you How many are to follow you Your Dominion lasts but for a short time too short to be a cause of any pride and glory in it God by a soveraign power can take you from them or them from you when he pleaseth The Traveller refresheth himself in the heat of Summer under a shady Tree how many have done so before him the same day he knows not and how many will have the benefit after before night comes he is as much ignorant of he and the others that went before him and follow after him use it for their refreshment but none of them can say they are the Lords of it The property is invested in some other person whom perhaps they know not the propriety of all you have is in God not truly in your selves Doth not that man deserve scorn from you who will play the proud fool in gay Clothes and attire which are known to be none of his own but borrowed Is it not the same case with every proud man though he hath a property in his Goods by the Law of the Land Is any thing you have your own truly Is it not lent you by the great Lord Is it not the same vanity in any of you to be proud of what you have as Gods loan to you as for such a one to be proud of what he hath borrowed of man And do you not make your selves as ridiculous to Angels and good Men who know that though it is yours in opposition to man yet it is not yours in opposition to God they are granted you only for your use as the Collar of Esses and Sword and other Ensigns of the chief Magistrate in the City pass through many hands in regard of the use of them but the propriety remains in the Community and body of the City Or as the Silver plate of a person that invites you to a Feast is for your use during the time of the invitation What ground is there to be proud of those things you are not the absolute Lords and Proprietors of but only have the use of them granted to you during the pleasure of the soveraign of the World 2. Praise and Thank fulness results from this doctrine of the Soveraignty of God 1. He is to be praised for his royalty Psal 145.1 I will extoll thee my God Oh King The Psalmist calls upon men five times to sing praise to him as the King of all the Earth Psal 47.6 7. Sing praises to God sing praises sing praises to our King sing praises For God is the King of all the Earth sing ye praises with understanding All Creatures even the inanimate ones are called upon to praise him because of the excellency of his Name and the supremacy of his Glory in the 148. Psal throughout and ver 13. That soveraign power that gave us hearts and tongues deserves to have them employ'd in his praises especially since he hath by the same hand given us so great matter for it As he is a soveraign we owe him thankfulness he doth not deal with us in a way of absolute Dominion he might then have annihilated us Since he hath as full a Dominion to reduce us to nothing as to bring us out of nothing Consider the absoluteness of his soveraignty in it self and you must needs acknowledge that he might have multipli'd precepts enjoyned us the observance of more than he hath done he might have made our tedder much shorter he might exact obedience and promise no reward for it he might dash us against the walls as a Potter doth his Vessel and no man have any just reason to say what dost thou Or why dost thou use me so A greater right is in him to use us in such a manner as we do sensible as well as insensible things And if you consider his dominion as it is capable to be exercised in a way of unquestionable Justice and submitted to the reason and judgments of Creatures he might have dealt with us in a smarter way than he hath hitherto done instead of one affliction we might have had a thousand He might have shut his own hands from pouring out any good upon us and ordered innumerable scourges to be prepared for us but he deals not with us according to the rights of his Dominion He doth not oppress us by the greatness of his Majesty he enters into Covenant with us and allures us by the Cords of a man and shews himself as much a merciful as an absolute soveraign 2. As he is a Proprietor we owe him thank fulness He is at his own choice whither he will bestow upon us any blessings or no the more value therefore his benefits deserve from us and the Donor the more sincere returns If we have any thing from the Creature to serve our turn 't is by the order of the chief proprietor He is the spring of honour and the fountain of supplies all Creatures are but as the conduit pipes in a great City which serve several houses with water but from the great spring All things are conveyed originally from his own hand and are dispensed from his Exchequer If this great soveraign did not order them you would have no more supplies from a Creature than you could have nourishment from a chip 'T is the Divine will in every thing that doth us good every favour from Creatures is but a smile from God an evidence of his Royalty to move us to pay a respect to him as the great Lord. Some Heathens had so much respect for God as to conclude that his Will and not their own prudence was the chief conductor of their affairs His Goodness to us calls for our thankfulness but his soveraignty calls for a higher elevation of it a smile from a Prince is more valued and thought worthy of more gratitude than a present from a Peasant A small gift from a great person is more greatefully to be received than a larger from an inferior person The condescension of Royalty magnifies the gift What is man that thou so great a Majesty art mindful of him to bestow this or that favour upon him is but a due reflection upon every blessing we receive Upon every fresh blessing we should acknowledge the donor and true proprietor and give him the honour of his Dominion His property ought to be thankfully own'd in every thing we are capable of consecrating to him As David after the liberal collection he had made for the building of the Temple own 's in his dedication of it to that use the propriety of God 1 Chron. 29.14 Who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort For all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee It was but a return of Gods own to him as the waters of the River are no other than the return to the Sea of what was taken from it Praise and Thankfulness is a Rent due from all mankind
new appearance the grace of God hath appeared * Tit. 1.11 6. Proposition A change of Laws by God argues no change in God when God abrogates some Laws which he had setled in the Church and enacts others I spake of this something the last day I shall only add this God commanded one thing to the Jews when the Church was in an infant state and removed those Laws when the Church came to some growth The Elements of the world were suted to the state of Children * Gal. 4.3 A Mother feeds not the Infant with the same diet as she doth when it is grown up Our Saviour acquainted not his Disciples with some things at one time which he did at another because they were not able to bear them Where was the change in Christs Will or in their growth from a state of weakness to that of strength A Physitian prescribes not the same thing to a person in health as he doth to one conflicting with a distemper nor the same thing in the beginning as he doth in the state or declination of the disease The Physicians Will and Skill are the same but the capacity and necessity of the Patient for this or that Medicine or method of proceeding are not the same VVhen God changed the Ceremonial Law there was no change in the Divine Will but an execution of his Will For when God commanded the observance of the Law he intended not the perpetuity of it nay in the Prophets he declares the cessation of it he decreed to command it but he decreed to command it only for such a time so that the abrogation of it was no less an execution of his Decree than the establishment of it for a season was The commanding of it was pursuant to his Decree for the appointing of it and the nulling of it was pursuant to his Decree of continuing it only for such a season So that in all this there was no change in the Will of God The Counsel of God stands sure what changes soever there are in the World are not in God or his Will but in the events of things and the different relations of things to God 'T is in the Creature not in the Creator The Sun alway remains of the same hue and is not discoloured in it self because it shines green through a green Glass and blew through a blew Glass the different colours come from the Glass not from the Sun The change is alway in the disposition of the Creature not in the Nature of God or his Will 5. Vse 1. For Information 1. If God be unchangeable in his Nature and Immutability be a Property of God Then Christ hath a Divine Nature This in the Psalm is applyed to Christ in the Hebrews Heb. 1.11 where he joyns the citation out of this Psalm with that out of Psalm 45.6 7. Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the Oyl of Gladness above thy Fellows and thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the Foundation of the Earth c. As the first must necessarily be meant of Christ the Mediator and therein he his distinguish'd from God as one anointed by him so the other must be meant of Christ whereby he is made one with God in regard of the Creation and Dissolution of the World in regard of Eternity and Immutability Both the Testimonies are linkt together by the Copulative and and thou Lord declaring thereby that they are both to be understood of the same Person the Son of God The design of the Chapter is to prove Christ to be God and such things are spoken of him as could not belong to any Creature no not to the most excellent of the Angels The same Person that is said to be anointed above his Fellows and is said to lay the Foundation of the Earth and Heavens is said to be the same that is the same in himself The Prerogative of sameness belongs to that Person as well as Creation of Heaven and Earth The Socinians say it is spoken of God and that God shall destroy the Heavens by Christ If so Christ is not a meer Creature not created when he was incarnate for the same Person that shall change the World did create the World If God shall change the world by him God also created the world by him He was then before the world was for how could God create the world by one that was not That was not in Being till after the Creation of the world The Heavens shall be changed but the Person who is to change the Heavens is said to be the same or unchangeable in the Creation as well as the Dissolution of of the world This sameness referrs to the whole Sentence * Placeus de deitate Christi The Psalm wherein the Text is and whence this in the Hebrews is cited is properly meant of Christ and Redemption by him and the compleating of it at the last day and not of the Babylonish captivity That captivity was not so deplorable as the state the Psalmist describes Daniel and his Companions flourished in that Captivity It could not reasonably be said of them that their days were consumed like Smoke their heart withered like Grass that they forgot to eat their Bread * as it is V. 3.4 Besides he complains of shortness of Life * V. 11. But none had any more reason to complain of that in the time of the Captivity than before and after it than at any other time Their Deliverance would contribute nothing to the natural length of their lives Besides when Sion should be built the Heathen should fear the Name of the Lord that is worship God and all the Kings of the Earth his Glory * V. 15. The rearing the second Temple after the deliverance did not proselyte the Nations nor did the Kings of the Earth worship the Glory of God nor did God appear in such Glory at the erecting the second Temple The second Temple was less glorious than the first for it wanted some of the Ornaments which were the Glory of the first But it is said of this state * Ver. 16. that when the Lord should build up Sion he should appear in his Glory his proper Glory and extraordinary Glory Now that God who shall appear in Glory and build up Sion is the Son of God the Redeemer of the World He builds up the Church he causes the Nations to fear the Lord and the Kings of the Earth his Glory He broke down the partition Wall and opened a Door for the entrance of the Gentiles He struck the Chains from off the Prisoners and loosed those that were appointed to death by the Curse of the Law * Ver. 20. And to this Person is ascribed the Creation of the World and he is pronounced to remain the same in the midst of an infinite number of changes in
