature insinuating themselves into all the Pores and parts of the Body they encounter with and his Feet like Brass to crush them with is explained Verse 23. I will k ll her Children with Death and all the Churches shall know that I am he which searches the Reins and the Heart and I will give to every one of you according to your works He knows every design of the Romish Party design'd by that Church of Thyatira * For the Evidence of it I refer you to Dr. More 's Exposition of the seven Churches worthy every Learned and Vnderstanding Mans reading and of every sober Romanist Jezabel there signifies a whorish Church such a Church as shall act as Jezabel Ahab's Wife who was not only a Worshipper of Idols but propagated Idolatry in Israel slew the Prophets persecuted Elijah murdered Naboth the Name whereof signifies Prophesie seiz'd upon his Possession And if it be said that Verse 19. this Church was commended for her Works Faith Patience 't is true Rome did at first strongly profess Christianity and maintain'd the interest of it but afterwards fell into the practice of Jezabel and committed Spiritual Adultery And is she to be owned for a Wife that now plays the Harlot because she was honest and modest at her first Marriage * Coc. in loc And though she shall be destroy'd yet not speedily Verse 22. I will cast her into a Bed seems to intimate the destruction of Jezabel not to be at once and speedily but in a lingring way and by degrees as Sicknes consumes a Body 2. This Perfection of God fits him to be a special Object of Trust If he were forgetful what comfort could we have in any Promise How could we depend upon him if he were ignorant of our State His Compassions to pity us his Readiness to relieve us his Power to protect and assist us would be insignificant without his Omniscience to inform his Goodness and direct the Arm of his Power This Perfection is as it were Gods Office of Intelligence As you go to your Memorandum Book to know what you are to do so doth God to his Omniscience This Perfection is Gods Eye to acquaint him with the necessities of his Church and directs all his other Attributes in their exercise for and about his People You may depend upon his Mercy that hath promised and upon his Truth to perform upon his Sufficiency to supply you and his Goodness to relieve you and his Righteousness to reward you because he hath an infinite Understanding to know you and your wants you and your services And without this knowledge of his no comfort could be drawn from any other Perfection none of them could be a sure Nail to hang our hopes and confidence upon This is that the Church alway Celebrated Psal 105.7 He hath remembred his Covenant for ever and the Word which he hath commanded to a thousand generations And Verse 42. He remembred his holy Promise and he remembred for them his Covenant * Psal 106.45 He remembers and understands his Covenant therefore his Promise to perform it and therefore our Wants to supply them 3. And the rather because God knows the Persons of all his own He hath in his infinite Understanding the exact number of all the individual Persons that belong to him 2 Tim. 2.19 The Lord knows them that are his He knows all things because he hath Created them and he knows his People because he hath not only made them but also chose them He could no more choose he knew not what than he could Create he knew not what He knows them under a double Title of Creation as Creatures in the common Mass of Creation as new Creatures by a particular act of Separation He cannot be ignorant of them in time whom he fore-knew from Eternity His knowledge in time is the same he had from Eternity He fore-knew them that he intended to give the Grace of Faith unto and he knows them after they believe because he knows his own act in bestowing Grace upon them and his own Mark and Seal wherewith he hath stampt them No doubt but he that calls the Stars of Heaven by their names * Psal 147.4 knows the number of those living Stars that sparkle in the Firmament of his Church He cannot be ignorant of their Persons when he numbers the Hairs of their Heads and hath Registred their Names in the Book of Life As he only had an infinite Mercy to make the choice so he only hath an infinite Understanding to comprehend their Persons We only know the Elect of God by a Moral assurance in the Judgment of Charity when the Conversation of Men is according to the Doctrine of God We have not an infallible knowledge of them we may be often mistaken Judas a Devil may be judged by Man for a Saint till he be stript of his disguise God only hath an infallible knowledge of them he knows his own Records and the Counterparts in the hearts of his People None can counterfeit
the Kingdom of Heaven 'T is very reasonable that things so great and glorious so beneficial to Men and reveal'd to them by so sound an Authority and an unerring truth should be believed The Excellency of the thing disclos'd could admit of no lower a Condition than to be believ'd and embraced There is a sort of Faith that is a Natural Condition in every thing All Religion in the World though never so false depends upon a sort of it for unless there be a belief of future things there would never be a hope of Good or a fear of Evil the two great Hinges upon which Religion moves In all kinds of Learning many things must be believed before a progress can be made Belief of one another is necessary in all acts of Humane Life without which Humane Society would be unlinkt and dissolv'd What is that Faith that God requires of us in this Covenant but a willingness of Soul to take God for our God Christ for our Mediator and the Procurer of our Happiness * Rev. 22.17 What Prince could require less upon any Promise he makes his Subjects than to be believed as true and depended on as good That they should accept his Pardon and other gracious offers and be sincere in their Allegiance to him avoiding all things that may offend him and pursuing all things that may please him Thus God by so small and reasonable a Condition as Faith le ts in the Fruits of Christs Death into our Soul and wraps us up in the fruition of all the Priviledges purchas'd by it So much he hath condescended in his Goodness that upon so slight a Condition we may plead his Promise and humbly challenge by vertue of the Covenant those good things he hath promised in his Word 'T is so reasonable a Condition that if God did not require it in the Covenant of Grace the Creature were obliged to perform it For the publishing any Truth from God naturally calls for Credit to be given it by the Creature and an entertainment of it in Practice Could you offer a more reasonable Condition your selves had it been left to your choice Should a Prince proclaim a Pardon to a profligate Wretch would not all the World cry shame of him if he did not believe it upon the highest assurances and if Ingenuity did not make him sorry for his Crimes and careful in the Duty of a Subject surely the World would cry shame of such a Person 5. 