Maker would soon take me away He that set me in a rank and station of Being would remove me or rather throw me out of it again He that made Man hath thereby Sovereign Power over him By this Sovereign Power he hath right to appoint Man a Law to govern him And if Man transgress this Law he violates God's Sovereignty And therefore it belongs to God either to pardon or punish the Transgression And upon the account of both God is to be feared As he hath Power to punish so we are to fear him and as he hath Power to pardon so we ought to fear him also Psal 130. 4. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared And as God's Sovereign Power over Man as his Creator gives him this Right so his essential or Creating Power gives him ability to destroy the Creature which it gave Being to The Prophet Jeremy therefore bids the people not to fear the Heathen Idols 10. Jer. 5. And why For they cannot do evil neither is it in them to do good But then speaking of the true God adds v. 7. Who would not fear thee O King of Nations for to thee doth it appertain He can do Good and Evil he can save or destroy Man that made him and therefore fear appertains to him 3. Praise As the Psalmist calls upon the most inferior Beings to praise God as Beasts and all Cattle and creeping things how much more should Man praise God that hath so noble a Being David considering himself as God's Creature and Workmanship breaks forth into his praise 139. Psal I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made And then he speaks particularly how God drew out the Scheme of him in his Book and then how his members were fashioned and curiously wrought v. 15. 16. Now saith David I will praise thee Even as a curious piece of Work every one is ready to commend and praise The Philosopher could thank his God that he made him a Man and then for the advantages he afterwards conferred upon his humane Nature Ought we to praise God for our Food that preserves Life much more for Life it self that is better then Food Matth. 6. 25. 4. Submission Will he correct and chasten thee submit and give him reverence Do we so to the Fathers of our Flesh that are but instruments to give us our Flesh and shall we not much more do it to the Father of Spirits that is the Efficient and Creator of the Spirit As the Apostle argues 12. Heb. 9. Hath he made thee out of the clay as Job expresseth it Chap. 10. Hath he given thee Being and may he not dispose of it as he will Hath not the Potter power over the clay to make it and fashion it as he pleaseth He that built an House may alter it and change it yea and pull it down if he please God hath a twofold dominion over Man Dominium jurisdictionis proprietatis A Dominion of jurisdiction whereby to rule over us and a Dominion of property to dispose of us And both these are founded upon the highest and most Sovereign Right which is that of Creation 5. Dependance Thou hadst thy Being of him and thou hast it still in him As the Apostle puts both these together 17. Act. 28. We are his of-spring that is we have our Being of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and saith also We live move and Be in him Our preservation is but a continued Creation We subsist every moment in the first principle of our Being As the beams subsist in the Sun from whence they spring Thy Life depends more upon him then upon the Bread Man liveth not by Bread alone but by every word that commeth out of the mouth of God That word that first gave Man his life is that upon which it still principally depends And it is that which Job acknowledgeth Thou hast given me life and favour and thy visitation preserveth my spirit Job 10 9 10. Now this Natural dependance upon God should teach Man a Moral dependance upon him Man's state is passively a state of dependance and therefore his life should be actively a life of dependance Should we not then in all our ways acknowledge him And trust in him with all our Hearts and not leane to our own understanding 3. Pro. 5 6. what ever means thou usest for the welfare of thy Soul or Body yet depend not upon them but upon him that is the Creator of both Let that infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness out of which thy Being flowes be the objects of thy dependance for thy well being Especially seeing we have these ingaged to us if we are believers in an Everlasting Covenant to be exerted for our succor and supply in every time of need So that we may now depend upon him and commit our selves to him not only as a Wise Good and Powerful but as a Faithful Creator 1 Pet. 4. 19. Considering that the Soul and Body that were made by him are not under his care only by the common Laws of Creation and providence but by special Covenant 6. Obedience to his Law I mean his Written Law I know this Law comprehends in it all the foregoing duties which are in themselves Naturally moral and by vertue of God's Law are made Positively moral but yet this Law of God being of further extent I shall therefore speak of it under a distinct head God as Man's Creator hath right to appoint him the Law and Rule of his Life and Actions and so as his Creatures we owe him obedience All Creatures are passively under a Natural Law which the Creator did appoint to them and which is observed by them though many of them know it not But Man is under a Written Law which he is actively to obey He being a Reasonable Creature he is capable of knowing the rule and end of his being which the other Creatures are not And both these are laid down in the Scriptures Consider then 1. God is Man's Creator 2. He Created him for an End 3. He hath given him a Law and Rule to walk by in order to that End And hereupon Man lies under the highest obligation to Obedience it being the Law of him that made him And Man's obedience to God ought to be absolute Though it ought not to be so to Men because God's dominion over us is superior to that of all Men and so may supersede and over-rule it And if we think it our duty to obey Magistrates and Parents that have some inferior power over us how much more that God who hath a Supreme Power and that founded in the highest right which is that of Creation And let us particularly shew our obedience to his Law in our worship of him For as worship is due to God as our Creator as the Psalmist speaks 95. Psal Oh come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker so he hath right also thereby by to set
