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
succession of propagating For there is no Eternal continuation of time Time is always to be conceived as having one part before another But that perpetuity of Nativities is always after some time wherein it could not be for the weakness of age If no man then can conceive a propagation from Eternity there must be then a beginning of Generation in time and consequently the Creatures were made in time * To express 〈◊〉 in the words of one of our own Wolscley of Atheism pa. 4◠If the World were Eternal it must have been in the same posture as it is now in a state of Generation and Corruption And so Corruption must have been as Eternal as Generation and then things that do generate and corrupt must have Eternally been and Eternally not have been There must be some first way to set Generation on work We must lose our selves in our conceptions we cannot conceive a Father before a Child as well as we cannot conceive a Child before a Father And reason is quite bewildred and cannot return into a right way of Conception till it Conceive one first of every kind One first man one first animal one first Plant from whence others do proceed The argument is unanswerable and the wisest Atheist if any Atheist can be called wise cannot unlose the knot We must come to something that is first in every kind and this first must have a cause not of the same kind but Infinite and Independent otherwise men run into unconceivable Labyrinths and contradictions Man the Noblest Creature upon Earth hath a beginning No Man in the World but was some years ago no man If every man we see had a beginning then the first Man had also a beginning then the World had a beginning For the Earth which was made for the use of man had wanted that end for which it was made We must pitch upon some one man that was unborn that first man must either be Eternal * Petav. ut supr p. 10. that cannot be for he that hath no beginning hath no end or must spring out of the Earth as Plants and Trees do That cannot be Why should not the Earth produce men to this day as it doth Plants and Trees He was therefore made and whatsoever is made hath some cause that made it which is God * Damason If the World were uncreated it were then immutable but every Creature upon the Earth is in a continual flux always changing If things be mutable they were Created if Created they were made by some Author whatsoever hath a beginning must have a maker if the World hath a beginning there was then a time when it was not it must have some cause to produce it That which makes is before that which is made and this is God Secondly II. Which will appear further in this proposition No Creature can make it self The world could not make it self If every man had a beginning every man then was once nothing he could not then make himself because nothing cannot be the cause of something Psa 100.3 The Lord he is God he hath made us and not we our selves whatsoever begun in time was not and when it was nothing it had nothing and could do nothing And therefore could never give to it self nor to any other to be or to be able to do For then it gave what it had not and did what it could not * Petav. Theo. Dog tom 1. lib. 1. cap. 2. pag. 14. Since reason must acknowledge a first of every kind a first Man c. it must acknowledge him Created and made not by himself why have not other men since rise up by themselves not by Chance why hath not Chance produced the like in that long time the World hath stood If we never knew any thing give being to it self how can we Imagine any thing ever could If the chiefest part of this lower World cannot nor any part of it hath been known to give being to it self then the whole cannot be supposed to give any being to it self Man did not forme himself His body is not from himself it would then have the power of moving it self but that is not able to live or act without the presence of the Soul Whilst the Soul is present the body moves when that is absent the body lies as a senseless log not having the least action or motion His Soul could not form it self can that which cannot form the least mote the least grain of dust form it self a nobler substance than any upon the Earth This will be evident to every Mans reason if we consider 1. Nothing can act before it be The first Man was not and therefore could not make himself to be For any thing to produce it self is to act if it acted before it was it was then something and nothing at the same time it then had a being before it had a being it acted when it brought it self into being How could it act without a being without it was So that if it were the cause of it self it must be before it self as well as after it self it was before it was it was as a cause before it was as an effect Action always supposeth a priciple from whence it flows as nothing hath no Existence so it hath no operation there must be therefore something of real Existence to give a Being to those things that are and every cause must be an effect of some other before it be a cause To be and not be at the same time is a manifest contradiction which would be if any thing made it self That which makes is always before that which is made Who will say the House is before the Carpenter or the Picture before the Limbner The world as a Creature must be before it self as a Creature 2. That which doth not understand it self and order it self could not make it self If the first Man fully understood his own nature the excellency of his own Soul the manner of its operations why was not that understanding conveyed to his posterity Are not many of them found who understand their own nature almost as little as a Beast understands it self or a Rose understands its own sweetness or a Tulip it s own Colours The Scripture indeed gives us an account how this came about viz. by the deplorable Rebellion of Man whereby Death was brought upon them a Spiritual Death which includes ignorance as well as an inability to Spritual action * Gen. 2.17 Psal 49.8 Thus he fell from his Honour and became like the Beasts that perish and not retaining God in his knowledge retained not himself in his own knowledge But what reply can an Atheist make to it who acknowledges no higher cause than nature If the Soul made it self how comes it to be so muddy so wanting in its knowledge of it self and of other things If the Soul made its own understanding whence did the defect arise If some
he needed not have sought without himself for his own preservation and comfort What depends upon another is not of it self and what depends upon things inferiour to it self is less of it self Since nothing can subsist of it self since we see those things upon which Man depends for his nourishment and subsistence growing and decaying starting into the world and retiring from it as well as man himself some preserving cause must be concluded upon which all depends 5. If the first Man did produce himself why did he not produce himself before It hath been already proved that he had a beginning and could not be from Eternity Why then did he not make himself before Not because he would not For having no being he could have no will he could neither be willing nor not willing If he could not then how could he afterwards if it were in his own power he could have done it he would have done it if it were not in his own power then it was in the power of some other cause and that is God How came he by that power to produce himself If the power of producing himself were communicated by another then Man could not be the cause of himself That is the cause of it which communicated that power to it But if the power of being was in and from himself and in no other nor communicated to him man would always have been in act and always have Existed no hinderance can be conceived For that which had the power of being in it self was invincible by any thing that should stand in the way of its own being We may conclude from hence the excellency of the Scripture that it is a Word not to be refused credit It gives us the most rational account of things in the 1. and 2. of Genesis which nothing in the world else is able to do Thirdly III. Proposition no Creature could make the world No Creature can create another If it creates of nothing t is then Omnipotent and so not a Creature If it makes something of matter unfit for that which is produced out of it then the inquiry will be who was the cause of the matter and so we must arrive to some uncreated being the cause of all Whatsoever gives being to any other must be the highest being and must possess all the perfections of that which it gives being to what visible Creature is there which possesses the perfections of the whole world If therefore an invisible Creature made the world the same enquiries will return whence that Creature had its being for he could not make himself If any Creature did Create the World he must do it by the strength and vertue of another which first gave him being and this is God For whatsoever hath its Existence and vertue of acting from another is not God If it hath its vertue from another t is then a second cause and so supposeth a first cause It must have some cause of it self or be Eternally Existent If Eternally Existent t is not a second cause but God if not Eternally Existent we must come to somthing at length which was the cause of it or else be bewildred without being able to give an account of any thing We must come at last to an Infinite Eternal Independent Being that was the first cause of this Structure and Fabrick wherein we and all Creatures dwell The Scripture proclaims this aloud * Isa 45.6.7 Deut. 4.35 I am the Lord and there is none else I Form the light and I Create darkness Man the Noblest Creature cannot of himself make a man the chiefest part of the World If our Parents only without a Superior power made our Bodies or Souls they would know the frame of them as he that makes a Lock knows the Wards of it he that makes any curious peice of Arras knows how he setts the various colours together and how many threads went to each division in the Web he that makes a Watch having the Idea of the whole work in his mind knows the motions of it and the reason of those motions But both Parents and Children are equally ignorant of the nature of their Souls and Bodies and of the reason of their motions God only that had the Supream hand in forming us in whose Book all our members are written Psal 139.16 which in continuance were fashioned knows what we all are ignorant of If man hath in an ordinary course of generation his being chiefly from an higher cause than his Parents the World then certainly had its being from some infinitely wise intelligent Being which is God If it were as some fancy made by an Assembly of Atomes there must be some infinite intelligent cause that made them some cause that separated them some cause that mingled them together for the piling up so comely a structure as the world T is the most absurd thing to think they should meet togeither by hazard and rank themselves in that order we see without a higher and a wise agent So that no Creature could make the world For supposing any Creature was formed before this visible world and might have a hand in disposing things yet he must have a cause of himself and must act by the virtue and strength of another and this is God Fourthly IV. Proposition From hence it follows that there is a first cause of things which we call God There must be somthing supreme in the order of nature somthing which is greater than all which hath nothing beyond it or above it otherwise we must run in infinitum We see not a River but we conclude a Fountain a Watch but we conclude an Artificer As all number begins from unity so all the multitude of things in the world begins from some unity Oneness as the principle of it T is natural to arise from a view of those things to the conception of a nature more perfect than any As from heat mixed with cold and light mixed with darkness men conceive and arise in their understandings to an intense heat and a pure light And from a Corporeal or bodily substance joyned with an incorporeal as man is an earthly body and a Spiritual Soul we ascend to a conception of a substance purely incorporeal and Spiritual So from a multitude of things in the world Reason leads us to one choice being above all And since in all natures in the World we still find a superior nature the nature of one beast above the nature of another the nature of man above the nature of beasts and some invisible nature the worker of strange effects in the Air and Earth which cannot be ascribed to any visible cause we must suppose some nature above all those of unconceivable perfection * Coccei sum Theol. cap. 8. § 33. c. Every Sceptick one that doubts whither there be any thing real or no in the World that counts every thing an appearance must necessarily own a first cause They cannot
of the Lord smote him The Judgment here was suted to the sin he that would be a God is eaten up of Worms the vilest Creatures Tully Hostilius a Roman King who counted it the most unroyal thing to be Religious or own any other God but his Sword was consumed himself and his whole House by Lightning from Heaven Many things are unaccountable unless we have recourse to God The strange Revelations of Murderers that have most secretly committed their crimes The making good some dreadful imprecations which some wretches have used to confirme a lie and immediatly have been struck with that Judgement they wished The raising often unexpected persons to be instruments of Vengeance on a sinful and perfidious Nation The overturning the deepest and surest Counsels of men when they have had a succesful progress and came to the very point of execution the whole designe of mens preservation hath been beaten in peices by some unforeseen circumstance so that Judgments have broken in upon them without controul and all their subtilties been out-witted The strange crossing of some in their Estates though the most wise industrious and frugal persons and that by strange and unexpected wayes And it is observable how often every thing contributes to carry on a Judgment intended as if they rationally designed it All those loudly proclaim a God in the world If there were no God there would be no sin if no sin there would be no punishment 2. In Miracles The course of nature is uniforme and when it is put out of its course it must be by some superior power invisible to the world and by whatsoever invisible instruments they are wrought the efficacy of them must depend upon some first cause above nature Psal 72.18 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who only doth wondrous things by himself and his sole power That which cannot be the result of a natural cause must be the result of something supernatural What is beyond the reach of nature is the effect of a power superior to nature For it is quite against the order of nature and is the elevation of something to such a pitch which all nature could not advance it to Nature cannot go beyond its own limits If it be determined by another as hath been formerly proved it cannot lift it self above it self without that power that so determined it Natural agents act necessarily The Sun doth necessarily shine fire doth necessarilly burn That cannot be the result of nature which is above the Ability of nature That cannot be the work of nature which is against the order of nature Nature cannot do any thing against it self or invert its own course We must own that such things have been or we must accuse all the Records of former ages to be a pack of lies which whosoever doth destroys the greatest and best part of human knowledge The Miracles mentioned in the Scripture wrought by our Saviour are acknowledged by the Heathen by the Jews at this day though his greatest enemies There is no dispute whether such things were wrought the dead raised the blind restored to sight The Heathens have acknowledged the Miraculous Eclipse of the Sun at the Passion of Christ quite against the rule of nature the Moon being then in opposition to the Sun The propagation of Christianity contrary to the methods whereby other Religions have been propagated that in a few years the Nations of the world should be sprinkled with this Doctrine and give in a greater Catalogue of Martyrs courting the devouring flames than all the Religions of the world To this might be added the strange hand that was over the Jews the only people in the world professing the true God that should so often be befriended by their Conquerors so as to rebuild their Temple though they were looked upon as a people apt to rebel Dion and Seneca observe that whereever they were transplanted they prospered and gave laws to the Victors So that this proves also the Authority of the Scripture the truth of Christian Religion as well as the being of a God and a superior power over the world To this might be added the bridling the tumultuous passions of men for the preservation of human societies which else would run the world into unconceivable confusions Psal 65.7 Which stilleth the noise of the Sea and the tumults of the people As also the Miraculous deliverance of a person or Nation when upon the very brink of ruin The suddain answer of Prayer when God hath been sought to and the turning away a Judgment which in reason could not be expected to be averted and the raising a sunk people from a ruine which seemed inevitable by unexpected ways 3. Accomplishments of Prophecies Those things which are purely contingent and cannot be known by Natural signs and in their causes as Ecclipses and changes in Nations which may be discerned by an observation of the signs of the times such things that fall not within this compass if they be foretold and come to pass are solely from some higher hand and above the cause of Nature This in Scripture is asserted to be a notice of the true God Isa 41.23 Shâ—w the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that you are God and Isa 46.10 I am God declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying my Counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure And Prophecy was consented to by all the Philosophers to be from Divine illumination That power which discovers things future which all the foresight of men cannot kenn and conjecture is above nature And to foretel them so certainly as if they did already exist or had existed long ago must be the result of a mind infinitely intelligent Because it is the highest way of knowing and a higher cannot be imagined And he that knows things future in such a manner must needs know things present and past Cyrus was Prophesied of by Esay ch 44.28 45.1 long before he was born His Victories Spoils all that should happen in Babylon his bounty to the Jews came to pass according to that Prophecy and the sight of that Prophecy which the Jews shewed him as other Historians report was that which moved him to be favourable to the Jews Alexanders sight of Daniels Prophecy concerning his Victories moved him to spare Jerusalem And are not the four Monarchies plainly deciphered in that Book before the fourth rose up in the world That power which foretells things beyond the reach of the wit of man and orders all causes to bring about those predictions must be an infinite power the same that made the world sustains it and governs all things in it according to his pleasure and to bring about his own ends And this Being is God Vse 1 1. If Atheism be a folly T is then pernicious to the World and to the Atheist himself Wisdom is the band of human societies the glory