out By this means what God is infinitely by Nature we shall come tâ— be finitely immutable by Grace as much as the capacity of a Creature can contain GODS OMNIPRESENCE Jeremiah 23.24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord THE occasion of this Discourse begins vers 16. where God admonisheth the people not to hearken to the words of the false Prophets which spake a Vision of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They made the people vain by their Insinuations of Peace when God had proclaimed War and Calamity and uttered the Dreams of their Phansies and not the Visions of the Lord and so turned the people from the expectation of the evil day which God had threatned ver 17. They say still unto them that despise me The Lord hath said Ye shall have peace and they say unto every one that walks after the Imagination of his own heart No evil shall come upon you And they invalidate the Prophesies of those whom God had sent v. 18. Who hath stood in the Counsel of the Lord and hath perceived and heard his word Who hath marked his word and heard it Who hath stood in the Counsel of the Lord Are they acquainted with the Secrets of God more than we Who have the word of the Lord if we have not Or it may be a continuation of Gods Admonition Believe not those Prophets for who of them have been acquainted with rhe Secrets of God or by what means should they learn his Counsel No assure your selves a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury even a grievous whirlwind it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked v. 19. A whirlwind shall come from Babylon 't is just at the door and shall not be blown over it shall fall with a witness upon the wicked people and the deceiving Prophets and sweep them together into Captivity For v. 20. The anger of the Lord shall not return until he have executed and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart My fury shall not be a childish fury that quickly languisheth but shall accomplish whatsoever I threaten and burn so hot as not to be cool till I have satisfied my vengeance in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly v. 20. when the storm shall beat upon you you shall then know that the Calamities shall answer the words you have heard When the Conquerour shall waste your Grounds demolish your Houses and manacle your hands then shall you consider it and have the wishes of Fools that you had had your eyes in your heads before you shall then know the falsness of your Guides and the truth of may Prophets and discern who stood in the Counsel of the Lord and subscribe to the Messages I have sent you Some understand this not only of the Babylonish Captivity but refer it to the time of Christ and the false Doctrine of mens own Righteousness in opposition to the Righteousness of God understanding this Verse to be partly a threatning of Wrath which shall end in an advantage to the Jews who shall in the latter time consider the falsness of their Notions about a legal Righteousness and so make it a promise they shall then know the intent of the Scripture and in the latter days the latter end of the World when time shall be near the rouling up they shall reflect upon themselves they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and till these latter days they shall be hardned and believe nothing of Evangelical truths Now God denieth that he sent those Prophets v. 21. I have not sent these Prophets yet they ran I have not spoken to them yet they prophesyed They have intruded themselves without a Commission from me whatsoever their Brags are The reason to prove it is v. 22. If they had stood in my Counsel if they had been instructed and inspired by me they would have caused my people to hear my words they would have regulated themselves according to my word and have turned them from their evil way i. e. endeavoured to shake down their false confidences of peace and make them sensible of their false Notions of me and my ways Now because those false Prophets could not be so impudent as to boast that they prophecied in the Name of God when they had not Commission from him unless they had some secret Sentiment that they and their intentions were hid from the Knowledg and Eye of God He adds v. 23. Am I a God at hand and not a God a far off Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him Have I not the power of seeing and knowing what they do what they design what they think Why should I not have such a power since I fill Heaven and Earth by my essence Am I a God at hand and not a God afar off He excludes here the Doctrine of those that excluded the Providence of God from extending its self to the inferior things of the earth which error was ancient as ancient as the time of Job as appears by their opinion That Gods eyes were hood-winkt and mufled by the thickness of the Clouds and could not pierce through their dark and dense body * Job 22.14 Thick clouds are a covering to him that he seeth not * Munster Vatablus Castalio Oecolamp Some refer it to time Do you imagine me a God new fram'd like your Idols beginning a little time ago and not existing before the foundation of the World yea from Eternity a God afar off further than your acutest understandings can reach I am of a longer standing and you ought to know my Majesty But it rather refers to place than time Do you think I do not behold every thing in the earth as well as in Heaven Am I lockt up within the walls of my Palace and cannot peep out to behold the things done in the World or that am I so linkt to pleasure in the place of my Glory as earthly Kings are in their Courts that I have no mind or leasure to take notice of the carriages of men upon earth God doth not say He was a far off but only gives an account of the inward thoughts of their minds or at least of the Language exprest by their Actions The Interrogation carries in it a strong Affirmation and assures us more of Gods care and the folly of men in not considering it Am I a God at hand and not a God afar off Can any hide himself in secret places Heb. in Hiddenesses in the deepest Cells What are you besotted by your base Lusts that you think me a God careless ignorant blind that I can see nothing but as a purblind man what is very near my eye Are you so out of your wits that you imagine you can deceive me Do not all your behaviours speak such a Sentiment to
composition and it could not be said that God is here or there but only a part of God here and a part of God there But he fills Heaven and Earth he is as much a God in the Earth beneath as in Heaven above * Deut. 4.39 intirely in all places not by scraps and fragments of his Essence 3. This Essential Presence is not by Multiplication For that which is infinite cannot multiply it self or make it self more or greater than it was 4. This Essential Presence is not by extension or diffusion As a piece of Gold may be beaten out to cover a large compass of ground no if God should Create Millions of Worlds he would be in them all not by stretching out his Being but by the Infiniteness of his Being not by a new growth of his Being but by the same Essence he had from Eternity Upon the same reasons mention'd before his Simplicity and Indivisibility 5. But Totally There is no space not the least wherein God is not wholly according to his Essence and wherein his whole Substance doth not exist not a part of Heaven can be design'd wherein the Creator is not wholly as he is in one part of Heaven he is in every part of Heaven Some kind of resemblance we may have from the water of the Sea which fills the great space of the World and is diffused through all yet the Essence of Water is in every drop of Water in the Sea as much as the whole and the same quality of Water tho' it comes short in quantity and why shall we not allow God a nobler way of Presence without diffusion as is in that Or take this resemblance since God likens himself to Light in the Scripture * Psal 104.2 1 John 1.5 God is Light and in him is no darkness at all he covereth himself with Light A Chrystal Globe hung up in the Air hath Light all about it all within it every part is pierced by it whereever you see the Chrystal you see the Light the Light in one part of the Chrystal cannot be distinguisht from the Light in the other part and the whole Essence of Light is in every part and shall not God be as much present with his Creatures as one Creature can be with another * Bernard God is totally every where by his own simple substance Proposition 4. God is present beyond the World He is within and above all places though places should be infinite in number as he was before and beyond all Time so he is above and beyond all place being from Eternity before any real time he must also be without as well a within any real space if God were only confin'd to the World he would be no more infinite in his Essence than the World is in quantity as a moment cannot be conceived from Eternity wherein God was not in Being so a space cannot be conceived in the mind of man wherein God is not present he is not contained in the World nor in the Heavens * 1 Kings 8.27 But will God indeed dwell on the Earth Behold the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain Thee Solomon wonders that God should appoint a Temple to be erected to him upon the Earth when he is not contained in the vast Circuit of the Heavens his Essence is not straitned in the limits of any Created work he is not contained in the Heavens i. e. in the manner that he is there but he is there in his Essence and therefore cannot be contain'd there in his Essence If it should be meant only of his Power and Providence it would conclude also for his Essence if his Power and Providence were infinite his Essence must be so too for the infiniteness of his Essence is the ground of the infiniteness of his Power It can never enter into any thought that a finite Essence can have an infinite Power and that an infinite Power can be without an infinite Essence it cannot be meant of his Providence as if Solomon should say the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thy Providence for naming the Heaven of Heavens that which encircles and bounds the other parts of the World he could not suppose a Providence to be exercis'd where there was no object to exercise it about as no Creature is mention'd to be beyond the uttermost Heaven which he calls here the Heaven of Heavens Besides to understand it of his Providence doth not consist with Solomon's admiration He wonders that God that hath so immense an Essence should dwell in a Temple made with hands he could not so much wonder at his Providence in those things that immediately concern his Worship Solomon plainly asserts this of God That he was so far from being bounded within the rich Wall of the Temple which with so much Cost he had fram'd for the Glory of his Name that the richer Palace of the Heaven of Heavens could not contain him 't is true it could not contain his Power and Wisdom because his Wisdom could contrive other kind of Worlds and his Power erect them But doth the meaning of that wise King reach no farther than this Will the Power and Wisdom of God reside on the Earth He was too wise to ask such a question since every object that his eyes met with in the World resolv'd him That the Wisdom and Power of God dwelt upon the Earth and glitter'd in every thing he had Created and Reason would assure him That the Power that had fram'd this World was able to frame many more But Solomon considering the immensity of Gods Essence wonders that God should order a House to be built for him as if he wanted Roofs and Coverings and Habitation as bodily Creatures do Will God indeed dwell in a Temple who hath an Essence so immense as not to be contain'd in the Heaven of Heavens 't is not the Heaven of Heavens that can contain Him his Substance Here he asserts the immensity of his Essence and his Presence not only in the Heaven but beyond the Heavens he that is not contain'd in the Heavens as a man is in a Chamber is without and above and beyond the Heavens 't is not said they do not contain him but it is impossible they should contain him they cannot contain him 'T is impossible then but that he should be above them he that is without the compass of the World is not bounded by the limits of the World as his Power is not limited by the things he hath made but can Create innumerable Worlds so can his Essence be in innumerable spaces for as he hath power enough to make more Worlds so he hath Essence enough to fill them and therefore cannot be confin'd to what he hath already Created innumerable Worlds cannot be a sufficient place to contain God he can only be a sufficient place to himself * Petar He that was before the World and place and all things was to himself a World a Place and
