cannot be well governed but by one endowed with infinite Discretion Providential government can be no more without infinite wisdom than infinite wisdom can be without Providence Reas 3. The Creatures working for an end without their own knowledge demonstrates the wisdom of God that guides them All things in the World work for some end the ends are unknown to them though many of their ends are visible to us As there was some prime Cause which by his power inspir'd them with their several instincts so there must be some supream wisdom which moves and guides them to their end As their Being manifests his power that endowed them so the acting according to the rules of their Nature which they themselves understand not manifests his wisdom in directing them Every thing that acts for an end must know that end or be directed by another to attain that end The Arrow doth not know who shoots it or to what end it is shot or what Mark is aimed at but the Archer that puts it in and darts it out of the Bow knows A Watch hath a regular motion but neither the Spring nor the Wheels that move know the end of their motion no man will judge a wisdom to be in the Watch but in the Artificer that dispos'd the Wheels and Spring by a joint combination to produce such a motion for such an end Doth either the Sun that enlivens the Earth or the Earth that travels with the Plant know what Plant it produceth in such a Soil what temper it should be of what fruit it should bear and of what colour What Plant knows its own medicinal qualities it s own beautiful flowers and for what use they are ordain'd When it strikes up its head from the Earth doth it know what proportion of them there will be Yet it produceth all these things in a state of ignorance The Sun warms the Earth concocts the humours excites the vertue of it and cherishes the Seeds which are cast into her lap yet all unknown to the Sun or the Earth Since therefore that Nature that is the immediate cause of those things doth not understand its own quality nor operation nor the end of its action that which thus directs them must be conceived to have an infinite wisdom When things act by a Rule they know not and move for an end they understand not and yet work harmoniously together for one end that all of them we are sure are ignorant of it mounts up our minds to acknowledge the wisdom of that supream Cause that hath rang'd all these inferiour Causes in their order and imprinted upon them the Laws of their motions according to the Ideas in his own Mind who orders the Rule by which they act and the end for which they act and directs every motion according to their several Natures and therefore is possessed with infinite wisdom in his own Nature Reas 4. God is the fountain of all wisdom in the creatures and therefore is infinitely wise himself As he hath a fulness of being in himself because the streams of being are derived to other things from him So he hath a fulness of wisdom because he is the spring of wisdom to Angels and men That Being must be infinitely wise from whence all other wisdom derives its original For nothing can be in the effect which is not eminently in the cause the cause is alway more perfect than the effect If therefore the creatures are wise the Creator must be much more wise If the Creator were destitute of wisdom the creature would be much more perfect than the Creator If you consider the wisdom of the Spider in her web which is both her house and net the artifice of the Bee in her Comb which is both her chamber and granary the provision of the Pismire in her repositories for corn the wisdom of the Creator is illustrated by them whatsoever excellency you see in any creature is an Image of some excellency in God The skill of the artificer is visible in the fruits of his Art a workman transcribes his spirit in the work of his hands But the wisdom of rational creatures as men doth more illustrate it All Arts among men are the rayes of divine Wisdom shining upon them and by a common gift of the Spirit enlightning their minds to curious inventions as Prov. 8.12 I wisdom find out the knowledge of witty inventions that is I give a faculty to men to find them out without my wisdom all things would be buried in darkness and ignorance Whatsoever wisdom there is in the World it is but a shadow of the wisdom of God a small Rivulet derived from him a spark leaping out from Uncreated Wisdom Isa 54.16 He created the Smith that bloweth the coals in the fire and makes the Instruments The skill to use those weapons in War-like Enterprises is from him I have created the waster to destroy 'T is not meant of creating their Persons but communicating to them their Art He speaks it there to expell fear from the Church of all war-like preparations against them He had given Men the skill to form and use Weapons and could as well strip them of it and defeat their purposes The Art of husbandry is a fruit of divine teaching Isa 28.24 25. If those lower kinds of Knowledge that are common to all Nations and easily learn'd by all are discoveries of Divine Wisdom much more the nobler Sciences intellectual and Political Wisdom Dan. 2.21 He gives Wisdom to the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding speaking of the more abstruse parts of knowledge The inspiration of the Almighty gives Vnderstanding Job 32.8 Hence the Wisdom which Solomon exprest in the Harlots case 1 Kings 3.28 was in the Judgment of all Israel the Wisdom of God that is a fruit of Divine Wisdom a beam communicated to him from God Every mans Soul is endowed more or less with those noble qualities The Soul of every man exceeds that of a Brute If the streams be so excellent the Fountain must be fuller and clearer The first Spirit must infinitely more possess what other Spirits derive from him by Creation Were the Wisdom of all the Angels in Heaven and men on Earth collected in one Spirit it must be infinitely less than what is in the Spring for no Creature can be equal to the Creator As the highest Creature already made or that we can conceive may be made by Infinite Power would be infinitely below God in the Notion of a Creature so it would be infinitely below God in the Notion of Wise IV. The fourth Thing is Wherein the Wisdom of God appears It appears 1. In Creation 2. In Government 3. In Redemption 1. In Creation As in a Musical Instrument there is first the skill of the Workman in the frame then the skill of the Musician in stringing it proper for such Musical Notes as he will express upon it and after that the tempering of the Strings by
entertain a Soul of a heavenly extraction form'd by the breath of God * Gen. 2.7 He brought Light out of thick Darkness and living Creatures Fish and Foul out of inanimate waters †Gen. 1.20 and gave a power of spontaneous motion to things arising from that Matter which had no living motion To convert one thing into another is an evidence of infinite Power as well as creating things of nothing for the distance between life and not life is next to that which is between being and not being God first forms Matter out of Nothing and then draws upon and from this indisposed Chaos many excellent Pourtraitures Neither Earth nor Sea were capable of producing living Creatures without an infinite Power working upon it and bringing into it such variety and multitude of Forms and this is called by some mediate Creation as the producing the Chaos which was without form and void is called immediate Creation Is not the power of the Potter admirable in forming out of temper'd Clay such varieties of neat and curious Vessels that after they are fashion'd and past the Furnace look as if they were not of any kin to the Matter they are formed of And is it not the same with the Glass-maker that from a little melted gelly of Sand and Ashes or the Dust of Flint can blow up so pure a Body as Glass and in such varieties of shapes and is not the Power of God more admirable because infinite in speaking out so beautiful a World out of nothing and such varieties of living Creatures from Matter utterly indispos'd in its own nature for such forms 3. And this conducts to a third thing were in the power of God appears in that He did all this with the greatest ease and facility 1. Without Instruments As God made the World without the advice so without the assistance of any other He stretched forth the Heavens alone and spread abroad the Earth by himself Isai 44.24 He had no engine but his Word no pattern or model but himself What need can he have of Instruments that is able to create what Instruments he pleases Where there is no resistance in the Object where no need of preparation or instrumental advantage in the Agent there the actual determination of the Will is sufficient to a production What Instrument need we to the thinking of a Thought or an act of our Will Men indeed cannot act any thing without Tools the best Artificer must be beholden to something else for his noblest works of Art The Carpenter cannot work without his Rule and Ax and Saw and other Instruments The Watch-maker cannot act without his File and Pliars But in Creation there is nothing necessary to Gods bringing forth a World but a simple act of his Will which is both the principal cause and instrumental He had no Scaffolds to rear it no Engines to polish it no Hammers or Mattocks to clod and work it together 'T is a miserable Error to measure the actions of an Infinite Cause by the imperfect model of a Finite since by his own Power and Out-stretched Arm he made the Heaven and the Earth * Jer. 32.17 ‖ Gassend What excellency would God have in his work above others if he needed Instruments as Feeble men do Every Artificer is counted more admirable that can frame curious Works with the less matter fewer Tools and assistances God uses Instruments in his Works of Providence not for necessity but for the display of his Wisdom in the management of them yet those Instruments were originally framed by him without Instruments Indeed some of the Jews thought the Angels were the Instruments of God in creating Man and that those words Gen. 1.26 Let us make Man in our own image were spoken to Angels But certainly the Scripture which denies God any Counsellor in the model of Creation †Isai 40.12 13 14. doth not joyn any Instrument with him in the operation which is every where ascribed to himself without created assistance Isai 45.18 It was not to Angels God spake in that affair if so Man was made after the image of Angels if they were Companions with God in that work But it is every where said Gen. 1.27 that Man was made after the image of God Again the image wherein Man was created was that of dominion over the lower Creatures as appears verse 26. which we find not conferr'd upon Angels and it is not likely that Moses should introduce the Angels as Gods Privy Counsel of whose Creation he had not mention'd one syllable Let us make Man rather signifies the Trinity and not spoken in a Royal style as some think Which of the Jewish Kings writ in the style We That was the custom of later Times and we must not measure the language of Scripture by the style of Europe of a far later date than the penning the History of the Creation If Angels were his Counsellors in the Creation of the material World what Instrument had he in the Creation of Angels If his own Wisdom were the Director and his own Will the producer of the one why should we not think that he acted by his sole Power in the other 'T is concluded by most that the Power of Creation cannot be deriv'd to any Creature it being a work of Omnipotency The drawing Something out from Nothing cannot be communicated without a communication of the Deity it self The educing things from Nothing exceeds the capacity of any Creature and the Creature is of too feeble a Nature to be elevated to so high a degree 'T is very unreasonable to think that God needed any such aid If an Instrument were necessary for God to create the World then he could not do it without that Instrument If he could not he were not then All-sufficient in himself if he depended upon any thing without himself for the production or consummation of his Works And it might be enquired how that Instrument came into Being If it begun to be and there was a time when it was not it must have its Being from the Power of God and then why could not God as well create all things without an Instrument as create that Instrument without an Instrument For there was no more Power necessary to a producing the whole without Instruments than to produce one Creature without an Instrument No Creature can in its own nature be an Instrument of Creation If any such Instrument were used by God it must be elevated in a miraculous and supernatural way and what is so an Instrument is in effect no Instrument for it works nothing by its own nature but from an elevation by a Superior nature and beyond its own nature All that power in the Instrument is truly the Power of God and not the power of the Instrument And therefore what God doth by an Instrument he could do as well without If you should see one apply a Straw to Iron for the cutting of it
Body of Man should be polisht in the lower parts of the Earth as he calls the Womb verse 15. in so short a time with Members 〈◊〉 a various form and usefulness each labouring in their several functions Can any man give an exact account of the manner how the Bones do grow in the womb Eccles 11.5 'T is unknown to the Father and no less hid from the Mother and the wisest Men cannot search out the depths of it 'T is one of the Secret works of an Omnipotent Power secret in the manner though open in the effect So that we must ascribe it to God as Job doth Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about Job 10.8 Thy hands which formed Heaven have formed every Part every Member and wrought me like a Mighty workman The Heavens are said to be the work of Gods hands and Man is here said to be no less The forming and propagation of Man from that Earthy matter is no less a wonder of Power than the structure of the World from a rude and indispos'd Matter †Trismegist in Serm. Greek in the Temple p. 57. A Heathen Philosopher descants elegantly upon it Dost thou understand my Son the forming of Man in the womb who erected that noble Fabrick who carv'd the Eyes the Christal-windows of light and the conductors of the Body who bor'd the Nostrils and Ears those Loop-holes of scents and sounds who stretched out and knit the Sinews and Ligaments for the fastning of every Member who cast the hollow Veins the Channels of Blood set and strengthned the Bones the Pillars and Rafters of the Body who digg'd the Pores the sinks to expel the filth who made the Heart the repository of the Soul and formed the Lungs like a Pipe What Mother what Father wrought these things No none but the Almighty God who made all things according to his pleasure 't is He who propagates this Noble piece from a pile of Dust Who is born by his own advice who gives stature features sence wit strength speech but God 'T is no less a wonder that a little Infant can live so long in a dark Sink in the midst of filth without breathing And the eduction of it out of the Womb is no less a wonder than the forming increase nourishment of it in that Cell A wonder that the life of the Infant is not the death of the Mother or the life of the Mother the death of the Infant This little Creature when it springs up from such small beginnings by the Power of God grows up to bâ— one of the Lords of the World to have a Dominion over the Creatures and propagates its kind in the same manner All this is unaccountable without having recourse to the Power of God in the government of the Creatures And to add to this wonder Consider also what multitudes of Formations and Births there are at one time all over the World in every of which the Finger of God is at work and it will speak an unwearied Power 'T is admirable in one Man more in a Town of Men still more in a greater and larger Kingdom a vaster World there is a Birth for every Hour in this City were but 168 born in a Week though the Weekly Bills mention more What is this City to Three Kingdoms what Three Kingdoms to a populous World Eleven Thousand and eighty will make one for every Minute in the Week what is this to the Weekly propagation in all the Nations of the Universe besides the generation of all the Living Creatures in that Space which are the works of Gods fingers as well as Man What will be the result of this but the notion of an unconceivable unwearied Almightiness alway active alway operating 3. It appears in the Motions of all Creatures All things live and move in him Acts 17.28 by the same Power that Creatures have their Beings they have their Motions They have not only a Being by his powerful Command but they have their minutely Motion by his Powerful concurrence Nothing can act without the Almighty influx of God no more than it can exist without the Creative Word of God 'T is true indeed the ordering of all Motions to his Holy