that we might now serve God in a more spiritual manner and with more spiritual frames 6. Proposition The Service and worship the Gospel settles is spiritual and the performance of it more spiritual Spirituality is the Genius of the Gospel as Carnality was of the Law the Gospel is therefore called Spirit We are abstracted from the imployments of Sense and brought neerer to a Heavenly State The Jews had Angels Bread poured upon them we have Angels Service prescribed to us the Praises of God Communion with God in Spirit through his Son Jesus Christ and stronger foundations for spiritual affections 'T is called a reasonable service * Rom. 12.1 t is suted to a rational nature tho it finds no friendship from the Corruption of reason It prescribes a service fit for the reasonable faculties of the Soul and advanceth them while it employs them The word reasonable may be translated word service * V. Hammond in loc as well as reasonable service an Evangelical service in opposition to a Law service All Evangelical service is reasonable and all truly reasonable service is Evangelical The matter of the worship is Spiritual it consists in love of God faith in God recourse to his goodness Meditation on him and Communion with him It lays aside the Ceremonial Spiritualizeth the moral The Commands that concerned our duty to God as well as those that concerned our duty to our Neighbour were reduced by Christ to their Spiritual intention The Motives are Spiritual t is a state of more grace as well as of more truth * John 1.17 supported by Spiritual promises beaming out in Spiritual priviledges heaven comes down in it to Earth to Spiritualize Earth for Heaven The manner of worship is more Spiritual higher flights of the Soul stronger ardours of affections sincerer aims at his glory mists are removed from our minds Cloggs from the Soul more of love than fear faith in Christ kindles the affections and works by them The assistances to Spiritual worship are greater The Spirit doth not drop but is plentifully poured out It doth not light sometimes upon but dwells in the heart Christ suted the Gospel to a Spiritual heart and the Spirit changeth a carnal heart to make it fit for a Spiritual Gospel He blows upon the Garden and causes the spices to flow forth And often makes the Soul in worship like the Chariots of Aminadab in a quick and nimble motion Our blessed Lord and Saviour by his death discovered to us the nature of God and after his ascension sent his Spirit to fit us for the worship of God and converse with him One Spiritual Evangelical believing breath is more delightful to God than millions of Altars made up of the richest pearls and smoaking with the costliest oblations because it is Spiritual And a mite of Spirit is of more worth than the greatest weight of flesh One holy Angel is more excellent than a whole world of meer bodies 7. Proposition Yet the worship of God with our bodies is not to be rejected upon the account that God requires a Spiritual worship Tho we must perform the weightier duties of the Law yet we are not to omit and leave undone the lighter precepts Since both the Magnalia and minutula legis the greater and the lesser duties of the Law have the stamp of Divine authority upon them As God under the Ceremonial Law did not Command the worship of the body and the observation of outward rites without the engagement of the Spirit so neither doth he Command that of the Spirit without the peculiar attendance of the body The Schwelk sendians denied bodily worship And the indecent postures of many in publick attendance intimate no great care either of Composing their bodies or Spirits A morally discomposed body intimates a tainted heart Our Bodies as well as our Spirits are to be presented to God * Rom. 12.1 Our bodies in lieu of the Sacrifices of Beasts as in the Judaical institutions body for the whole man a living Sacrifice not to be slain as the Beasts were but living a new life in a holy posture with Crucified affections This is the inference the Apostle makes of the priviledges of Justification Adoption Coheirship with Christ which he had before discoursed of Priviledges conferred upon the person and not upon a part of man 1. Bodily worship is due to God He hath a right to an Adoration by our bodies as they are his by Creation his right is not diminisht but increased by the blessing of Redemption 1 Cor. 6.20 For you are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and your Spirits which are Gods The Body as well as the Spirit is redeemed since our Saviour suffered Crucifixion in his body as well as Agonies in his Soul Body is not taken here for the whole man as it may be in Rom. 12. But for the material part of our nature it being distinguisht from the Spirit If we are to render to God an obedience with our bodies we are to render him such Acts of worship with our bodies as they are capable of As God is the Father of Spirits so he is the God of all flesh Therefore the flesh he hath framed of the Earth as well as the noble portion he hath breathed into us cannot be denyed him without apalpable in justice The service of the body we must not deny to God unless we will deny him to be the author of it and the exercise of his providential care about it The mercies of God are renewed every day upon our bodies as well as our Souls and therefore they ought to express a fealty to God for his bounty everyday * Sherman's Greek in the Temple pa. 61.62 both are from God both should be for God Man consists of Body and Soul the service of Man is the service of both The body is to be Sanctified as well as the Soul and therefore to be offered to God as well as the Soul Both are to be glorified both are to glorifie As our Saviours Divinity was manifested in his body so should our Spirituality in ours To give God the service of the body and not of the Soul is hypocrisie to give God the service of the Spirit and not of the body is sacriledge to give him neither Atheism If the only part of man that is visible were exempted from the service of God there could be no visible Testimonies of piety given upon any occasion Since not a moiety of man but the whole is Gods Creature he ought to pay a homage with the whole and not only with a moiety of himself 2. Worship in societies is due to God but this cannot be without some bodily expressions The law of nature doth as much direct men to combine together in publick societies for the acknowledgment of God as in Civil Communities for self preservation and order And the notice of a society for Religion is more Ancient than the mention of
it self why did it not produce it self before Why was it one moment out of being * Petav. Theol. Dogmat. Tom. 1. l. 1. c. 10.11 If there be any existence of things 't is necessary that that which was the first Cause should exist from Eternity Whatsoever was the immediate Cause of the world yet the first and chief Cause wherein we must rest must have nothing before it if it had any thing before it it were not the first He therefore that is the first Cause must be without beginning nothing must be before him If he had a beginning from some other he could not be the first Principle and Author of all things If he be the first Cause of all things he must give himself a beginning or be from Eternity He could not give himself a beginning whatsoever begins in time was nothing before and when it was nothing it could do nothing it could not give it self any thing for then it gave what it had not and did what it could not If he made himself in time why did he not make himself before What hindred him It was either because he could not or because he would not if he could not he always wanted power and always would unless it were bestowed upon him and then he could not be said to be from himself If he would not make himself before then he might have made himself when he would How had he the power of willing and nilling without a Being Nothing cannot will or nill Nothing hath no faculties So that it is necessary to grant some eternal Being or run into inextricable Labyrinths and Mazes If we deny some eternal being we must deny all being our own being the being of every thing about us unconceivable absurdities will arise So then if God were the Cause of all things He did exist before all things and that from Eternity The third thing is Eternity is only proper to God and not communicable * Bapt. 'T is as great a madness to ascribe Eternity to the Creature as to deprive the Lord of the Creature of Eternity 'T is so proper to God that when the Apostle would prove the Deity of Christ he proves it by his immutability and eternity as well as his creating power * Heb. 1.10 11 12. Thou art the same and thy years shall not fail The Argument had not strength if Eternity belonged essentially to any but God and therefore he is said only to have Immortality * 1 Tim. 6.16 All other things receive their being from him and can be deprived of their being by him All things depend on him he of none All other things are like Clothes which would consume if God preserved them not Immortality is appropriated to God i. e. an independent Immortality Angels and Souls have an Immortality but by donation from God not by their own Essence dependent upon their Creator not necessary in their own nature God might have annihilated them after he had created them so that their duration cannot properly be called an Eternity it being extrinsical to them and depending upon the will of their Creator by whom they may be extinguisht It is not an absolute and necessary but a precarious Immortality Whatsoever is not God is temporary Whatsoever is eternal is God 'T is a contradiction to say a Creature can be eternal as nothing eternal is created so nothing created is eternal What is distinct from the nature of God cannot be eternal Eternity being the Essence of God Every Creature in the notion of a Creature speaks a dependence on some Cause and therefore cannot be eternal * Lessius de Perfect l. 4. c. 2. As it is repugnant to the nature of God not to be eternal so it is repugnant to the nature of a Creature to be eternal for then a Creature would be equal to the Creator and the Creator or the Cause would not be before the Creature or Effect It would be all one to admit many Gods as many Eternals and all one to say God can be created as to say a Creature can be uncreated which is to be eternal 1. Creation is a producing something from nothing What was once nothing cannot therefore be eternal not being was eternal therefore it s being could not be eternal for it should be then before it was and would be something when it was nothing 'T is the nature of a Creature to be nothing before it was created what was nothing before it was cannot be equal with God in an Eternity of Duration 2. There is no Creature but is mutable therefore not eternal As it had a change from nothing to something so it may be changed from being to not being If the Creature were not mutable it would be most perfect and so would not be a Creature but God for God only is most perfect 'T is as much the Essence of a Creature to be mutable as it is the Essence of God to be immutable Mutability and Eternity are utterly inconsistent 3. No Creature is infinite therefore not eternal To be infinite in Duration is all one as to be infinite in Essence * Lessius de Perfect l. 4. c. 2. 'T is as reasonable to conceive a Creature immense filling all places at once as eternal extended to all ages because neither can be without infiniteness which is the Property of the Deity A Creature may as well be without bounds of place as limitations of time 4. No effect of an intellectual free Agent can be equal in duration to its Cause The Productions of natural Agents are as antient often as themselves the Sun produceth a Beam as old in time as its self But who ever heard of a piece of wise Workmanship as old as the wise Artificer God produced a Creature not necessarily and naturally as the Sun doth a Beam but freely as an intelligent Agent The Sun was not necessary it might be or not be according to the pleasure of God * Crellius de Deo cap. 18. p. 43. A free act of the Will is necessary to precede in order of time as the Cause of such effects as are purely voluntary Those Causes that act as soon as they exist act naturally necessarily not freely and cannot cease from acting But suppose a Creature might have existed by the Will of God from Eternity yet as some think it could not be said absolutely and in its own nature to be eternal because Eternity was not of the Essence of it The Creature could not be its own Duration for though it were from Eternity it might not have been from Eternity because its Existence depended upon the free Will of God who might have chose whether he would have created it or no. God only is eternal the first and the last the beginning and the end who as he subsisted before any Creature had a being so he will eternally subsist if all Creatures were reduced to nothing IV. Vse 1. Information 1. If God
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
Plea from it in the mouth of Adam he knew as much as any man ever since knew of the nature of God as discoverable in Creation he could not in Innocence fancy an ignorant God a God that knew nothing of future things he could not be so ignorant of his own action but he must have perceived a force upon his Will had there been any had he thought that Gods Prescience impos'd any necessity upon him he would not have omitted the Plea especially when he was so daring as to charge the Providence of God in the Gift of the Woman to him to be the cause of his Crime Gen. 3.12 How come his Posterity to invent new charges against God which their Father Adam never thought of who had more knowledg than all of them He could find no cause of his Sin but the liberty of his own Will he charges it not upon any necessity from the Devil or any necessity from God nor doth he alledg the gift of the Woman as a necessary cause of his Sin but an occasion of it by giving the Fruit to him Judas knew that our Saviour did foreknow his Treachery for he had told him of it in the hearing of his Disciples John 13.21 26. yet he never charg'd the necessity of his Crime upon the foreknowledg of his Master if Judas had not done it freely he had had no reason to repent of it his Repentance justifies Christ from imposing any necessity upon him by that foreknowledg No man acts any thing but he can give an account of the motives of his action he cannot father it upon a blind necessity the Will cannot be compelled for then it would cease to be Will God doth not root up the foundations of Nature or change the order of it and make men unable to act like men that is as free Agents God foreknows the actions of irrational Creatures this concludes no violence upon their nature for we find their actions to be according to their nature and spontaneous 3. Gods foreknowledg is not simply considered the cause of any thing It puts nothing into things but only beholds them as present and arising from their proper causes The knowledg of God is not the Principle of things or the cause of their existence but directive of the action nothing is because God knows it but because God Wills it either positively or permissively God knows all things possible yet because God knows them they are not brought into actual existence but remain still only as things possible Knowledg only apprehends a thing but acts nothing 't is the rule of acting but not the cause of acting the Will is the immediate Principle and the Power the immediate cause to know a thing is not to do a thing for then we may be said to do every thing that we know But every man knows those things which he never did nor never will do Knowledg in it self is an apprehension of a thing and is not the cause of it A Spectator of a thing is not the cause of that thing which he sees that is he is not the cause of it as he beholds it We see a man Write we know before that he will Write at such a time but this foreknowledg is not the cause of his Writing We see a man Walk but our