Worship He is present to observe and present to accept our Petitions and answer our Suits Good men have not only the Essential Presence which is common to all but his gracious presence not only the presence that flows from his nature but that which flows from his Promise his Essential Presence makes no difference between this and that man in regard of Spirituals without this in conjunction with it his nature is the cause of the Presence of his Essence his Will engag'd by his Truth is the cause of the Presence of his Grace He promis'd to meet the Israelites in the place where he should set his name and in all places where he doth Record it Exod. 20.4 In all places where I Record my Name I will come unto thee and I will Bless thee in every place where I shall manifest the special Presence of my Divinity In all places hands may be lifted up without doubting of his ability to hear he dwells in the contrite Hearts wherever it is most in the exercise of contrition which is usually in times of special Worship Isa 57.15 and that to revive and refresh them Habitation notes a special Presence tho' he dwell in the highest Heavens in the sparklings of his Glory he dwells also in the lowest Hearts in the beams of his Grace as none can expel him from his Dwelling in Heaven so none can reject him from his residence in the heart The Tabernacle had his peculiar Presence fixed to it Levit. 26.11 his Soul should not abhor them as they are washed by Christ tho' they are loathsom by Sin In a greater dispensation there cannot be a less Presence since the Church under the New Testament is called the Temple of the Lord wherein he will both dwell and walk 2 Cor. 6.6 Or. I will indwell in them as if he should say I will dwell in and in them I will dwell in them by Grace and walk in them by exciting their Graces he will be more intimate with them than their own Souls and converse with them as the Living God i. e. as a God that hath Life in himself and Life to convey to them in their Converse with him and shew his Spiritual Glory among them in a greater measure than in the Temple since that was but a heap of Stones and the figure of the Christian Church the mystical Body of his Son His presence is not less in the Substance than it was in the Shadow this Presence of God in his Ordinances is the Glory of a Church as the Presence of a King is the Glory of a Court the Defence of it too as a Wall of Fire Zech. 2.5 alluding to the Fire Travellers in a Wilderness made to fright away wild Beasts 'T is not the meaness of the place of Worship can exclude him the second Temple was not so magnificent as the first of Solomon's Erecting and the Jews seem to despond of so glorious a Presence of God in the second as they had in the first because they thought it not so good for the entertainment of him that inhabits Eternity but God comforts them against this conceit again and again Hag. 2.3.4 Be strong Be strong Be strong I am with you the meaness of the place shall not hinder the grandeur of my Presence no matter what the Room is so it be the Presence-Chamber of the King wherein he will favour our Suits he can every where slide into our Souls with a perpetual sweetness since he is every where and so intimate with every one that fears him If we should see God on Earth in his amiableness as Moses did should we not be encouraged by his Presence to present our Requests to him to Eccho out our Praises of him and have we not as great a ground now to do it since he is as really present with us as if he were visible to us he is in the same room with us as near to us as our Souls to our Bodies not a word but he hears not a motion but he sees not a breath but he perceives he is through all he is in all 4. The Omnipresence of God is a comfort in all special Services God never puts any upon a hard task but he makes Promises to encourage them and assist them and the matter of the Promise is that of his Presence so he did assure the Prophets of Old when he set them difficult tasks and strengthned Moses against the Face of Pharaoh by assuring him he would be with his Mouth Exod. 4.12 and when Christ put his Apostles upon a Contest with the whole World to Preach a Gospel that would be Foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling Block to the Jews he gives them a Cordial only compos'd of his Presence Math. 28.20 I will be with you 't is this presence scatters by its Light the darkness of our Spirits 'T is this that is the cause of what is done for his Glory in the World 't is this that mingles its self with all that is done for his Honour 't is this from whence springs all the assistance of his Creatures markt out for special purposes 5. This Presence is not without the special Presence of all his Attributes Where his Essence is his Perfections are because they are one with his Essence yea they are his Essence tho' they have their several degrees of manifestation As in the Covenant he makes over himself as our God not a part of himself but his whole Deity so in promising of his Presence he means not a part of it but the whole the Presence of all the Excellencies of his nature to be manifested for our good 'T is not a piece of God is here and another parcel there but God in his whole Essence and Perfections in his Wisdom to guide us his Power to protect and support us his Mercy to pity us his Fulness to refresh us and his Goodness to relieve us He is ready to sparkle out in this or that Perfection as the necessities of his People require and his own Wisdom directs for his own Honour So that being not far from us in any excellency of his nature we can quickly have recourse to him upon any emergency so that if we are miserable we have the presence of his Goodness if we want direction we have the presence of his Wisdom if we are weak we have the presence of his Power and should we not rejoyce in it as a man doth in the Presence of a Powerful Wealthy and Compassionate Friend 3. USE of Exhortation 1. Let us be much in the actual Thoughts of his Truth How should we enrich our understandings with the knowledge of the Excellency of God whereof this is none of the least nor hath less of Honey in its Bowels tho' it be more Terrible to the Wicked than the Presence of a Lyon 't is this that makes all other excellencies of the Divine Nature sweet What would Grace
Heb. 4.12 As a Critick discerns every Letter Point and Stop he is more intimate with us than our Souls with our Bodies and hath more the Possession of us than we have of our selves he knows them by an inspection into the heart not by the Mediation of second causes by the looks or gestures of men as men may discern the Thoughts of one another 1. God discerns all good motions of the Mind and Will These he puts into men and needs must God know his own act he knew the Son of Jeroboam to have some good thing in him towards the Lord God of Israel 1 Kings 14.13 and the integrity of David and Hezekiah the freest motions of the Will and Affections to him Lord thou knowest that I love thee saith Peter John 21.17 Love can be no more restrain'd than the Will it self can A man may make another to grieve and desire but none can force another to Love 2. God discerns all the evil motions of the Mind and Will Every imagination of the Heart Gen. 6.5 the vanity of mens thoughts Psal 94.11 their inward darkness and deceitful disguises No wonder that God who fashion'd the heart should understand the motions of it Psal 33.13 15. He looks from Heaven and beholds all the Children of men he fashioneth their hearts alike and considers all their Works Doth any man make a Watch and yet be ignorant of its motion Did God fling away the Key to this secret Cabinet when he framed it and put off the power of unlocking it when he pleased He did not surely frame it in such a posture as that any thing in it should be hid from his Eye he did not fashion it to be Priviledged from his Government which would follow if he were ignorant of what was Minted and Coined in it He could not be a Judg to punish men if the inward frames and Principles of mens actions were concealed from him an outward action may glitter to an outward eye yet the secret spring be a desire of applause and not the Fear and Love of God If the inward frames of the heart did lye covered from him in the secret recesses of the heart those plausible acts which in regard of their Principles would merit a Punishment would meet with a Reward and God should bestow Happiness where he had denounced Misery As without the knowledg of what is just he could not be a Wise Law-giver so without the knowledg of what is inwardly committed he could not be a Righteous Judg acts that are rotten in the spring might be judged good by the fair colour and appearance This is the glory of God at the last day to manifest the secrets of all hearts 1 Cor. 4.5 and the Prophet Jeremiah links the power of Judging and the Prerogative of trying the Hearts together Jer. 11.20 but thou O Lord of Hosts that Judgest Righteously that tryest the Reins and the Heart and Jer. 17.10 I the Lord search the Heart I try the Reins to what end even to give every man according to his way and according to the fruit of his doings And indeed his binding up the whole Law with that command of not coveting evidenceth that he will Judg men by the inward affections and frames of their hearts Again God sustains the mind of man in every act of thinking In him we have not only the Principle of Life but every motion the motion of our minds as vvell as of our members In him we live and move c. Acts 17.28 Since he supports the vigor of the faculty in every act can he be ignorant of those acts vvhich spring from the faculty to vvhich he doth at that instant communicate povver and ability Novv this knovvledg of the Thoughts of men is 1. An incommunicable Property belonging only to the Divine Vnderstanding Creatures indeed may knovv the thoughts of others by Divine Revelation but not by themselves no Creature hath a Key immediately to open the minds of men and see all that lodgeth there no Creature can Fathom the heart by the Line of Created Knowledge Daille serm Part 1. p. 230. Devils may have a conjectural Knowledg and may guess at them by the acquaintance they have with the Disposition and Constitution of men and the Images they behold in their