ends is an act of Wisdom but the motion it self whereby those Ends are attained is a work of his Power 1. God as the first Cause hath an influence into the motions of all second Causes As all the Wheels in a Clock are moved in their different motions by the force and strength of the principal and primary Wheel if there be any defect in that or if that stand still all the rest languish and stand idle the same moment All Creatures are his Instruments his Engines and have no Spirit but what he gives and what he assists Whatsoever Nature works God works in Nature Nature is the Instrument God is the Supporter Director Mover of Nature that what the Prophet saith in another case may be the language of universal Nature Lord thou hast wrought all our works in us Isai 26.12 They are our works subjectively efficiently as second causes Gods works originally concurrently The Sun moved not in the Valley of Ajalon for the space of many hours in the time of Joshua †Josh 10.13 nor did the Fire exercise its consuming quality upon the Three Children in Nebuchadnezzars Furnace ‖ Dan. 3.25 He withdrew not his supporting Power from th ir Being for then they had vanâ—shed but his influencing Power from their qualities whereby their motion ceas'd till he return'd his influential concurrence to them which evidenceth that without a perpetual derivation of Divine Power the Sun could not run one stride or inch of its race nor the Fire devour one grain of light Chaff or an inch of Straw Nothing without his sustaining Power can continue in Being nothing without his co-working Power can exercise one mite of those qualities it is possessed of All Creatures are wound up by him and his hand is constantly upon them to keep them in perpetual motion 2. Consider the variety of motions in a single Creature How many motions are there in the Vital parts of a Man or in any other Animal which a Man knows not and is unable to number The renewed motion of the Lungs the Systoles and Diastoles of the Heart the Contractions and Dilatations of the Heart whereby it spouts out and takes in Blood the power of Concoction in the Stomach the motion of the Blood in the Veins c. all which were not only setled by the Powerful hand of God but are upheld by the same preserv'd and influenc'd in every distinct motion by that Power that stampt them with that Nature To every one of those there is not only the sustaining Power of God holding up their Natures but the motive Power of God concurring to every motion for if we move in him as well as we live in him then every particle of our motion
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
of the Heaven c. How could this great heap be brought into being unless a God had framed it Every plant every Atome as well as every Star at the first meeting whispers this in our Ears I have a Creator I am witness to a Deity who ever saw Statues or Pictures but presently thinks of a Statuary and Limner Who beholds Garments Ships or Houses but understands there was a Weaver a Carpenter an Architect * Philo. ex Petav. Theolo Dog Tom 1. li. 1. cap. 1 pa. 4. somewhat changed Who can cast his eyes about the world but must think of that power that formed it and that the goodness which appears in the formation of it hath a perfect Residence in some Being those things that are good must flow from somthing perfectly good that which is chief in any kind is the cause of all of that kind Fire which is most hot is the cause of all things which are hot There is some being therefore which is the cause of all that Perfection which is in the Creature and this is God Aquin. 1 qu. 2. Artic. 3. All things that are demonstrate something from whence they are All things have a contracted perfection and what they have is Communicated to them Perfections are parcelled out among several Creatures Any thing that is imperfect cannot exist of it self We are led therefore by them to consider a fountain which bubbles up in all perfection a hand which distributes those several degrees of Being and Perfection to what we see we see that which is imperfect our minds conclude somthing perfect to exist before it our eye sees the streams but our understanding riseth to the head as the eye sees the shadow but the understanding informs us whither it he the shadow of a man or of a beast God hath given us Sense to behold the objects in the World and Understanding to reason his Existence from them the understanding cannot conceive a thing to have made it self that is against all reason * Rom. 1.20 As they are made they speak out a Maker and cannot be a trick of chance since they are made with such an immense Wisdom that is too big for the grasp of all humane understanding Those that doubt whither the Existence of God be an implanted Principle yet agree that the effects in the world lead to a supream and universal cause And that if we have not the knowledge of it rooted in our Natures yet we have it by discourse since by all Masters of reason a Processus in Infinitum must be accounted impossible in subordinate causes This will appear in several things First I. The World and every Creature had a beginning The Scripture Ascertains this to us * Gen. 1. By Faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God c. David who was not the first man gives the praise to God of his being curiously wrought c. Psal 139.14.15 God gave being to Men and Plants and Beasts before they gave being to one another He gives being to them now as the Fountain of all being though the several Modes of being are from the several natures of second causes * Heb. 11.3 T is true indeed we are ascertained that they were made by the true God that they were made by his word that they were made of nothing and not only this lower world wherein we live but according to the Jewish division the world of Men the the world of Stars and the world of Spirits and Souls We do not waver in it or doubt of it as the Heathen did in their disputes we know they are the workmanship of the true God of that God we adore not of false Gods By his Word without any instrument or engin as in earthly Sâ—ructures of things which do not appear without any preexistent matter as all Artificial works of men are framed Yet the proof of the beginning of the world is affirmed with good reason and if it had a beginning it had also some higher cause than it self Every effect hath a cause * Daille 20. Serm. Psa 102.26 pa. 13. 14. The World was not Eternal or from Eternity The matter of the world cannot be Eternal Matter cannot subsist without form nor put on any form without the action of some cause this cause must be in being before it acted that which is not cannot act The cause of the world must necessarily exist before any matter was endued with any form that therefore cannot be Eternal before which another did subsist if it were from Eternity it would not be subject to mutation If the whole was from Eternity why not also the parts what makes the changes so visible then if Eternity would exempt it from mutability 1. Time cannot be infinite and therefore the World not Eternal * Daille ut Supra All motion hath its beginning if it were otherwise we must say the number of Heavenly revolutions of days and nights which are past to this instant is actually infinite which cannot be in nature If it were so it must needs be granted that a part is equal to the whole because infinite being equal to infinite the number of days past in all Ages to the beginning of one year being Infinite as they would be supposing the World had no beginning would by consequence be equal to the number of days which shall pass to the end of the next whereas that number of days past is indeed but a part and so a part would be equal to the whole 2. Generations of Men Animals and Plants could not be from Eternity * Petar Theo. Dogmat. tom 1. lib. 1. cap. 2. pag. 15. If any Man say the world was from Eternity then there must be propagations of living Creatures in the same manner as are at this day For without this the World could not consist what we see now done must have been perpetually done if it be done by a necessity of nature But we see nothing now that doth arise but by a mutual propagation from another If the world were Eternal therefore it must be so in all Eternity take any particular species suppose a man if men were from Eternity then there were perpetual generations some were born into the World and some died Now the natural condition of generation is that a man doth not generate a man nor a Sheep a Lamb as soon as ever it self is brought into the World but get strength and vigour by degrees and must arrive to a certain stated age before they can produce the like for whilst any thing is little and below the due age it cannot increase its kind Men therefore and other Creatures did propagate their kind by the same Law not as soon as ever they were born but in the interval of some time and Children grew up by degrees in the Mothers Womb till they were fit to be brought forth If this be so then there could not be an Eternal
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
made whither stone or brass this nature therefore must have some superior by whose influx it is preserved Since therefore we see a stable order in the things of the world that they conspire together for the good and beauty of the universe that they depend upon one another There must be some principle upon which they do depend somthing to which the first link of the chain is fastened which himself depends upon no superior but wholly rests in his own essence and being T is the title of God to be the preserver of man and beast * Psa 36.6 The Psalmist elegantly describeth it Psal 104.24 c. The Earth is full of his riches all wait upon him that he may give them their meat in due season when he opens his hand he fills them with good when he hides his face they are troubled if he take away their breath they die and return to dust he sends forth his Spirit and they are Created and renews the face of the Earth the glory of the Lord shall endure for ever and the Lord shall rejoyce in his works Upon the consideration of all which the Psalmist v. 34. takes a pleasure in the Meditation of God as the cause and manager of all those things which issues into a joy in God and a praising of him And why should not the consideration of the power and wisdom of God in the Creatures produce the same effect in the hearts of us if he be our God Or as some render it my Meditation shall be sweet or acceptable to him whereby I find matter of praise in the things of the world and offer it to the Creator of it Thirdly III. Reason The third Reas. T is a folly to deny that which a mans own nature witnesseth to him The whole frame of bodies and Souls bears the impress of the infinite power and wisdom of the Creator A body framed with an admirable Architecture a Soul endowed with Understanding Will Judgment Memory Imagination Man is the Epitome of the World contains in himself the substance of all natures and the fulness of the whole universe not only in regard of the universalness of his knowledge whereby he comprehends the reasons of many things but as all the perfections of the several natures of the world are gathered and united in man for the perfection of his own in a smaller volum In his Soul he partakes of Heaven in his body of the earth There is the life of Plants the sense of beasts and the intellectual nature of Angels * Gen. 2.7 The Lord breathed into his Nostril the breath of life and man c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of lifes Not one sort of lifes but several not only an Animal but a Rational life a Soul of a Nobler extract and nature than what was given to other Creatures So that we need not step out of doors or cast our eyes any further than our selves to behold a God He shines in the capacity of our Souls and the vigour of our Members We must flie from our selves and be stript of our own humanity before we can put off the Notion of a Deity He that is ignorant of the Existence of God must be possessed with so much folly as to be ignorant of his own make and frame 1. In the parts whereof he doth consist Body and Soul First I. Take a prospect of the Body The Psalmist counts it a matter of praise and admiration Psal 139.15 16. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth in thy book all my Members were written The Scheme of man and every Member was drawn in his book All the Sinews Veins Arteries Bones like a peice of Embroidery or Tapestry were wrought by God as it were with deliberation like an Artificer that draws out the model of what he is to do in writing and sets it before him when he begins his work And indeed the Fabrick of mans Body as well as his Soul is an argument for a Divinity The artificial structure of it the Elegancy of every part the proper Situation of them their proportion one to another the fitness for their several functions drew from Galen * Lib. 3. de usu partium Petav. Theol. Dog Tom. 1. lib. 1. cap. 1. pa. 6. a Heathen and one that had no raised sentiments of a Deity a confession of the admirable Wisdom and Power of the Creator and that none but God could frame it 1. In the order fitness and usefulness of every part The whole model of the body is grounded upon reason Every member hath its exact proportion distinct office regular motion Every part hath a particular comliness and convenient temperament bestowed upon it according to its place in the Body The Heart is hot to enliven the whole The Eye clear to take in objects to present them to the Soul Every member is fitted for its peculiar service and action Some are for sense some for motion some for preparing and others for dispensing nourishment to the several parts They mutually depend upon and serve one another What small strings fasten the particular members together as the Earth that hangs upon nothing * Job 26.7 Take but one part away and you either destroy the whole or stamp upon it some mark of deformity All are knit together by an admirable Symmetry all orderly perform their functions as acting by a setled Law none swerving from their rule but in case of some predominant humor And none of those in so great a multitude of parts stifled in so little a Room or justling against one another to hinder their mutual actions none can be better disposed And the greatest wisdom of man could not imagine it till his eyes present them with the sight and connexion of one part and member with another 1. The Heart * Theod. de providentiâ Orat. 3. How strongly it is guarded with ribs like a Wall that it might not be easily hurt It draws blood from the Liver through a channel made for that purpose Rarifies it and makes it fit to pass through the Arteries and Veins and to carry heat and life to every part of the body And by a perpetual motion it sucks in the blood and spouts it out again which motion depends not upon the command of the Soul but is pure natural 2. The Mouth takes in the meat the teeth grind it for the stomack the stomack prepares it nature strains it through the milky veins the liver refines it and mints it into blood separates the purer from the drossy parts which go to the heart circuites through the whole body running through the Veins like Rivers through so many channels of the world for the watering of the several parts Which are framed of a thin skin for the straining the blood through for the supply of the members of the body and framed with