vision of him brings no necessity of Walking upon him he was free to Walk or not to Walk Rawley of the World lib. 1. cap. 1. sect 12. We foreknow that Death will seize upon all men we foreknow that the Seasons of the Year will succeed one another yet is not our foreknowledg the cause of this succcession of Spring after Winter or of the Death of all men or any man We see one man fighting with another our sight is not the cause of that contest but some Quarrel among themselves exciting their own Passions As the knowledg of present things imposeth no necessity upon them while they are acting and present so the Knowledg of future things imposeth no necessity upon them while they are coming We are certain there will be men in the World to morrow and that the Sea will Ebb and Flow but is this knowledg of ours the cause that those things will be so I know that the Sun will rise to morrow 't is true that it shall rise but 't is not true that my foreknowledg makes it to rise If a Physician Prognosticates upon seeing the Intemperances and Debaucheries of men that they will fall into such a distemper is his Prognostication any cause of their Disease or of the sharpness of any Symptoms attending it The Prophet foretold the cruelty of Hazael before he committed it but who will say that the Prophet was the cause of his Commission of that evil And thus the foreknowledg of God takes not away the liberty of mans Will no more than a foreknowledg that we have of any mans actions takes away his liberty We may upon our knowledg of the temper of a man certainly foreknow that if he falls into such Company and get among his Cups he will be Drunk but is this foreknowledg the cause that he is Drunk no the cause is the liberty of his own Will and not resisting the Temptation God purposes to leave such a man to himself and his own ways and man being so left God foreknows what will be done by him according to that corrupt nature which is in him tho' the Decree of God of leaving a man to the liberty of his own Will be certain yet the liberty of mans Will as thus left is the cause of all the extravagancies he doth commit Suppose Adam had stood would not God certainly have foreseen that he would have stood yet it would have been concluded that Adam had stood not by any necessity of Gods foreknowledg but by the liberty of his own Will Why should then the foreknowledg of God add more necessity to his falling than to his standing * Rivet in Isa 53.1 p. 16. And though it be said sometimes in Scripture that such a thing was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled as John 12.38 that the saying of Esaias might be fulfilled Lord who hath believed our report the word That doth not infer that the Prediction of the Prophet was the cause of the Jews unbelief but infers this that the Prediction was manifested to be true by their unbelief and the event answered the Prediction this Prediction was not the cause of their Sin but their foreseen Sin was the cause of this Prediction and so the Particle That is taken Psal 51.6 against thee thee only have I sinned that thou mightest be justified c. the justifying God was not the end and intent of the Sin but the event of it upon his acknowledgment 4. God foreknows things because they will come to pass but things are not future because God knows them Foreknowledg presupposeth the object which is foreknown a thing that is to come to pass
if God understands his own Power and Excellency nothing can be hid from him that was brought forth by that Power as well as nothing can be unknown to him that that Power is able to produce * Bradwardin p. 6. If God knows nothing besides himself he may then believe there is nothing beside himself we shall then fancy a God miserably mistaken If he knows nothing besides himself then things were not Created by him or not understandingly and voluntarily Created but drop'd from him before he was aware To think that the first cause of all should be ignorant of those things he is the cause of is to make him not a voluntary but natural Agent and therefore necessary and then that the Creature came from him as Light from the Sun and moisture from the Water this would bean absurd opinion of the Worlds Creation if God be a voluntary Agent as he is he must be an intelligent Agent The faculty of Will is not in any Creature without that of Understanding also If God be an intelligent Agent his knowledg must extend as far as his operation and every object of his operation unless we imagine God hath lost his Memory in that long Tract of time since the first Creation of them An Artificer cannot be ignorant of his own Work If God knows himself he knows himself to be a Cause how can he know himself to be a Cause unless he know the Effects he is the Cause of One relation implies another a man cannot know himself to be a Father unless he hath a Child because it is a name of relation and in the notion of it refers to another The name of cause is a name of relation and implies an effect If God therefore know himself in all his Perfections as the Cause of things he must know all his acts what his Wisdom contrived what his Counsel determin'd and what his Power effected The knowledg of God is to be suppos'd in a free determination of himself and that knowledg must be perfect both of the object act and all the circumstances of it How can his Will freely produce any thing that was not first known in his Understanding From this the Prophet argues the understanding of God and the unsearchableness of it because he is the Creator of the ends of the earth Isa 40.28 and the same reason David gives of Gods Knowledg of him and of every thing he did and that afar off because he was formed by him Psal 139.2 15 16. As the perfect making of things only belongs to God so doth the perfect knowledg of things 't is absurd to think that God should be ignorant of what he hath given Being to that he should not know all the Creatures and their qualities the Plants and their vertues as that a man should not know the Letters that are formed by him in Writing Every thing bears in it self the mark of Gods Perfections and shall not God know the representation of his own vertue 5. Without this Knowledg God could no more be the Governour than he could be the Creator of the World Knowledg is the Basis of Providence to Know things is before the Government of things a practical knowledg cannot be without a theoretical knowledg Nothing could be directed to its proper end without the knowledg of the nature of it and its suitableness to answer that end for which it is intended As every thing even the minutest falls under the conduct of God so every thing falls under the knowledg of God A Blind Coach-man is not able to hold the Reins of his Horses and direct them in right Paths Since the Providence of God is about particulars his Knowledg must be about particulars he could not else govern them in particular nor could all things be said to depend upon him in their Being and Operations Providence depends upon the knowledg of God and the exercise of it upon the Goodness of God it cannot be without Understanding and Will Understanding to know what is convenient and Will to perform it When our Saviour therefore speaks of Providence he intimates these two in a special manner Your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of these things Mat. 6.32 and goodness in Luke 11.13 The reason of Providence is so joyned with Omniscience that they cannot be separated What a kind of God would he be that were ignorant of those things that were governed by him The ascribing this Perfection to him asserts his Providence for it is as easy for one that knows all things to look over the whole World if writ with Monosyllables in every little particular of it as it is with a man to take a view of one Letter in an Alphabet Sabund Tit. 84. much changed Again if God were not Omniscient how could he reward the Good and punish the Evil the works of men are either rewardable or punishable not only according to their outward circumstances but inward Principles and Ends and the degrees of Venom lurking in the heart The exact discerning of these without a possibility to be deceived is necessary to pass a right and infallible Judgment upon them and proportion the censure and punishment to the Crime Without such a Knowledg and discerning men would not have their due nay a Judgment just for the matter would be unjust in the manner because unjustly past without an understanding of the merit of the Cause 'T is necessary therefore that the Supream Judg of the World should not be thought to be blindfold when he distributes his Rewards and Punishments and muffle his face when he passes his Sentence 'T is necessary to ascribe to him the knowledg of mens thoughts and intentions the secret wills and aims the hidden works of darkness in every mans Conscience because every mans work is to be measured by the Will and inward frame 'T is necessary that he should perpetually retain all those things in the indelible and plain records of his Memory that there may not be any work without a just proportion of what is due to it This is the glory of God to discover the secrets of all hearts at last as 1 Cor. 4.5 the Lord shall bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the Counsels of all hearts and then shall every man have praise of God This knowledg fits him to be a Judg the reason why the ungodly shall not stand in Judgment is because God knows their ways which is implyed in his knowing the way of the righteous * Psal 1.5 6. I now proceed to the Vse VSE the first is of information or instruction If God hath all knowledg then 1. Jesus Christ is not a meer Creature The two Titles of wonderful Counsellor and mighty God are given him in conjunction Isa 9.6 not only the Angel of the Covenant as he is called Malach. 3.1 or the Executor of his Counsels but a Counsellor in conjunction with him in Counsel as well as
they entitle God in their Liturgy the Lord of Ages that is the Lord of the World and all Ages and Revolutions of the World from the Creation to the last Period of Time If any thing were in Being before this frame of Heaven and Earth and within the compass of Time it receiv'd Being and Duration from the Son of God The Apostle would give an Argument to prove the equity of making him Heir of all things as Mediator because he was the Framer of all things as God He may well be the Heir or Lord of Angels as well as Men who created Angels as well as Men All things were justly under his Power as Mediator since they deriv'd their Existence from him as Creator 3. But Thirdly what evasion can there be for that Coloss 1.16 By him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him He is said to be the Creator of Material and Visible things as well as Spiritual and Invisible of things in Heaven which needed no restoration as well as things on Earth which were polluted by Sin and stood in need of a new Creation How could the Angels belong to the new Creation who had never put off the honour and purity of the first Since they never divested themselves of their original Integrity they could not be reinvested with that which they never lost Besides suppose the Holy Angels be one way or other reduc'd as parts of the new Creation as being under the Mediatory Government of our Saviour as their Head and in regard of their confirmation by him in that happy state In what manner shall the Devils be ran'kd among new Creatures They are called Principalities and Powers as well as the Angels and may come under the Title of Things invisible That they are called Principalities and Powers is plain Ephes 6.12 For we wrestle not against Flesh and Blood but against Principalities and Powers the Rulers of the Darkness of this World against Spiritual wickedness in high places Good Angels are not there meant for what War have Believers with them or they with Believers They are the Guardians of them since Christ hath taken away the Enmity between our Lord and theirs in whose quarrel they were engag'd against us And since the Apostle speaking of All things created by him expresseth it so that it cannot be conceived he should except any thing how come the finally Impenitent and Unbelievers which are Things in Earth and visible to be listed here in the Roll of New Creatures None of these can be called New Creatures because they are subjected to the Government of Christ no more than the Earth and Sea and the Animals in it are made New Creatures because they are all under the Dominion of Christ and his Providential Government Again the Apostle manifestly makes the Creation he here speaks of to be the Material and not the New Creation for that he speaks of afterwards as a distinct act of our Lord Jesus under the Title of Reconciliation Coloss 1.20 21. which was the restoration of the World and the satisfying for that Curse that lay upon it His intent is here to shew that not an Angel in Heaven nor a Creature upon Earth but was placed in their several degrees of excellency by the Power of the Son of God who after that act of Creation and the entrance of Sin was the Reconciler of the World through the Blood of his Cross 4. There is another place as clear John 1.3 All things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made The Creation is here ascrib'd to him Affirmatively All things were made by him Negatively There was nothing made without him And the Words are Emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not one thing excepting nothing including invisible things as well as things conspicuous to sense only mentioned in the story of the Creation Gen. 1. not only the intire Mass but the distinct parcels the smallest Worm and the highest Angel owe their Original to him And if not one thing then the Matter was not created to his hands and his work consisted not only in the forming things from that Matter If that one thing of Matter were excepted a chief thing were excepted if not one thing were excepted then he created Something of Nothing because Spirits as Angels and Souls are not made of any pre-existing or fore-created Matter How could the Evangelist phrase it more extensively and comprehensively This is a Character of Omnipotency to create the World and every thing in it of Nothing requires an Infinite Virtue and Power If all things were created by him they were not created by him as Man because Himself as Man was not in Being before the Creation If all things were made by him then Himself was not made Himself was not created and to be existent without being made without being created is to be unboundedly Omnipotent And if we understand it of the New Creation as they do that will not allow him an existence in his Deity before his Humanity it cannot be true of that for how could he regenerate Abraham make Simeon and Anna new Creatures who waited for the salvation of Israel and form John Baptist and fill him with the Holy Ghost even from the womb * Luke 1.15 who belong'd to the new Creation and was to prepare the way if Christ had not a Being before him The Evangelist alludes to and explains the History of the Creation in the beginning and acquaints us what was meant by God said so often viz. the Eternal Word and describes him in his Creative Power manifested in the framing the World before he describes him in his Incarnation when he came to lay the Foundation of the restoration of the World John 1.14 The Word was made flesh this Word who was with God who was God who made all things and gave Being to the most glorious Angels and the meanest Creature without exception this Word in time was made flesh 5. The Creation of things mentioned in these Scriptures cannot be attributed to him as an Instrument As if when it is said God created all things by him and by him made the Worlds we were to understand the Father to be the Agent and the Son to be a Tool in his Fathers hand as an Ax in the hand of a Carpenter or a File in the hand of a Smith or a Servant acting by Command as the Organ of his Master The Preposition Per. or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not alway signifie an Instrumental cause When it is said that the Apostle gave the Thessalonians a Command by Jesus Christ 1 Thess 4 2. was Christ the Instrument and not the Lord of that Command the Apostle gave The immediate Operation of Christ dwelling in the Apostles was that whereby they gave the Commands to their Disciples When we are called by God