Fancies and by some marks which an inward imagination may stamp upon the Brain Blood Animal Spirits Face c. But the knowing the Thougnts meerly as Thought without any Impression by it is a Royalty God appropriates to himself as the main secret of his Government and a Perfection declarative of his Deity as much as any else Jer. 17.9 10. the heart of man is desperately wicked who can know it yes there is one and but one I the Lord search the Heart I try the Reins Man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks upon the Heart 1 Sam. 16.7 where God is distinguisht by this Perfection from all men whatsoever others may know by Revelation as Elisha did what was in Gehazi's heart 2 Kings 5.26 But God knows a man more than any man knows himself What person upon earth understands the windings and turnings of his own heart what reserves it will have what contrivances what inclinations all which God knows exactly 2. God acquires no new Knowledg of the thoughts and heart by the Discovery of them in the actions He would then be but equal in this part of Knowledg to his Creature no man or Angel but may thus arrive to the Knowledg of them God were then excluded from an absolute Dominion over the prime work of his lower Creation he would have made a Creature superior in this respect to himself upon whose Will to discover his knowledg of their inward intentions should depend and therefore when God is said to search the heart we must not understand it as if God were ignorant before and was fain to make an exact scrutiny and enquiry before he attained what he desired to know but God condescends to our capacity in the expression of his own Knowledg signifying that his Knowledg is as compleat as any mans Knowledg can be of the designs of others after he hath sifted them by a strict and through examination and wrung out a discovery of their intentions that he knows them as perfectly as if he had put them upon the rack and forced them to make a discovery of their secret Plottings Nor must we understand that in Gen. 22.12 where God saith after Abraham had stretched out his hand to Sacrifice his Son Now I know that thou fearest God as though God was ignorant of Abrahams gracious disposition to him did Abrahams drawing his Knife furnish God with a new Knowledg no God knew Abrahams pious inclinations before Gen. 18.19 I know him that he will command his Children after him c. Knowledg is sometimes taken for approbation then the sense will be now I approve this Fact as a Testimony of thy fear of me since thy
man that understands the disposition of his Child or Servant knows before what he will do upon such an occasion may not God much more who knows the inclinations of all his Creatures and from Eternity run with his eyes over all the works he intended Our Wills are in the number of causes and since God knows our Wills as causes better than we do our selves why should he be ignorant of the effects God determines to give Grace to such a man not to give it to another but leave him to himself and suffer such temptations to assault him now God knowing the corruption of man in the whole mass and in every part of it is it not easy for him to foreknow what the future actions of the Will will be when the Tinder and Fire meet together and how such a man will determine himself both as to the substance and manner of the action Is it not easy for him to know how a corrupted Temper and a Temptation will suit God is exactly privy to all the gall in the hearts of men and what Principles they will have before they have a Being He knows their thoughts afar off Psal 139.2 as far off as Eternity as some explain the words and thoughts are as voluntary as any thing he knows the power and inclinations of men in the order of second causes he understands the corruption of men as well as the Poyson of Dragons and the Venom of Asps this is laid up in store with him and sealed among his Treasures Deut. 32.33 34. Among the Treasures of his foreknowledg say some What was the cruelty of Hazael but a free act yet God knew the frame of his heart and what acts of murder and oppression would spring from that bitter fountain before Hazael had conceived them in himself 2 Kings 8.12 as a man that knows the Mineral through which Waters pass may know what rellish they will have before they appear above the earth so our Saviour knew how Peter would deny him he knew what quantity of Powder would serve for such a Battery in what measure he would let loose Satan how far he would leave the Reins in Peters hands and then the issue might easily be known and so in every act of man God knows in his own Will what measure of Grace he will give to determine the Will to good and what measure of Grace he will withdraw from such a person or not give to him and consequently how far such a person will fall or not God knows the inclinations of the Creature he knows his own Permissions what degrees of Grace he will either allow him or keep from him according to which will be the degree of his Sin This may in some measure help our Conceptions in this tho' as was said before the manner of Gods foreknowledg is not so easily explicable 3. Gods foreknowledg of mans voluntary actions doth not necessitate the Will of man The foreknowledg of God is not deceived nor the liberty of mans Will diminisht I shall not trouble you with any School distinctions but be as plain as I can laying down several Propositions in this case Proposition 1. 'T is certain all necessity doth not take away liberty Indeed a compulsive necessity takes away liberty but a necessity of immutability removes not liberty from God why should then a necessity of Infallibility in God remove liberty from the Creature God did necessarily create the World because he Decreed it yet freely because his Will from Eternity stood to it he freely Decreed it and freely created it as the Apostle saith in regard of Gods Decrees who hath been his Councellor Rom. 11.34 so in regard of his actions I may say who hath been his compeller he freely decreed and he freely created Jesus Christ necessarily took our flesh because he had covenanted with God so to do yet he acted freely and voluntarily according to that Covenant otherwise his Death had not been efficacious for us A good man doth naturally necessarily love his Children yet voluntarily 'T is part of the happiness of the Blessed to love God unchangeably yet freely for it would not be their happiness if it were done by compulsion What is done by force cannot be called felicity because there is no delight or complacency in it and tho' the Blessed love God freely yet if there were a possibility of change it would not be their Happiness their Blessedness would be dampt by their fear of falling from this Love and consequently from their nearness to God in whom their happiness consists God foreknows that they will Love him for ever but are they therefore compell'd for ever to love him If there were such a kind of constraint Heaven would be rendered burdensome to them and so no Heaven Again Gods foreknowledg of what he will do doth not necessitate him to do he foreknew that he would create a World yet he freely created a World Gods foreknowledg doth not necessitate himself why should it necessitate us more than himself We may instance in ourselves When we Will a thing we necessarily use our faculty of Will and when we freely Will any thing 't is necessary that we freely Will but this necessity doth not exclude but include liberty or more plainly when a man writes or speaks whilst he writes or speaks those actions are necessary because to speak and be silent to write and not to write at the same time are impossible yet our writing or speaking doth not take away the power not to write or to be silent at that time if a man would be so for he might have chose whether he would have spoke or writ So there is a necessity of such actions of man which God foresees that is a necessity of infallibility because God cannot be deceived but not a coactive necessity as if they were compelled by God to act thus or thus 2. No man can say in any of his voluntary actions that he ever found any force upon him When any of us have done any thing according to our Wills can we say we could not have done the contrary to it were we determin'd to it in our own intrinsick nature or did we not determine our selves Did we not act either according to our reason or according to outward allurements did we find any thing without us or within us that did force our Wills to the embracing this or that Whatever action you do you do it because you judg it fit to be done or because you will do it What tho' God foresaw that you would do so and that you would do this or that did you feel any force upon you did you not act according to your nature God foresees that you will Eat or Walk at such a time do you find any thing that moves you to Eat but your own appetite or to Walk but your own Reason and Will If Prescience had impos'd any necessity upon man should we not probably have found some kind of
been handed down to them by their Predecessors which Paul * 1 Tim. 6.20 entitles a Science falsly so called either meant of the Philosophers or the Gnosticks They presum'd that they were able to measure all things by their own Reason whence when the Apostle came to preach the Doctrine of the Gospel at Athens the great School of Reason in that Age they gave him no better a Title than that of a Babler Acts 17.18 and openly mocked him verse 32. a Seed gatherer ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that hath no more brain or sense than a Fellow that gathers up Seeds that are spilt in a Market or one that hath a vain and empty found without Sense or Reason like a foolish Mountebank so slightly did those Rationalists of the World think of the Wisdom of Heaven That the Son of God should veil himself in a Mortal Body and suffer a disgraceful Death in it were things above the ken of Reason Besides the World had a general disesteem of the Religion of the Jews and were prejudic'd against any thing that came from them Whence the Romans that used to incorporate the gods of other Conquer'd Nations in their Capitol never moved to have the God of Israel worshipped among them Again they might argue against it with much fleshly Reason Here is a Crucified God preached by a Company of Mean and Ignorant persons What Reason can we have to entertain this Doctrine since the Jews who as they tell us had the Prophecies of him did not acknowledge him Surely had there been such Predictions they would not have Crucified but Crowned their King and expected from him the Conquest of the Earth under their Power What reason have we to entertain him whom his own Nation among whom he lived with whom he conversed so unanimously by the Vote of the Rulers as well as the Rout rejected It was impossible to conquer Minds possessed with so many Errors and applauding themselves in their own Reason and to render them capable of receiving Revealed Truths without the influence of a Divine Power 2. It was contrary to the Customes of the World The strength of Custome in most Men surmounts the strength of Reason and Men commonly are so wedded to it that they will be sooner divorc'd from any thing than the Modes and Patterns received from their Ancestors The endeavouring to change Customes of an ancient standing hath begotten Tumults and furious Mutinies among Nations though the change would have been much for their advantage This Doctrine struck at the Root of the Religion of the World and the Ceremonies wherein they had been educated from their Infancy delivered to them from their Ancestors confirm'd by the customary Observance of many Ages rooted in their Mindss and establish'd by their Laws Acts 18.13 This Fellow perswadeth us to worship God contrary to the Law against Customes to which they ascrib'd the happiness of their States and the