than a Rock can carve it self into the Statue of a man or a Serpent that is an Enemy to Man could or would raise it self to the Nobility of the humane Nature That Soul that by Nature would strip God of his Rights cannot without a Divine Power be made conformable to him and acknowledg sincerely and cordially the Rights and Glory of God 7. We may here see the reason why there can be no justification by the best and strongest works of Nature Can that which hath Atheism at the root justifie either the action or person What strength can those works have which have neither Gods Law for their Rule nor his Glory for their End that are not wrought by any spiritual strength from him nor tend with any spiritual affection to him Can these be a foundation for the most holy God to pronounce a Creature righteous They will justifie his Justice in condemning but cannot sway his Justice to an Absolution Every natural man in his works picks and chuses he owns the Will of God no further than he can wring it to sute the law of his Members and minds not the honour of God but as it justles not with his own glory and secular ends Can he be righteous that prefers his own Will and his own Honour before the Will and Honour of the Creator However mens actions may be beneficial to others what reason hath God to esteem them wherein there is no respect to him but themselves whereby they dethrone him in their thoughts while they seem to own him in their religious works Every day reproves us with something different from the Rule Thousands of wandrings offer themselves to our eyes Can Justification be expected from that which in it self is matter of despair 8. See here the cause of all the apostacy in the World Practical Atheism was never conquered in such They are still alienated from the Life of God and will not live to God as he lives to himself and his own honour * Eph. 4.17 18. They loath his Rule and distaste his Glory are loth to step out of themselves to promote the ends of another find not the satisfaction in him as they do in themselves They will be Judges of what is good for them and righteous in it self rather than admit of God to judge for them When men draw back from Truth to Error 't is to such opinions which may serve more to foment and cherish their Ambition Covetousness or some beloved Lust that dispates with God for precedency and is designed to be served before him John 12.42.43 They love the praise of men more than the praise of God A preferring man before God was the reason they would not confess Christ and God in him 9. This shews us the excellency of the Gospel and Christian Religion It sets man in his due place and gives to God what the Excellency of his Nature requires ∴ It lays man in the dust from whence he was taken and sets God upon that Throne where he ought to si◠Man by Nature would annihilate God and deisie himself the Gospel glorifies God and annihilates Man In our first revolt we would be like him in knowledge in the means he hath provided for our recovery he designs to make us like him in Grace The Gospel shews our selves to be an Object of Humiliation and God to be a glorious Object for our Imitation The Light of Nature tells us there is a God the Gospel gives us a more magnificent report of him The light of Nature condemns gross Atheism and that of the Gospel condemns and conquers spiritual Atheism in the hearts of men Use 2. Of Exhortation 1. Let us labour to be sensible of this Atheism in our Nature and be humbled for it How should we lye in the Dust and go bowing under the humbling thoughts of it all our days Shall we not be sensible of that whereby we spill the blood of our Souls and give a stabb to the heart of our own Salvation Shall we be worse than any Creature not to bewail that which tends to our destruction He that doth not lament it cannot challenge the Character of a Christian hath nothing of the divine Life and Love planted 〈◊〉 his Soul Not a man but shall one day be sensible when the Eternal God shall call him out to Examination and charge his Conscience to discover every Crime which will then own the Authority whereby it acted when the heart shall be torn open and the secrets of it brought to publick view and the World and Man himself shall see what a viperous Brood of corrupt Principles and Ends nested in his Heart Let us therefore be truly sensible of it till the consideration draw tears from our Eyes and sorrow from our Souls Let us urge the thoughts of it upon our hearts till the Core of that Pride be eaten out and our Stubborness changed into Humility Till our Heads become Waters and our Eyes Fountains of tears and be a spring of Prayer to God to change the heart and mortifie the Atheism in it and consider what a sad thing it is to be a practical Atheist And who is not so by Nature 1. Let us be sensible of it in our selves Have any of our hearts been a Soyl wherein the Fear and Reverence of God hath naturally grown Have we a desire to know him or a will to embrace him Do we delight in his Will and love the remembrance of his Name Are our respects to him as God equal to the speculative knowledge we have of his Nature Is the heart wherein he hath stampt his Image reserved for his Residence Is not the world more affected than the Creator of the world as though that could contribute to us a greater happiness than the Author of it Have not Creatures as much of our love fear trust nay more than God that framed both them and us Have we not too often relyed upon our own strength and made a Calf of our own wisdom and said of God as the Israelites of Moses As for this Moses we wot not what is become of him Exod. 32.1 and given oftener the glory of our good success to our Dragg and our Net to our Craft and our Industry than to the wisdom and blessing of God Are we then free from this sort of Atheism * Lawson body of Divinity pa. 153. 154. 'T is as impossible to have two Gods at one time in one heart as to have two Kings at one time in full power in one Kingdom Have there not been frequent neglects of God Have we not been deaf whilst he hath knocked at our doors slept when he hath sounded in our Ears as if there had been no such Being as a God in the world How many struglings have been against our approaches to him Hath not folly often been committed with vain imaginations starting up in the time of Religious Service which we would scarce vouchsafe a look to at another time
of thankfulness in arrear He renders himself doubly unworthy of the mercies he wants that doth not gratefully acknowledge the mercies he hath received God scarce promised any deliverance to the Israelites and they in their distress scarce prayed for any deliverance but that from Egypt was mentioned on both sides by God to encourage them and by them to acknowledge their confidence in him The greater our dangers the more we should call to mind Gods former kindness We are not only thankfully to acknowledge the mercies bestowed upon our persons or in our age but those of former times Thou hast been our dwelling place in all Generations Moses was not living in the former Generations yet he appropriates the former mercies to the present age Mercies as well Generations proceed out of the loyns of those that have gon before All Man-kind are but one Adam the whole Church but one Body In the second verse he backs his former consideration 1. By the greatness of his Power in forming the world 2. By the boundlesness of his duration From everlasting to everlasting As thou hast been our dwelling place and expended upon us the strength of thy power and riches of thy love so we have no reason to doubt the continuance on thy part if we be not wanting on our parts For the vast Mountains and fruitful Earth are the works of thy hands and there is less power requisite for our relief than there was for their Creation and though so much strength hath been upon various occasions manifested yet thy Arm is not weakned for from everlasting to everlasting thou art God * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strong * Amyrald in loc Thou hast always been God and no time can be assigned as the beginning of thy Being The mountains are not of so long a standing as thy self they are the effects of thy power and therefore cannot be equal to thy duration since they are effects they suppose a precedency of their cause If we would look back we can reach no further than the beginning of the Creation and account the years from the first foundation of the world but after that we must lose our selves in the Abyss of Eternity we have no Cue to guide our thoughts we can see no bounds in thy Eternity But as for Man he traverseth the world a few days and by thy order pronounced concerning all men returns to the Dust and moulders into the Grave By Mountains some understand Angels as being Creatures of a more elevated Nature By Earth they understand humane Nature the Earth being the habitation of Men. There is no need to divert in this place from the Letter to such a sense The description seems to be Poetical and amounts to this He neither began with the beginning of Time nor will expire with the End of it * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret in loc He did not begin when he made himself known to our Fathers but his Being did precede the Creation of the World before any created Being was formed and any time setled Before the Mountains were brought forth Or before they were begotten or born The word being used in those senses in Scripture before they stood up higher than the rest of the earthly Mass God had created It seems that Mountains were not casually cast up by the force of the Deluge softning the Ground and driving several parcels of it together to grow up into a massy body as the Sea doth the Sand in several places but they were at first formed by God The Eternity of God is here described 1. In his Priority Before the world 2. In the extension of his duration From everlasting to everlasting thou art God He was before the world yet he neither began nor ends He is not a Temporary but an Eternal God It takes in both parts of Eternity what was before the Creation of the world and what is after Though the Eternity of God be one permanent state without succession yet the Spirit of God suiting himself to the weakness of our conception divides it into two parts one past before the foundation of the world another to come after the destruction of the world as he did exist before all ages and as he will exist after all ages Many Truths lye coucht in the verse 1. The World hath a beginning of being It was not from Eternity it was once nothing had it been of a very long duration some Records would have remained of some memorable actions done of a longer date than any extant 2. The world owes its Being to the creating Power of God Thou hadst formed it out of nothing into being Thou that is God it could not spring into being of it self it was nothing it must have a Former 3. God was in being before the world The Cause must be before the Effect that Word which gives Being must be before that which receives Being 4. This Being was from Eternity From Everlasting 5. This Being shall endure to Eternity To Everlasting 6. There is but one God one Eternal From everlasting to everlasting thou art God None else but one hath the Property of Eternity the Gods of the Heathen cannot lay claim to it Doct. God is of an eternal duration The Eternity of God is the foundation of the stability of the Covenant the great comfort of a Christian The design of God in Scripture is to set forth his dealing with men in the way of a Covenant * Gen. 1.1 The Priority of God before all things begins the Bible In the beginning God created His Covenant can have no foundation but in his duration before and after the world * Calv. in loc And Moses here mentions his Eternity not only with respect to the Essence of God but to his faederal Providence As he is the dwelling place of his People in all Generations The duration of God for ever is more spoken of in Scripture than his Eternity à parte ante though that is the foundation of all the comfort we can take from his Immortality If he had a beginning he might have an end and so all our happiness hope and being would expire with him but the Scripture sometimes takes notice of his being without beginning as well as without end * Psal 93.2 Thou art from everlasting * Psal 41.13 Blessed be God from everlasting to everlasting * Prov. 8.23 I was set up from everlasting If his Wisdom were from everlasting himself was from everlasting Whether we understand it of Christ the Son of God or of the essential wisdom of God 't is all one to the present purpose The Wisdom of God supposeth the Essence of God as habits in Creatures suppose the being of some power or faculty as their Subject The Wisdom of God supposeth Mind and Understanding Essence and Substance The notion of Eternity is difficult as Austin said * Confes lib. 11. Confes 14. of Time If no man will ask me the
so new but the Eternal God was before the world was made In that sense it is to be understood * Rom. 16.26 The Mystery which was kept secret since the world began but now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the Command of the everlasting God made known to all Nations for the Obedience of Faith The Gospel is not preached by the Command of a new and temporary God but of that God that was before all Ages though the manifestation of it be in time yet the purpose and resolve of it was from Eternity If there were Decrees before the foundation of the World there was a Decreer before the foundation of the World Before the foundation of the world he lov'd Christ as a Mediator * John 1◠24 A fore-ordination of him was before the foundation of the world a Choice of men and therefore a Chooser before the foundation of the world a Grace given in Christ before the world began * Eph. 1.4 and therefore a Donor of that Grace * 2 Tim. 1.9 From those places saith Crellius it appears that God was before the foundation of the world but they do not assert an absolute Eternity * Coccei Sum. p. 48. Theol. Gerhard Exeges cap. 86.4 p. 266. But to be before all Creatures is equivalent to his Being from Eternity Time began with the foundation of the world but God being before time could have no beginning in time Before the beginning of the Creation and the beginning of Time there could be nothing but Eternity nothing but what was uncreated that is nothing but what was without beginning To be in time is to have a beginning to be before all time is never to have a beginning but always to be For as between the Creator and Creatures there is no Medium so between Time and Eternity there is no Medium 'T is as easily deduced that he that was before all Creatures is Eternal as he that made all Creatures is God If he had a beginning he must have it from another or from himself if from another that from whom he received his Being would be better than he so more a God than he He cannot be God that is not Supream he cannot be Supream that owes his Being to the Power of another He would not be said only to have Immortality as he is * 1 Tim. 6.16 if he had it dependent upon another nor could he have a beginning from himself if he had given beginning to himself then he was once nothing there was a time when he was not if he was not how could he be the Cause of himself 'T is impossible for any to give a Beginning and Being to it self If it acts it must exist and so exist before it existed A thing would exist as a Cause before it existed as an Effect He that is not cannot be the Cause that he is If therefore God doth exist and hath not his Being from another he must exist from Eternity Therefore when we say God is of and from himself we mean not that God gave Being to himself but it is negatively to to be understood that he hath no cause of Existence without himself Whatsoever Number of Millions of Millions of Years we can imagin before the Creation of the World yet God was infinitely before those he is therefore called the Ancient of Days * Dan. 7.9 as being before all days and time and eminently containing in himself all times and ages Though indeed God cannot properly be called ancient that will testify that he is decaying and shortly will not be no more than he can be called young which would signify that he was not long before All created things are new and fresh but no Creature can find out any beginning of God 'T is impossible there should be any beginning of him 2. God is without end He always was always is and always will be what he is He remains always the same in Being so far from any change that no shadow of it can touch him * James 1.17 He will continue in being as long as he hath already enjoy'd it and if we could add never so many Millions of years together we are still as far from an end as from a beginning for the Lord shall endure for ever * Psal 9.7 As it is impossible he should not be being from all Eternity so it is impossible that he should not be to all Eternity The Scripture is most plentiful in testimonies of this Eternity of God à parte post or after the Creation of the world He is said to live for ever * Rev. 4.9 10. The Earth shall perish but God shall endure for ever and his years shall have no end Plants and Animals grow up from small beginnings * Psal 102.27 arrive to their full growth and decline again and have always remarkable alterations in their nature But there is no declination in God by all the revolutions of time Hence some think the incorruptibility of the Deity was signified by the Shittim or Cedar wood whereof the Ark was made it being of an incorruptible nature * Exod. 25.10 That which had no beginning of duration can never have an end or any interruptions in it Since God never depended upon any what should make him cease to be what eternally he hath been or put a stop to the continuance of his perfections He cannot will his own destruction that is against universal nature in all things to cease from being if they can preserve themselves He cannot desert his own Being because he cannot but love himself as the best and chiefest good The reason that any thing decays is either its own native weakness or a superior Power of something contrary to it * Crellius de Deo cap. 18. p. 41. There is no weakness in the nature of God that can introduce any Corruption because he is infinitely simple without any mixture Nor can he be overpowred by any thing else a weaker cannot hurt him and a stronger than he there cannot be Nor can he be outwitted or circumvented because of his infinite Wisdom As he received his Being from none so he cannot be deprived of it by any As he doth necessarily exist so he doth necessarily always exist This indeed is the Property of God nothing so proper to him as always to be Whatsoever perfections any Being hath if it be not eternal it is not divine God only is immortal * 1 Tim. 6.16 Daille in loc he only is so by a necessity of nature Angels Souls and Bodies too after the Resurrection shall be immortal not by nature but grant they are subject to return to nothing if that word that raised them from nothing should speak them into nothing again 'T is as easie with God to strip them of it as to invest them with it nay it is impossible but that they should perish if God