Organ whereby he blew in his Temptation is put into a worse condition than it was before Thus God hated the Spunge whereby the Devil deform'd his beautiful Image Thus God to manifest his detestation of Sin ordered the Beast whereby any Man was slain to be slain as well as the Malefactor Levit. 20.15 The Gold and Silver that had been abused to Idolatry and were the Ornaments of Images though good in themselves and uncapable of a Criminal Nature were not to be brought into their Houses but detested and abhorred by them because they were cursed and an abomination to the Lord. See with what loathing Expressions this Law is enjoyn'd to them Deut. 7.25 26. So contrary is the holy Nature of God to every Sin that it curseth every thing that is Instrumental in it 3. How detestable is every thing to him that is in the Sinners possession The very Earth which God had made Adam the Proprietor of was Cursed for his sake Gen. 3.17 18. It lost its Beauty and lies languishing to this day and notwithstanding the Redemption by Christ hath not recovered its health nor is it like to do till the compleating the Fruits of it upon the Children of God Rom. 8.20 21 22. The whole Lower Creation was made subject to Vanity and put into Pangs upon the Sin of Man by the Righteousness of God detesting his Offence How often hath his implacable Aversion from Sin been shewn not only in his Judgments upon the Offenders Person but by wrapping up in the same Judgment those which stood in a near relation to them Achan with his Children and Cattle are overwhelmed with Stones and burned together Josh 7.24 25. In the destruction of Sodom not only the grown Malefactors but the young Spawn the Infants at present uncapable of the same Wickedness and their Cattle were burned up by the same Fire from Heaven and the Place where their Habitations stood is at this day partly a heap of Ashes and partly an Infectious Lake that choaks any Fish that swim into it from Jordan and stifles as is related by its Vapor any Bird that attempts to fly over it Oh how detestable is Sin to God that causes him to turn a pleasant Land as the Garden of the Lord as it is styled Gen. 13.10 into a Lake of Sulphur to make it both in his Word and Works as a lasting Monument of his abhorrence of Evil 4. What design hath God in all these Acts of Severity and Vindictive Justice but to set off the lustre of his Holiness He testifies himself concerned for those Laws which he hath set as Hedges and Limits to the Lusts of Men and therefore when he breaths forth his fiery Indignation against a People he is said to get himself Honour As when he intended the Red Sea should swallow up the Egyptian Army Exod. 14.17 18. which Moses in his Triumphant Song Ecchoes back again Exod. 15.1 Thou hast triumphed gloriously gloriously in his Holiness which is the glory of his Nature as Moses himself interprets it in the Text. When Men will not own the Holiness of God in a way of Duty God will vindicate it in a way of Justice and Punishment In the destruction of Aarons Sons that were Will-worshippers and would take Strange Fire Sanctified and Glorified are coupled Lev. 10.3 He glorified himself in that Act in vindicating his Holiness before all the People declaring that he will not endure Sin and Disobedience He doth therefore in this Life more severely punish the Sins of his People when they presume upon any act of Disobedience for a Testimony that the nearness and dearness of any Person to him shall not make him unconcern'd in his Holiness or be a plea for Impurity The End of all his Judgments is to witness to the World his Abominating of Sin To Punish and Witness against Men are one and the same thing Micah 1.2 The Lord shall witness against you and it is the Witness of Gods Holiness Hos 5.5 And the Pride of Israel doth testifie to his face One renders it the Excellency of Israel and understands it of God the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here in our Translation Pride is rendred Excellency Amos 8.7 The Lord God hath sworn by his Excellency which is Interpreted Holiness Amos 4.2 The Lord God hath sworn by his Holiness What is the issue or end of this Swearing by Holiness and of his Excellency testifying against them In all those Places you will find them to be sweeping Judgments In one Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their Iniquity in another He will take them away with Hooks and their Posterity with Fish-hooks and in another He would never forget any of their works He that punisheth Wickedness in those he before used with the greatest Tenderness furnisheth the World with an undeniable Evidence of the Detestableness of it to him Were not Judgments sometimes poured out upon the World it would be believed that God were rather an Approver than an Enemy to Sin To Conclude Since God hath made a stricter Law to guide Men annex'd Promises above the merit of Obedience to allure them and Threatnings dreadful enough to affright Men from Disobedience He cannot be the Cause of Sin nor a lover of it How can he be the Author of that which he so severely forbids or love that which he delights to punish or be fondly Indulgent to any Evil when he hates the Ignorant Instruments in the Offences of his Reasonable Creatures III. The Holiness of God appears in Our Restoration 'T is in the Glass of the Gospel we behold the Glory of the Lord * 2 Cor. 3.18 that is the Glory of the Lord into whose Image we are changed but we are changed into nothing as the Image of God but into Holiness We bore not upon us by Creation nor by Regeneration the Image of any other Perfection We cannot be changed into his Omnipotence Omniscience c. but into the Image of his Righteousness This is the pleasing and glorious sight the Gospel Mirror darts in our eyes The whole Scene of Redemption is nothing else but a discovery of Judgment and Righteousness Isai 1.27 Zion shall be redeemed with Judgment and her Converts with Righteousness 1. This Holiness of God appears in the manner of our Restoration viz. by the Death of Christ. Not all the Vials of Judgments that have or shall be poured out upon the wicked World nor the flaming Furnace of a Sinners Conscience nor the Irreversible Sentence pronounc'd against the Rebellious Devils nor the Groans of the Damned Creatures give such a demonstration of Gods Hatred of Sin as the Wrath of God let loose upon his Son Never did Divine Holiness appear more beautiful and lovely than at the time our Saviours Countenance was most marr'd in the midst of his Dying Groans This himself acknowledges in that Prophetical Psalm Psal 22.1 2. when God had turned his Smiling Face from him and thrust his sharp Knife
the high places were not removed nevertheless Asa 's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days He takes notice of a sincere though chequer'd Obedience to reward it which could claim nothing but a slight from him if he were extream to mark what is done amiss When there is not an opportunity to work but only to will he accepts the will as if it had past into work and act He sees no iniquity in Jacob * Numb 23.21 i. e. He sees it not so as to cast off a respect to their Persons and the acceptance of their Services His Omniscience knows their Sins but his Goodness doth not reject their Persons He is of so good a disposition that he delights in a weak Obedience of his Servants not in the Imperfection but in the Obedience * Psal 37.23 He delights in the way of a good Man though he sometimes slips in it He accepts a poor Mans Pigeon as well as a rich Mans Ox He hath a Bottle for the Tears and a Book for the services of the Vpright as well as for the most perfect Obedience of Angels * Psal 56.8 He preserves their Tears as if they were a rich and generous Wine as the Vine-dresser doth the Expressions of the Grape 8. The Goodness of God is seen in Afflictions and Persecutions If it be good for us to be afflicted for which we have the Psalmist's Vote * Psal 119.71 then Goodness in God is the principal cause and orderer of the Afflictions 'T is his Goodness to snatch away that whence we fetch supports for our security and encouragements for our insolence against him He takes away the thing which we have some value for but such as his Infinite Wisdom sees inconsistent with our true happiness 'T is no ill will in the Physician to take away the hurtful Matter the Patient loves and prescribe bitter Potions to advance that health which the other impair'd Nor any mark of unkindness in a Friend to wrest a Sword out of a mad Mans hand wherewith he was about to stab himself though it were beset with the most Orient Pearls To prevent what is evil is to do us the greatest good 'T is a kindness to prevent a Man from falling down a Precipice though it be with a violent blow that lays him flat upon the ground at some distance from the edge of it By Afflictions he often snaps asunder those Chains which fetter'd us and quells those Passions which ravag'd us He sharpens our Faith and quickens our Prayers he brings us into the secret Chamber of our own heart which we had little mind before to visit by a self-examination 'T is such a Goodness that he will vouchsafe to correct Man in order to his Eternal Happiness that Job makes it one part of his astonishment * Job 7.17 What is Man that thou shouldest magnifie him That thou shouldest set thy heart upon him And that thou shouldest visit him every morning And trie him every moment His strokes are often the magnifyings and exaltings of Man He sets his heart upon Man while he inflicts the smart of his Rod He shews thereby what a high account he makes of him and what a special affection he bears to him When he might treat us with more severity after the breach of his Covenant and make his jealousie flame out against us in furious Methods he will not destroy his Relation to us and leave us to our own inclinations but deal with us as a Father with his Children and when he takes this course with us 't is when it cannot be avoided without our ruine His Goodness would not suffer him to do it if our badness did not force him to it * Jerem. 9.7 I will melt them and trie them for how shall I do for the daughter of my People What other Course can I take but this according to the nature of Man The Goldsmith hath no other way to separate the Dross from the Metal but by melting it down And when the impurities of his People necessitate him to this proceeding he sits as a Refiner * Mal. 3.3 He watches for the purifying the Silver not for his own profit as the Goldsmith but out of a Care of them and good will to them As himself speaks * Isai 48.10 I have Refin'd thee but not with Silver Or as some read it not for Silver As when he scatters his People abroad for their Sin he will not leave them without his Presence for their Sanctuary * Ezek. 11.16 He would by his Presence with them supply the place of Ordinances or be an Ark to them in the midst of the Deluge His hand that struck them is never without a Goodness to comfort them and pity them When Jacob was to go into Egypt which was to prove a furnace of Affliction to his Offspring God promises to go down with him and to bring him up again * Gen. 46.4 A Promise not only made to Jacob in his Person but to Jacob in his Posterity He return'd not out of Egypt in his Person but as the Father of a numerous Posterity He that would go down with their Root and afterwards bring up the Branches was certainly with them in all their Oppressions I will go down with thee Down saith one * Haâ—wood's Sermon at Oxford p. 5. What a word is that for a Deity into Egypt Idolatrous Egypt What a place is that for his Holiness Yet Oh the Goodness of God! He never thinks himself low enough to do his People good nor any place too bad for his Society with them So when he had sent away into Captivity the People of Israel by the hand of the Assyrian his bowels yearn after them in their affliction * Isai 52.4 5. The Assyrian Opprest them without Cause i. e. without a just Cause in the Conqueror to inflict so great an evil upon them but not without Cause from God whom they had provoked Now therefore what have I here saith the Lord What do I here I will not stay behind them What do I longer here For I will redeem again those Jewels the Enemy hath carried away That Chapter is a Prophesie of Redemption God shews himself so good to his People in their Persecutions that he gives them occasion to glorifie him in the very Fires as the Divine Order is * Isai 24.15 Wherefore glorifie the Lord in the Fires 9. The Goodness of God is seen in Temptations In those he takes occasion to shew his care and watchfulness as a Father uses the distress of a Child as an opportunity for manifesting the tenderness of his affection God is at the beginning and end of every Temptation He measures out both the quality and quantity He exposeth them not to Temptation beyond the ability he hath already granted them or will at the time or afterwards multiply in them * 1 Cor. 10.13 He hath promised his People that
Estimation When the Excellency of his Nature and the Expressions of his Bounty are in conjunction the Excellency of his own Nature renders him estimable in a way of Justice and the greatness of his Benefits renders him valuable in a way of Gratitude The first ravisheth and the other allures and melts He hath enough in his Nature to attract and sufficient in his Bounty to engage our Affections The Excellency of his Nature is strong enough of it self to blow up our Affections to him were there not a Malignity in our hearts that represents him under the Notion of an Enemy therefore in regard of our Corrupt State the consideration of Divine Largesses comes in for a share in the Elevation of our Affections For indeed 't is a very hard thing for a Man to love another though never so well qualified and of an eminent Vertue while he believes him to be his Enemy and one that will severely handle him though he hath before received many good turns from him The Vertue Valour and Courtesie of a Prince will hardly make him affected by those against whom he is in Arms and that are daily pilfer'd by his Souldiers unless they have hopes of a Reparation from him and future security from injuries Christ in the Repetition of the Command to love God with all our mind with all our heart and with all our Soul i. e. with such an ardency above all things which glitter in our Eye or can be Created by him considers him as our God * Mat. 22.37 And the Psalmist considers him as one that had kindly employ'd his power for him in the eruption of his love Psal 18.1 I will love thee Oh Lord my strength And so in Psal 116.1 I love the Lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplications An esteem of the Benefactor is inseparable from gratitude for the received Benefits And should not then the unparallell'd kindness of God advance him in our thoughts much more than slighter Courtesies do a Created Benefactor in ours 'T is an obligation on every Mans Nature to answer Bounty with gratitude and Goodness with love Hence you never knew any Man nor can the Records of Eternity produce any Man or Devil that ever hated any Person or any thing as good in it self 'T is a thing absolutely repugnant to the Nature of any Rational Creature The Devils hate not God because he is good but because he is not so good to them as they would have him because he will not unlock their Chains turn them into liberty and restore them to Happiness i. e. because he will not desert the Rights of abus'd Goodness But how should we send up flames of love to that God since we are under his direct Beams and enjoy such plentiful influences If the Sun is comely in it self yet 't is more amiâ—ble to us by the light we see and the warmth we feel 1. The greatness of his Benefits have reason to affect us with a love to him The Impress he made upon our Souls when he extracted us from the darkness of nothing The Comeliness he hath put upon us by his own Breath The Care he took of our Recovery when we had lost our selves The Expence he was at for our Regaining our defac'd Beauty The gift he made of his Son The Affectionate Calls we have heard to over-master our Corrupt Appetites move us to Repentance and make us disaffect our beloved Misery The loud sound of his Word in our Ears and the more inward knocking 's of his Spirit in our Heart The offering us the Gift of himself and the Everlasting Happiness he Courts us to besides those common favours we enjoy in the World which are all the Streams of his rich Bounty The voice of all is loud enough to sollicite our love and the Merit of all ought to be strong enough to engage our love There is none like the God of Jesurun who rides upon the Heaven in thy help and in his Excellency on the Sky * Deut. 33.26 2. The unmeritedness of them doth inhance this 'T is but reason to love him who hath loved us first * 1 John 4.19 Hath he placed his delight upon were nothing and after they were Sinful and shall he set his delight upon such vile Persons and shall not we set our love upon so Excellent an Object as himself How base are we if his goodness doth not constrain us to affect him who hath been so free in his favour to us who have merited the quite contrary at his hands If his tender Mercies are over all his Works * Psal 145.9 He ought for it to be esteem'd by all his Works that are capable of a Rational Estimation 3. Goodness in Creatures makes them estimable much more should the Goodness of God render him lovely to us If we love a little spark of goodness in this or that Creature if a drop be so delicious to us shall not the immense Sun of Goodness the ever-flowing Fountain of all be much more delightful The Original Excellency always out-strips what is deriv'd from it If so mean and contracted an Object as a little Creature deserves Estimation for a little Mite communicated to it so great and extended a goodness as is in the Creator much more merits it at our hands He is good after the infinite methods of a Deity A weak Resemblance is lovely much more amiable then must be the incomprehensible Original of that Beauty We love Creatures for what we think to be good in them though it may be hurtful And shall we not love God who is a real and unblemisht Goodness And from whose hand are pour'd out all those Blessings that are conveyed to us by second Causes The Object that delights us the Capacity we have to delight in it are both from him Our love therefore to him should transcend the Affection we bear to any Instruments he moves for our welfare Among the Gods there is none like thee O Lord neither are there any Works like unto thy Works * Psal 86.8 Among the pleasantest Creatures there is none like the Creator nor any Goodness like unto his Goodness Shall we love the Food that Nourisheth us and the Medicine that Cures us and the Silver whereby we furnish our selves with useful Commodities Shall we love a Horse or Dog for the benefits we have by them And shall not the Spring of all those draw our Souls after it and make us aspire to the honour of loving and embracing him who hath stor'd every Creature with that which may pleasure us But instead of endeavouring to parallel our Affection with his Kindness we endeavour to make our Disingenuity as extensive and towring as his Divine Goodness 4. This is the true end of the manifestation of his Goodness that he might appear amiable and have a Return of Affection Did God display his Goodness only to be thought of or to be loved 'T is the want of