prosperity of their People and would put in the place of this Religion they would abolish a new one instituted by a Man whom the Jews had condemn'd and put to death upon a Cross as an Impostor Blasphemer and Seditions person It was a Doctrine that would change the Customes of the Jews who were intrusted with the Oracles of God It would bury for ever their Ceremonial Riâ—â—s delivered to them by Moses from that God who had with a mighty hand brought them out of Egypt consecrated their Law with Thunders and Lightnings from Mount Sinai at the time of its publication backt it with severe Sanctions confirm'd it by many Miracles both in the Wilderness and their Canaan and had continued it for so many Hundred years They could not but remember how they had been ravaged by other Nations and Judgments sent upon them when they neglected and slighted it and with what great success they were follow'd when they valued and observed it and how they had abhorred the Author of this new Religion who had spoken slightly of their Traditions till they put him to death with Infamy Was it an easie matter to divorce them from that Worship upon which were entail'd as they imagin'd their Peace Plenty and Glory things of the dearest regard with Mankind The Jews were no less devoted to their Ceremonial Traditions than the Heathen were to their Vain Superstitions This Doctrine of the Gospel was of that nature that the state of Religion all over the Earth must be overturned by it the Wisdom of the Greeks must vail to it the Idolatry of the People must stoop to it and the prophane Customes of Men must moulder under the weight of it Was it an easie matter for the Pride of Nature to deny a customary Wisdom to entertain a new Doctrine against the Authority of their Ancestors to inscribe Folly upon that which hath made them admir'd by the rest of the World Nothing can be of greater esteem with Men than the Credit of their Law-givers and Founders the Religion of their Fathers and Prosperity of themselves hence the Minds of Men were sharpned against it The Greeks the Wisest Nation slighted it as Foolish the Jews the Religious Nation stumbled at it as contrary to the received Interpretations of Ancient Prophecies and Carnal Conceits of an Earthly glory The dimmest Eye may behold the difficulty to change Custome a Second Nature 'T is as hard as to change a Wolf into a Lamb to level a Mountain stop the course of the Sun or change the Inhabitants of Africk into the colour of Europe Custome dips Men in as durable a Dye as Nature The difficulties of carrying it on against the Divine Religion of the Jew and rooted Customes of the Gentiles were unconquerable by any but an Almighty Power And in this the Power of God hath appeared wonderfully 3. It was contrary to the Sensuality of the World and the Lusts of the Flesh How much the Gentiles were over-grown with base and unworthy Lusts at the time of the Publication of the Gospel needs no other Memento than the Apostles Discourse Rom. 1. As there was no Error but prevail'd upon their Minds so there was no brutish Affection but was wedded to their Hearts The Doctrine proposed to them was not easie it flatter'd not the Sense but checked the Stream of Nature It thundred down those three great Engines whereby the Devil had subdued the World to himself the lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eye and the pride of Life Not only the most sordid Affections of the Flesh but the more refin'd Gratifications of the Mind It stript Nature both of Devil and Man of what was commonly esteem'd great and vertuous That which was the root of their Fame and the satisfaction of their Ambition was struck at by this Ax of the Gospel The first Article of it ordered them to deny themselves not to presume upon their own worth to lay their Understandings and Wills at the foot of the Cross and resign them up to one newly
best that saith the Psalmist speaks only according to the opinion of the vulgar and his design was not to write a Natural History Growth always accompanies Grace as well as it doth Nature in the Body not that it is without its qualms languishing fits as Children are not but still their distempers make them grow Grace is not an idle but an active principle 'T is not like the Psalmist means it of the strength of the Body or the prosperity and stability of his Government but the vigor of his Grace and Comfort since they are spiritual blessings here that are the matter of his song The healing the Disease conduceth to the sprouting up and flourishing of the Body 'T is the Nature of Grace to go from strength to strength 7. When sin is pardoned 't is perfectly pardon'd Verse 11 12. As far as the East is from the West so far hath he removed our transgressions from us The East and West are the greatest distance in the World the terms can never meet together When sin is pardoned it is never charged again the guilt of it can no more return than East can become West or West become East 8. Obedience is necessary to an interest in the mercy of God Verse 17. The mercy of the Lord is to them that fear him to them that remember his Commandments to do them Commands are to be remembered in order to practice a vain speculation is not the intent of the publication of them After the Psalmist had enumerated the benefits of God he reflects upon the greatness of God and considers him on his Throne encompast with the Angels the Ministers of his Providence Verse 19. The Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens and his Kingdom Rules over all He brings in this of his Dominion just after he had largely treated of his mercy Either 1. To signifie That God is not only to be praised for his mercy but for his Majesty both for the heighth and extent of his Authority 2. To extoll the greatness of his mercy and 〈◊〉 What I have said now Oh my Soul of the mercy of God and his paternal pity is commended by his Majesty his Grandeur hinders not his Clemency Though his Throne be High his Bowels are Tender He looks down upon his meanest Servants from the height of his Glory Since his Majesty is Infinite his Mercy must be as great as his Majesty It must be a greater pity lodging in his Breast than what is in any Creature since it is not dampt by the greatness of his Soveraignty 3. To render his Mercy more Comfortable The Mercy I have spoken of Oh my Soul is not the Mercy of a Subject but of a Soveraign An Executioner may torture a criminal and strip him of his Life and a vulgar pity cannot releive him but the Clemency of the Prince can perfectly pardon him 'T is that God who hath none above him to controul him none below him to resist him that hath performed all the acts of Grace to thee If God by his supream Authority pardons us who can reverse it If all the Subjects of God in the World should pardon us and God withhold his grant what will it profit us Take comfort Oh my Soul since God from his Throne in the highest and that God who rules over every particular of the Creation hath granted and sealed thy pardon to thee What would his Grace signifie if he were not a Monarch extending his Royal Empire over every thing and swaying all by his Scepter 4ly To render the Psalmists confidence more firm in any pressures Verse 15 16. He had considered the misery of man in the shortness of his Life his place should know him no more he should never return to his Authority Employments Opportunities that death would take from him but howsoever the Mercy and Majesty of God were the ground of his confidence He draws himself from poring upon any Calamities which may assault him to heaven the place where God orders all things that are done on the Earth He is able to protect us from our dangers and to deliver us from our distresses whatsoever miseries thou mayst lie under Oh my Soul cast thy Eye up to Heaven and see a pitying God in a Majestick Authority A God who can perform what he hath promised to them that fear him since he hath a Throne above the Heavens and bears sway over all that envy thy happiness and would stain thy felicity A God whose Authority cannot be curtailed and dismembered by any When the Prophet sollicites the sounding of the Divine Bowels he urgeth him by his dwelling in Heaven the habitation of his Holiness Isaiah 63.15 His Kingdom ruleth over all There is none therefore hath any Authority to make him break his Covenant or violate his promise 5. As an incentive to Obedience The Lord is merciful saith he to them that Remember his Commandments to do them verse 17 18. And then brings in the Text as an encouragement to observe his ' Precepts he hath a Majesty that deserves it from us and an Authority to protect us in it if a King in a small spot of Earth is to be Obeyed by his Subjects how much more is God who is more Majestick than all the Angels in Heaven and Monarchs on Earth who hath a majesty to exact our Obedience and a Mercy to allure it We should not set upon the performance of any Duty without an Eye lifted up to God as a great King It would make us willing to serve him the more Noble the Person the more Honourable and Powerful the Prince the more glorious is his Service A view of God upon his Throne will makes us think his Service our Priviledge his Precepts our Ornaments and Obedience to him the greatest Honour and Nobility It will make us weighty and serious in our performances It would stake us down to any duty The reason we are so loose and unmannerly in the carriage of our Souls before God is because we consider him not as a great King Malachy 1.14 Our Father which art in Heaven in regard of his Majesty is the Preface to Prayer Let us now consider the words in themselves The Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens and his Kingdom rules over all The Lord hath prepared The word signifies Establisht as well as prepared and might so be rendered Due preparation is a natural way to the Establishment of a thing Hasty resolveâ—â—eak and moulder This notes 1. The infiniteness of his Authority He prepares it none else for him 'T is a Dominion that originally resides in his Nature not deriv'd from any by birth or commission he alone prepar'd it He is the sole cause of his own Kingdom his Authority therefore is unbounded as infinite as his Nature None can set Laws to him because none but himself prepared his Throne for him As he will not impair his own Happiness so he will not abridge himself of his own Authority