including all parts of time He always was is now and always shall be It might always be said of him he was and it may always be said of him he will be There is no time when he began no time when he shall cease It cannot be said of a Creature he always was he always is what he was and he always will be what he is But God always is what he was and always will be what he is so that it is a very significant expression of the Eternity of God as can be suted to our capacities 1. His Eternity is evident by the Name God gives himself * Exod. 3.14 And God said unto Moses I am that I am thus shalt thou say to the Children of Israel I am hath sent me unto you This is the Name whereby he is distinguisht from all Creatures I am is his proper Name This description being in the Present Tense shews that his Essence knows no past nor future If it were he was it would intimate he were not now what he once was If it were he will be it would intimate he were not yet what he will be But I am I am the only Being the root of all Beings he is therefore at the greatest distance from not Being and that is eternal So that is signifies his Eternity as well as his Perfection and Immutability As I am speaks the want of no blessedness so it speaks the want of no duration and therefore the French where ever they find this word Jehovah in the Scripture which we translate Lord and Lord eternal render it the Eternal I am always and immutably the same The Eternity of God is opposed to the Volubility of Time which is extended into past present and to come Our time is but a small Drop as a Sand to all the Atoms and small particles of which the world is made but God is an unbounded Sea of Being I am that I am i. e. an infinite Life I have not that now which I had not formerly I shall not afterwards have that which I have not now I am that in every moment which I was and will be in all moments of time Nothing can be added to me nothing can be detracted from me There is nothing superior to him which can detract from him nothing desirable that can be added to him * Thes Salmur p. 1. p. 145. Thes 14. Now if there were any beginning and end of God any succession in him he could not be I am For in regard of what was past he would not be in regard of what was to come he is not yet * Plutarch de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. p. 392. And upon this account a Heathen argues well of all Creatures it may be said they were or they will be but of God it cannot be said any thing else but Est God is because he fills an eternal duration A Creature cannot be said to be if it be not yet nor if it be not now but hath been * Peter in Exo. 3. Disput 13. God only can be called I am all Creatures have more of not being than being for every Creature was nothing from Eternity before it was made something in time and if it be corruptible in its whole nature it will be nothing to Eternity after it hath been something in time and if it be not corruptible in its nature as the Angels or in every part of its nature as Man in regard of his Soul yet it hath not properly a Being because it is dependent upon the pleasure of God to continue it or deprive it of it and while it is it is mutable and all mutability is a mixture of not being If God therefore be properly I am i. e. Being it follows that he always was for if he were not always he must as was argued before be produced by some other or by himself By another he could not then he had not been God but a Creature nor by himself for then as producing he must be before himself as produced he had been before he was And he always will be for being I am having all being in himself and the Fountain of all being to every thing else how can he ever have his Name changed to I am not 2. God hath Life in himself John 5.26 The Father hath Life in himself He is the living God therefore stedfast for ever * Dan. 6.26 He hath Life by his Essence not by Participation He is a Sun to give Light and Life to all Creatures but receives not Light or Life from any thing and therefore he hath an unlimited Life not a drop of life but a fountain not a spark of a limited life but a life transcending all bounds He hath life in himself All Creatures have their life in him and from him He that hath life in himself doth necessarily exist and could never be made to exist for then he had not life in himself but in that which made him to exist and gave him life What doth necessarily exist therefore exists from Eternity what hath being of it self could never be produced in time could not want being one moment because it hath being from its Essence without influence of any efficient cause * Petav. Theol. Dogm Tom. 1. lib. 1. c. 6. § 6 7. When God pronounced his Name I am that I am Angels and Men were in being the world had been created above two thousand four hundred years Moses to whom he then speaks was in being yet God only is because he only hath the fountain of being in himself but all that they were was a rivulet from him He hath from nothing else that he doth subsist every thing else hath its subsistence from him as their root as the Beam from the Sun as the Rivers and Fountains from the Sea All life is seated in God as in its proper Throne in its most perfect Purity God is Life 't is in him originally radically therefore eternally He is a pure act nothing but vigor and act He hath by his nature that life which others have by his grant whence the Apostle saith * 1 Tim. 6.16 not only that he is immortal but he hath immortality in a full possession see-simple not depending upon the Will of another but containing all things within himself He that hath life in himself and is from himself cannot but be He always was because he received his being from no other and none can take away that being which was not given by another * Amyrald de Trinit p. 48. If there were any space before he did exist then there was something which made him to exist Life would not then be in him but in that which produced him into being He could not then be God but that other which gave him being would be God And to say God sprung into being by chance when we see nothing in the world that is brought forth by chance but hath some cause
Hills are said to leap and the Mountains to rejoyce The Creature is said to groan as the Heavens are said to declare the glory of God passively naturally not rationally 'T is not likely Angels are here meant though they cannot but desire it since they are affected with the dishonour and reproach God hath in the world they cannot but long for the restoration of his honour in the restoration of the Creature to its true end And indeed the Angels are employed to serve man in this sinful state and cannot but in holiness wish the Creature freed from his corruption Nor is it meant of the new Creatures which have the first fruits of the Spirit those he brings in afterwards groaning and waiting for the Adoption * Verse 23. where he distinguisheth the rational Creature from the Creature he had spoken of before If he had meant the believing Creature by that Creature that desired the liberty of the Sons of God what need had there been of that additional distinction and not only they but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan within our selves Whereby it seems he means some Creatures below rational Creatures since neither Angels nor blessed Souls can be said to travail in pain with that distress as a Woman in travail hath as the word signifies who perform the work joyfully which God sets them upon * Mestraezat fur Heb. 1. If the Creatures be subject to vanity by the sin of man they shall also partake of a happiness by the restoration of man The Eâ—â—â—h hath born Thorns and Thistles and venemous Beasts The Air hath had its Tempests and infectious Qualities The Water hath caused its Flouds and Deluges The Creature hath been abused to luxury and intemperance and been tyranniz'd over by Man contrary to the end of its creation 'T is convenient that some time should be allotted for the Creature 's attaining its true end and that it may partake of the peace of Man as it hath done of the fruits of his sin otherwise it would seem that sin had prevailed more than grace and would have had more power to deface than grace to restore and things into their due order 5. Again upon what account should the Psalmist exhort the Heavens to rejoyce and the Earth to be glad when God comes to judge the world with Righteousness * Psal 96.11 12 13. if they should be annihilated and sunk for ever into nothing It would seem saith Daille to be an impertinent figure if the Judge of the world brought to them a total destruction an entire ruin could not be matter of triumph to Creatures who naturally have that instinct or inclination put into them by their Creator to preserve themselves and to affect their own preservation 6. Again The Lord is to rejoyce in his works Psal 104.31 The Glory of the Lord shall endure for ever the Lord shall rejoyce in his works not hath but shall rejoyce in his works In the works of Creation which the Psalmist had enumerated and which is the whole scope of the Psalm And he intimates that it is part of the glory of the Lord which endures for ever that is his manifestative glory to rejoyce in his works The Glory of the Lord must be understood with reference to the Creation he had spoken of before How short was that joy God had in his works after he had sent them beautified out of his hand How soon did he repent not only that he had made Man but was grieved at the heart also that he made the other Creatures which Man's sin had disordered What joy can God have in them * Gen. 6.7 since the Curse upon the entrance of sin into the world remains upon them If they are to be annihilated upon the full restoration of his Holiness what time will God have to rejoyce in the other works of Creation 'T is the joy of God to see all his works in their due order every one pointing to their true end marching together in their excellency according to his first intendment in their Creation Did God create the World to perform its end only for one day scarce so much if Adam fell the very first day of his Creation What would have been their end if Adam had been confirm'd in a state of happiness as the Angels were 'T is likely will be answered and performed upon the compleat restoration of Man to that happy state from whence he fell What Artificer compiles a work by his skill but to rejoyce in it And shall God have no joy from the works of his hands Since God can only rejoyce in goodness the Creatures must have that goodness restored to them which God pronounced them to have at the first Creation and which he ordained them for before he can again rejoyce in his works The goodness of the Creatures is the glory and joy of God Inference 1. We may infer from hence what a base and vile thing Sin is which lays the foundation of the worlds change Sin brings it to a decrepit age Sin overturned the whole work of God * Gen. 3.17 so that to render it useful to its proper end there is a necessity of a kind of a new creating it This causes God to fire the Earth for a purification of it from that infection and contagion brought upon it by the apostacy and corruption of Man It hath served sinful man and therefore must undergo a purging Flame to be fit to serve the holy and righteous Creator As Sin is so riveted in the body of man that there is need of a change by death to rase it out so hath the Curse for sin got so deep into the bowels of the world that there is need of a change by fire to refine it for its Masters use Let us look upon Sin with no other notion than as the Object of Gods hatred the cause of his grief in the Creatures and the Spring of the pain and ruin of the World 2. How foolish a thing is it to set our hearts upon that which shall perish and be no more what it is now The Heavens and Earth the solidest and firmest parts of the Creation shall not continue in the posture they are they must perish and undergo a refining change How feeble and weak are the other parts of the Creation the little Creatures walking upon and fluttering about the world that are perishing and dying every day and we scarce see them clothed with life and beauty this day but they wither and are despoyl'd of all the next and are such frail things fit Objects for our everlasting Spirits and Affections Though the daily employment of the Heavens is the declaration of the glory of God * Psal 19.1 yet neither this nor their harmony order beauty amazing greatness and glory of them shall preserve them from a dissolution and melting at the presence of the Lord Though they have remained in the same posture from
could not be blessed Nothing can have any complacency in it self without the Knowledg of it self Nothing can in a rational manner enjoy it self without understanding it self The Blessedness of God consists not in the knowledg of any thing without him but in the knowledg of himself and his own excellency as the principle of all things If therefore he did not perfectly know himself and his own happiness he could not enjoy a happiness for to be and not to know to be is as if a thing were not He is God blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 and therefore for ever had a Knowledg of himself 3. Without the Knowledg of himself he could Create nothing For he would be ignorant of his own Power and his own Ability and he that doth not know how far his Power extends could not act If he did not know himself he could know nothing and he that knows nothing can do nothing he could not know an Effect to be possible to him unless he knew his own Power as a Cause 4. Without the Knowledg of himself he could govern nothing He could not without the knowledg of his own Holiness and Righteousness prescribe Laws to men nor without a knowledg of his own nature order himself a manner of Worship sutable to it All Worship must be congruous to the dignity and nature of the object worshipped he must therefore know his own Authority whereby Worship was to be enacted his own Excellency to which Worship was to be suited his own Glory to which Worship was to be directed If he did not know himself he did not know what to punish because he would not know what was contrary to himself not knowing himself he would not know what was a contempt of him and what an adoration of him what was worthy of God and what was unworthy of him In fine he could not know other things unless he knew himself unless he knew his own Power he could not know how he created things unless he knew his own Wisdom he could not know the beauty of his Works unless he knew his own Glory he could not know the end of his Works unless he knew his own Holiness he could not know what was evil and unless he knew his own Justice he could not know how to punish the Crimes of his offending creatures And therefore 1. God knows himself because his Knowledg with his Will is the cause of all other things that can fall under his cognizance he knows himself first before he can knovv any other thing that is first according to our conceptions for indeed God knovvs himself and all other things at once He is the first Truth and therefore is the first object of his ovvn understanding There is nothing more excellent than himself and therefore nothing more known to him than himself As he is all Knovvledg so he hath in himself the most excellent object of Knovvledg To understand is properly to knovv ones self No object is so intelligible to God as God is to himself nor so intimately and immediately joined vvith his Understanding as himself for his Understanding is his Essence himself 2. He knows himself by his own Essence He knovvs not himself and his ovvn Povver by the effect because he knovvs himself from Eternity before there vvas a World or any effect of his Povver extant 'T is not a knovvledg by the Cause for God hath no cause nor a knovvledg of himself by any species or any thing from vvithout If it vvere any thing from vvithout himself that must be created or uncreated if uncreated it vvould be God and so vve must either ovvn many Gods or ovvn it to be his Essence and so not distinct from himself If created then his knovvledg of himself vvould depend upon a creature he could not then knovv himself from eternity but in time because nothing can be created