2. Readiness to exercise it upon due occasions He hath prepared his Throne he is not at a loss he needs not stay for a Commission or Instructions from any how to act He hath all things ready for the assistance of his People he hath Rewards and Punishments his Treasures and Axes the great marks of Authority lying by him the one for the good the other for the wicked His Mercy he keeps by him for Thousands Exod. 34.7 His Arrows he hath prepared by him for Rebels Psal 7.13 3. Wise management of it 'T is prepared preparations imply prudence the Government of God is not a rash and heady Authority A Prince upon his Throne a Judge upon the Bench manages things with the greatest discretion or should be supposed so to do 4. Successfulness and duration of it He hath prepared or Established 'T is fixed not tottering 't is an immoveable Dominion all the strugglings of Men and Devils cannot overturn it nor so much as shake it 'T is Established above the reach of obstinate Rebels he cannot be deposed from it he cannot be mated in it His Dominion as himself abides for ever And as his Counsel so his Authority shall stand and he will do all his pleasure Isaiah 46.10 His Throne in the Heavens This is an expression to signifie the Authority of God for as God hath no member properly though he be so represented to us so he hath properly no Throne It signifies his power of Reigning and Judging A Throne is proper to Royalty the Seat of Majesty in its excellency and the place where the deepest respect and homage of Subjects is paid and their Petitions presented That the Throne of God is in the Heavens that there he sits as a Soveraign is the opinion of all that acknowledge a God when they stand in need of his Authority to assist them their eyes are lifted up and their heads stretched out to Heaven so his Son Christ prayed he lifted up his Eyes to Heaven as the place where his Father sat in Majesty as the most adorable object John 17.1 Heaven hath the Title of his Throne as the Earth hath that of his Footstool Isaiah 66.1 And therefore Heaven is sometimes put for the Authority of God Dan. 4.26 After that thou shalt have known that the Heavens do rule i. e. That God who hath his Throne in the Heavens orders earthly Princes and Scepters as he pleases and rules over the Kingdoms of the World His Throne in the Heavens Notes 1. The Glory of his Dominion The Heavens are the most stately and comely peices of the Creation His Majesty is there most visible his glory most splendid Psal 19.1 The Heavens speak out with a full mouth his Glory 'T is therefore called the Habitation of his Holiness and of his Glory Isaiah 63.15 There is the greater glister and brightness of his Glory The whole Earth indeed is full of his Glory full of the beams of it the Heaven is full of the body of it as the rayes of the Sun reach the Earth but the full Glory of it is in the Firmament In Heaven his Dominion is more acknowledged by the Angels standing at his beck and by their readiness and swiftness obeying his Commands going and returning as a flash of lightning Ezek. 1.14 His Throne may well be said to be in the Heavens since his Dominion is not disputed there by the Angels that attend him as it is on Earth by the Rebels that arm themselves against him 2. The Supremacy of his Empire The Heavens are the loftiest part of the Creation and the only fit Palace for him 't is in the Heavens his Majesty and Dignity are so sublime that they are elevated above all Earthly Empires 3. Peculiarly of this Dominion He rules in the Heavens alone There is some shadow of Empire in the World Royalty is communicated to men as his Substitutes He hath disposed a vicarious Dominion to men in his footstool the Earth he gives them some share in his Authority and therefore the Title of his Name Psal 82.6 I have said ye are Gods but in Heaven he reigns alone without any Substitutes his Throne is there He gives out his orders to the Angels himself the marks of his Immediate soveraignty are there most visible He hath no Vicars General of that Empire His Authority is not delegated to any Creature he rules the blessed Spirits by himself but he rules Men that are on his Footstool by others of the same kind men of their own nature 4. The vastness of his Empire The Earth is but a spot to the Heavens What is England in a Mapp to the whole Earth but a spot you may cover with your Finger Much less must the whole Earth be to the extended Heavens 'T is but a little point or Atome to what is visible the Sun is vastly bigger than it and several Stars are supposed to be of a greater bulk than the Earth and how many and what Heavens are beyond the ignorance of man cannot understand If the Throne of God be there 't is a larger Circuit he rules in than can well be conceived You cannot conceive the many millions of little particles there are in the Earth and if all put together be but as one point to that place where the Throne of God is seated how vast must his Empire be He rules there over the Angels which excell in strength those Hosts of his which do his pleasure in comparison of whom all the Men in the World and the power of the greatest Potentates is no more than the strength of an Ant or Fly multitudes of them encircle his Throne and listen to his orders without roving and execute them without disputing And since his Throne is in the Heavens it will follow that all things under the Heaven are parts of his Dominion his Throne being in the highest place the inferior things of Earth cannot but be subject to him and it necessarily includes his influence on all things below because the Heavens are the cause of all the motion in the World the immediate thing the Earth doth naturally address to for Corn Wine and Oyl above which there is no superior but the Lord. Hosea 2.21 22. The Earth hears the Corn Wine and Oyl the Heavens hear the Earth and the Lord hears the Heavens 5. The easiness of managing this Government His Throne being placed on high he cannot but behold all things that are done below the height of a place gives advantage to a pure and clear Eye to behold things below it Had the Sun an Eye nothing could be done in the open Air out of its ken The Throne of God being in Heaven he easily looks from thence upon all the Children of Men. Psal 14.2 The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the Children of Men to see if there were any that did understand He looks not down from Heaven as if he were in regard of his presence confined there but he looks down
the Divine Nature is the natural foundation for his Dominion He hath Wisdom to know what is fit for him to do and an immutable Righteousness whereby he cannot do any thing base and unworthy He hath a fore-knowledge whereby he is able to order all things to answer his own glorious designs and the end of his Government that nothing can go awry nothing put him to a stand and constrain him to meditate new Counsels * Caâ—â—â—â— p. â—â—1 Aâ—â—â—â—â— Dissert p. 72 73. So that if it could be supposed that the World had not been created by him that the parts of it had met together by chance and been compacted into such a Body none but God the supream and most excellent being in the World could have merited and deservedly challenged the Government of it Because nothing had an excellency of Nature to capacitate it for it as he hath or to enter into a contest with him for a sufficiency to Govern 2. 'T is founded in his act of Creation He is the Soveraign Lord as he is the Almighty Creator The relation of an intire Creator induceth the relation of an absolute Lord he that gives Being Life Motion that is the sole cause of the being of a thing which was before nothing that hath nothing to concur with him nothing to assist him but by his sole power Commands it to stand up into being is the unquestionable Lord and Proprietor of that thing that hath no dependance but upon him And by this act of Creation which extended to all things he became universal Soveraign over all things And those that wave the excellency of his Nature as the foundation of his Goverment easily acknowledge the sufficiency of it upon his actual Creation His Dominion of Jurisdiction results from Creation When God himself makes an oration in defence of his Soveraignty Job 38. His chief arguments are drawn from Creation and Psal 95.3 5. The Lord is a great King above all Gods the Sea is his and he made it And so the Apostle in his Sermon to the Athenians As he made the World and all things therein he is stiled Lord of Heaven and Earth Acts 17.24 His Dominion also of Property stands upon this Basis Psal 89.7 The Heavens are thine the Earth also is thine as for the World and the fulness thereof thou hast founded them Upon this Title of forming Israel as a Creature or rather as a Church he demands their service to him as their Soveraign Oh Jacob and Israel thou art my Servant I have formed thee thou art my servant Oh Israel Isaiah 44. 21. The Soveraignty of God naturally ariseth from the relation of all things to himself as their intire Creator and their natural and inseparable dependance upon him in regard of their being and well beings It depends not upon the election of Men God hath a natural Dominion over us as Creatures before he hath a Dominion by consent over us as converts As soon as ever any thing began to be a Creature it was a vassal to God as a Lord. Every man is acknowledged to have a right of possessing what he hath made and a power of Dominion over what he hath fram'd He may either cherish his own work or dash it in peices he may either adde a greater comeliness to it or deface what he hath already imparted He hath a right of property in it no other man can without injury pilfer his own work from him The work hath no propriety in its self the right must lie in the immediate framer or in the person that employed him The first Cause of every thing hath an unquestionable Dominion of propriety in it upon the score of Justice By the Law of Nations the first finder of a Countrey is esteemed the rightful possessor and Lord of that Country and the first inventor of an Art hath a right of exercising it If a man hath a just claim of Dominion over that thing whose materials were not of his framing but from only the addition of a new figure from his skill as a Limner over his picture the Cloth whereof he never made nor the colours wherewith he draws it were ever endued by him with their distinct qualities but only he applies them by his art to compose such a figure much more hath God a rightful claim of Dominion over his Creatures whose intire being both in matter and form and every particle of their excellency was breathed out by the word of his mouth He did not only give the matter a form but bestowed upon the matter its self a being It was formed by none to his hand as the matter is on which an Artist works He had the being of all things in his own power and it was at his choice whither he would impart it or no there can be no juster and stronger ground of a claim than this A man hath a right to a piece of brass or Gold by his purchase but when by his engraving he hath form'd it into an excellent Statue there results an increase of his right upon the account of his artifice Gods Creation of the the matter of man gave him a right over man but his Creation of him in so eminent an excellency with reason to guide him a clear eye of understanding to discern Light from Darkness and Truth from falshood a freedom of Will to act accordingly and an original Righteousness as the varnish and beauty of all Here is the strongest foundation for a claim of Authority over man and the strongest obligation on man for subjection to God If all those things had been past over to God by another hand he could not be the supream Lord nor could have an absolute right to dispose of them at his pleasure That would have been the invasion of anothers right Besides Creation is the only first discovery of his Dominion * Stoughton Righteous Mans Plea Serm. 6. p. 28. Before the World was framed there was nothing but God himself and properly nothing is said to have Dominion over its self this is a relative Attribute reflecting on the works of God He had a right of Dominion in his Nature from eternity but before Creation he was actually Lord only of a nullity Where there is nothing it can have no relation nothing is not the subject of possession nor of Dominion There could be no exercise of this Dominion without Creation What exercise can a Soveraign have without Subjects Soveraignty speaks a relation to Subjects and none is properly a Soveraign without Subjects To conclude from hence doth result Gods universal Dominion For being maker of all he is the Ruler of all And his perpetual Dominion For as long as God continues in the relation of Creator the right of his Soveraignty as Creator cannot be abolisht 3. As God is the final Cause or End of all he is Lord of all * Vid. Lessium de perfect Divin p. 77. 78. The End hath a greater Soveraignty in
actions than the Actor it self The Actor hath a Soveraignty over others in action but the end for which any one works hath a Soveraignty over the Agent himself A Limner hath a Soveraignty over the Picture he is framing or hath fram'd but the end for which he fram'd it either his profit he design'd from it or the honor and credit of skill he aimed at in it hath a Dominion over the Limner himself The end moves and excites the Artist to work it spirits him in it conducts him in his whole business possesses his mind and sits triumphant in him in all the progress of his work 'T is the first cause for which the whole work is wrought Now God in his actual Creation of all is the Soveraign end of all for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4.11 The Lord hath made all things for himself Prov. 16.4 Man indeed is the subordinate and immediate end of the lower Creation And therefore had the Dominion over other Creatures granted to him But God being the ultimate and principal end hath the Soveraign and principal Dominion all things as much referre to him as the last end as they flow from him as the first Cause So that as I said before if the World had been compacted together by a jumbling chance without a wise hand as some have foolishly imagined none could have been an Antagonist with God for the Government of the World but God in regard of the excellency of his nature would have been the Rector of it unless those Atomes that had composed the World had had an ability to Govern it Since there could be no universal end of all things but God God only can claim an intire right to the Government of it For though man be the end of the lower Creation yet man is not the end of himself and his own being he is not the end of the Creation of the supream Heavens he is not able to govern them they are out of his ken and out of his reach None fit in regard of the excellency of Nature to be the chief end of the whole World but God And therefore none can have a right to the Dominion of it but God In this regard Gods Dominion differs from the Dominion of all Earthly Potentates All the subjects in Creation were made for God as their end so are not People for Rulers but Rulers made for People for their protection and the preservation of Order in Societies 4. The Dominion of God is founded upon his preservation of things Ps 95.3 4. The Lord is a great King above all Gods Why In his hand are all the deep places of the Earth While his hand holds things his hand hath a Dominion over them He that holds a stone in the Air exerciseth a dominion over its natural inclination in hindring it from falling The Creature depends wholly upon God in its preservation as soon as that Divine hand which sustains every thing were withdrawn a languishment and swooning would be the next turn in the Creature He is call'd Lord Adonai in regard of his sustentation of all things by his continual influx The Word coming of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a basis or pillar that supports a building God is the Lord of all as he is the sustainer of all by his power as well as the Creator of all by his Word The Sun hath a Soveraign dominion over its own beams which depend upon it so that if he withdraws himself they all attend him and the World is left in darkness God maintains the vigor of all things conducts them in their operations so that nothing that they are nothing that they have but is owing to his preserving power The Master of this great Family may as well be called the Lord of it since every member of it depends upon him for the support of that being he first gave them and holds of his Empire As the right to govern resulted from Creation so it is perpetuated by the preservation of things 5. The dominion of God is strengthened by the innumerable benefits he bestows upon his Creatures The benefits he conferrs upon us after Creation are not the original ground of his dominion A man hath not Authority over his Servant from the kindness he shews to him but his Authority commenceth before any act of kindness and is founded upon a right of purchase conquest or compact Dominion doth not depend upon meer benefits Then Inferiors might have dominion over Superiors A Peasant may save the Life of a Prince to whom he was not subject he hath not therefore a right to step up into his Throne and give Laws to him And Children that maintain their Parents in their poverty might then acquire an Authority over them which they can never climb to Because the benefits they conferre cannot parallel the benefits they have received from the Authors of their Lives The bounties of God to us add nothing to the intrinsick right of his natural dominion they being the effects of that Soveraignty as he is a Rewarder and Governour As the benefits a Prince bestows upon his favorite increases not that right of Authority which is inherent in the Crown but strengthens that dominion as it stands in relation to the receiver by increasing the obligation of the favorite to an observance of him not only as his natural Prince but his gracious Benefactor The beneficence of God adds though not an original right of power yet a foundation of a stronger upbraiding the Creature if he walks in a violation and forgetfulness of those benefits and pull in peices the links of that ingenuous duty they call for and an occasion of exercising of Justice in punishing the delinquent which is a part of his Empire Isaiah 1.2 Hear O Heavens and give Ear O Earth the Lord hath spoken I have nourished Children and they have rebelled against me Thus the fundamental right as Creator is made more indisputable by his relation as a Benefactor and more as being so after a forfeiture of what was enjoyed by Creation The benefits of God are innumerable and so magnificent that they cannot meet with any compensation from the Creature And therefore do necessarily require a submission from the Creature and an acknowledgement of Divine Authority But that benefit of Redemption doth add a stronger right of dominion to God Since he hath not only as a Creator given them Being and Life as his Creatures but paid a price the price of his Sons blood for their rescue from Captivity so that he hath a Soveraignty of Grace as well as Nature and the ransom'd ones belong to him as Redeemer as well as Creator 1 Cor. 6.19 20. Ye are not your own For ye are bought with a price therefore your Body and your Spirit are Gods By this he acquir'd a right of another kind and bought us from that uncontroulable Lordship we affected over our selves by the sin of Adam that he might use us