majestically and by way of Authority not as the look of a bare Spectator but the look of a Governor to pass a sentence upon them as a Judge His being in the Heavens renders him capable of doing whatsoever he pleases Psal 115.3 His Throne being there he can by a word in stopping the Motions of the Heavens turn the whole Earth into confusion In this respect it is said he rides upon the Heaven in thy help Deut. 33.26 Discharges his Thunders upon men and makes the influences of it serve his peoples interest By one turn of a cock as you see in Grottos he can cause streams from several parts of the Heavens to refresh or ruine the World 6. Duration of it The Heavens are incorruptible his Throne is placed there in an incorruptible state Earthly Empires have their decayes and dissolutions The Throne of God outlives the dissolution of the World His Kingdom rules over all He hath an absolute right over all things within the Circuit of Heaven and Earth though his Throne be in Heaven as the place where his Glory is most eminent and visible his Authority most exactly obey'd yet his Kingdom extends its self to the lower parts of the Earth He doth not mufle and cloud up himself in Heaven or confine his Soveraignty to that place his Royal power extends to all visible as well as invisible things He is proprietor and possessor of all Deut. 10.14 The Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens is the Lords thy God the Earth also with all that is there He hath right to dispose of all as he pleases He doth not say his Kingdom Rules all that fear him but over all so that it is not the Kingdom of Grace he here speaks of but his natural and universal Kingdom Over Angels and Men Jews and Gentiles Animate and Inanimate things The Psalmist considers God here as a great Monarch and General and all Creatures as his Hosts and Regiments under him and takes notice principally of two things 1. The Establishment of his Throne together with the Seat of it He hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens 2. The extent of his Empire His Kingdom rules over all This Text in all the parts of it is a fit basis for a discourse upon the Dominion of God and the observation will be this Doctrine God is Soveraign Lord and King and exerciseth a Dominion over the whole World both Heaven and Earth This is so clear that nothing is more spoken of in Scripture The very name Lord imports it a name originally belonging to Gods and from them translated to others And he is frequently called the Lord of Hosts because all the Troops and Armies of Spiritual and Corporeal Creatures are in his hands and at his service This is one of his principal Titles And the Angels are called his Hosts 21. ver following the Text his Camp and Militia But more plainly 1 Kings 22.19 God is presented upon his Throne encompast with all the Host of Heaven standing on his Right hand and on his Left which can be understood of no other than of the Angels that wait for the Commands of their Soveraign and stand about not to Counsel him but to receive his Orders The Sun Moon and Starrs are called his Hosts Deut. 4.19 Appointed by him for the Government of inferior things He hath an absolute Authority over the greatest and the least Creatures over those that are most dreadful and those that are most beneficial over the good Angels that willingly obey him over the Evil Angels that seem most uncapable of Government And as he is thus Lord of Hosts he is the King of Glory or a glorious King Psal 24.10 You find him called a great King the most High Psal 92.1 The supream Monarch there being no dignity in Heaven or Earth but what is dimm before him and infinitely inferior to him yea he hath the Title of Only King 1 Tim. 6.15 The Title of Royalty truly and properly only belongs to him You may see it described very magnificently by David at the freewill offering for the Building of the Temple 1 Chron. 29.11 12. Thine O Lord is the greatness and the Power and the Glory and the Victory and the Majesty thine is the Kingdom O God and thou art exalted as Head above all Both Riches and Honour come of thee and thou Reignest over all and in thy hand is Power and Might and in thy hand it is to make Great and to give strength to all He hath an eminency of Power or Authority above all All Earthly Princes received their Diadems from him yea even those that will not acknowledge him and he hath a more absolute power over them than they can challenge over their meanest Vassals As God hath a knowledge infinitely above our knowledge so he hath a Dominion incomprehensibly above any Dominion of Man and by all the shadows drawn from the Authority of one man over another we can have but weak glimmerings of the Authority and Dominion of God There is a threefold Dominion of God 1. Natural which is absolute over all Creatures and is founded in the Nature of God as Creator 2. Spiritual or Gracious which is a Dominion over his Church as Redeemed and founded in the Covenant of Grace 3. A Glorious Kingdom at the winding up of all wherein he shall Reign over all either in the Glory of his Mercy as over the glorified Saints or in the Glory of his Justice in the condemned Devils and Men. The first Dominion is founded in Nature The second in Grace The third in regard of the blessed in Grace in regard of the damn'd in demerit in them and Justice in him He is Lord of all things and always in regard of propriety Psal 24.1 The Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof the World and all that dwell therein The Earth with the Riches and Treasures in the Bowels of it the habitable World with every thing that moves upon it are his he hath the sole right and what right soever any others have is deriv'd from him In regard also of possession Gen. 14.22 The most high God possessor of Heaven and Earth In respect of whom Man is not the proprietary nor possessor but usufructuary at the Will of this Grand Lord. In thâ— prosecution of this I. I shall lay down Some general propositions for the clearing and confirming it II. I shall shew Wherein this right of Dominion is founded III. What the nature of it is IV. Wherein it consists and how 't is manifested I. Some general Propositions for the clearing and confirming of it 1. We must know the difference between the Might or Power of God and his Authority We commonly mean by the Power of God the strength of God whereby he is able to effect all his purposes By the Authority of God we mean the right he hath to act what he pleases Omnipotence is his Physical power whereby he is able to do what he will Dominion is
the Divine Nature is the natural foundation for his Dominion He hath Wisdom to know what is fit for him to do and an immutable Righteousness whereby he cannot do any thing base and unworthy He hath a fore-knowledge whereby he is able to order all things to answer his own glorious designs and the end of his Government that nothing can go awry nothing put him to a stand and constrain him to meditate new Counsels * Caâ—â—â—â— p. â—â—1 Aâ—â—â—â—â— Dissert p. 72 73. So that if it could be supposed that the World had not been created by him that the parts of it had met together by chance and been compacted into such a Body none but God the supream and most excellent being in the World could have merited and deservedly challenged the Government of it Because nothing had an excellency of Nature to capacitate it for it as he hath or to enter into a contest with him for a sufficiency to Govern 2. 'T is founded in his act of Creation He is the Soveraign Lord as he is the Almighty Creator The relation of an intire Creator induceth the relation of an absolute Lord he that gives Being Life Motion that is the sole cause of the being of a thing which was before nothing that hath nothing to concur with him nothing to assist him but by his sole power Commands it to stand up into being is the unquestionable Lord and Proprietor of that thing that hath no dependance but upon him And by this act of Creation which extended to all things he became universal Soveraign over all things And those that wave the excellency of his Nature as the foundation of his Goverment easily acknowledge the sufficiency of it upon his actual Creation His Dominion of Jurisdiction results from Creation When God himself makes an oration in defence of his Soveraignty Job 38. His chief arguments are drawn from Creation and Psal 95.3 5. The Lord is a great King above all Gods the Sea is his and he made it And so the Apostle in his Sermon to the Athenians As he made the World and all things therein he is stiled Lord of Heaven and Earth Acts 17.24 His Dominion also of Property stands upon this Basis Psal 89.7 The Heavens are thine the Earth also is thine as for the World and the fulness thereof thou hast founded them Upon this Title of forming Israel as a Creature or rather as a Church he demands their service to him as their Soveraign Oh Jacob and Israel thou art my Servant I have formed thee thou art my servant Oh Israel Isaiah 44. 21. The Soveraignty of God naturally ariseth from the relation of all things to himself as their intire Creator and their natural and inseparable dependance upon him in regard of their being and well beings It depends not upon the election of Men God hath a natural Dominion over us as Creatures before he hath a Dominion by consent over us as converts As soon as ever any thing began to be a Creature it was a vassal to God as a Lord. Every man is acknowledged to have a right of possessing what he hath made and a power of Dominion over what he hath fram'd He may either cherish his own work or dash it in peices he may either adde a greater comeliness to it or deface what he hath already imparted He hath a right of property in it no other man can without injury pilfer his own work from him The work hath no propriety in its self the right must lie in the immediate framer or in the person that employed him The first Cause of every thing hath an unquestionable Dominion of propriety in it upon the score of Justice By the Law of Nations the first finder of a Countrey is esteemed the rightful possessor and Lord of that Country and the first inventor of an Art hath a right of exercising it If a man hath a just claim of Dominion over that thing whose materials were not of his framing but from only the addition of a new figure from his skill as a Limner over his picture the Cloth whereof he never made nor the colours wherewith he draws it were ever endued by him with their distinct qualities but only he applies them by his art to compose such a figure much more hath God a rightful claim of Dominion over his Creatures whose intire being both in matter and form and every particle of their excellency was breathed out by the word of his mouth He did not only give the matter a form but bestowed upon the matter its self a being It was formed by none to his hand as the matter is on which an Artist works He had the being of all things in his own power and it was at his choice whither he would impart it or no there can be no juster and stronger ground of a claim than this A man hath a right to a piece of brass or Gold by his purchase but when by his engraving he hath form'd it into an excellent Statue there results an increase of his right upon the account of his artifice Gods Creation of the the matter of man gave him a right over man but his Creation of him in so eminent an excellency with reason to guide him a clear eye of understanding to discern Light from Darkness and Truth from falshood a freedom of Will to act accordingly and an original Righteousness as the varnish and beauty of all Here is the strongest foundation for a claim of Authority over man and the strongest obligation on man for subjection to God If all those things had been past over to God by another hand he could not be the supream Lord nor could have an absolute right to dispose of them at his pleasure That would have been the invasion of anothers right Besides Creation is the only first discovery of his Dominion * Stoughton Righteous Mans Plea Serm. 6. p. 28. Before the World was framed there was nothing but God himself and properly nothing is said to have Dominion over its self this is a relative Attribute reflecting on the works of God He had a right of Dominion in his Nature from eternity but before Creation he was actually Lord only of a nullity Where there is nothing it can have no relation nothing is not the subject of possession nor of Dominion There could be no exercise of this Dominion without Creation What exercise can a Soveraign have without Subjects Soveraignty speaks a relation to Subjects and none is properly a Soveraign without Subjects To conclude from hence doth result Gods universal Dominion For being maker of all he is the Ruler of all And his perpetual Dominion For as long as God continues in the relation of Creator the right of his Soveraignty as Creator cannot be abolisht 3. As God is the final Cause or End of all he is Lord of all * Vid. Lessium de perfect Divin p. 77. 78. The End hath a greater Soveraignty in