from eternity but in time God knovvs not himself by any faculty for there is no composition in God he is not made up of parts but is a simple being some therefore have called God not intellectus understanding because that savours of a faculty but intellectio intellection God is all act in the knovvledg of himself and his knovvledg of other things 3. God therefore knows himself perfectly comprehensively Nothing in his ovvn nature is concealed from him he reflects upon every thing that he is Magalaneus There is a positive comprehension so God doth not comprehend himself for vvhat is comprehended hath bounds and vvhat is comprehended by it self is finite to it self and there is a negative comprehension God so comprehends himself nothing in his ovvn nature is obscure to him unknovvn by him For there is as great a perfection in the understanding of God to knovv as there is in the Divine nature to be knovvn The Understanding of God and the Nature of God are both infinite and so equal to one another his Understanding is equal to himself he knovvs himself so vvell that nothing can be knovvn by him more perfectly than himself is knovvn to himself He knovvs himself in the highest manner because nothing is so proportion'd to the Understanding of God as himself He knovvs his ovvn Essence Goodness Povver all his Perfections Decrees Intentions Acts the infinite capacity of his ovvn Understanding so that nothing of himself is in the dark to himself And in this respect some use this expression That the Infiniteness of God is in a manner finite to himself because it is comprehended by himself Thus God transcends all Creatures thus his Understanding is truly Infinite because nothing but himself is an infinite Object for it What Angels may understand of themselves perfectly I know not but no Creature in the World understands himself Man understands not fully the excellency and parts of his own nature upon Gods knowledg of himself depends the Comfort of his People and the Terror of the Wicked this is also a clear Argument for his Knowledg of all other things without himself he that knows himself must needs know all other things less than himself and which were made by himself When the knowledg of his own Immensity and Infiniteness is not an object too difficult for him the knowledg of a finite and limited Creature in all his actions thoughts circumstances cannot be too hard for him Since he knows himself who is Infinite he cannot but know whatsoever is Finite this is the Foundation of all his other Knowledg the knowledg of every thing present past and to come is far less than the knowledg of himself He is more incomprehensible in his own nature than all things Created or that can be Created put together can be If he then have a perfect comprehensive knowledg of his own nature any knowledg of all other things is less than the knowledg of himself this ought to be well considered by us as the Fountain whence all his other knowledg flows 2. Therefore God knows all other things whether
present and past but knew those certainly and the others doubtfully and conjecturally he would suffer some Change and acquire some Perfection in his Knowledg when those future things should cease to be future and become present for he would know it more perfectly when it were present than he did when it was future and so there would be a Change from Imperfection to a Perfection But God is every way immutable Besides that Perfection would not arise from the Nature of God but from the Existence and Presence of the thing but who will affirm that God acquires any Perfection of Knowledg from his Creatures any more than he doth of Being he would not then have had that Knowledg and consequently that Perfection from Eternity as he had when he Created the World and will not have a full Perfection of the Knowledg of his Creature till the end of the World nor of Immortal Souls which will certainly act as well as live to Eternity and so God never was nor ever will be perfect in Knowledg for vvhen you have conceived millions of years vvherein Angels and Souls live and act there is still more coming than you can conceive vvherein they vvill act And if God be alvvays changing to Eternity from Ignorance to Knovvledg as those acts come to be exerted by his Creatures he vvill not be perfect in Knovvledg no not to Eternity but vvill alvvays be changing from one degree of Knovvledg to another a very unvvorthy Conceit to entertain of the most Blessed Perfect and Infinite God! Hence then it follovvs that 1. God foreknows all his Creatures All kinds vvhich he determin'd to make all particulars that should spring out of every species the time vvhen they should come forth of the Womb the manner hovv In thy Book all my Members were written Psal 139.16 Members is not in the Heb. vvhence some refer all to all living Creatures vvhatsoever and all the parts of them vvhich God did foresee he knevv the numbers of Creatures vvith all their parts they vvere vvritten in the Book of his fore-knovvledg the duration of them hovv long they shall remain in Being and act upon the Stage he knows their strength the links of one cause with another and what will follow in all their Circumstances and the series and combination of effects with their causes The duration of every thing is foreknown because determin'd Job 14.5 seeing his days are determin'd the number of his months are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass bounds are fixed beyond which none shall reach he speaks of days and months not of years to give us notice of Gods particular foreknovvledg of every thing of every day month year hour of a mans life 2. All the acts of his Creatures are foreknown by him All natural acts because he knows their causes voluntary acts I shall speak of afterwards 3. This foreknowledg was certain For it is an unworthy notion of God to ascribe to him a conjectural Knowledg if there were only a conjectural knowledg he could but conjecturally foretel any thing and then it is possible the events of things might be contrary to his Predictions It would appear then that God were deceived and mistaken and then there could be no rule of trying things whether they were from God or no for the Rule God sets down to discern his Words from the Words of false Prophets is the event and certain accomplishment of what is Predicted Deut. 18.21 to that question How shall we know whether God hath spoken or no he answers That if the thing doth not come to pass the Lord hath not spoken If his Knowledg of future things were not certain there were no stability in this Rule it would fall to the ground We never yet find God deceiv'd in any Prediction but the event did answer his fore-Revelation his foreknowledg therefore is certain and infallible We cannot make God uncertain in his Knowledg but we must conceive him fluctuating and wavering in his Will but if his Will be not Yea and Nay but Yea his Knowledg is certain because he doth certainly Will and Resolve 4. This foreknowledg was from Eternity Seeing he knows things possible in his Power and things future in his Will if his Power and Resolves were from Eternity his Knowledg must be so too or else we must make him ignorant of his own Power and ignorant of his own Will from Eternity and consequently not from Eternity Blessed and Perfect His knowledg of possible things must run Parallel with his Power and his Knowledg of future things run Parallel with his Will If he Willed from Eternity he knew from Eternity what he Willed but that he did Will from Eternity we must grant unless we would render him changeable and conceive him to be made in time of not Willing Willing The Knowledg God hath in time was alway one and the same because his Understanding is his proper Essence as perfect as his Essence and of an immutable nature Gamach in Aquin Part 1. q. 14. c. 3. p. 124. And indeed the actual existence of a thing is not simply necessary to its being perfectly known we may see a thing that is past out of Being when it doth not actually exist and a Carpenter may know the House he is to Build before it be built by the model of it in his own mind much more we may conceive the same of God whose Decrees were before the Foundâ—tion of the World Eph. 1.5 and in other places and to be before time was and to be from Eternity hath no difference As God in his Being exceeds all beginning of time so doth his Knowledg all motions of time 5. God foreknows all things as present with him from Eternity Gerhard Exeges ch 8. de Deo sect 13. p. 303. As he knows mutable things with an immutable and firm Knowledg so he knows future things with a present Knowledg not that the things which are produced in time were actually and really present with him in their own Beings from Eternity for then they could not be produced in time had they a real existence then they would not be Creatures but God and had they actual Being then they could not be future for future speaks a thing to come that is not yet If things had been actually present with him and yet future they had been made before they were made and had a Being before they had a Being but they were all present to his Knowledg as if they were in actual Being because the reason of all things that were to be made was present with him Bradward l. 3. c. 14. The reason of the Will of God that they shall be was equally Eternal with him wherein he saw what and when and how he would Create things how he would govern them to what ends he would direct them Thus all things are present to Gods Knowledg tho' in their own nature they may be past or
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
his Immense Power for he that is Eternal without limits of Time must needs be conceived Powerful without any dash of Infirmity Again when He is said to be a Child born and a Son given in the same breath he is called the Mighty God * Isai 9.6 'T is introduc'd as a ground of Comfort to the Church to preserve their Hopes in the accomplishment of the Promises made to them before They should not imagine him to have only the Infirmity of a Man though he was vail'd in the Appearance of a Man No they should look through the disguise of his Flesh to the Might of his Godhead The Attribute of Mighty is added to the Title GOD because the consideration of Power is most capable to sustain the drooping Church in such a condition and to prop up her hopes 'T is upon this account he saith of himself that whatsoever things the Father doth those also doth the Son likewise John 5.19 In creation of Heaven Earth Sea and the Preservation of all Creatures the Son works with the same Will Wisdom Vertue Power as the Father works Not as two may concur in an Action in a different manner as an Agent and an Instrument a Carpenter and his Tools but in the same manner of operation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we Translate Likeness which doth not express so well the Emphasis of the word There is no diversity of Action between Us what the Father doth that I do by the same Power with the same Easiness in every respect there is the same Creative Productive Conservative Power in both of us and that not in one work that is done ad extra but in All in whatsoever the Father doth In the same manner not by a delegated but Natural and Essential Power by one undivided operation and manner of working 1. The Creation which is a work of Omnipotence is more than once ascrib'd to him This he doth own himself the Creation of the Earth and of Man upon it the stretching out the Heavens by his Hands and the forming of all the Host of them by his Command Isai 45.12 He is not only the Creator of Israel the Church verse 12. but of the whole World and every Creature on the face of the Earth and in the Glories of the Heavens which is repeated also verse 18. where in this act of Creation he is called God himself and speaks of himself in the Term Jehovah and swears by himself verse 23. What doth he swear That unto me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear Is this Christ Yes if the Apostle may be believed who applies it to him Rom. 14.11 to prove the Appearance of all Men before the Judgment Seat of Christ whom the Prophet calls verse 15. a God that hides himself and so he was a hidden God when obscur'd in our fleshly Infirmities He was in conjunction with the Father when the Sea receiv'd his Decree and the foundations of the Earth were appointed not as a Spectator but as an Artificer â—or so the word in Prov. 8.30 signifies As one brought up with him it signifies also A cunning workman * Cant. 7.1 He was the East or the Sun from whence sprang all the light of life and Being to the Creature so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verse 22. which is translated Before his works of old is rendred by some and signifies the East as well as Before But if it notes only his existence before 't is enough to prove his Deity The Scripture doth not only allow him an existence before the World but exalts him as the cause of the World A thing may precede another that is not the cause of that which follows a precedency in Age doth not entitle one Brother or thing the cause of another But our Saviour is not only Ancienter than the World but is the Creator of the World Heb. 1.10 11. Who laid the foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the works of his hands So great an Elogy cannot be given to one destitute of Omnipotence Since the distance between Being and not Being is so vast a Gulf that cannot be surmounted and stept over but by an Infinite Power He is the First and the Last that called the Generations from the beginning †Isai 41.4 and had an Almighty voice to call them out of Nothing In which regard he is called the Everlasting Father Isai 9.6 as being the Efficient of Creation as God is called the Father of the Rain or as Father is taken for the Inventor of an Art as Jubal the first framer and Inventor of Musick is called the Father of such as handle the Harp Gen 4.21 And that Person is said to make the Sea and form the dry Land by his hands Psal 95.5 6. against whom we are exhorted not to harden our hearts verse 8. which is applied to Christ by the Apostle Heb. 3.8 in the 15 verse he is called a great King and a great God our Maker The Places wherein the Creation is attributed to Christ those that are the Antagonists of his Deity would evade by understanding them of the New or Evangelical not of the first Old and Material Creation But what appearance is there for such a sense Consider 1. That of Heb. 1.10 11. 't is spoken of that Earth and Heavens which were in the beginning of Time 't is that Earth that shall perish that Heaven that shall be folded up that Creation that shall grow old towards a decay that is only the visible and material Creation The Spiritual shall endure for ever it grows not old to decay but grows up to a perfection it sprouts up to its happiness not to its detriment The same Person creates that shall destroy and the same World is created by him that shall be destroyed by him as well as it subsisted by virtue of his Omnipotency 2. Can that also Heb. 1.2 By whom also he made the worlds speaking of Christ bear the same plea It was the same Person by whom God spake to us in these last times the same Person which he hath constituted Heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds And the Particle Also intimates it to be a distinct act from his Speaking or Prophetical Office whereby he restored and new created the World as well as the rightful foundation God had to make him Heir of all things It refers likewise not to the time of Christ's speaking upon Earth but to something past and something different from the publication of the Gospel 'T is not doth make which had been more likely if the Apostle had meant only the New Creation but hath made ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 referring to time long since past something done before his appearance upon Earth as a Prophet By whom also he made the Worlds or Ages all things subjected to or measured by Time which must be meant according to the Jewish Phrase of this Material visible World So