as his own peculiar for his own glory and service By this Redemption there results to God a right over our bodies over our Spirits over our services as well as by Creation and to shew the strength of this right the Apostle repeats it you are bought a purchase cannot be without a price paid but he adds price also bought with a price To strengthen the Title purchase gave him a new right and the greatness of the price established that right The more a man pays for a thing the more usually we say he deserves to have it he hath paid enough for it It was indeed price enough and too much for such vile Creatures as we are III. The third thing is The Nature of this Dominion 1. This Dominion is Independent His Throne is in the Heavens the Heavens depend not upon the Earth nor God upon his Creatures Since he is Independent in regard of his Essence he is so in his dominion which flows from the excellency and fulness of his Essence As he receives his Essence from none so he derives his dominion from none All other dominion except paternal Authority is rooted originally in the wills of men * Raynaud Theolog. Natural p. 760 761 762. The first Title was the consent of the People or the conquest of others by the help of those People that first consented And in the exercise of it Earthly dominion depends upon assistance of the Subjects and the Members being joyn'd with the head carry on the work of Government and prevent Civil dissentions in the support of it it depends upon the Subjects Contributions and Taxes The Subjects in their strength are the Arms and in their Purses the Sinews of Government But God depends upon none in the foundation of his Government he is not a Lord by the Votes of his Vassals Nor is it successively handed to him by any Predecessor nor constituted by the power of a Superior Nor forced he his way by War and conquest nor precariously attained it by suit or flattery or bribing promises He holds not the right of his Empire from any other he hath no Superior to hand him to his Throne and settle him by Commission He is therefore called King of Kings and Lord of Lords having none above him A great King above all Gods Psal 95.3 Needing no Licence from any when to act nor direction how to act or assistance in his action He owes not any of those to any person he was not ordered by any other to Create and therefore receives not orders from any other to rule over what he hath created He received not his power and wisdom from another and therefore is not Subject to any for the rule of his Government He only made his own Subjects and from himself hath the sole Authority his own will was the cause of their beings and his own will is the director of their actions He is not determined by his Creatures in any of his motions but determins the Creatures in all His actions are not regulated by any Law without him but by a Law within him the Law of his own Nature 'T is impossible he can have any rule without himself because there is nothing Superior to himself Nor doth he depend upon any in the exercise of his Government he needs no Servants in it when he uses Creatures it is not out of want of their help but for the manifestation of his wisdom and power What he doth by his Subjects he can do by himself The Government is upon his Shoulder Isaiah 9.6 To shew that he needs not any supporters All other governments flow from him all other Authorities depend upon him Dei Gratiâ or Dei Providentiâ is in the style of Princes As their being is deriv'd from his power so their Authority is but a branch of his dominion They are governors by Divine Providence God is Governour by his sole nature All motions depend upon the first Heaven which moves all but that depends upon nothing The Government of Christ depends upon God's increated dominion and is by Commission from him Christ assum'd not this honour to himself But he that said unto him thou art my Son bestow'd it upon him He put all things under his feet but not himself 1 Cor. 15.27 When he saith all things are put under him he is excepted which did put all things under him He sits still as an independent Governour upon his Throne 2. This dominion is Absolute If his Throne be in the Heavens there is nothing to controul him If he be independent he must needs be â—bsolute since he hath no cause in conjunction with him as Creator that can share with him in his right or restrain him in the disposal of his Creature His Authority is unlimited in this regard the Title of Lord becomes not any but God properly Tiberius thoâ—ght none of the best though one of the subtilest Princes accounted the Title of Lord a reproach to him Since he was not absolute * Sueton. de Tiberio cap. 27. 1. Absolute in regard of Freedom and Liberty 1. Thus Creation is a work of his meer Soveraignty he Created because it was his pleasure to Create Rev. 4.11 He is not necessitated to do this or that He might have chosen whether he would have fram'd an Earth and Heavens and laid the foundations of his Chambers in the Waters He was under no obligation to reduce things from nullity to existence 2. Preservation is the fruit of his Soveraignty When he had called the World to stand out he might have ordered it to return into its dark den of nothingness ript up every part of its foundation or have given being to many more Creatures than he did If you consider his absolute soveraignty why might he not have devested Adam presently of those rational perfections wherewith he had endow'd him And might he not have metamorphos'd him into some Beast and elevated some Beast into a rational nature Why might he not have degraded an Angel to a Worm and advanc'd a Worm to the nature and condition of an Angel Why might he not have revokt that grant of dominion which he had passed to man over all Creatures It was free to him to permit sin to enter into the Earth or to have excluded it out of the Earth as he doth out of Heaven 3. Redemption is a fruit of his Soveraignty By his absolute Soveraignty he might have confirmed all the Angels in their standing by Grace and prevented the revolt of any of their members from him and when there was a revolt both in Heaven and Earth it was free to him to have call'd out his Son to assume the Angelical as well as the humane nature or have exercised his dominion in the destruction of Men and Devils rather than in the Redemption of any he was under no obligation to restore either the one or the other 4. May he not impose what terms he pleases May he not impose what Laws
long can be referred to nothing but the same cause What is the reason the vail continues so long upon the heart of the Jews that is promised one time or other to be taken off Why doth God delay the accomplishment of those glorious predictions of the happiness and interest of that people is it because of the sin of their Ancestors a reason that cannot bear much weight If we cast it upon that account their conversion can never be expected can never be effected if for the sins of their Ancestors is it not also for their own sins Do their sins grow less in number or less venimous or provoking in quality by this delay Is not their Blasphemy of Christ as malitious their hatred of him as strong and rooted as ever Do they not as much approve of the bloody act of their Ancestors since so many ages are past as their Ancestors did applaud it at the time of the Execution Have they not the same disposition and will discovered sufficiently by the scorn of Christ and of those that profess his Name to act the same thing over again were Christ now in the same state in the world and they invested with the same power of Government If their Conversion were deferr'd one age after the death of Christ for the sins of their prâ—ceding Ancestors is it to be expected now since the present generation of the Jews in all Countries have the sins of those remote the succeeding and their more immediate Ancestors lying upon them This therefore cannot be the reason but as it was the Soveraign pleasure of God to foretell his intention to overcome the stoutness of their hearts so it is his Soveraign pleasure that it shall not be perform'd till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in Rom. 11.25 As he is Lord of his own Grace so he is Lord of the Time when to dispense it Why did God create the world in 6 days which he could have erected and beautified in a moment Because it was his pleasure so to do Why did he frame the World when he did and not many ages before Because he is Master of his own work Why did he not resolve to bring Israel to the fruition of Canaan till after four hundred years Why did he draw out their deliverance to so long time after he began to attempt it Why such a multitude of Plagues upon Pharoah to work it when he could have cut short the work by one mortal blow upon the Tyrant and his accomplices It was his Soveraign pleasure to act so though not without other reasons intelligible enough by looking into the story Why doth he not bring man to a perfection of stature in a moment after his Birth but let him continue in a tedious infancy in a semblance to beasts for want of an exercise of reason Why doth he not bring this or that man whom he intends for service to a fitness in an instant but by long tracts of Study and through many Meanders and Labyrinths VVhy doth he transplant a hopeful person in his youth to the pleasures of another VVorld and let another of an eminent Holiness continue in the misery of this and wade through many Floods of Afflictions VVhat can we chiefly referre all these things to but his Soveraign pleasure The times are determined by God Acts 17.26 3. The Dominion of God is manifested as a Governor as well as a Law-giver and Proprietor 1. In disposing of States and Kingdomes Psa l. 75.7 God is Judge he puls down one and sets up another Judge is to be taken not in the same sence that we commonly use the word for a judicial Minister in a way of tryal but for a Governour as you know the extraordinary Governours rais'd up among the Jews were call'd Judges whence one intire Book in the Old Testament is so denominated the Book of Judges God hath a Prerogative to change times and seasons Dan. 2.21 i. e. The Revolutions of Government whereby times are alter'd * Mr. Mede in one of his Letters How many Empires that have spread their wings over a great part of the world have had their Carkasses torn in peices and unheard off Nations pluckt of the wings of the Roman Eagle after it had prey'd upon many Nations of the World And the Macedonian Empire was as the dew that is dried up a short time after it falls He erected the Chaldaean Monarchy us'd Nebuchadnezzar to overthrow and punish the ungrateful Jews and by a Soveraign act gave a great parcel of Land into his hands and what he thought was his right by conquest was Gods donative to him You may read the Chartâ—r to Nebuchadnezzar whom he terms his Servant Jer. 27.6 And now I have given all those Lands the Lands are mentioned verse 3. Into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon my Servant Which Decree he pronounceth after his asserting his right of Soveraignty over the whole Earth ver 5. After that he puts a period to the Chaldaean Empire and by the same Soveraign Authority decrees Babylon to be a spoil to the Nations of the North Countrey and delivers her up as a spoil to the Persian Jer. 50.9 10. And this for the manifestation of his Soveraign Dominion that he was the Lord that made peace and created evil Isaiah 45.6 7. God afterwards overthrows that by the Grecian Alexander prophesied of under the figure of a Goat with one horn between his Eyes Dan. 8. The swift current of his Victories as swift as his motion shew'd it to be from an extraordinary hand of Heaven and not either from the policy or strength of the Macedonian His strength in the Prophet is described to be less being but one horn running against the Persian describ'd under the figure of a Ramm with two horns * Josephus And himself acknowledg'd a Divine motion exciting him to that great attempt when he saw Joddus the High Priest coming out in his Priestly Robes to meet him at his approach to Jerusalem whom he was about to Worship acknowledging that the Vision which put him upon the Persian War appear'd to him in such a garb What was the reason Israel was rent from Judah and both split into two distinct Kingdoms Because Rehoboam would not hearken to sober and sound Counsels but follow the advice of upstarts What was the reason he did not harken to sound advice since he had so advantagious an Education under his Father Solomon the wisest Prince of the World The Cause was from the Lord. 1 Kings 12.15 That he might perform what he had before spoke In this he acted according to his Royal Word but in the first resolve he acted as a Soveraign Lord that had the disposal of all Nations in the world And though Ahab had a numerous posterity Seventy Sons to inherit the Throne after him yet God by his Soveraign Authority gives them up into the hands of Jehu who strips them of their lives and hopes together not
according to God's order Ezek. 37.24 25. David my servant shall be King over them and my servant David shall be their Prince for ever He shall be a Prince over them but my servant in that principality in the exercise and duration of it The Soveraignty of God is paramount in all that Christ hath done as a Priest or shall do as a King The VSE 1. For Instruction 1. How great is the contempt of this soveraignty of God Man naturally would be free from Gods Empire to be a slave under the Dominion of his own lust The soveraignty of God as a Law-giver is most abhorr'd by man Levit. 