'T is a necessary Condition 1. Necessary for the honour of God A Prince is disparag'd if his Authority in his Law and if his Graciousness in his Promises be not accepted and believed What Physician would undertake a Cure if his Precepts may not be Credited 'T is the first thing in the order of Nature that the Revelation of God should be believed that the reality of his Intentions in inviting Man to the acceptance of those Methods he hath prescribed for their attaining their chief Happiness should be acknowledged 'T is a debasing Notion of God that he should give a Happiness purchased by Divine Blood to a Person that hath no value for it nor any abhorrency of those Sins that occasion'd so great a Suffering nor any will to avoid them Should he not vilifie himself to bestow a Heaven upon that Man that will not believe the offers of it nor walk in those ways that leads to it That walks so as if he would declare there was no truth in his Word nor Holiness in his Nature Would not God by such an act verifie a truth in the language of their practice viz. that he were both false and impure careless of his Word and negligent of his Holiness As God was so desirous to ensure the Consolation of Believers that if there had been a greater Being than himself to attest and for him to be Responsible to for the confirmation of his Promise he would willingly have submitted to him and have made him the Umpire * Heb. 6.19 He swore by himself because he could not swear by a greater By the same reason Had it stood with the Majesty and Wisdom of God to stoop to lower Conditions in this Covenant for the reducing of Man to his Duty and Happiness he would have done it but his Goodness could not take lower steps with the preservation of the Rights of his Majesty and the Honour of his Wisdom Would you have had him wholly submitted to the obstinate will of a Rebellious Creature and be ruled only by his terms Would you have had him receiv'd Men to Happiness after they had heightned their Crimes by a contempt of his Grace as well as of his Creating Goodness and have made them blessed under the guilt of their Crimes without an acknowledgment Should he glorifie one that will not believe what he hath reveal'd nor repent of what himself hath committed and so save a Man after a repeated unthankfulness to the most immense Grace that ever was or can be discovered and offer'd without a detestation of his ingratitude and a voluntary acceptance of his offers 'T is necessary for the honour of God that Man should accept of his terms and not give Laws to him to whom he is obnoxious as a guilty Person as well as Subject as a Creature Again it was very equitable and necessary for the honour of God that since Man fell by an unbelief of his Precept and Threatning he should not rise again without a belief of his Promise and calling himself upon his Truth in that Since he had vilified the honour of his Truth in the Threatning Since Man in his fall would lean to his own understanding against God 't is fit that in his Recovery the highest powers of his Soul his Understanding and Will should be subjected to him in an intire Resignation Now whereas Knowledge seems to have a power over its Object Faith is a full submission to that which is the Object of it Since Man intended a glorying in himself the Evangelical Covenant directs its whole battery against it that Men may glory in nothing but Divine Goodness †1 Cor. 1.29 30 31. Had Man perform'd exact Obedience by his own Strength he had had something in himself as the Matter of his Glory And though after the fall Grace had made it self illustrious in setting him up upon a new Stock yet had the same Condition of exact Obedience been setled in the same manner Man would have had something to glory in which is strook off wholly by Faith whereby Man in every act must go out of himself for a supply to that Mediator which Divine Goodness and Grace hath appointed 2. 'T is necessary for the happiness of Man That can be no contenting Condition wherein the will of Man doth not concur He that is forced to the most delicious Diet or to wear the bravest Apparel or to be stor'd with abundance of Treasure cannot be happy in those things without an esteem of them
integrity of the body Who would argue that because some men are mad and hâ—ve lost their reason by a distemper of the brain that therefore reason hath no reality but is an imaginary thing But I think it is a standing truth that every man hath been under the scourge of it one time or other in a less or greater degree For since every man is an offender it cannot be imagined Conscience which is natural to man and an active faculty should always lie idle without doing this part of its office The Apostle tells us of the thoughts accusing or excusing one another or by turns according as the actions were Nor is this truth weakned by the corruptions in the world whereby many have thought themselves bound in Conscience to adhere to a false and superstitious worship and Idolatry as much as any have thought themselves bound to adhere to a Worship commanded by God This very thing infers that all men have a reflecting principle in them it is no argument against the being of Conscience but only inferrs that it may Err in the application of what it naturally owns We can no more say that because some men walk by a false rule there is no such thing as Conscience than we can say that because men have Errors in their minds therefore they have no such faculty as an Understanding or because men will that which is evil they have no such faculty as a Will in them 2. These operations of Conscience are when the wickedness is most secret These tormenting fears of Vengeance have been frequent in men who have had no reason to fear man since their wickedness being unknown to any but themselves they could have no accuser but themselves They have been in many acts which their companions have justified them in Persons above the stroak of human laws yea such as the people have honoured as Gods have been haunted by them Conscience hath not been frighted by the power of Princes or brib'd by the pleasures of Courts David was pursued by his horrors when he was by reason of his dignity above the punishment by the Law or at least was not reacht by the Law since though the Murder of Vriah was intended by him it was not acted by him Such examples are frequent in human Records When the crime hath been above any punishment by man they have had an Accuser Judge and Executioner in their own breasts Can this be originally from a mans self He who loves and cherishes himself would fly from any thing that disturbs him T is a greater Power and Majesty from whom man cannot hide himself that holds him in those fetters What should affect their minds for that which can never bring them shame or punishment in this World if there were not some supream Judge to whom they were to give an account whose instrument Conscience is Doth it do this of it self hath it received an Authority from the man himself to sting him It is some supream power that doth direct and commission it against our Wills 3. These operations of Conscience cannot be totally shaken off by Man If there 〈◊〉 no God why do not men silence the clamors of their Consciences and scatter thâ—â—e fears that disturb their rest and pleasures How inquisitive are men after some remedy against those convulsions Sometimes they would render the charge insignificant and sing a rest to themselves though they walk in the wickedness of their own hearts * Deâ—â— How often do men attempt to drown it by sensual pleasures and perhaps over-power it for a time but it revives reinforceth it self and Acts a revenge for its former stop It holds sin to a mans view and fixes his eyes upon it whether he will or no The wicked are like a troubled Sea and cannot rest Isa 57.20 They would wallow in sin without controul but this inward principle will not suffer it nothing can shelter men from those blows What is the reason it could never be cried down Man is an Enemy to his own disquiet what man would continue upon the rack if it were in his power to deliver himself why have all human remedies been without success and not able to extinguish those operations though all the wickedness of the heart hath been ready to assist and second the attempt It hath pursued men notwithstanding all the violence used against it and renewed its scourges with more severity as men deal with their resisting Slaves Man can as little silence those Thunders in his Soul as he can the Thunders in the Heavens He must strip himself of his humanity before he can be stript of an accusing and affrighting Conscience It sticks as close to him as his nature Since man cannot throw out the Process it makes against him t is an evidence that some higher power secures its Throne and standing Who should put