set before Job the Works of Creation Job thence concludes I know thou canst do every thing Job 42. 2. And the Psalmist having said Psal 33. 6. By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made c. And Vers 9. For be spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast He hence makes this Inference That his Counsel shall stand for ever and the thoughts of his Heart to all Generations His secret Counsel shall take place but that is not the Object of our Faith but his Counsel revealed in his Word And we may strengthen our Faith concerning it by looking upon him as the Creator of the World For when and wheresoever God speaks his Word never returns in vain when he spake in the Creation of the World his Word took place and so shall his Word in the Scripture where he is speaking in every Age of the World Inference Now from all this I have said we may consider how much it doth concern us to revive and strengthen upon our Souls the impressions of God's Being For though these Impressions be fundamentally in every Man's Nature yet in some they are more lively and operative than in others And it is no easie thing to preserve the powerful Sense of a Deity upon our hearts I mean such a Sense as may be prevalent to resist temptations and overpower the corruption of Nature For we see for the most part how this Seed of Nature is choaked in the hearts of men For this end let God be much in your sight behold him in the Works of his Creation and Providence and in all your wayes acknowledg him Concern him in all your Affairs converse much with him in Prayer endeavour to bring your Reasons under more powerful Convictions of the necessity of his Being And especially let Christians strengthen their Faith in it from the Word of God and the Evidence of the Spirit in their Hearts For it is an Act of Faith truly to believe God's Being as Heb. 11. 3. And it is one work that the Spirit is conversant about in the Hearts of Saints to strengthen this belief and to make it more efficacious upon their Hearts For this Faith hath its degrees as well as that which hath Christ the Promise or Heaven for its Object And by feeling the Divine Influences of the Spirit upon our Souls we may be more confirmed in this belief than by any Arguments from Reason He that would have the Boughs and Branches thrive doth seek to cherish the Root So all Religion growing originally out of this Root viz. the effectual belief of God's Being we should be daily strengthening it in our selves And as the withering of the Branches ariseth from the decay and rotting of the Root so if it be well examined mens decay in Religion their neglect of Duty and falling into immoralities and vicious practices doth radically spring from the decay of the belief and lively sense of God's Being in their Souls CHAP. VI. The several Moral Duties that result from Man to God as the Creator of the World Self-Debasement Dependance Awful-Fear Praise Admiration which is described in the Ground Kind and proper Effects of it BUt yet further to improve the Doctrine in hand I shall next speak of some other Duties which are more expresly in the Law of Nature and the great parts of Natural Worship and which a Christian by considering God as the Creator of the World is obliged to perform 1. Is to humble and debase our selves before him Considering him in the greatness of his Works which yet are but the shadow of his Greatness And if all Nations before him are but as the drop of a Bucket and the dust of the Ballance How humbly should this make us to walk before him and come unto him When David looked upon part of God's Creation in Psal 8. it had this effect upon him to make him shrink into a narrow compass of self-esteem O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the Earth thou hast set thy Glory above the Heavens And vers 3. When I consider thy Heavens the Work of thy Fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained What is Man that thou art mindful of him c And it was the course that God took with Job to take down his Spirit and to lay him at his foot to set himself before him as the Creator of the World Job 38. 3 4. Gird up now thy loyns like a man c. Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth Who hath laid the measures thereof if thou knowest Or who hath stretched the Line upon it c and so he proceeds in the following Chapters and it had this effect for he was brought hereby to acknowledg himself vile chap. 40. 4. and to ahhor himself and repent in dust and ashes Job 42. 6. The words may be read Wherefore I despise my self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that meant upon the account of his Parvity and Nothingness compared with the great God as well as his sinfulness and folly And to lie in the Dust is the deepest expression of an humbled Soul Or as one glosseth upon the words It grieves me what I have spoke against the great God Cum ipse pulvis sim abjectissimus when as I my self am but Dust and most contemptible Can a Man behold God in the vast Works of his Creation and not be self-debased and as it were self-annihilated thereby and say as one speaks Lord thou art an Abyss of Being and I of Nothing especially considering how infinitely his Greatness transcends them all They tell us that the Earth is but as a Punctum a small Point in comparison of the Heavens but Earth and Heaven both are less than a Punctum compared with the great God For there is some proportion betwixt Finite and Finite but none betwixt Finite and Infinite And therefore the Prophet Isaiah to express this infinite disproportion speaks thus Chap. 40. 17. All Nations before him are nothing and they are accounted to him less than nothing and vanity Which is to shew that betwixt him and the Works of his Creation there is indeed no proportion at all So that our minds may behold God's greatness in the greatness of his Works and much more in the littleness and nothingness of these Works compared with his Greatness and from both should lay us very low and humble us deeply before him It made Solomon have a mean opinion of the great House he had built considering the great God that was to dwell in it 1 Kings 8. 27. Behold the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee much less this House that I have builded It is Man's unacquaintedness with the great Creator of the World that makes him admire any greatness in himself or in the greatest things of this World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said the Philosopher Men that have true greatness of mind are not so apt to wonder as men of