26.43 The Israelites the best people in the World were apt by nature not only to despise but abhorre his Statutes There is not a Law of God but the corrupt heart of man hath an abhorrency of How often do men wish that God had not enacted this or that Law that goes against the grain and in wishing so wish that he were no soveraign or not such a soveraign as he is in his own â—â—ture but one according to their corrupt model This is the great quarrel between God and Man whither he or they shall be the soveraign Ruler He should not by the Will of Man rule in any one Village in the World Gods vote should not be predominant in any one thing There is not a Law of his but is expos'd to contempt by the perverseness of Man Prov. 1.21 Ye have set at nought all my Counsel and would have none of my reproof Septuag Ye have made all my Counsels without Authority The nature of man cannot endure one precept of God nor one rebuke from him And for this cause God is at the expence of Judgements in the World to assert his own Empire to the Teeth and Consciences of men Psal 59.13 Lord consume them in wrath and let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the Earth The Dominion of God is not slighted by any Creature of this World but Man all others observe it by observing his Order whither in their natural motions or preternaral irruptions they punctually act according to their Commission Man only speaks a Dialect against the strain of the whole Creation and hath none to imitate him among all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth but only among those in Hell Man is more impatient of the yoke of God than of the yoke of Man There are not so many rebellions committed by inferiors against their superiors and fellow Creatures as are committed against God A willing and easie sinning is an equalling the Authority of God to that of Man Hos 6.7 They like men have transgrest my Covenant * Munster They have made no more account of breaking my Covenant than if they had broken some league or compact made with a meer man so slightly do they esteem the Authority of God Such a disesteem of the divine Authority is a vertual undeifying of him To slight his soveraignty is to stab his Deity Since the one cannot be preserved without the support of the other his life would expire with his Authority How base and brutish is it for vile dust and mouldring clay to lift up it self against the Majesty of God whose Throne is in the Heavens who sways his Scepter over all parts of the World A Majesty before whom the Devils shake and the highest Cherubims tremble 'T is as if the Thistle that can presently be trod down by the foot of a wild Beast should think it self a match for the Cedar of Lebanon as the phrase is 2 Kings 14.9 Let us consider this in general and also in the ordinary practise of men First In General 1. All sin in its nature is a contempt of the Divine Dominion As every act of Obedience is a confirmation of the Law and consequently a subscription to the Authority of the Lawgiver Deut 27.26 so every breach to it is a conspiracy against the soveraignty of the Law-giver setting up our Will against the Will of God is an Articling against his Authority as setting up our reason against the methods of God is an Articling against his Wisdom the intendment of every act of sin is to wrest the Scepter out of God's hand The Authority of God is the first attribute in the Deity which it directs its edge against 't is called therefore a transgression of his Law 1 John 3.4 And therefore a slight or neglect of the Majesty of God and the not keeping his Commands is call'd a forgetting God Deut. 8.11 i. e. a forgetting him to be our absolute Lord. As the first notion we have of God as a Creator is that of his Soveraignty so the first perfection that sin struck at in the violation of the Law was his soveraignty as a Lawgiver Breaking the Law is a dishonouring God Rom. 2.23 a Snatching off his Crown to obey our own Wills before the Will of God is to preferre our selves as our own Soveraigns before him Sin is a wrong and injury to God not in his Essence that is above the reach of a Creature nor in any thing profitable to him or pertaining to his own intrinsick advantage not an injury to God in himself but in his Authority in those things which pertain to his Glory a disowning his due right and not using his goods according to his will Thus the whole world may be call'd as God calls Chaldea a Land of Rebels Jer. 50.21 Go up against the Land of Merathaim or Rebels Rebels not against the Jews but against God The mighty opposition in the heart of man to the Supremacy of God is discovered Emphatically by the Apostle Rom. 8.7 in that expression The carnal mind is enmity against God i. e. against the Authority of God because it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be It refuseth not subjection to this or that part but to the whole to every mark of Divine Authority in it it will not lay down its arms against it nay it cannot but stand upon its terms against it the Law can no more be fulfill'd by a carnal mind than it can be disowned by a soveraign God God is so Holy that he cannot alter a Righteous Law and man is so averse that he cares not for nay cannot fulfil one Tittle so much doth the Nature of man swell against the Majesty of God Now an enmity to the Law which is in every sin implies a perversity against the Authority of God that enacted it 2. All sin in its nature is the despoyling God of his sole soveraignty which was probably the first thing the Devil aim'd at That pride was the sin of the Devil the Scripture gives us some account of when the Apostle adviseth not a novice or one that hath but lately embraced the Faith to be chosen a Bishop 1 Tim. 3.6 Least being lifted up with Pride he fall into the condemnation of the Devil Least he fall into the same sin for
following evidence The Church he would bring out from the Countries where she was scattered and bring the people into the bond of the Covenant He sometimes cuts off the Spirits of Princes Psal 76.12 i. e. cuts off their designs as men do the pipes of a water-course The hearts of all are as open to him as the riches of heaven where he resides He can slip an inclination into the heart of the mighty which they dream'd not of before and if he doth not change their projects he can make them abortive and way-lay them in their attempts Laâ—an marched with fury but God put a padlock upon his passion against Jacob. Gen. 31.24.29 The Devils which ravage mens minds must be still when he gives out his soveraign orders This soveraign can make his people find favour in the eyes of the cruel Egyptians which had so long opprest them Exod. 11.3 And speak a good word in the heart of Nebuchadnezzar for the Prophet Jeremy that he should order his Captain to take him into his special protection when he took Zedekiah away prisoner in chains and put out his eyes Jerem. 39.11 His people cannot want deliverance from him who hath all the world at his command when he is pleased to bestow it he hath as many instruments of deliverance as he hath Creatures at his beck in Heaven or Earth from the meanest to the highest As he is the Lord of Hosts the Church hath not only an interest in the strength he himself is possessed with but in the strength of all the Creatures that are under his command in the Elements below and Angels above in those armies of Heaven and in the inhabitants of the Earth he doth what he will Dan. 4.35 They are all in order and array at his command There are Angels to employ in a fatal stroke Lice and Froggs to quell the stubborn hearts of his Enemies He can range his Thunders and Lightnings the Canon and Granado's of Heaven and the Worms of the Earth in his service He can muzzle Lions calm the fury of the Fire turn his Enemies Swords into their own bowels and their Artillery on their own breasts set the wind in their Teeth and make their Chariot-wheels languish make the Sea enter a quarrel with them and wrap them in its waves till it hath stifled them in its lap The Angels have Storms and Tempests and Warrs in their hands but at the disposal of God when they shall cast them out against the Empire of Antichrist Rev. 7.1 2. then shall Satan be discharg'd from his Throne and no more seduce the Nations the everlasting Gospel shall be preached and God shall reign gloriously in Sion Let us therefore shelter our selves in the divine soveraignty regard God as the most High in our dangers and in our petitions This was Davids resolution Psal 57.1 2. I will cry unto unto God most high This Dominion of God is the true Tower of David wherein there are a thousand shields for defence and encouragement Cant. 4.4 IV. USE If God hath an extensive Dominion over the whole World this ought to be often meditated on and acknowledged by us This is the universal duty of mankind if he be the soveraign of all we should frequently think of our great Prince and acknowledge our selves his Subjects and him our Lord. God will be acknowledg'd the Lord of the whole Earth the neglect of this is the cause of the Judgments which are sent upon the World All the Prodigies were to this end that they might know or acknowledge that God was the Lord. Exod. 10.2 As God was proprietor he demanded the first-born of every Jew and the first-born of every Beast the one was to be Redeemed and the other Sacrificed this was the Quit-Rent they were to pay to him for their fruitful Land The first Fruits of the Earth were ordered to be paid to him as a homage due to the Landlord and an acknowledgment they held all in chief of him The practice of offering first-fruits for an acknowledgment of Gods soveraignty was among many of the Heathens and very ancient hence they dedicated some of the chief of their spoils owning thereby the Dominion and Goodness of God whereby they had gain'd the Victory Cain own'd this in offering the Fruits of the Earth and it was his sin he own'd no more viz. His being a sinner and meriting the Justice of God as his Brother Abel did in his bloody Sacrifice God was a soveraign Proprietor and Governour while man was in a state of innocence but when man proved a Rebel the soveraignty of God bore another relation towards him that of a Judge added to the other The First-fruits might have been offered to God in a state of innocence as a homage to him as Lord of the Manour of the World the design of them was to own Gods propriety in all things and mens dependance on him for the influences of heaven in producing the fruits of the Earth which he had ordered for their use The design of Sacrifices and placing beasts instead of the criminal was to acknowledg their own guilt and God as a soveraign Judge Cain own'd the first but not the second he acknowledged his dependance on God as a proprietor but not his obnoxiousness to God as a Judg which may be probably gathered from his own speech when God came to examine him and ask him for his Brother Gen. 4.9 Am I my Brothers keeper Why do you ask me though I own thee as the Lord of my Land and Goods yet I do not think my self accountable to thee for all my actions This Soveraignty of God ought to be acknowledged in all the parts of it in all the manifestations of it to the creature We should bear a sense of this always upon our Spirits and be often in the thoughts of it in our retirements We should fancy that we saw God upon his Throne in his Royal Garb and great attendants about him and take a view of it to imprint an awe upon our Spirits The meditation on this would 1. Fix us on him as an object of trust 'T is upon his Soveraign Dominion as much as upon anything that safe and secure confidence is built for if he had any superior above him to controul him in his designs and promises his veracity and power would be of little efficacy to form our souls to a close adherency to him It were not fit to make him the object of our trust that can be gainsaid by a higher than himself and had not a full Authority to answer our expectations If we were possessed with this notion fully and believingly that God were high above all that his Kingdom rules over all we should not catch at every broken reed and stand gaping for comforts from a pebble stone He that understands the Authority of a King would not wave a relyance on his promise to depend upon the breath of a changeling favorite None but an ignorant man would
change the security he may have upon the height of a Rock to expect it from the dwarfishness of a Mole-hill To put confidence in any inferiour Lord more than in the Prince is a folly in civil converse but a rebellion in Divine God only being above all can only rule all can command things to help us and check other things which we depend on and make them fall short of our expectations The due consideration of this Doctrine would make us pierce through second causes to the first and look further than to the smaller sort of Sailers that clime the ropes and dress the Sails to the Pilot that sits at the Helm the Master that by an indisputable Authority orders all their motions We should not depend upon second causes for our support but look beyond them to the Authority of the Deity and the dominion he hath over all the works of his hands Zach. 10.1 Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain When the seasons of the year conspire for the producing such an effect when the usual time of rain is wheel'd about in the year stop not your thoughts at the point of the Heavens whence you expect it but pierce the Heavens and sollicite God who must give order for it before it comes The due meditation of all things depending on the Divine Dominion would strike off our hands from all other holds so that no creature would engross the dependance and trust which is due to the first cause As we do not thank the Heavens when they pour out rain so we are not to depend upon them when we want it God is to be sought to when the Womb of 2d causes is open'd to relieve us as well as when the Womb of 2d causes is barren and brings not forth its wonted progeny 2. It would make us diligent in worship The consideration of God as the supream Lord is the Foundation of all Religion Our Father which art in Heaven prefaceth the Lord's Prayer Father is a name of Authority in Heaven the place where he hath fixed his Throne notes his Government not my Father but our Father notes the extent of this Authority In all worship we acknowledge the object of our worship our Lord and our selves his vassals If we bear a sense that he is our Soveraign King it would draw us to him in every exigence and keep us with him in a reverential posture in every address When we come we should be careful not to violate his right but render him the homage due to his Royalty We should not appear before him with empty souls but fill'd with Holy thoughts We should bring him the best of our flock and present him with the prime of our strength Were we sensible we hold all of him we should not with-hold any thing from him which is more worthy than another Our hearts would be fram'd into an awful regard of him when we consider that glorious and fearful name the Lord our God Deut. 28.58 We should look to our feet when we enter into his house if we considered him in Heaven upon his Throne and our selves on Earth at his Footstool Eccles 5.2 lower before him than a worm before an Angel It would hinder garishness and lightness The Jews saith Capel on the 1 Tim. 1.17 repeat this expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 King of Worlds or Eternal King Probable the first Original of it might be to stake them down from wandring When we consider the Majesty of God cloathed with a Robe of light sitting upon his high Throne adorn'd with his Royal Ensigns we should not enter into the presence of so great a Majesty with the Sacrifice of fools with light motions and foolish thoughts as if he were one of our companions to be droll'd with We should not hear his word as if it were the voice of some ordinary Pesant The consideration of Majesty would engender reverence in our service It would also make us speak of God with honour and respect as of a great and glorious King and not use defaming expressions of him as if he were an infamous being And were he consider'd as a terrible Majesty he would not be frequently sollicited by some to pronounce a damnation upon them upon every occasion 3. It would make us charitable to others Since he is our Lord the great proprietor of the World 't is sit he should have a part of our goods as well as our time he being the Lord both of our goods and time The Lord is to be honour'd with our substance Prov. 3.9 Kings were not to be approached to without a present Tribute is due to Kings but because he hath no need of any from us to bear up his state maintain the charge of his wars or pay his Military Officers and Host 't is a debt due to him to acknowledge him in his poor to sustain those that are a part of his substance Though he stands in no need of it himself yet the poor that we have alwayes with us do As a 7th part of our weekly time so some part of our weakly gains are due to him There was to be a weekly laying by in store somewhat of what God had prosper'd them for the relief of others 1 Cor. 16.1 2. the quantity is not determin'd that is left to every man's Conscience according as God hath prosper'd him that week If we did consider God as the donor and proprietor we should dispose of his gifts according to the design of the true owner and act in our places as Stewards intrusted by him and not purse up his part as well as our own in our coffers We should not deny him a small quit rent as an acknowledgment that we have a greater income from him We should be ready to give the inconsiderable pittance he doth require of us as an acknowledgment of his propriety as well as liberality 4. It would make us watchfull and arm us against all temptations Had Eve stuck to her first Argument against the Serpent she had not been instrumental to that destruction which Mankind yet feel the smart of Gen. 3.3 God hath said ye shall not eat of it The great Governour of the World hath laid his Soveraign command upon us in this point The temptation gain'd no ground till her heart let go the sense of this for the pleasure of her eye and palate The repetition of this the great Lord of the World hath said or order'd had both unargumented and disarm'd the Tempter A sence of God's Dominion over us would discourage a temptation and put it out of countenance It would bring us with a vigorous strength to beat it back to a retreat If this were as strongly urg'd as the temptation it would make the heart of the tempted strong and the motion of the tempter feeble 5. It would make us entertain afflictions as they ought to be entertain'd viz. with a respect to God When men make light of