this scourge into the hand of Conscience which no man in the World is able to wrest out 4. We may add the comfortable reflections of Conscience There are excusing as well as accusing reflections of Conscience when things are done as works of the law of nature Rom. 2.15 As it doth not forbear to accuse and torture when a wickedness though unknown to others is committed So when a man hath done well though he be attackt with all the calumnies the wit of man can forge yet his Conscience justifies the action and fills him with a singular contentment As there is torture in sinning so there is peace and joy in well doing Neither of those it could do if it did not understand a Soveraign Judge who punishes the Rebels and rewards the well-doer Conscience is the foundation of all Religion and the two Pillars upon which it is built are the being of God and the bounty of God to those that diligently seek him * Heb. 11.6 This proves the Existence of God If there were no God Conscience were useless the operations of it would have no foundation if there were not an eye to take notice and a hand to punish or reward the action The accusations of Conscience evidence the Omniscience and the Holiness of God The terrors of Conscience the justice of God The approbations of Conscience the Goodness of God All the order in the world owes it self next to the Providence of God to Conscience Without it the world would be a Golgotha As the Creatures witness there was a first cause that produced them so this Principle in man evidenceth it self to be set by the same hand for the good of that which it had so framed There could be no Conscience if there were no God and man could not be a rational Creature if there were no Conscience As there is a Rule in us there must be a Judge whether our actions be according to the rule And since Conscience in our corrupted state is in some particular misled there must be a power superior to Conscience to judge how it hath behaved it self in its deputed
consist before we can beleive any means which conduct us to him Moses begins with the Author of Creation before he treats of the Promise of Redemption Paul preached God as a Creator to a University before he preached Christ as Mediator * Acts 17.24 What influence can the Testimony of God have in his Revelation upon one that doth not firmly assent to the truth of his Being All would be in vain that is so often repeated thus saith the Lord if we do not beleive there is a Lord that speaks it There could be no aw from his Soveraignity in his Commands nor any comfortable taste of his Goodness in his Promises The more we are strengthened in this Principle the more credit we shall be able to give to divine Revelation to rest in his Promise and to reverence his Precept the Authority of all depends upon the Being of the Revealer To this purpose since we have handled this discourse by natural Arguments 1. Study God in the Creatures as well as in the Scriptures The primary use of the Creatures is to acknowledge God in them they were made to be witnesses of himself and his Goodness and Heralds of his Glory which Glory of God as Creator shall endure for ever Psal 104.31 that whole Psalm is a Lecture of Creation and Providence The World is a sacred Temple Man is introduced to contemplate it and behold with Praise the Glory of God in the pieces of his Art As Grace doth not destroy Nature so the Book of Redemption blots not out that of Creation Had he not shewn himself in his Creatures he could never have shewn himself in his Christ The order of things required it God must be read where ever he is legible The Creatures are one book wherein he hath writ a part of the excellency of his name * Psal 8.9 as many Artists do in their Works and Watches Gods Glory like the Filings of Gold is too precious to be lost where ever it drops Nothing so vile and base in the World but carries in it an instruction for Man and drives in further the Notion of a God As he said of his Cottage Enter here Sunt hic etiam Dij God disdains not this place So the least Creature speaks to Man every Shrub in the Field every Fly in the Air every Limbin a Body consider me God disdains not to appear in me he hath discovered in me his Being and a part of his Skill as well as in the highest The Creatures manifest the Being of God and part of his Perfections We have indeed a more excellent way a Revelation setting him forth in a more excellent manner a firmer Object of Dependence a brighter Object of Love raising our hearts from self confidence to a confidence in him Though the appearance of God in the one be clearer than in the other yet neither is to be neglected The Scripture directs us to Nature to view God it had been in vain else for the Apostle to make use of natural Arguments Nature is not contrary to Scripture nor Scripture to Nature unless we should think God contrary to himself who is the Author of both 2. View God in your own experiences of him There is a taste and sight of his Goodness though no sight of his Essence * Psal 34.98 By the taste of his Goodness you may know the reality of the fountain whence it springs and from whence it flows This surpasseth the greatest Capacity of a meer natural Understanding Experience of the sweetness of the ways of Christianity is a mighty preservative against Atheism Many a Man knows not how to prove Hony to be sweet by his reason but by his sense and if all the reason in the world be brought against it he will not be reasoned out of what he tasts Have not many found the delightful illappses of God into their Souls often sprinkled with his inward blessings upon their seeking of him had secret warnings in their approaches to him and gentle rebukes in their Consciences upon their swervings from him Have not many found sometimes an invisible hand raising them up when they were dejected some unexpected providence stepping in for their relief and easily perceived that it could not be a work of chance nor many times the intention of the instruments he hath used in it You have often found that he is by finding that he is a rewarder and can set to your seals that he is what he hath declared himself to be in his word Isa 43.12 I have declared and have saved therefore you are my witnesses saith the Lord that I am God The secret touches of God upon the heart and inward converses with him are a greater evidence of the Existence of a supream and infinitely good being than all nature Vse 4 4. Is it a folly to deny or doubt of the being of God T is a folly also not to worship God when we acknowledge his Existence T is our Wisdom then to Worship him As it is not indifferent whether we beleive there is a God or no So it is not indifferent whether we will give Honour to that God or no. A worship is his right as he is the Author of our being and fountain of our happiness By this only we acknowledge his Deity Tho we may profess his being yet we deny that profession in neglects of worship To deny him a Worship is as a great folly as to deny his being He that renounceth all homage to his Creator envies him the being which he cannot deprive him of The natural inclination to worship is as universal as the Notion of a God Idolatry else had never gained footing in the world The Existence of God was never owned in any Nation but a Worship of him was appointed And many people who have turned their backs upon some other parts of the Law of nature have paid a continual homage to some superior and invisible being The Jews give a Reason why Man was Created in the Evening of the Sabbath because he should begin his being with the worship of his Maker As soon as ever he found himself to be a Creature his first solemn act should be a particular respect to his Creator * Eccl. 12. To fear God and keep his Commandment is the whole of man or is * Heb. whole man he is not a man but a beast without observance of God Religion is as requisite as reason to compleat a man He were not reasonable if he were not Religious because by neglecting Religion he neglects the chiefest dictate of reason Either God framed the world with so much Order Elegancy and variety to no purpose or this was his end at least that reasonable Creatures should admire him in it and Honour him for it The Notion of God was not stampt upon men the shadows of God did not appear in the Creatures to be the Subject of an idle contemplation but the motive of a due homage to God