should enflame us with a zeal and fortitude to appear in the behalf of his despised Honour We honour this Holiness many other ways by preparation for our addresses to him out of a sense of his purity When we imitate it As he honours us by teaching us his Statutes * Psal 119.135 so we honour him by learning and observing them When we beg of him to shew himself a Refiner of us to make us more conformable to him in holiness and bless him for any communication of it to us it render us beautiful and lovely in his sight To conclude To honour it is the way to engage it for us To give it the glory of what it hath done by the arm of power for our rescue from Sin and beating down our Corruptions at his feet is the way to see more of its marvellous works behold a clearer brightness As unthankfulness makes him withdraw his Grace * Rom. 1.21 24. so glorifying him causes him to impart it God honours men in the same way they honour him When we honour him by acknowledging his Purity he will honour us by communicating of it to us This is the way to derive a greater excellency to our Souls 3. Exhortation Since holiness is an eminent Perfection of the Divine Nature let us labour after a Conformity to God in this Perfection The Nature of God is presented to us in the Scripture both as a pattern to imitate and a Motive to perswade the Creature to holiness ‖ i Joh. 3.3 Matth. 5.48 Lev. 11.44 1 Pet. 1.15 16. Sâ—nce it is therefore the Nature of God the more our Natures are beautified with it the more like we are to the Divine Nature 'T is not the pattern of Angels or Arch-angels that our Saviour or his Apostle proposeth for our imitation but the original of all Purity God himself The same that created us to be imitated by us Nor is an equal degree of Purity enjoyned us though we are to be pure and perfect and merciful as God is yet not essentially so for that would be to command us an impossibility in itself as much as to order us to cease to be Creatures and commence Gods No Creature can be essentially holy but by participation from the chief Fountain of holiness but we must have the same kind of holiness the same truth of holiness As a short line may be as straight as another though it parallel it not in the immense length of it A copy may have the likeness of the Original though not the same Perfection We can not be good without eying some exemplar of goodness as the Pattern No pattern is so sutable as that which is the highest Goodness and Purity That Limner that would draw the most excellent piece fixes his eyes upon the most perfect Pattern He that would be a good Orator or Poet or Artificer considers some person most excellent in each kind as the Object of his imitation Who so sit as God to be viewed as the pattern of holiness in our intendment of and endeavor after holiness The Stoicks one of the best sects of Philosophers advised their Disciples to pitch upon some eminent example of Vertue according to which to form their lives as Socrates c. But true holiness doth not only endeavour to live the life of a good man but chuses to live a divine life As before the man was alienated from the life of God †Eph. 4 1â— so upon his return he aspires after the life of God To endeavour to be like a good man is to make one Image like another to set our Clocks by other Clocks without regarding the Sun But true holiness consists in a likeness to the most exact Sampler God being the first Purity is the Rule as well as the Spring of all Purity in the Creature the chief and first Object of Imitation We disown our selves to be his Creatures if we breath not after a resemblance to him in what he is imitable There was in man as created according to God's Image a natural appetite to resemble God It was at first planted in him by the Authour of his Nature The Devils temptation of him by that Motive to transgress the Law had been as an Arrow shot against a b azen Wall had there not been a desire of some likeness to his Creator engraven upon him * Gen. 3.5 It would have had no more influence upon him than it could have had upon a meer Animal But man mistook the term he would have been like God in knowledge whereas he should have affected a greater resemblance of him in Purity O that we could exemplify God in our Nature Precepts may instruct us more but Examples affect us more one directs us but the other attracts us What can be more attractive of our imitation than that which is the Original of all Purity both in Men and Angels This conformity to him consists in an imitation of him 1. In his Law The Purity of his Nature was first visible in this Glass hence 't is called a holy Law Rom. 7.12 a pure Law Psal 19.8 Holy and pure as it is a Ray of the pure Nature of the Law-giver When our Lives are a Comment upon his Law they are expressive of his Holiness We conform to his Holiness when we regulate our selves by his Law as it is a Transcript of his Holiness We do not imitate it when we do a thing in the matter of it agreeable to that holy Rule but when we do it with respect to the Purity of the Law-giver beaming in it If it be agreeable to God's will and convenient for some design of our own and we do any thing only with a respect to that design we make not God's Holâ—ness discovered in the Law our Rule but our own conveniency 'T is not a conformity to God but a conformity of our Actions to Self As in abstinence from intemperate Courses not because the holiness of God in his Law hath prescrib'd it but because the health of our Bodies or some noble Contentments of life require it then it is not God's holiness that is our Rule but our own security conveniency or some thing else which we make a God to our selves It must be a real conformity to the Law Our holiness should shine as really in the practise as God's Purity doth in the Precept God hath not a pretence of Purity in his Nature but a reality 'T is not only a suddain boiling up of an admiration of him or a starting wish to be like him from some suddain impression upon the Fancy which is a meer temporary blaze but a setled temper of Soul loving every thing that is like him doing things out of a firm desire to resemble his Purity in the Copy he hath set not a resting in Negatives but aspiring to Positives Holy and harmless are distinct things They were distinct qualifications in our High Priest in his Obedience to the Law
this Sentiment when the Jews Educated by God in a wiser School were wedded to that Notion The Pharisees were highly fond of it it was the only Argument they used in Prayer for Divine Blessing You have one of them boasting of his frequency in Fasting and his exactness in paying his Tithes †Luke 19.12 as if God had been beholding to him and could not without manifest wrong deny him his demand And Paul confesseth it to be his own Sentiment before his Conversion he accounted this Righteousness of the Law gain to him * Phil. 3.7 he thought by this to make his Market with God The whole Nation of the Jews affected it †Rom. 10.3 Going about to Establish their own Righteousness compassing Sea and Land to make out a Righteousness of their own as the Pharisees did to make Proselytes The Papists follow their Steps and Dispute for Justification by the Merit of Works and find out another Key of Works of Supererogation to unlock Heavens Gate than what ever the Scripture informed us of 'T is from hence also that Men are so ready to make Faith as a Work the cause of our Justification Man foolishly thinks he hath enough to set up himself after he hath proved Bankrupt and lost all his Estate This Imagination is born with us and the best Christians may find some sparks of it in themselves when there are springings up of joy in their Hearts upon the more close performance of one Duty than of another as if they had wiped off their Scores and given God a satisfaction for their former neglects We have forsaken all and follow'd thee was the boast of his Disciples What shall we have therefore was a Branch of this Root †Mat. 19.27 Eternal Life is a gift not by any Obligation of Right but an abundance of goodness 't is owing not to the dignity of our Works but the magnificent Bounty of the Divine Nature and must be sued for by the Title of God's Promise not by the Title of the Creatures Services We may observe 3. How insufficient are some Assents to Divine Truth and some Expressions of Affection to Christ without the Practice of Christian Precepts This Man Addrest to Christ with a profound Respect acknowledging him more than an ordinary Person with a more Reverential Carriage than we read any of his Disciples paid to him in the day of his Flesh he fell down at his Feet kist his Knees as the Custom was when they would testifie the great Respect they had to any eminent Person especially to their Rabbins All this some think to be included in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †Vers 17. Lightfoot in loc He seems to acknowledge him the Messiah by giving him the Title of Good a Title they did not give to their Doctors of the Chair He breaths out his opinion that he was able to instruct him beyond the ability of the Law He came with a more than ordinary Affection to him and expectation of advantage from him evident by his departing sad when his expectations were frustrated by his own perversity it was a sign he had a high esteem of him from whom he could not part without marks of his Grief What was the cause of his refusing the instructions he pretended such an affection to receive He had Possessions in the World How soon do a few drops of Wordly advantages quench the first Sparks of an ill grounded love to Christ How vain is a complemental and cringing devotion without a supream preference of God and valuation of Christ above every outward allurement We may observe this 4. We should never admit any thing to be ascrib'd to us which is proper to God Why callest thou me Good There is none Good but One that is God If you do not acknowledge me God ascribe not to me the Title of Good It takes off all those Titles which fawning Flatterers give to Men Mighty Invincible to Princes Holiness to the Pope We call one another Good without considering how Evil and Wise without considering how Foolish Mighty without considering how Weak and Knowing without considering how Ignorant No man but hath more of Wickedness than Goodness of Ignorance than Knowledge of Weakness than Strength God is a jealous God of his own Honour he will not have the Creature share with him in his Royal Titles 'T is a part of Idolatry to give Men the Titles which are due to God a kind of a Worship of the Creature together with the Creator Worms will not stand out but assault Herod in his Purple when he Usurps the Prerogative of God and prove stiff and invincible Vindicators of their Creators Honor when summoned to Arms by the Creators Word †12 Acts 22.23 The Observation which I intend to prosecute is this Doct. Pure and Perfect Goodness is only the Royal Prerogative of God Goodness is a choice Perfection of the Divine Nature This is the true and genuine Character of God He is Good He is Goodness Good in Himself Good in his Essence Good in the Highest Degree possessing whatsoever is Comely Excellent Desirable the Highest Good because the First Good whatsoever is perfect Goodness is GOD whatsoever is truly Goodness in any Creature is a resemblance of God * Ficin in Dionys. de divin nom cap 511. All the Names of God are comprehended in this one of Good All Gifts all variety of Goodness are contained in him as one common Good He is the efficient cause of all Good by an over-flowing Goodness of his Nature He refers all things to Himself as the end for the representation of his own Goodness Truly God is Good †Psal 73.1 Certainly it is an undoubted Truth 't is written in his Works of Nature and his Acts of Grace * Exod. 34.6 He is abundant in Goodness And every thing is a Memorial not of some few Sparks but of his greater Goodness †Psal 145.7 This is often celebrated in the Psalms and Men invited more than once to Sing forth the Praises of it * Psal 107.8.15.21.31 It may better be admired than sufficiently spoken of or thought of as it Merits 'T is discovered in all his Works as the Goodness of a Tree in all its Fruits 't is easie to be seen and more pleasant to be contemplated In General 1. All Nations in the World have acknowledged GOD Good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was one of the Names the Platonists exprest him by and Good and God are almost the same words in our Language All as readily consented in the Notion of his Goodness as in that of his Deity Whatsoever divisions or disputes there were among them in the other Perfections of God they all agreed in this without dispute saith Synesius * Empedocles One calls him Venus in regard of his Loveliness †Hesiod Another calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Love as being the Band which tyes all things
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
of a spiritual life Did not all lie wallowing in their own filthy blood and what could the steam and noysomness of that deserve at the hands of a pure Majesty but to be cast into a sink furthest from his sight Were they not all considered in this deplorable posture with an equal proportion of poyson in their nature when God first took his pen and singled out some Names to write in the Book of life It could not be merit in any one peice of this abominable Mass that should stir up that resolution in God to set apart this person for a Vessel of Glory while he permitted another to putrifie in his own gore He loved Jacob and hated Esau though they were both parts of the common Mass the Seed of the same Loyns and lodg'd in the same Womb. 2. Nor could it â—e any foresight of works to be done in time by them or of Faith that might determine God to choose them What good could he foresee resulting from extream corruption and a nature alienated from him What could he foresee of good to be done by them but what he resolved in his own will to bestow an ability upon them to bring forth His choice of them was to a Holiness not for a Holiness preceding his determination Eph. 1.4 He hath chosen us that we might be Holy before him he ordained us to good works not for them Eph. 2.10 What is a Fruit cannot be a moving cause of that whereof it is a fruit Grace is a stream from the spring of electing love the branch is not the cause of the Root but the Root of the Branch nor the stream the cause of the spring but the spring the cause of the stream Good works suppose Grace and a good and right habit in the person as rational acts suppose reason Can any man say that the rational acts man performs after his Creation were a cause why God Created him This would make Creation and every thing else not so much an act of his will as an act of his Understanding God foresaw no rational act in man before the act of his will to give him reason nor foresees faith in any before the act of his will determining to give him Faith Eph. 2.8 Faith is the gift of God In the Salvation which grows up from this first purpose of God he regards not the works we have done as a principal motive to settle the top-stone of our happiness but his own purpose and the Grace given in Christ 2 Timothy 1.9 Who hath saved us and call'd us with a holy Calling not according to our own works but according to his own purpose and Grace which was given to us in Christ before the World began The honour of our Salvation cannot be challeng'd by our works much less the honour of the Foundation of it It was a pure gift of Grace without any respect to any spiritual much less natural perfection Why should the Apostle mention that circumstance when he speaks of God's loving Jacob and hating Esau when neither of them had done good or evil Rom. 9.11 if there were any foresight of mens works as the moving cause of his love or hatred God regarded not the works of either as the first cause of his choice but acted by his own Liberty without respect to any of their actions which were to be done by them in time If Faith be the fruit of Election the prescience of Faith doth not influence the Electing act of God Tit. 1.1 'T is called the Faith of Gods Elect. Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ according to the Faith of Gods Elect. i. e. Setled in this Office to bring the Elect of God to Faith If men be chosen by God upon the foresight of Faith or not chosen till they have Faith they are not so much God's Elect as God their Elect they choose God by Faith before God chooseth them by love It had not been the Faith of Gods Elect i. e. Of those already chosen but the Faith of those that were to be chosen by God afterwards * Dalle in loc Election is the cause of Faith and not Faith the cause of Election Fire is the cause of heat and not the heat of Fire the Sun is the cause of the day and not the day the cause of the rising of the Sun Men are not chosen because they beleive but they beleive because they are chosen The Apostle did ill else to appropriate that to the Elect which they had no more interest in by vertue of their Election than the veriest Reprobate in the World If the foresight of what works might be done by his Creatures was the motive of his choosing them why did he not choose the Devils to Redemption who could have done him better service by the strength of their Nature than the whole Mass of Adam's posterity Well then there is no possible way to lay the original Foundation of this act of Election and preterition in any thing but the absolute Soveraignty of God Justice or Injustice comes not into consideration in this case There is no debt which Justice or Injustice always respects in its acting If he had pleased he might have chosen all if he had pleased he might have chosen none It was in his supream power to have resolved to have left all Adam's posterity under the rack of his Justice if he determined to snatch out any it was a part of his dominion but without any injury to the Creatures he leaves under their own guilt Did he not pass by the Angels and take man And by the same right of Dominion may he pick out some men from the common Mass and lay aside others to bear the punishment of their Crimes Are they not all his Subjects All are his Criminals and may be dealt with at the pleasure of their undoubted Lord and Soveraign This is a work of arbitrary power Since he might have chosen none or chosen all as he saw good himself 'T is at the liberty of the Artificer to determine his Wood or Stone to such a figure that of a Prince or that of a Toad and his materials have no right to complain of him since it lies wholly upon his own liberty They must have little sence of their own vileness and God's infinite excellency above them by right of Creation that will contend that God hath a lesser right over his Creatures than an Artificer over his Wood or Stone If it were at his liberty whither to redeem Man or send Christ upon such an undertaking 't is as much at his liberty and the prerogative is to be allow'd him what persons he will resolve to make capable of enjoying the fruits of that Redemption One Man was as fit a subject for Mercy as another as they all lay in their orginal guilt Why would not Divine Mercy cast its eye upon this Man as well as upon his Neighbour There was no cause in the Creature but all in God it