any affliction from God 't is a contempt of his Soveraignty as to contemn the frown displeasure and check of a Prince is an affront to Majesty 'T is as if they did not care a straw what God did with them but dare him to do his worst There is a despising the chastning of the Almighty Job 5.17 To be unhumbled under his hand is as much or more affront to him than to be impatient under it Afflictions must be entertained as a check from Heaven as a frown from the great Monarch of the World Under the feeling of every stroke we are to acknowledge his Soveraignty and Bounty to despise it is to make light of his Authority over us As to despise his favours is to make light of his kindness to us A sense of God's Dominion would make us observe every check from him and not diminish his Authority by casting off a due sense of his correction 6. This Dominion of God would make us resign up our selves to God in every thing He that considers himself a thing made by God a vassal under his Authority would not expostulate with him and call him to an account why he hath dealt so or so with him It would stab the vitals of all pleas against him We should not then contest with him but humbly lay our cause at his feet and say with Eli 1 Sam. 3.18 'T is the Lord let him do what seems good We should not commence a suit against God when he doth not answer our Prayers presently and send the mercy we want upon the wings of the wind He is the Lord the Soveraign The consideration of this would put an end to our quarrels with God Should I expect that the Monarch of the World should wait upon me or I a poor worm wait upon him Must I take State upon me before the Throne of Heaven and expect the King of Kings should lay by his Scepter to gratifie my humour Surely Jonah thought God no more than his fellow or his vassal at that time when he told him to his face he did well to be angry as though God might not do what he pleased with so small a thing as a Gourd He speaks as if he would have sealed a lease of ejectment to exclude him from any propriety in any thing in the World 7. This Dominion of God would stop our vain curiosity When Peter was desirous to know the fate of John the Beloved Disciple Christ answereth no more than this Joh. 21.22 If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee follow thou me Consider your duty and lay aside your curiosity since it is my pleasure not to reveal it The sense of God's absolute Dominion would silence many vain disputes in the World What if God will not reveal this or that the manner and method of his resolves should humble the Creature under intruding enquiries V. USE of Exhortation 1. The Doctrine of the Dominion of God may teach us Humility We are never truly abas'd but by the consideration of the eminence and excellency of the Deity Job never thought himself so pitiful a thing so despicable a creature as after God's magnificent declamation upon the Theme of his own Soveraignty Job 42.5 6. When God's name is regarded as the most excellent and Soveraign name in all the earth then is the Soul in the fittest temper to lie low and cry out what is man that so great a Majesty should be mindful of him When Abraham considers God as the Supream Judge of all the earth he then ownes himself but dust and ashes Gen. 18.25 27. Indeed how can vile and dusty man vaunt before God when the Angels far more excellent creatures cannot stand before him but with a Vail on their faces How little a thing is man in regard of all the earth How mean a thing is the earth in regard of the vaster Heavens How poor a thing is the whole World in comparison of God How pitiful a thing is man if compar'd with so excellent a Majesty There is as great a distance between God and man as between being and not being and the more man considers the Divine Royalty the more dis-esteem he will have of himself it would make him stoop and disrobe himself and fall low before the Throne of the King of Kings throwing down before his Throne any Crown he gloryed in Rev. 4.10 1. In regard of Authority How unreasonable is pride in the presence of Majesty How foolish is it for a Country Justice of Peace to think himself as great as his Prince that Commission'd him How unreasonable is pride in the presence of the greatest Soveraignty What is humane greatness before Divine The Stars discover no light when the Sun appears but in a humble posture withdraw in their lesser Beams to give the sole Glory of enlightning the World to the Sun who is as it were the Soveraign of those Stars and imparts a light unto them The greatest Prince is infinitely less if compar'd with God than the meanest scullion in his kitchin can be before him As the Wisdom Goodness and Holiness of man is a meer mote compared to the Goodness and Holiness of God so is the Authority of man a meer trifle in regard of the soveraignty of God And who but a simple Child would be proud of a mote or trifle Let man be as great as he can and command others he is still a subject to one greater than himself Pride would then vanish like smoak at the serious consideration of this soveraignty One of the Kings of this Country did very handsomly shame the flattery of his Courtiers that cried him up as Lord of Sea and Land by ordering his chair to be set on the Sand of the Sea shoar when the Tide was coming in and commanding the waters not to touch his feet which when they did without any regard to his Authority he took occasion thereby to put his flatterers out of countenance and instruct himself in a lesson of humility See saith he how I rule all things when so mean a thing as the water will not obey me 'T is a ridiculous pride that the Turk and Persian discover in their swelling Titles What poor soveraigns are they that cannot command a Cloud give out an effectual order for a drop of Rain in a time of drought or cause the bottles of Heaven to turn their mouth another way in a time of too much moisture Yet their own Prerogatives are so much in their minds that they justle out all thoughts of the supream Prerogative of God and give thereby occasion to frequent Rebellions against him 2. In regard of Propriety And this doctrine is no less an abatement of pride in the highest as well as in the meanest it lowers pride in point of Propriety as well as in point of Authority * Raynard de Deo p. 766. Is any proud of his possessions how many Lords of those possessions have gone before
an earth-worm a mean animal as man be afraid to speak irreverently of so great a King among his pots and Strumpets Not to fear him not to reverence him is to pull his Throne from under him and make him of a lower Authority than our selves or any creature that we reverence more 5. Prayer to God and trust in him is inferr'd from his Soveraignty If he be the supream Soveraign holding Heaven and Earth in his hand disposing all things here below not committing every thing to the influence of the stars or the humours of men we ought then to apply our selves to him in every case implore the exercise of his Authority we hereby own his peculiar right over all things and persons He only is the supream head in all causes and over all persons Thine is the Kingdom concludes the Lord's Prayer both as a motive to pray Mat. 6.13 and a ground to expect what we want He that believes not God's Government will think it needless to call upon him will expect no refuge under him in a strait but make some creature-reed his support If we do not seek to him but rely upon the dominion we have over our own possessions or upon the Authority of any thing else we disown his Supremacy and Dominion over all things we have as good an opinion of our selves or of some creature as we ought to have of God We think our selves or some natural cause we seek to or depend upon as much Soveraigns as he and that all things which concern us are as much at the dispose of an inferior as of the great Lord. 'T is indeed to make a God of our selves or of the Creature When we seek to him upon all occasions we own this divine eminency we acknowledge that it is by him mens hearts are order'd the World govern'd all things dispos'd And God that is jealous of his glory is best pleas'd with any duty in the creature that doth acknowledge and desire the glorification of it which Prayer and dependance on him doth in a special manner Desiring the exercise of his Authority and the preservation of it in ordering the affairs of the World 6. Obedience naturally results from this Doctrine As his justice requires fear his goodness thankfulness his faithfulness trust his truth belief so his Soveraignty in the nature of it demands Obedience As it is most fit he should rule in regard of his excellency so it is most fit we should obey him in regard of his Authority He is our Lord and we his Subjects he is our Master and we his servants 't is righteous we should observe him and conform to his will He is every thing that speaks an Authority to command us and that can challenge an humility in us to obey As that is the truest Doctrine that subjects us most to God so he is the truest Christian that doth in his practice most acknowledge this subjection And as soveraignty is the first notion a Creature can have of God so obedience is the first and chief thing Conscience reflects upon the Creature Man holds all of God and therefore owes all the operations capable to be produced by those faculties to that soveraign power that endowed him with them Man had no being but from him he hath no motion without him he should therefore have no being but for him and no motion but according to him To call him Lord and not to act in subjection to him is to mock and put a scorn upon him Luk. 6.46 Why call you me Lord Lord and do not the things that I say 'T is like the Crucifying Christ under the Title of a King 'T is not by professions but by observance of the Laws of a Prince that we manifest a due respect to him By that we reverence that Authority that enacted them and the prudence that fram'd them This doctrine affords us motives to obey and directs us to the manner of Obedience 1. Motives to obey 1. 'T is Comely and Orderly Is it not a more becoming thing to be ruled by the will of our soveraign than by that of our lusts To observe a wise and gracious Authority than to set up inordinate appetites in the room of his Law Would not all men account it a disorder to be abominated to see a slave or vassal controul the just orders of his Lord and endeavour to subject his Masters will to his own Much more to expect God should serve our humour rather than we be regulated by his Will 'T is more orderly that subjects should obey their Governours than Governours their Subjects that Passion should obey Reason than Reason obey Passion When good Governours are to conform to Subjects and reason vail to passion 't is monstrous the one disturbs the order of a community and the other defaceth the beauty of the Soul Is it a comely thing for God to stoop to our meanness or for us to stoop to his greatness 2. In regard of the Divine Soveraignty 't is both honourable and advantagious to obey God 'T is indeed the glory of a Superior to be obey'd by his Inferior but where the soveraign is of transcendent excellency and dignity 't is an honour to a mean person to be under his immediate commands and enrolled in his service 'T is more honour to be Gods Subject than to be the greatest worldly Monarch his very service is an Empire and disobedience to him is a slavery * Servire deo regnare est 'T is a part of his soveraignty to reward any service done him Other Lords may be willing to recompence the service of their Subjects but are often rendred unable but nothing can stand in the way of God to hinder your reward if nothing stand in your way to hinder your obedience Levit. 18.5 If you keep my Statutes you shall live in them I am the Lord. Is there any thing in the World can recompence you for Rebellion against God and obedience to a Lust Saul cools the hearts of his Servants from running after David by Davids inability to give them Fields and Vineyards 1 Sam. 22.7 Will the Son of Jesse give every one of you Fields and Vineyards and make you Captains of thousands and Captains of hundreds that you have conspired against me But God hath a Dominion to requite as well as an Authority to command your obedience He is a great soveraign to bear you out in your observance of his precepts against all reproaches and violences of men and at last to crown you with eternal honour If he should neglect vindicating one time or other your loyalty to him he will neglect the maintaining and vindicating his own soveraignty and greatness 3. God in all his dispensations to man was careful to preserve the rights of his soveraignty in exacting obedience of his Creature The second thing he manifested his soveraignty in was that of a Law-giver to Adam after that of a Proprietor in giving him the possession of the
when he describes him in his Wrath and Fury and is Furious Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord of hot Anger God will vindicate his own Glory and have his right on his Enemies in a way of punishment if they will not give it him in a way of Obedience * Ribera in loc 'T is three times repeated to shew the certainty of the judgment And the name of Lord added to every one to intimate the Power wherewith the Judgment should be executed 'T is not a Fatherly correction of Children in a way of Mercy but an offended soveraigns destruction of his Enemies in a way of vengeance There is an anger of God with his own people which hath more of Mercy than Wrath in this his Rod is guided by his bowels There is a fury of God against his Enemies where there is sole Wrath without any tincture of Mercy when his Sword is all edge without any Balsom-drops upon it Such a fury as David deprecates Psal 6.1 Oh Lord rebuke me not in thy Anger nor chasten me in thy sore displeasure with a fury untempered with Grace and insupportable Wrath. He reserves Wrath for his Enemies He lays it up in his Treasury to be brought out and expended in a due season Wrath is supplied by our Translators and is not in the Hebrew He reserves what that which is too sharp to be exprest too great to be conceiv'd A vengeance it is And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He reserves it He that hath an infinite Wrath he reserves it that hath a strength and power to execute it VERSE 3. The Lord is slow to Anger Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of broad Nostrils The Anger of God is exprest by this word which signifies Nostrils As Job 9.13 If God will not withdraw his Anger Heb. his nostril And the Anger whereby the wicked are consum'd is called the breath of Nostrils Job 4.9 and when he is angry smoak and fire are said to go out of his Nostrils 2 Sam. 2.9 and in the 74th Psalm 1. Why doth thy anger smoak Heb. Why do thy Nostrils smoak So the rage of a Horse when he is provokt in battle is call'd the Glory of his Nostrils Job 39.20 He breaths quick fumes and neighs with fury And slowness to anger is here exprest by the phrase of long or wide Nostrils Because in a vehement anger the blood boyling about the heart exhales mens Spirits which fume up and break out in dilated Nostrils But where the passages are straiter the spirits have not so quick a vent and therefore raise more motions within Or because the wider the Nostrils are the more cool Air is drawn in to temper the heat of the heart where the angry spirits are gather'd And so the passion is allay'd and sooner calm'd God speaks of himself in Scripture often after the rate of Men Jeremy prays Jer. 15.15 That God would not take him away in his long-suffering Heb. in the length of his Nostrils i. e. Be not slow and backward in thy anger against my Persecutors as to give them time and opportunity to destroy me The Nostrils as well as other members of a humane Body are ascribed to God He is slow to anger he hath anger in his nature but is not always in the execution of it And great in Power This may referre to his Patience as the cause of it or as a barr to the abuse of it 1. He is slow to anger and great in power i. e. his power moderates his Anger he is not so impotent as to be at the command of his passions as men are He can restrain his anger under just provocations to exercise it His power over himself is the cause of his slowness to wrath As Numb 14.17 Let the power of my Lord be great saith Moses when he pleads for the Israelites pardon Men that are great in the World are quick in passions and are not so ready to forgive an injury or bear with an offender as one of a meaner rank 'T is a want of a power over a mans self that makes him do unbecoming things upon a provocation A Prince that can bridle his passion is a King over himself as well as over his Subjects God is slow to Anger because great in Power He hath no less power over himself than over his Creatures He can sustain great injuries without an immediate and quick revenge He hath a power of Patience as well as a power of Justice 2. Or thus he is slow to Anger and great in Power He is slow to Anger but not for want of Power to revenge himself his Power is as great to punish as his Patience to spare It seems thus that slowness to Anger is brought in as an objection against the revenge proclaimed What do you tell us of vengeance vengeance nothing but such repetitions of vengeance As though we were ignorant that God is slow to Anger 'T is true saith the Prophet I acknowledge it as much as you that God is slow to Anger but withall great in Power His Anger certainly succeeds his abus'd Patience he will not always bridle in his Wrath but one time or other let it march out in fury against his Adversaries The Assyrians who had captiv'd the Ten Tribes and been victorious a little against the Jews might think that the God of Israel had been conquered by their Gods as well as the People professing him had been subdued by their arms That God had lost all his power and the Jews might argue from Gods Patience to his Enemies against the credit of the Prophets denouncing revenge The Prophet answers to the terror of the one and the comfort of the other That this indulgence to his Enemies and not accounting with them for their Crimes proceeded from the greatness of his Patience and not from any debility in his power As it refers to the Assyrian it may be rendered thus You Ninivites upon your Repentance after Jonahs thundring of Judgments are Witnesses of the slowness of God to Anger and had your punishments deferr'd But falling to your old sins you shall find a real punishment and that he hath as much Power to execute his ancient threatnings as he had then compassion to recall them His Patience to you then was not for want of power to ruine you but was the effect of his goodness towards you As it refers to the Jews it may be thus paraphrased do not despise this threatning against your Enemies because of the greatness of their might the seeming stability of their Empire and the terror they posseâ—s all the Nations with round about them It may be long before it comes but assure your selves the threatning I denounce shall certainly be executed though he hath Patience to endure them a hundred thirty five years for so long it was before Nineveh was destroy'd after this threatning as * p. 359. col 1â— Ribera in loc computes from the years of the reign of the Kings of Judah