will to please him longings to enjoy him as a holy and sanctifying God in his Ordinances as well as a blessed and glorified God in Heaven What do we expect in our approaches from him That which may make divine impressions upon us and more exactly conform us to the divine nature Or do we design nothing but an empty formality a rowling eye and a filling the Air with a few words without any openings of heart to receive the incomes which according to the nature of the duty might be conveyed to us Can this be a spiritual worship The Soul then closely waits upon him when its expectation is only from him Psal 62.6 Are our hearts seasoned with a sense of sin a sight of our spiritual wants raised notions of God glowing affections to Him strong appetite after a spiritual fulness Do we rouze up our sleepy Spirits and make a Covenant with all that is within us to attend upon him So much as we want of this so much we come short of a spiritual worship In Psal 57.7 My heart is fixed oh God my heart is fixed David would fix his heart before he would engage in a praising act of worship He appeals to God about it and that with doubling the expression as being certain of an inward preparedness Can we make the same appeals in a fixation of Spirit 2. How are our hearts fixed upon him How do they cleave to him in the duty Do we resign our Spirits to God and make them an intire Holocaust a whole burnt-offering in his worship Or do we not willingly admit carnal thoughts to mix themselves with spiritual duties and fasten our minds to the Creature under pretences of directing them to the Creator Do we not pass a meer complement on God by some superficial act of devotion while some covetous envious ambitious voluptuous imagination may possess our minds Do we not invert Gods Order and worship a Lust instead of God with our Spirits that should not have the least service either from our Souls or Bodies but with a spiritual disdain be sacrificed to the just indignation of God How often do we fight against his Will while we cry hail Master instead of crucifying our own thoughts crucifying the Lord of our Lives Our outward carriage plausible and our inward stark naught Do we not often regard iniquity more than God in our hearts in a time of worship Roul some filthy imagination as a sweet morsel under our tongues and taste more sweetness in that than in God Do not our Spirits smell rank of Earth while we offer to Heaven and have we not hearts full of thick Clay as their hands were full of blood * Isa 1.15 When we sacrifice do we not wrap up our Souls in communion with some sordid fancy when we should entwine our Spirits about an amiable God While we have some fear of him may we not have a love to something else above him This is to worship or swear by the Lord and by Malchom * Zeph. 1.5 How often doth an Apish-fancy render a service inwardly ridiculous under a grave outward posture skipping to the Shop Ware-house Compting-house in the space of a short Prayer And we are before God as a Babel a confusion of internal languages and this in those parts of worship which are in the right use most agreeable to God profitable for our selves ruinous to the Kingdom of Sin and Satan and means to bring us into a closer communion with the Divine Majesty Can this be a spiritual worship 3. How do we act our graces in worship Though the Instrument be strung if the strâ—ngs be not wound up what melody can be the issue All readiness and alacrity discover a strength of nature and a readiness in Spirituals discovers a spirituality in the heart As unaffecting thoughts of God are not spiritual thoughts so unaffecting addresses to God are not spiritual addresses Well tâ—en what awakenings and elevations of Faith and Love have we What strong outflowings of our Souls to him What indignation against Sin What admirations of redeeming Grace How low have we brought our corruptions to the foot-stool of Christ to be made his conquered Enemies How straitly have we claspt ouâ— Faith about the Cross and Throne of Christ to become his intimate Spouse Do we in hearing hang upon the lips of Christ in prayer take hold of God and wil not let him go in confessions rent the Caul of our hearts and indite our Souls before him with a deep humility Do we act more by a soaring love than a drooping fear So far as our Spitits are servile so far they are legal and carnal so much as they are free and spontaneous so much they are evangelical and spiritual As men under the Law are subject to the constraint of Bondage * Heb. 2.15 all their life-time in all their worship so under the Gospel they are under a constraint of love * 2 Cor. 5.14 How then are believing affections exercised which are alway accompanied with holy fear a fear of his goodness that admits us into his presence and a fear to offend him in our act of worship So much as we have of forced or feeble affection so much we have of carnality 4. How do we find our hearts after worship By an after carriage we may judge of the spirituality of it 1. How are we as to inward strength When a worship is spiritually performed grace is more strengthened corruption more mortified The Soul like Sampson after his awakening goes out with a renewed strength As the inward man is renewed day by day that is every day so it is renewed in every worship Every shower makes the grass and fruit grow in good ground where the root is good and the weeds where the ground is naught The more prepared the heart is to obedience in other duties after worship the more evidence there is that it hath been spiritual in the exercise of it 'T is the end of God in every dispensation as in that of John Baptist To make ready a People prepared for the Lord * Luke 1 17. When the heart is by worship prepared for fresh acts of obedience and hath a more exact watchfulness against the incroachments of Sin As carnal men after worship sprout up in spiritual wickedness so do spiritual Worshippers in spiritual graces Spiritual fruits are a sign of a spiritual frame When men are more prone to sin after duty 't is a sign there was but little communion with God in it and a greater strength of sin because such an act is contrary to the end of worship which is the subduing of Sin 'T is a sign the Physick hath wrought well when the stomach hath a better appetite to its appointed food and worship hath been well performed when we have a stronger inclination to other acts well pleasing to God and a more sensible distaste of those temptations we too much relisht before 'T is a sign of