in order to Conversion as their proper end and that end but for Man's voluntary Corruption would be thereby attained even in all I should next proceed to speak of those several Attributes of God's Being which are evidenced from the Works of Creation which are either mentioned in the Text or may be educed out of it And shew how they may all be improved to the service of True Christianity and to an higher degree then the highest Light and Power of Nature could ever attain to But this shall suffice for the present FINIS A CATALOGUE OF Some Books Printed for and Sold by Nathaniel Ranew at the Kings Armes in St. Paul's Church-yard Folio's THE Famous and Memorable Works of Josephus a Man of much honor and Learning among the Jews Translated out of Latine and French by Thomas Lodge Doctor in Physick whereunto are newly added the References of the Scriptures throughout the History with an Alphabetical Table of the most Material things therein contained in Folio Large A Body of Divinity or the Sum and Substance of Christian Religion Catechistically propounded and explained by way of Question and Answer Methodically and familiarly handled Whereunto is added Immanuel or the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God Composed by the Reverend James Vsher Bishop of Armagh in Folio Small Quarto's The Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are Glorified in that great and blessed VVork by William Bates D. D. in Quarto Of VVisdom three Books written in French by Peter Charron Doctor of Law in Paris Translated by Sampson Lenâ—ard in Quatro A Sermon Preached at High-Wickham in the County of Bucks wherein the Ministers Duty is Remembred their Dignity Asserted Man's Reconciliation with God urged by Samuel Gardner Chaplain to his Majesty in Quarto The Norfolk Feast A Sermon Preached at St. Dunstans being the day of the Anniversary Feast for that County by William â—â—â—â—thes Minister in that County in Quarto The Speech of Sr. Audley Mervyn Knight His Majesties prime Serjeant of Law and Speaker of the House of Commons in Ireland delivered to his Grace Duke of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland the 13th Febr. 1662. in the Presence Chamber in the Castle in Dublin Octavo's A Worthy Communicant or a Treatise shewing the due order of Receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper by Jeremiah Dyke in Octavo The Way to Salvation or the Doctrine of Life Eternal laid down from several Texts of Scripture opened and applyed fitted to the capacity of the meanest Christian and useful for all Families by John Hieron in Octavo Solitude Improved by Divine Meditation or a Treatise proving the Duty and Demonstrating the Necessity Excellency Usefulness Nature Kinds and Requisites of Divine Meditation first intended for a Person of Honour and now Published for general use by Nathaniel Ranew sometime Minister of Felsted in Essex in Octavo Moral Vertues Baptized Christian or the Necessity of Morality among Christians by William Shelton of Bursted Magna in Essex in Octavo The Burning of London in the Year 1666. Commemorated and Improved in a hundred and ten Meditations and Contemplations by Samuel Rolle Minister of the Gospel and sometime Fellow of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge in Octavo Natural Theology or the Knowledge of God from the Works of Creation Accommodated and Improved to the Service of Christianity by Matthew Barker in Octavo Christ and the Covenant the Work and way of Meditation God's Return to the Soul or Nation together with his preventing Mercy Delivered in Ten Sermons by William Bridge sometime Minister of Yarmouth The Sinfulness of Sin and the Fulness of Christ Delivered in two Sermons by the same Author The Vanity of the World by Ezekiel Hopkins in Octavo The Souls Ascension in the state of Separation by Isaac Loeffs in Octavo An Explication of the Assemblies lesser Catechisme by Samuel Winney in Octavo Iter Boreale with other select Poems being an exact Collection of all hitherto extant and some added never before Printed by Robert Wild D. D. in Octavo A Synopsis of Quakerisme or a Collection of the Fundamental Errors of the Quakers by Thomas Danson in Octavo A Poetical Meditation wherein the Usefulness Excellency and several perfections of Holy Scripture are briefly hinted by John Clarke in Octavo Twelves Correction Instruction or a Treatise of Affliction first Conceived by way of Private Meditation afterwards Digested into certain Sermons and now Published for the help and Comfort of humble suffering Christians by Tho. Case in Twelves The Poor doubting Christian drawn to Christ by Thomas Hooker of New-England in Twelves Ovids Metamorphosis in English verse by George Sandy ' s in Twelves Aesop's Fables in Prose with Cuts in Twelves The Principles of Christian Religion with a brief Method of the Doctrine thereof Corrected and Enlarged by the Reverend James Vsher Bishop of Armagh in Twelves A plain Discourse of the Mercy of having Godly Parents with the Duties of Children that have such Parents by M. Goddard in Twelves ΗΚΑÎΗ ΔΙΑΘΗΚΗ Novum Testamentum huic editioni omnia Difficiliorum vocabulorum Themata qua in Georgii Passoris Lexico Gramatice resolvunter in Margiâ—e apposuit Carolus Hoole in eorum 〈◊〉 gratiam qui primi Graecoe Linguae Tyrocinia faciunt in Twelves