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
strong that it had been a wrong to his Justice to have restrain'd it any longer The cry was so loud that he could not be at quiet as it were on his Throne of Glory for the disturbing noise Gen. 18.20 21. Sin transgresseth the Law the Law being violated solicites Justice Justice being urg'd pleads for punishment the cry of their sins did as it were force him from Heaven to come down and examine what cause there was for that clamour Sin cries loud and long before he takes his Sword in hand Four hundred years he kept off deserved destruction from the Amorites and deferr'd making good his promise to Abraham of giving Canaan to his Posterity out of his Long-suffering to the Amorites Gen. 15.16 In the fourth Generation they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full Their measure was filling then but not so full as to put a stop to any further patience till four hundred years after The usual time in succeeding Generations from the denouncing of Judgments to the execution is forty years this some ground upon Ezek. 4.6 thou shalt bear the iniquity of the House of Judah forty days taking each day for a year Though Hosea lived seventy years yet from the beginning of his prophesying Judgments against Israel to the pouring them out upon that Idolatrous People it was forty years Hosea as was mentioned before prophesied against them in the days of Jeroboam the second in whose time God did wonderfully deliver Israel 2 Kings 14.26.27 From that time till the total destruction of the ten Tribes it was forty years as may easily be computed from the Story 2 Kings 15 16 17. chapters by the Reign of the succeeding Kings So forty years after the most horrid villany that ever was committed in the face of the Sun viz. The Crucifying the Son of God was Jerusalem destroyed and the inhabitants captiv'd so long did God delay a visible punishment for such an outrage Sometimes he prolongs sending a threatned judgment upon a meer shadow of humiliation so he did that denounced against Ahab He turn'd it over to his posterity and adjourn'd it to another season 1 Kings 21.29 He doth not issue out an Arrest upon one Transgression you often find him not commencing a suit against men till three and four Transgressions The first of Amos all along that chapter and the second chapter for three and four i. e. seven A certain number for an uncertain He gives not orders to his judgments to march till men be obstinate and refuse any commerce with him He stops them till there be no remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 It must be a great wickedness that gives vent to them Hos 10.15 Heb. your wickedness of wickedness He is so slow to anger and stays the punishment his enemies deserve that he may seem to have forgot his kindness to his Friends Psal 44.24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face and forgettest our affliction and oppression He lets his people groan under the yoke of their Enemies as if he were made up of kindness to his Enemies and anger against his Friends This delaying of punishment to evil men is visible in his suspending the terrifying acts of Conscience and supporting it only in its checking admonishing and controuling acts The patience of a Governour is seen in the patient mildness of his Deputy Davids Conscience did not terrifie him till nine months after his sin of Murder Should God set open the Mouth of this power within us not only the Earth but our own bodies and Spirits would be a burden to us 'T is long before God puts Scorpions into the hands of mens Consciences to scourge them He holds back the rod waiting for the hour of our return as if that would be a recompence for our offences and his forbearance III. His Patience is manifest in his unwillingness to execute his Judgments when he can delay no longer He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men. Lament 3.33 Hebr. He doth not afflict from his Heart He takes no pleasure in it as he is Creator The height of mens provocations and the necessity of the preserving his rights and vindicating his Laws obligeth him to it as he is the Governour of the World As a Judge may willingly condemn a Malefactor to death out of affection to the Laws and desire to preserve the order of Government but unwillingly out of Compassion to the offender himself When he resolved upon the destruction of the old World he spake it as a God grieved with an occasion of punishment Gen. 6.6 7. compared together When he came to reckon with Adam be walked he did not run with his Sword in his hand upon him as a mighty man with an eagerness to destroy him Gen. 3.8 And that in the cool of the day a time when men tired in the day are unwilling to engage in a hard employment His exercising judgment is a coming out of his place Isaiah 26.21 Micah 1.3 He comes out of his station to exercise judgment a Throne is more his place than a tribunal Every prophesie loaded with threatnings is call'd the Burden of the Lord a burden to him to execute it as well as to men to suffer it Though three Angels came to Abraham about the punishment of Sodom whereof one Abraham speaks to as to God yet but two appear'd at the destruction of Sodom as if the Governour of the World were unwilling to be present at such dreadful work Gen. 19.1 And when the Man that had the inkhorn by his side that was appointed to mark those that were to be preserved in the common destruction return'd to give an account of the performing his commission Ezek. 9.10 We read not of the return of those that were to kill as if God delighted only to hear again of his works of Mercy and had no mind to hear again of his severe proceedings * Mercer in Gen. 1.5 The Jews to shew Gods unwillingness to punish imagine that Hell was created the second day Because that days work is not pronounced good by God as all the other days works are Gen. 1.8 1. When God doth punish he doth it with some regret * Cressol Decad. 2. p. 163. When he hurles down his thunders he seems to do it with a backward hand Because with an unwilling heart He created saith Chrysostom the World in six days but was seven days in destroying one City Jericho which he had before devoted to be razed to the ground What is the reason saith he that God is so quick to build up but slow to pull down His Goodness excites his power to the One but is not earnest to perswade him to the Other When he comes to strike he doth it with a sigh or groan Isaiah 1.24 Ah I will ease me of my adversaries and avenge me on my Enemies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ah a note of grief So Hos 6.4 Oh Ephraim what shall I do unto thee
him * Petavius changed Did he create he knew not what and knew not before what he should Create Was he ignorant before he acted and in his acting what his operation would tend to or did he not know the nature of things and the ends of them till he had produced them and saw them in Being Creatures then did not arise from his Knowledg but his Knowledg from them he did not then Will that his Creatures should be for he had then willed what he knew not and knew not what he willed they therefore must be known before they were made and not known because they were made he knew them to make them and he did not make them to know them By the same reason that he knew what Creatures should be before they were he knows still what Creatures shall be before they are Bradward lib. 3. cap. 14. for all things that are were in God not really in their own nature but in him as a cause so the Earth and Heavens were in him as a Model is in the mind of a Work man which is in his Mind and Soul before it be brought forth into outward act 2. The Predictions of future things evidence this There is not a Prophecy of any thing to come but is a spark of his fore-knowledg and bears Witness to the Truth of this assertion in the punctual accomplishment of it this is a thing challenged by God as his own peculiar wherein he surmounts all the Idols that mans inventions have Godded in the World Isa 41.21 22. Let them bring forth speaking of the Idols and shew us what shall happen or declare us things to come shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that you are Gods Such a fore-knowledg of things to come is here ascribed to God by God himself as a distinction of him from all false Gods such a Knowledg that if any could prove that they were possessors of he would acknowledg them Gods as well as himself that we may know that you are Gods He puts his Deity to stand or fall upon this account and this should be the point which should decide the controversy whether he or the Heathen Idols were the true God the dispute is managed by this medium He that knows things to come is God I know things to come ergo I am God the Idols know not things to come therefore they are not Gods God submits the Being of his Deity to this Tryal If God know things to come no more than the Heathen Idols which were either Devils or men he would be in his own account no more a God than Devils or men no more a God than the Pagan Idols he doth scoff at for this defect If the Heathen Idols were to be stript of their Deity for want of this foreknowledg of things to come would not the true God also fall from the same excellency if he were defective in Knowledg he would in his own judgment no more deserve the Title and Character of a God than they How could he reproach them for that if it were wanting in himself It cannot be understood of future things in their causes when the effects necessarily arise from such causes as Light from the Sun and Heat from the Fire many of these men know more of them Angels and Devils know if God therefore had not a higher and farther Knowledg than this he would not by this be proved to be God any more than Angels and Devils who know necessary effects in their causes The Devils indeed did predict some things in the Heathen Oracles but God is differenced from them here by the infiniteness of his Knowledg in being able to predict things to come that they knew not or things in their particularities things that depended on the liberty of mans Will which the Devils could lay no claim to a certain knowledg of Were it only a conjectural knowledg that is here meant the Devils might answer they can conjecture and so their Deity were as good as Gods for tho' God might know more things and conjecture nearer to what would be yet still it would be but conjectural and therefore not a higher kind of Knowledg than what the Devils might challenge How much then is God beholden to the Socinians for denying the knowledg of all future things to him upon which here he puts the trial of his Deity God asserts his knowledg of things to come as a manifest evidence of his Godhead those that deny therefore the Argument that proves it deny the conclusion too for this will necessarily follow that if he be God because he knows future things then he that doth not know future things is not God and if God knows not future things but only by conjecture then there is no God because a certain knowledg so as infallibly to predict things to come is an inseparable Perfection of the Deity It was therefore well said of Austin that it was as high a madness to deny God to be as to deny him the foreknowledg of things to come The whole Prophetick part of Scripture declares this Perfection of God every Prophets Candle was lighted at this Torch they could not have this foreknowledg of themselves Why might not many other men have the same insight if it were by nature it must be from some superior Agent Pacuvius said Siqui quae eventura sunt provident aeqâ—â— parent Gell. lib. 14. c. 1. and all Nations owned Prophecy as a Beam from God a fruit of Divine Illumination Prophecy must be totally expunged if this be denyed for the subjects of Prophecy are things future and no man is properly a Prophet but in Prediction now Prediction is nothing but foretelling and things foretold are not yet come and the foretelling of them supposeth them not to be yet but that they shall be in time several such Predictions we have in Scripture the event whereof hath been certain The years of Famine in Egypt foretold that he would order second causes for bringing that Judgment upon them the Captivity of his People in Babylon the calling of the Gentiles the rejection of the Jews Daniels Revelation of Nebuchadnezzars Dream that Prince refers to God as the revealer of Secrets Dan. 2.47 By the same reason that he knows one thing future by himself and by the infiniteness of his Knowledg before any causes of them appear he doth know all things future 3. Some future things are known by men and we must allow God a greater Knowledg than any Creature Future things in their Causes may be known by Angels and men as I said before whosoever knows necessary causes and the efficacy of them may foretell the effects and when he sees the meeting and concurrence of several causes together he may presage what the consequent effect will be of such a concurrence So Physicians foretel the Progress of a Disease the increase or diminution of it by natural Signs and Astronomers foretel Eclipses