cannot be sever'd from his Power nor his Power from his Essence for the Power of God is nothing but God acting and the wisdom of God nothing but God knowing As the power of God is always so is his Essence as the power of God is every where so is his Essence whatsoever God is he is alway and every where To confine him to a place is to measure his Essence as to confine his actions is to limit his power his Essence being no less infinite than his Power and his Wisdom can be no more bounded than his Power and Wisdom but they are not separable from his Essence yea they are his Essence if God did not fill the whole World he would be determin'd to some place and excluded from others and so his substance would have bounds and limits and then something might be conceived greater than God for we may conceive that a Creature may be made by God of so vast a greatness as to fill the whole World for the power of God is able to make a body that should take up the whole space between Heaven and Earth and reach to every corner of it but nothing can be conceived by any Creature greater than God he exceeds all things and is exceeded by none God therefore cannot be included in Heaven nor included in the Earth cannot be contained in either of them for if we should imagine them vaster than they are yet still they would be finite and if his Essence were contain'd in them it could be no more infinite than the World which contains it As water is not of a larger compass than the Vessel which contains it If the Essence of God were limited either in the Heavens or Earth it must needs be finite as the Heaven and Earth are But there is no proportion between finite and infinite God therefore cannot be contain'd in them If there were an infinite body that must be every where certainly then an infinite Spirit must be every where Unless we will account him finite we can render no reason why he should not be in one Creature as well as in another if he be in Heaven which is his Creature why can he not be in the Earth which is as well his Creature as the Heavens 2. Reason Because of the continual operation of God in the World This was one reason made the Heathen believe that there was an infinite Spirit in the vast body of the World acting in every thing and producing those admirable motions which we see every where in Nature That cause which acts in the most perfect manner is also in the most perfect manner present with its effects God preserves all and therefore is in all the Apostle thought it a good induction Acts 17.27 He is not far from us for in him we live For being as much as because shews that from his operation he concluded his real presence with all 'T is not his vertue is not far from every one of us but He his Substance himself for none that acknowledge a God will deny the absence of the vertue of God from any part of the World He works in every thing every thing lives and works in him therefore he is present with all * Pont. or rather if things live they are in God who gives them life If things live God is in them and gives them life If things move God is in them and gives them motion If things have any Being God is in them and gives them Being if God withdraws himself they presently lose their Being and therefore some have compar'd the Creature to the impression of a Seal upon the water that cannot be preserved but by the Presence of the Seal As his Presence was actual with what he Created so his Presence is actual with what he preserves since Creation and Preservation do so little differ if God creates things by his Essential Presence by the same he supports them If his substance cannot be disjoyn'd from his preserving Power his power and wisdom cannot be separated from his Essence where there are the marks of the one there is the presence of the other for it is by his Essence that he is powerful and wise no man can distinguish the one from the other in a simple Being God doth not preserve and act things by a vertue diffus'd from him N.B. It may be demanded whether that vertue be distinct from God if it be not 't is then the Essence of God if it be distinct 't is a Creature and then it may be ask't how that vertue which preserves other things is preserved it self it must be ultimately resolv'd into the Essence of God or else there must be a running in infinitum or else * Amyrald de Trinitat p. 106. 107. is that vertue of God a substance or not Is it endued with understanding or not If it hath understanding how doth it differ from God If it wants understanding can any imagine that the support of the World the guidance of all Creatures the wonders of Nature can be wrought preserv'd manag'd by a vertue that hath nothing of understanding in it If it be not a substance it can much less be able to produce such excellent Operations as the preserving all the kinds of things in the World and ordering them to perform such excellent ends this Vertue is therefore God himself the infinite Power and Wisdom of God and therefore wheresoever the effects of these are seen in the World God is essentially present some Creatures indeed act at a distance by a vertue diffus'd but such a manner of acting comes from a limitedness of nature that such a nature cannot be every where present and extend its substance to all parts To act by a vertue speaks the Subject finite and it is a part of indigence Kings act in their Kingdoms by Ministers and Messengers because they cannot act otherwise but God being infinitely perfect works all things in all immediately 1 Cor. 12.6 Illumination Sanctification Grace c. are the immediate Works of God in the heart and immediate Agents are present with what they do 't is an Argument of the greater Perfection of a Being to know things immediately which are done in several places than to know them at the second hand by Instruments 't is no less a Perfection to be every where rather than to be tyed to one place of action and to act in other places by Instruments for want of a Power to act immediately it self God indeed acts by means and second causes in his Providential Dispensations in the World but this is not out of any Defect of Power to Work all immediately himself but he thereby accommodates his way of acting to the nature of the Creature and the Order of Things which he hath setled in the World And when he Works by means he acts with those means in those means sustains their faculties and vertues in them concurs with them by his Power so
the wisdom of God Christ is the wisdom of God principally and the Gospel instrumentally as it is the power of God instrumentally to subdue the heart to himself This is wrapped up in the appointing Christ as Redeemer and open'd to us in the revelation of it by the Gospel 1. It is a hidden wisdom In this regard God is said in the Text to be only wise and it is said to be a hidden wisdom 1 Tim. 1.17 and wisdom in a mystery 1 Cor. 2.7 incomprehensible to the ordinary Capacity of an Angel more than the abstruse qualities of the Creatures are to the understanding of man No wisdom of Men or Angels is able to search all the Veins of this Mine to tell all the threds of this Web or to understand the lustre of it they are as far from an ability fully to comprehend it as they were at first to contrive it That wisdom that invented it can only comprehend it In the uncreated Understanding only there is a clearness of light without any shadow of darkness We come as short of full apprehensions of it as a Child doth of the Counsel of the wisest Prince It is so hidden from us that without Revelation we could not have the least imagination of it and though it be revealed to us yet without the help of an Infiniteness of Understanding we cannot fully fathom it 'T is such a tractate of Divine wisdom that the Angels never before had seen the Edition of it till it was publish'd to the World Eph. 3.10 To the intent that now unto Principalities and Powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God Now made known to them not before and now made known to them in the heavenly places They had not the knowledge of all heavenly Mysteries though they had the possession of heavenly Glory They knew the Prophecies of it in the Word but attained not a clear Interpretation of those Prophecies till the things that were prophecied of came upon the Stage 2. Manifold wisdom So 't is called As manifold as mysterious Variety in the Mystery and Mystery in every part of the Variety It was not one single act but a variety of Counsels met in it a conjunction of excellent ends and excellent means The glory of God the salvation of Man the defeat of the Apostate Angels the discovery of the blessed Trinity in their Nature Operations their combin'd and distinct Acts and Expressions of Goodness The means are the conjunction of two Natures infinitely distant from one another the union of Eternity and Time of Mortality and