actions than the Actor it self The Actor hath a Soveraignty over others in action but the end for which any one works hath a Soveraignty over the Agent himself A Limner hath a Soveraignty over the Picture he is framing or hath fram'd but the end for which he fram'd it either his profit he design'd from it or the honor and credit of skill he aimed at in it hath a Dominion over the Limner himself The end moves and excites the Artist to work it spirits him in it conducts him in his whole business possesses his mind and sits triumphant in him in all the progress of his work 'T is the first cause for which the whole work is wrought Now God in his actual Creation of all is the Soveraign end of all for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4.11 The Lord hath made all things for himself Prov. 16.4 Man indeed is the subordinate and immediate end of the lower Creation And therefore had the Dominion over other Creatures granted to him But God being the ultimate and principal end hath the Soveraign and principal Dominion all things as much referre to him as the last end as they flow from him as the first Cause So that as I said before if the World had been compacted together by a jumbling chance without a wise hand as some have foolishly imagined none could have been an Antagonist with God for the Government of the World but God in regard of the excellency of his nature would have been the Rector of it unless those Atomes that had composed the World had had an ability to Govern it Since there could be no universal end of all things but God God only can claim an intire right to the Government of it For though man be the end of the lower Creation yet man is not the end of himself and his own being he is not the end of the Creation of the supream Heavens he is not able to govern them they are out of his ken and out of his reach None fit in regard of the excellency of Nature to be the chief end of the whole World but God And therefore none can have a right to the Dominion of it but God In this regard Gods Dominion differs from the Dominion of all Earthly Potentates All the subjects in Creation were made for God as their end so are not People for Rulers but Rulers made for People for their protection and the preservation of Order in Societies 4. The Dominion of God is founded upon his preservation of things Ps 95.3 4. The Lord is a great King above all Gods Why In his hand are all the deep places of the Earth While his hand holds things his hand hath a Dominion over them He that holds a stone in the Air exerciseth a dominion over its natural inclination in hindring it from falling The Creature depends wholly upon God in its preservation as soon as that Divine hand which sustains every thing were withdrawn a languishment and swooning would be the next turn in the Creature He is call'd Lord Adonai in regard of his sustentation of all things by his continual influx The Word coming of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a basis or pillar that supports a building God is the Lord of all as he is the sustainer of all by his power as well as the Creator of all by his Word The Sun hath a Soveraign dominion over its own beams which depend upon it so that if he withdraws himself they all attend him and the World is left in darkness God maintains the vigor of all things conducts them in their operations so that nothing that they are nothing that they have but is owing to his preserving power The Master of this great Family may as well be called the Lord of it since every member of it depends upon him for the support of that being he first gave them and holds of his Empire As the right to govern resulted from Creation so it is perpetuated by the preservation of things 5. The dominion of God is strengthened by the innumerable benefits he bestows upon his Creatures The benefits he conferrs upon us after Creation are not the original ground of his dominion A man hath not Authority over his Servant from the kindness he shews to him but his Authority commenceth before any act of kindness and is founded upon a right of purchase conquest or compact Dominion doth not depend upon meer benefits Then Inferiors might have dominion over Superiors A Peasant may save the Life of a Prince to whom he was not subject he hath not therefore a right to step up into his Throne and give Laws to him And Children that maintain their Parents in their poverty might then acquire an Authority over them which they can never climb to Because the benefits they conferre cannot parallel the benefits they have received from the Authors of their Lives The bounties of God to us add nothing to the intrinsick right of his natural dominion they being the effects of that Soveraignty as he is a Rewarder and Governour As the benefits a Prince bestows upon his favorite increases not that right of Authority which is inherent in the Crown but strengthens that dominion as it stands in relation to the receiver by increasing the obligation of the favorite to an observance of him not only as his natural Prince but his gracious Benefactor The beneficence of God adds though not an original right of power yet a foundation of a stronger upbraiding the Creature if he walks in a violation and forgetfulness of those benefits and pull in peices the links of that ingenuous duty they call for and an occasion of exercising of Justice in punishing the delinquent which is a part of his Empire Isaiah 1.2 Hear O Heavens and give Ear O Earth the Lord hath spoken I have nourished Children and they have rebelled against me Thus the fundamental right as Creator is made more indisputable by his relation as a Benefactor and more as being so after a forfeiture of what was enjoyed by Creation The benefits of God are innumerable and so magnificent that they cannot meet with any compensation from the Creature And therefore do necessarily require a submission from the Creature and an acknowledgement of Divine Authority But that benefit of Redemption doth add a stronger right of dominion to God Since he hath not only as a Creator given them Being and Life as his Creatures but paid a price the price of his Sons blood for their rescue from Captivity so that he hath a Soveraignty of Grace as well as Nature and the ransom'd ones belong to him as Redeemer as well as Creator 1 Cor. 6.19 20. Ye are not your own For ye are bought with a price therefore your Body and your Spirit are Gods By this he acquir'd a right of another kind and bought us from that uncontroulable Lordship we affected over our selves by the sin of Adam that he might use us
Some Potentates there have been in the World that have loved to suck the blood and drink the tears of their Subjects that would rule more by fear than love * Causin Poly-Histor lib. 4. cap. 22. like Clearchus the Tyrant of Heraclia who bore the figure of a Thunderbolt instead of a Scepter and named his Son Thunder thereby to Tutor him to terrifie his Subjects But as Gods Throne is a Throne of Holiness so it is a Throne of Grace Heb. 4.16 A Throne encircled with a Rainbow Revel 4.23 In sight like to an Emerald An Emblem of the Covenant that hath the pleasantness of a green colour delightful to the eye betokening Mercy Though his Nature be infinitely excellent above us and his power infinitely transcendent over us yet the Majesty of his Government is temper'd with an unspeakable Goodness He acts not so much as an absolute Lord as a gracious Soveraign and obliging Benefactor He delights not to make his Subjects slaves Exacts not of them any servile and fearful but a generous and chearful obedience He requires them not to Fear or Worship him so much for his power as his Goodness He requires not of a rational Creature any thing repugnant to the Honour Dignity and Principles of such a nature not any thing that may shame disgrace it and make it weary of its own being and the service it owes to its Soveraign He draws by the cords of a man his Goodness renders his Laws as sweet as Hony or the Hony Comb to an unvitiated Palate and a renew'd mind And though it be graunted he hath a full dispose of his Creature as the Potter of his Vessel and might by his absolute Soveraignty inflict upon an innocent an eternal torment yet his Goodness will never permit him to use this Soveraign right to the hurt of a Creature that deserves it not If God should cast an innocent Creature into the furnace of his wrath who can question him But who can think that his Goodness will do so Since that is as infinite as his Authority As not to punish the sinner would be a denyal of his Justice so to torment an innocent would be a denial of his Goodness A man hath an absolute power over his Beast and may take away his Life and put him to a great deal of pain but that moral vertue of Pity and Tenderness would not permit him to use this right but when it conduceth to some greater good than that can be evil either for the good of man which is the end of the Creature or for the good of the poor beast it self to rid him of a greater misery None but a savage nature a disposition to be abhorr'd would torture a poor beast meerly for his pleasure 'T is as much against the nature of God to punish one eternally that hath not deserved it as it is to deny himself and act any thing foolishly and unbeseeming his other perfections which render him Majestical and adorable To afflict an innocent Creature for his own good or for the good of the World as in the case of the Redeemer is so far from being against Goodness that it is the highest Testimony of his tender Bowels to the Sons of men God though he be Mighty withdraws not his Eyes i. e. his tender respect from the Righteous Job 36.5 7 8.9 10. And if he bind them in Fetters 't is to shew them their Transgressions and open their Ear to Discipline and renewing commands in a more sensible strain to depart from iniquity What was said of Fabritius you may as soon remove the Sun from its course as Fabritius from his honesty may be of God you may as soon dash in peices his Throne as separate his Goodness from his Sovereignty 4. Proposition This Soveraignty is extensive over all Creatures He rules all as the Heavens do over the Earth He is King of Worlds King of Ages as the word translated eternal signifies 1 Tim. 1.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the same word is so translated Heb. 1.2 By whom also he made the Worlds the same word is rendred Worlds Heb. 11.3 The Worlds were fram'd by the Word of God God is King of Ages or Worlds of the invisible World and the sensible of all from the beginning of their Creation of whatsoever is measur'd by a time It extends over Angels and Devils over wicked and good over rational and irrational Creatures all things bow down under his hand nothing can be exempted from him Because there is nothing but was extracted by him from nothing into being All things Essentially depend upon him And therefore must be Essentially Subject to him the extent of his dominion flows from the perfection of his Essence since his Essence is unlimited his Royalty cannot be restrained His Authority is as void of any imperfection as his Essence is it reaches out to all points of the Heaven above and the Earth below Other Princes Reign in a spot of ground Every worldly Potentate hath the confines of his dominions The Pyrenean Mountains divide France from Spain and the Alpes Italy from France None are call'd Kings absolutely but Kings of this or that place But God is the King the spacious Firmament limits not his dominion If we could suppose him bounded by any place in regard of his presence yet he could never be out of his own dominion whatsoever he looks upon wheresoever he were would be under his rule Earthly Kings may step out of their own Countrey into the Territory of a Neighbour Prince and as one leaves his Countrey so he leaves his dominion behind him but Heaven and Earth and every particle of both is the Territory of God He hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens and his Kingdom Rules over all 1. The Heaven of Angels and other excellent Creatures belong to his Authority He is principally call'd the Lord of Hosts in relation to his intire command over the Angelical Legions Therefore Verse 21. following the Text they are call'd his Hosts and Ministers that do his pleasure Jacob called him so before Gen. 32.1 2. When he met the Angels of God he calls them the Host of God and the Evangelist long after calls them so Luke 2.13 A multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God and all this Host he commands Isaiah 45.12 My hands have stretched out the Heavens and all their Host have I commanded He employs them all in his service and when he issues out his orders to them to do this or that he finds no resistance of his Will And the inanimate Creatures in Heaven are at his beck they are his Armies in Heaven disposed in an excellent order in their several ranks Psalm 147.4 He calls the Starrs by Name they render a due obedience to him as Servants to their Master when he singles them out and calls them by Name to do some special service he calls them out to their several Offices as the General of an Army appoints the