by their observation of the motion of Heavenly Bodies many years before they happen Cusanus can they be hid from God with whom are the reasons of all things Fuller's Pifgab l. 2. p. 2â—1 an expert Gardener by knowing the Root in the depth of Winter can tell what Flowers and what Fruit it will bear and the Month when they will peep out their heads and shall not God much more that knows the Principles of all his Creatures and is exactly privy to all their natures and qualities know what they will be and what operations shall be from those Principles Now if God did know things only in their causes his Knowledg would not be more excellent than the knowledg of Angels and men tho' he might know more than they of the things that will come to pass from every cause singly and from the concurrence of many Now as God is more excellent in Being than his Creature so he is more excellent in the objects of his Knowledg and the manner of his Knowledg well then shall a certain knowledg of something future and a conjectural knowledg of many things be found among men and shall a determinate and infallible knowledg of things to come be found no where in no Being If the conjecture of future things savours of ignorance and God knows them only by conjecture there is then no such thing in Being as a perfect intelligent Being and so no God 4. God knows his own Decree and Will and therefore must needs know all future things If any thing be future or to come to pass it must be from it self or from God not from it self then it would be independent and absolute if it hath its futurity from God then God must know what he hath decreed to come to pass those things that are future in necessary causes God must know because he willed them to be causes of such effects he therefore knows them because he knows what he willed The knowledg of God cannot arise from the things themselves for then the knowledg of God would have a cause without him and Knowledg which is an eminent Perfection would be conferred upon him by his Creatures But as God sees things possible in the glass of his own power so he sees things future in the Glass of his own Will in his effecting Will if he hath Decreed to produce them in his permitting Will as he hath Decreed to suffer them and dispose of them Nothing can pass out of the rank of things meerly possible into the order of things future before some Act of Gods Will hath passed for its futurition Chequell 'T is not from the infiniteness of his own Nature simply considered that God knows things to be future Coccei sum Theol. p. 50. for as things are not future because God is infinite for then all possible things should be future so neither is any thing known to be future only because God is infinite but because God hath Decreed it his declaration of things to come is founded upon his appointment of things to come Coccei sum Theol. p. 50. In Isa 44.7 it is said and who as I shall call and declare it since I appointed the ancient people and the things that are coming Gamaul in Aquin Part 1. q. 14. cap. 3. p. 124. Nothing is Created or ordered in the World but what God Decreed to be Created and ordered God knows his own Decree and therefore all things which he hath Decreed to exist in time not the minutest part of the World could have existed without his Will not an action can be done without his Will as Life the Principle so Motion the fruit of that Life is by and from God as he decreed Life to this or that thing so he decreed motion as the effect of Life and Decreed to exert his Power in concurring with them for producing effects natural from such causes for without such a concourse they could not have acted any thing or produced any thing and therefore as for natural things which we call necessary causes God foreseeing them all particularly in his own Decree foresaw also all effects which must necessarily flow from them because such causes cannot but act when they are furnisht with all things necessary for action He knows his own Decrees and therefore necessarily knows what he hath Decreed or else we must say things come to pass whether God will or no or that he Wills he knows not what but this cannot be for known unto God are all his Works from the beginning of the World Acts 15.18 Now this necessarily flows from that Principle first laid down That God knows himself since nothing is future without Gods Will if God did not know future things he would not know his own Will for as things possible could not be known by him unless he knew the fulness of his own Power so things future could not be known by his Understanding unless he knew the resolves of his own Will Maimonid More Nevoch Part 3. Cap. 21. P. 393. 394. Thus the Knowledg of God differs from the Knowledg of men Gods knowledg of his Works precedes his Works mans knowledg of Gods works follows his works just as an Artificers knowledg of a Watch Instrument or Engine which he would make is before his making of it he knows the motions of it and the reason of those motions before it is made because he knows what he hath determin'd to Work he knows not those motions from the consideration of them after they were made as the Spectator doth who by viewing the Instrument after it is made gains a knowledg from the sight and consideration of it till he understands the reason of the whole so we know things from the consideration of them after we see them in being and therefore we know not future things But Gods Knowledg doth not arise from things because they are but because he Wills them to be and therefore he knows every thing that shall be because it cannot be without his Will as the Creator and maintainer of all things knowing his own substance he knows all his Works 5. If God did not know all future things he would be mutable in his Knowledg If he did not know all things that ever were or are to be there would be upon the appearance of every new object an addition of Light to his Understanding and therefore such a Change in him as every new knowledg causes in the mind of a man or as the Sun works in the World upon its rising every morning scattering the darkness that was upon the face of the Earth if he did not know them before they came he would gain a knowledg by them when they came to pass which he had not before they were effected his Knowledg would be new according to the newness of the objects and multiplyed according to the multitude of the objects If God did not know things to come as perfectly as he knew things
future things turn his mind from present but he sees them not one after another but all at once and all together the whole Circle of his own Counsels and all the various Lines drawn forth from the Center of his Will to the circumference of his Creatures Just as if a man were able in one moment to read a whole Library or as if you should imagine a transparent Chrystal Globe hung up in the midst of a Room and so framed as to take in the images of all things in the Room the Fret-Work in the Cieling the in-laid parts of the Floor and the particular parts of the Tapestry about it the eye of a man would behold all the Beauty of the Room at once in it As the Sun by one light and heat frames sensible things so God by one simple act knows all things As he knows mutable things by an immutable knowledg bodily things by a spiritual knowledg so he knows many things by one knowledg Heb. 4.13 All things are open and naked to him more than any one thing can be to us and therefore he views all things at once as well as we can behold and contemplate one thing alone As he is the Father of Lights a God of infinite Understanding there is no variableness in his mind nor any shadow of turning of his eye as there is of ours to behold various things James 1.17 his Knowledg being Eternal includes all times there is nothing past or future with him and therefore he beholds all things by one and the same manner of knowledg and comprehends all knowable things by one act and in one moment This must needs be so 1. Because of the eminency of God God is above all and therefore cannot but see the motions of all He that sits in a Theater or at the top of a place sees all things all persons by one aspect he comprehends the whole Circle of the place whereas he that sits below when he looks before he cannot see things behind God being above all about all in all sees at once the motions of all The whole World in the eye of God is less than a Point that divides one Sentence from another in a Book as a Cypher a grain of Dust Isa 40.15 so little a thing can be seen by man at once and all things being as little in the eye of God are seen at once by him As all Time is but a moment to his Eternity so all things are but as a point to the immensity of his Knowledg which he can behold with more ease than we can move or turn our eye 2. Because all the Perfections of Knowing are united in God Cusan p. 646. As particular senses are divided in man by one he Sees by another he Hears by another he Smells yet all those are united in one common sense and this common sense apprehends all so the various and distinct ways of knowledg in the Creatures are all eminently united in God A man when he sees a grain of Wheat understands at once all things that can in Time proceed from that Seed so God by beholding his own vertue and power beholds all things which shall in time be unfolded by him We have a shadow of this way of knowledg in our own Understanding the sence only perceives a thing present and one object only proper and suitable to it as the eye sees colour the ear hears sounds we see this and that man one time this another minute that but the understanding abstracts a notion of the common nature of man and frames a conception of that nature wherein all men agree and so in a manner beholds and understands all men at once by understanding the common nature of man which is a degree of knowledg above the sense and fancy we may then conceive an infinite vaster Perfection in the Understanding of God As to know is simply better than not to know at all so to know by one act comprehensive is a greater Perfection than to know by divided acts by succession to receive information and to have an increase or decrease of knowledg to be like a Bucket alway descending into the Well and fetching Water from thence 'T is a mans weakness that he is fixed on one object only at a time 't is Gods Perfection that he can behold all at once and is fixed upon one no more than upon another Proposition 3. God knows all things independently This is Essential to an infinite Understanding He receives not his knowledg from any thing without him he hath no Tutor to instruct him or Book to inform him who hath been his Counsellor saith the Prophet Isa 40.13 he hath no need of the Counsels of others nor of the instructions of others This follows upon the first and second Propositions if he knows things by his Essence then as his Essence is independent from the Creatures so is his Knowledg he borrows not any images from the Creature hath no species or pictures of things in his Understanding as we have no Beams from the Creature strike upon him to enlighten him but Beams from him upon the World the Earth sends not Light to the Sun but the Sun to the Earth Our knowledg indeed depends upon the object but all Created objects depend upon Gods Knowledg and Will We could not know Creatures unless they were but Creatures could not be unless God knew them As nothing that he Wills is the cause of his Will so nothing that he knows is the cause of his Knowledg he did not make things to know them but he knows them to make them Who will imagine that the mark of the foot in the Dust is the cause that the foot stands in this or that particular place If his knowledg did depend upon the things then the existence of things did precede Gods knowledg of them to say that they are the cause of Gods Knowledg is to say that God was not the cause of their Being and if he did Create them it was effected by a blind and ignorant power he Created he knew not what till he had produced it If he be beholden for his Knowledg to the Creatures he hath made he had then no knowledg of them before he made them If his knowledg were dependant upon them it could not be Eternal but must have a beginning when the Creatures had a beginning and be of no longer a date than since the nature of things was in actual existence for whatsoever is a cause of knowledg doth precede the knowledg it causes either in order of time or order of nature Temporal things therefore cannot be the cause of that knowledg which is Eternal His Works could not be foreknown to him if his Knowledg commenc'd with the existence of his Works If he knew them before he made them Act 15.18 he could not derive a knowledg from them after they were made He made all things in Wisdom Psal 104.24 how can this be imagin'd if
the things known were the cause of his Knowledg and so before his knowledg and therefore before his action Bradward lib. 1. cap. 15. God would not then be the first in the order of knowing Agents because he would not act by Knowledg but act before he knew and know after he had acted and so the Creature which he made would be before the act of his Understanding whereby he knew what he made Again since Knowledg is a Perfection if Gods knowledg of the Creatures depended upon the Creatures he would derive an excellency from them they would derive no excellency from any Idea in the Divine mind he would not be infinitely perfect in himself if his Perfection in Knowledg were gained from any thing without himself and below himself he would not be sufficient of himself but be under an indigence which wanted a supply from the things he had made and could not be eternally perfect till he had created and seen the effects of his own Power Goodness and Wisdom to render him more wise and knowing in Time than he was from Eternity Who can fancy such a God as this without destroying the Deity he pretends to adore for if his Understanding be perfected by something without him why may not his Essence be perfected by something without him that as he was made knowing by something without him he might be made God by something without him How could his Understanding be infinite if it depended upon a finite object as upon a cause Is the Majesty of God to be debas'd to a Mendicant condition to seek for a supply from things inferior to himself Is it to be imagin'd that a Fool a Toad a Fly should be assistant to the knowledg of God that the most noble Being should be perfected by things so vile that the supream cause of all things should receive any addition of knowledg and be determin'd in his Understanding by the notion of things so mean To conclude this particular all things depend upon his knowledg his knowledg depends upon nothing but is as independent as himself and his own Essence Proposition 4. God knows all things distinctly His understanding is infinite in regard of clearness God is light and in him is no darkness at all John 1.5 he sees not through a Mist or Cloud there 's no blemish in his Understanding no mote or beam in his eye to render any thing obscure to him Man discerns the surface and outside of things little or nothing of the Essence of things we see the noblest things but as in a glass darkly 1 Cor. 13.12 the too great nearness as well as the too great distance of a thing hinders our sight the smallness of a mote escapes our eye and so our knowledg also the weakness of our understanding is troubled with the multitude of things and cannot know many things but confusedly But God knows the forms and essence of things every circumstance nothing is so deep but he sees to the bottom he sees the mass and sees the motes of Beings his Understanding being infinite is not offended with a multitude of things or distracted with the variety of them he discerns every thing infinitely more clearly and perfectly than Adam or Solomon could any one thing in the Circle of their knowledg What knowledg they had was from him he hath therefore infinitely a more perfect knowledg than they were capable in their natures to receive a communication of All things are open to him Heb. 4.13 the least fibre in its nakedness and distinct frame is transparent to him as by the help of Glasses the mouth feet hands of a small Insect are visible to a man which seem to the eye without that assistance one intire piece not diversified into parts All the causes qualities natures properties of things are open to him he brings out the Host of Heaven by number and calleth them by Names Isa 40.26 he numbers the Hairs of our heads what more distinct than number thus God beholds things in every unity which makes up the heap He knows and none else can every thing in its true and intimate causes in its original and intermediate causes in himself as the cause of every particular of their Being every Property in their Being Knowledg by the causes is the most noble and perfect Knowledg and most suited to the infinite excellency of the Divine Being he created all things and ordered them to a universal and particular end he therefore knows the essential Properties of every thing every activity of their nature all their fitness for those distinct ends to which he orders them and for which he governs and disposeth them and understands their darkest and most hidden qualities infinitely clearer than any eye can behold the clear Beams of the Sun He knows all things as he made them he made them distinctly and therefore knows them distinctly and that every individual therefore God is said Gen. 1.31 to see every thing that he had made he took a review of every particular Creature he had made and upon his view pronounced it good To pronounce that good which was not exactly known in every Creek in every Mite of its nature had not consisted with his veracity for every one that speaks truth ignorantly that knows not that he speaks Truth is a Liar in speaking that which is true God knows every act of his own Will whether it be positive or permissive and therefore every effect of his Will We must needs ascribe to God a perfect Knowledg but a confus'd Knowledg cannot challenge that Title To know things only in a heap is unworthy of the Divine Perfection for if God knows his own ends in the Creation of things he knows distinctly the means whereby he will bring them to those ends for which he hath appointed them No Wise man intends an end without a knowledg of the means conducing to that end an ignorance then of any thing in the World which falls under the nature of a means to a Divine end and there is nothing in the World but doth would be inconsistent with the Perfection of God it would ascribe to him a blind Providence in the World As there can be nothing imperfect in his Being and Essence so there can be nothing imperfect in his Understanding and Knowledg and therefore not a confus'd Knowledg which is an Imperfection Darkness and Light are both alike to him Psal 139.12 he sees distinctly into the one as well as the other what is Darkness to us is not so to him Proposition 5. God knows all things infallibly His Understanding is infinite in regard of certainty every Tittle of what he knows is as far from failing as what he speaks our Saviour affirms the one Math. 5.18 and there is the same reason of the certainty of one as well as the other his Essence is the measure of his Knowledg whence it is as impossible that God should be mistaken in the knowledg of the least