Immortality Death is made the way to Life and Shame the path to Glory The weakness of the Cross is the reparation of man and the Creature is made wise by the foolishness of preaching fallen man grows rich by the poverty of the Redeemer and man is filled by the emptiness of God The Heir of Hell made a Son of God by God's taking upon him the form of a Servant the Son of Man advanc'd to the highest degree of Honour by the Son of God becoming of no reputation 'T is called Eph. 1.8 abundance of wisdom and prudence Wisdom in the Eternal Counsel contriving a way Prudence in the Temporary Revelation ordering all Affairs and Occurrences in the World for the attaining the end of his Counsel Wisdom refers to the Mystery Prudence to the manifestation of it in fit ways and convenient seasons Wisdom to the contrivance and order Prudence to the execution and accomplishment In all things God acted as became him as a wise and just Governour of the World Heb. 2.10 Whether the wisdom of God might not have found out some other way or whether he were in regard of the necessity and naturalness of his Justice limited to this is not the question But that it is the best and wisest way for the manifestation of his glory is out of question This wisdom will appear in the different Interests reconciled by it In the Subject the second Person in the Trinity wherein they were reconciled In the two Natures wherein he accomplish'd it whereby God is made known to man in his Glory Sin eternally condemned and the repenting and believing sinner eternally rescued The honour and righteousness of the Law vindicated both in the Precept and Penalty The Devil's Empire overthrown by the same Nature he had overturned and the Subtilty of Hell defeated by that Nature he had spoiled The Creature engaged in the very act to the highest Obedience and Humility that as God appears as a God upon his Throne the Creature might appear in the lowest posture of a Creature in the depths of resignation and dependance the publication of this made in the Gospel by ways congruous to the wisdom which appeared in the execution of his Counsel and the Conditions of enjoying the fruit of it most wise and resonable 1. The greatest different Interests are reconcil'd Justice in punishing and Mercy in pardoning For man had broken the Law and plung'd himself into a Gulf of Misery The Sword of Vengeance was unsheathed by Justice for the punishment of the Criminal The Bowels of Compassion were stirred by Mercy for the rescue of the Miserable Justice severely beholds the Sin and Mercy compassionately reflects upon the Misery Two different claims are entred by those concerned Attributes Justice votes for Destruction and Mercy votes for Salvation Justice would draw the Sword and drench it in the blood of the Offender Mercy would stop the Sword and turn it from the breast of the Sinner Justice would edge it and Mercy would blunt it The Arguments are strong on both sides 1. Justice pleads I Arraign before thy Tribunal a Rebel who was the glorious Work of thy Hands the Center of thy rich Goodness and a Counterpart of thy own Image he is indeed miserable whereby to excite thy Compassion but he is not miserable without being Criminal Thou didst create him in a state and with ability to be otherwise The riches of thy Bounty aggravate the blackness of his Crime He is a Rebel not by necessity but will What constraint was there upon him to listen to the Counsels of the Enemy of God What force could there be upon him since it is without the compass of any Creature to work upon or constrain the Will Nothing of Ignorance can excuse him the Law was not ambiguously express'd but in plain words both as to Precept and Penalty it was writ in his Nature in legible Characters Had he received any disgust from thee after his Creation it would not excuse his Apostacy since as a Soveraign thou wert not obliged to thy Creature Thou hadst provided all things richly for him he was crowned with glory and honour Thy infinite power had bestowed upon him an Habitation richly furnished and varieties of Servants to attend him Whatever he viewed without and whatever he viewed within himself were several Marks of thy Divine Bounty to engage him to Obedience Had
others more than in God Thus God upbraids those by the Prophet that sought help from Egypt telling them Isai 31.3 The Egyptians were men and not gods intimating that by their dependance on them they render'd them gods and not Men and advanc'd them from the state of Creatures to that of Almighty Deities 'T is to set a pile of Dust a heap of Ashes above Him that created and preserves the World To trust in a Creature is to make it as Infinite as God to do that which is impossible in it self to be done God himself cannot make a Creature infinite for that were to make him God 'T is also contemn'd when we ascribe what we receive to the power of Instruments and not to the Power of God Men in whatsoever they do for us are but the Tools whereby the Creator works Is it not a disgrace to the Limner to admire his Pensil and not himself to the Artificer to admire his File and Engines and not his Power 'T is not I saith Paul that labour but the Grace the efficacious Grace of God which is in me Whatsoever good we do is from him not from our selves to ascribe it to our selves or to Instruments is to overlook and contemn his Power 5. Vnbelief of the Gospel is a contempt and disowning Divine Power This Perfection hath been discover'd in the Conception of Christ the Union of the two Natures his Resurrection from the Grave the Restoration of the World and the Conversion of Men more than in the Creation of the World Then what a disgrace is Vnbelief to all that Power that so severely punished the Jews for the rejecting the Gospel turn'd so many Nations from their beloved Superstitions humbled the Power of Princes and the Wisdom of Philosophers chas'd Devils from their Temples by the weakness of Fishermen planted the Standard of the Gospel against the common Notions and inveterate Customes of the World What a disgrace is Vnbelief to this Power which hath preserved Christianity from being extinguish'd by the force of Men and Devils and kept it flourishing in the midst of Sword Fire and Executioners that hath made the Simplicity of the Gospel overpower the Eloquence of Orators and multiplied it from the Ashes of Martyrs when it was destitute of all Humane Assistances Not heartily to believe and embrace that Doctrine which hath been attended with such Marks of Power is a high reflection upon this Divine Perfection so highly manifested in the first publication propagation and preservation of it II. The Power of God is abused as well as contemned 1. When we make use of it to justifie Contradictions The Doctrine of Transubstantiation is an abuse of this Power When the Maintainers of it cannot answer the Absurdities alledg'd against it they have recourse to the Power of God It implies a Contradiction that the same Body should be on Earth and in Heaven at the same instant of time that it should be at the Right hand of God and in the Mouth and Stomack of a Man that it should be a Body of Flesh and yet Bread to the Eye and to the Taste that it should be Visible and Invisible a glorious Body and yet gnawn by the Teeth of a Creature that it should be multiplied in a Thousand places and yet an entire Body in every one where there is no Member to be seen no Flesh to be tasted that it should be above us in the highest Heavens and yet within us in our lower Bowels Such Contradictions as these are an Abuse of the Power of God Again We abuse this Power when we believe every idle Story that is reported because God is able to make it so if he pleased We may as well believe Esop's Fables to be true that Birds spake and Beasts reasoned because the Power of God can enable such Creatures to such acts Gods Power is not the Rule of our Belief of a thing without the exercise of it in matter of Fact and the declaration of it upon sufficient Evidence 2. The Power of God is abus'd by presuming on it without using the Means he hath appointed When Men sit with folded-Arms and make a Confidence in his Power a glorious Title to their Idleness and Disobedience they would have his Strength do all and his Precept should move them to do nothing this is a trust of his Power against his Command a pretended glorifying his Power with a slight of his Soveraignty Though God be Almighty yet for the most part he exerciseth his Might in giving life and success to Second Causes and lawful endeavours When we stay in the mouth of Danger without any Call ordering us to to continue and against a Door of Providence open'd for our rescue and sanctuary our selves in the Power of God without any Promise without any Providence conducting us this is not to glorifie the Divine Might but to neglect it in neglecting the Means which his Power affords to us for our escape * Harwood p. 13. To condemn it to our humors to work Miracles for us according to our wills and against his own God could have sent a Worm to be Herods Executioner when he sought the life of our Saviour or employed an Angel from Heaven to have tied his hands or stopt his breath and not put Joseph upon a flight to Egypt with our Saviour yet had it not been an abuse of the Power of God for Joseph to have neglected the Precept and slighted the Means God gave him for the preserving his own life and that of the Childs Christ himself when the Jews consulted to destroy him presum'd not upon the Power of God to secure him but used ordinary means for his preservation by walking no more openly but retiring himself into a City near the Wilderness till the hour was come and the Call of his Father manifest †John 11.53 54. A rash running upon Danger though for the Truth it self is a presuming upon and consequently an abuse of this Power a proud challenging it to serve our turns against the Authority of his Will and the force of his Precept A not resting in his Ordinate Power but demanding his Absolute Power to pleasure our Follies and Presumptions concluding and expecting more from it than what is Authoriz'd by his Will 9. Instruction If Infinite Power be a peculiar Property of God How miserable will all wicked Rebels be under this Power of God Men may break his Laws but not impair his Arm they may slight his Word but cannot resist his Power If he swear that he will sweep a place with the Besom of Destruction As he hath thought so shall it come to pass and as he hath purposed so shall it stand Isai 14.23 24. Rebels against an Earthly Prince may exceed him in strength and be more powerful than their Soveraign None can equal God much less exceed him As none can exercise an act of Hostility against him without his permissive Will so none can struggle from under
Gift an unparallell'd Gift springing from unconceivable Treasures of Goodness * John 3.16 What is our turning our backs upon this Gift but a low opinion of it As though the richest Jewel of Heaven were not so valuable as a Swinish pleasure on Earth and deserv'd to be treated at no other rate than if meer Offals had been presented to us The plain language of it is that there were no gracious intentions for our welfare in this present and that he is not as good in the Mission of his Son as he would induce us to imagine Impenitence is also an abuse of this Goodness either by presumption as if God would entertain Rebels that bid defiance against him with the same respect that he doth his prostrate and weeping Suppliants That he will have the same regard to the Swine as to the Children and lodge them in the same Habitation Or it speaks a suspicion of God as a deceitful Master one of a pretended not a real Goodness That makes promises to mock Men and invitations to delude them That he is an implacable Tyrant rather than a good Father A rigid not a kind Being delightful only to mark our Faults and overlook our Services 4. The Goodness of God is contemned by a distrust of his Providence As all trust in him supposeth him Good so all distrust of him supposeth him Evil either without Goodness to exert his Power or without Power to display his Goodness Job seems to have a Spice of this in his complaint * Job 30.20 I crie unto thee and thou dost not hear me I stand up and thou regardest me not 'T is a fume of the Serpents Venom first breath'd into Man to suspect him of Cruelty Severity Regardlesness even under the daily Evidences of his good Disposition And it is ordinary not to believe him when he speaks nor Credit him when he acts To question the goodness of his Precepts and misinterpret the kindness of his Providence As if they were design'd for the supports of a Tyranny and the deceit of the Miserable Thus the Israelites thought their miraculous deliverance from Egypt and the placing them in security in the Wilderness was intended only to pound them up for a slaughter * Numb 14.3 Thus they defil'd the lustre of Divine Goodness which they had so highly Experimented and placed not that confidence in him which was due to so frequent a Benefactor and thereby Crucify'd the rich Kindness of God as Genebrard translates the word limited * Psal 78.41 'T is also a jealousie of Divine Goodness when we seek to deliver our selves from our straights by unlawful ways as though God had not kindness enough to deliver us without committing Evil. What did God make a World and all Creatures in it to think of them no more not to concern himself in their Affairs If he be Good he is diffusive and delights to Communicate himself and what Subjects should there be for it but those that seek him and implore his assistance 'T is an indignity to Divine Bounty to have such mean thoughts of it that it should be of a Nature contrary to that of his Works which the better they are the more diffusive they are Doth a Man distrust that the Sun will not shine any more or the Earth not bring forth its Fruit Doth he distrust the goodness of an approved Medicine for the expelling his Distemper If we distrust those things should we not render our selves ridiculous and sottish And if we distrust the Creator of those things do we not make our selves contemners of his Goodness If his Careing for us be a principal Argument to move us to cast our Care upon him as it is 1 Pet. 5.7 Casting your Care upon him for he Cares for you then if we cast not our Care upon him 't is a denial of his Gracious Care of us as if he regarded not what becomes of us 5. We do contemn or abuse his Goodness by omissions of Duty These sometimes spring from injurious conceits of God which end in desperate Resolutions It was the Crime of a good Prophet in his passion * 2 Kings 6.33 This Evil is of the Lord Why should I wait on the Lord any longer God designs nothing but mischief to us and we will seek him no longer And the complaint of those in Malachy Mal. 3.14 is of the same nature Ye have said 't is vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his Ordinances We have all this while serv'd a hard Master not a Benefactor and have not been answered with advantages proportionable to our services We have met with a hand too niggardly to dispense that Reward which is due to the largeness of our Offerings When Men will not lift up their Eyes to Heaven and sollicite nothing but the contrivance of their own brain and the industry of their own heads they disown Divine Goodness and approve themselves as their own Gods and the Spring of their own Prosperity Those that run not to God in their necessity to crave his support deny either the Arm of his Power or the disposition of his Will to sustain and deliver them They must have very mean sentiments or none at all of this Perfection or think him either too empty to fill them or too churlish to relieve them That he is of a narrow and contracted Temper and that they may sooner expect to be made better and happier by any thing else than by him And as we contemn his Goodness by a total omission of those Duties which respect our own advantage and supply as Prayer so we contemn him as the chiefest Good by an omission of the due manner of any act of Worship which is design'd purely for the acknowledgment of him As every omission of the material part of a Duty is a denial of his Soveraignty as Commanding it So every omission of the manner of it not performing it with a due esteem and valuation of him a surrender of all the Powers of our Souls to him is a denial of him as the most amiable Object But certainly to omit those Addresses to God which his Precept enjoyns and his Excellency deserves speaks this language that they can be well enough and do well enough without God and stand in no need of his Goodness to maintain them The neglect or refusal in a Malefactor to supplicate for his Pardon is a wrong to and contempt of the Princes goodness Either implying that he hath not a goodness in his Nature worthy of an Address or that he scorns to be oblig'd to him for any Exercise of it 6. The Goodness of God is contemned or abus'd in relying upon our Services to procure Gods good Will to us * Amyral Moral Tom. 4. p. 291. As when we stand in need either of some particular Mercy or special Assistance When Pressures are heavy and we have little hopes of ease in an ordinary way When the
notwithstanding the clamour of the sins of the multitude Judea was ripe for the sickle but God would put a lock upon the torrent of his judgments that they should not flow down upon that wicked place to make them a desolation and a curse as long as tender hearted Josiah lived who had humbled himself at the threatning and wept before the Lord 1 King 22.19 20. Sometimes he bears with wicked men that they might exercise the Patience of the Saints Rev. 14.12 The whole time of the forbearance of Antichrist in all his intrusions into the Temple of God invasions of the rights of God usurpations of the Office of Christ and besmearing himself with the blood of the Saints was to give them an opportunity of Patience God is Patient towards the wicked that by their means he might try the Righteous He burns not the wisp till he hath scowred his vessels Nor layes by the hammer till he hath formed some of his matter into an excellent fashion He useth the worst men as rods to correct his people before he sweeps the twiggs out of his house God sometimes uses the thorns of the World as a hedge to secure his Church sometimes as instruments to try and exercise it Howsoever he useth them whither for security or tryal he is Patient to them for his Churches advantage 6. When men are not brought to Repentance by his Patience he doth longer exercise it to manifest the equity of his future justice upon them As Wisdom is justified by her obedient children so is justice justified by the rebels against Patience the contempt of the later is the justification of the former The Apostles were unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that perish as well as in them that were saved by the acceptation of their message 2 Cor. 2.15 Both are fragrant to God his Mercy is Glorified by the ones acceptance of it and his Justice freed from any charge against it by the others refusal The cause of mens ruin cannot be laid upon God who provided means for their Salvation and sollicited their complyance with him What reason can they have to charge the Judge with any wrong to them who reject the tenders he makes and who hath forborn them with so much Patience when he might have censured them by his Righteous Justice upon the first crime they committed or the first refusal of his gracious offers Quanto Dei magis Judicium tardum est tanto magis justum * Minuc Felix pag. 41. After the despising of Patience there can be no suspition of an irregularity in the acts of Justice Man hath no reason to fall foul in his charge upon God if he were punished for his own sin considering the dignity of the injured person and the meanness of himself the offender But his wrath is more justified when it is poured out upon those whom he hath endured with much long suffering There is no plea against the shooting of his Arrows into those for whom this voice hath been loud and his arms open for their return As Patience while it is exercised is the silence of his justice so when it is abused it silenceth mens complaints against his justice The riches of his forbearance made way for the manifesting the treasures of his wrath If God did but a little bear with the insolencies of men and cut them off after two or three sins he would not have opportunity to shew either the power of his Patience or that of his wrath But when he hath a right to punish for one sin and yet bears with them for many and they will not be reclaimed the sinner is more inexcusable divine Justice less chargable and his wrath more powerful Rom. 9. 22. What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction The proper and immediate end of his long suffering is to lead men to repentance but after they have by their obstinacy fitted themselves for destruction he bears longer with them to magnifie his wrath more upon them and if it is not the finis operantis 't is at least the finis operis where Patience is abused Men are apt to complain of God that he deals hardly with them The Israelites seem to charge God with too much severity to cast them off when so many promises were made to the fathers for their perpetuity and preservation which is intimated Hos 2.2 Plead with your mother plead by the double repetition of the word plead Do not accuse me of being false or too rigorous but accuse your Mother your Church your Magistracy your Ministry for their spiritual fornications which have provoked me For their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intimating the greatness of their sins by the reduplication of the word lest I strip her naked I have born with her under many provocations and I have not yet taken away all her Ornaments or said to her according to the rule of divorce res tuas tibi habeto God answers their impudent charge She is not my Wife nor am I her Husband He doth not say first I am not her Husband but she is not my Wife She first withdrew from her duty by breaking the Marriage Covenant and then I ceased to be her Husband No man shall be condemned but he shall be convinced of the due desert of his sin and the justice of God's proceeding God will lay open Mens guilt and repeat the measures of his Patience to justifie the severity of his wrath Hos 7.10 Sins will testifie to their face What is in its own nature a preparation for Glory men by their obstinacy make a preparation for a more indisputable punishment We see many evidences of God's forbearance here in sparing men under those blasphemies which are audible and those prophane carriages which are visible which would sufficiently justifie an act of severity Yet when mens secret sins both in heart and action and the vast multitude of them far surmounting what can arrive to our knowledge here shall be discovered how great a lustre will it add to God's bearing with them and make his justice triumph without any reasonable demurr from the sinner himself He is long suffering here that his justice may be more publick hereafter IV. The VSE I. For Instruction 1. How is this Patience of God abused The Gentiles abused those Testimonies of it which were written in showers and fruitful seasons No Nation was ever stript of it under the most provoking Idolatries till after multiplyed spurns at it Not a person among us but hath been guilty of the abuse of it How have we contemned that which demands a reverence from us How have we requited God's waitings with rebellions while he hath continued urging and expecting our return Saul relented at David's forbearing to revenge himself when he had his prosecuting and industrious enemy in his power 1 Sam. 24.17 Thou art more Righteous