station of every Regiment in a Battalia Or he calls them by Name i. e. He imposeth names upon them a sign of dominion The giving Names to the inferior Creatures being the first act of Adam's derivative dominion over them These are under the Soveraignty of God The Starrs by their influences fight against Sisera Judg. 5.20 And the Sun holds in its Reins and stands stone still to light Joshua to a compleat victory Josh 10.12 They are all marshall'd in their ranks to receive his word of command and fight in close order as being desirous to have a share in the ruine of the Enemies of their Soveraign And those Creatures which mount up from the Earth and take their place in the lower Heavens Vapours whereof Hail and Snow are form'd are part of the Army and do not only receive but fulfill his word of Command Psal 148.8 These are his stores and Magazines of Judgment against a time of trouble and a day of Battle and Warr Job 38.22 23. The Soveraignty of God is visible in all their motions in their going and returning If he says go they go if he say come they come if he say do this they gird up their Loyns and stand stiff to their duty 2. The Hell of Devils belong to his Authority They have cast themselves out of the Arms of his Grace into the Furnace of his Justice they have by their revolt forfeited the Treasure of his Goodness but cannot exempt themselves from the Scepter of his dominion when they would not own him as a Lord Father they are under him as a Lord Judge they are cast out of his affection but not freed from his yoke He rules over the good Angels as his Subjects over the evil ones as his Rebels In whatsoever relation he stands either as a Friend or Enemy he never loses that of a Lord. A Prince is the Lord of his Criminals as well as of his Loyallest Subjects By this right of his Soveraignty he uses them to punish some and be the occasion of benefit to others on the wicked he employs them as instruments of vengeance towards the Godly as in the case of Job as an Instrument of kindness for the manifestation of his sincerity against the intention of that malicious Executioner Though the Devils are the Executioners of his Justice 't is not by their own Authority but God's as those that are employed either to rack or execute a Malefactor are Subjects to the Prince not only in the quality of Men but in the execution of their function * Suarez vol. 2. lib. 8. cap. 20. p. 736. The Devil by drawing men to sin acquires no right to himself over the sinner For man by sin offends not the Devil but God and becomes guilty of punishment under God When therefore the Devil is us'd by God for the punishment of any 't is an act of his Soveraignty for the manifestation of the order of his Justice And as most Nations use the vilest persons in Offices of execution so doth God those vile Spirits He doth not ordinarily use the good Angels in those Offices of vengeance but in the preservation of his People When he would solely punish he employs evil Angels Psal 78.49 A Troop of Devils His Soveraignty is extended over the deceiver and the deceived Job 12.16 Over both the Malefactor and the Executioner the Devil and his Prisoner He useth the natural malice of the Devils for his own just ends and by his Soveraign Authority orders them to be the Executioners of his Judgments upon their own vassals as well as sometimes inflicters of punishments upon his own Servants 3. The Earth of men and other Creatures belongs to his Authority Psal 47.7 God is King of all the Earth and rules to the ends of it Psal 59.13 Ancient Atheists confin'd Gods dominion to the heavenly Orbs and bounded it within the Circuit of the Celestial Sphear Job 22.14 He walks in the Circuit of Heaven i. e. he exerciseth his dominion only there * Bolduc in loc Pedum positio was the sign of the possession of a piece of Land and the Dominion of the possessor of it and Land was resign'd by such a Ceremony as now by the delivery of a Twig or Turf But his Dominion extends 1. Over the least Creatures All the Creatures of the Earth are listed in Christ's Muster-roll and make up the number of his Regiments He hath an Host on Earth as well as in Heaven Gen. 2.1 The Heavens and the Earth were finished and all the Host of them And they are all his Servants Psal 119.91 and move at his peasure And he vouchsafes the Title of his Army to the Locust Caterpillar and Palmer Worm Joel 2.25 And describes their motions by Military Words climbing the walls marching not breaking their ranks Verse 7. He hath the command as a great General over the highest Angel and the meanest Worm all the kinds of the smallest Insects he presseth for his service By this Soveraignty he muzled the devouring nature of the fire to preserve the three Chiâ—dren and let it loose to consume their adversaries and if he speaks the word the stormy Waves are hush as if they had no Principle of rage within them Psal 89.9 Since the meanest Creature attains it end and no arrow that God hath by his power shot into the World but hits the mark he aim'd at we must conclude that there is a Soveraign hand that governs all Not a spot of Earth or Air or Water in the World but is his possession not a Creature in any Element but is his Subject 2. His Dominion extends over Men. It extends over the highest Potentate as well as the meanest Peasant the proudest Monarch is no more exempt than the most languishing Beggar He lays not aside his Authority to please the Prince nor strains it up to terrifie the indigent He accepts not the persons of Princes nor regards the rich more than the Poor For they are all the work of his hands Job 34.19 Both the powers and weaknesses the Gallantry and Peasantry of the Earth stand and fall at his pleasure Man in innocence was under his Authority as his Creature and man in his revolt is further under his Authority as a Criminal As a Person is under the Authority of a Prince as a Governour while he obeys his Laws and further under the Authority of the Prince as a Judge when he violates his Laws Man is under God's dominion in every thing in his settlement in his calling in the ordering his very Habitation Acts 17.26 He determines the bounds of their Habitations He never yet permitted any to be universal Monarch in the World nor over the fourth part of it though several in the Pride of their heart have design'd and attempted it The Pope who hath bid the fairest for it in Spirituals never attain'd it and when his power was most flourishing there were multitudes that would never acknowledge his Authority 3. But
to King Redeemer He hath revok'd the Law of works as a Covenant releas'd the penalty of it from the beleiving sinner by transferring it upon the surety who interpos'd himself by his own will and divine designation He hath establish'd another Covenant upon other promises in a higher root with greater Priviledges and easier terms Had not God had this right of Soveraignty not a man of Adam's posterity could have been blessed he and they must have lain groaning under the misery of the fall which had render'd both himself and all in his Loyns unable to observe the Terms of the first Covenant He hath as some speak dispens'd with his own Moral Law in some cases in commanding Abraham to Sacrifice his Son his only Son a Righteous Son a Son whereof he had the promise that in Isaac should his Seed be call'd yet he was commanded to Sacrifice him by the right of his absolute Soveraignty as the supream Lord of the Lives of his Creatures from the highest Angel to the lowest Worm whereby he bound his Subjects to this Law not himself Our Lives are due to him when he calls for them and they are a just forâ—â—it to him at the very moment we sin at the very moment we come into the World by reason of the venom of our nature against him and the disturbance the first sin of man whereof we are inheritors gave to his Glory Had Abraham sacrificed his Son of his own head he had sinned yea in attempting it but being Authoriz'd from Heaven his act was Obedience to the Soveraign of the World who had a power to dispense with his own Law and with this Law he had before dispens'd in the case of Cains Murder of Abel as to the immediate punishment of it with death which indeed was setled afterwards by his Authority but then omitted because of the paucity of men and for the peopling the World but setled afterwards when there was almost though not altogether the like occasion of omitting it for a time 3. His Soveraignty appears in punishing the Transgression of his Law 1. This is a branch of Gods Dominion as Lawgiver So was the vengeance God would take upon the Amalekites Exod. 17.16 The Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have War The Hebrew is the hand upon the Throne of the Lord as in the margent As a Lawgiver he saves or destroyes James 4.12 He acts according to his own Law in a congruity to the sanction of his own precepts though he be an Arbitrary Lawgiver appointing what Laws he pleases yet he is not an Arbitrary Judge As he commands nothing but what he hath a right to command so he punisheth none but whom he hath a right to punish and with such punishment as the Law hath denounced All his acts of Justice and inflictions of Curses are the effects of this Soveraign Dominion Psal 29.10 He sits King upon the Flouds Upon the deluge of Waters wherewith he drown'd the World say some 'T is a right belonging to the Authority of Magistrates to pull up the infectious weeds that corrupt a Common-Wealth 'T is no less the right of God as the Lawgiver and Judge of all the Earth to subject Criminals to his vengeance after they have rendered themselves abominable in his Eyes and carried themselves unworthy Subjects of so great and glorious a King The first name whereby God is made known in Scripture is Elohim Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God Created the Heaven and Earth A name which signifies his power of judging in the opinion of some Criticks from him it is deriv'd to earthly Magistrates their Judgment is said therefore to be the Judgement of God Deut. 1.17 When Christ came he propos'd this great motive of Repentance from the Kingdom of Heaven being at hand the Kingdom of his Grace whereby to invite men the Kingdom of his Justice in the punishment of the neglecters of it whereby to terrifie men Punishments as well as Rewards belong to Royalty it issued accordingly those that believ'd and repented came under his gracious Scepter those that neglected and rejected it fell under his Iron Rod. Jerusalem was destroy'd the Temple demolish'd the Inhabitants lost their lives by the edge of the Sword or linger'ed them out in the chains of a miserable Captivity This term of Judge which signifies a Soveraign right to govern and punish Delinquents Abraham gives him when 〈◊〉 came to root out the People of Sodom and make them the examples of his veâ—geance Gen. 18.25 2. Punishing the Transgressions of his Law This is necessary branch of Dominion His Soveraignty in making Laws would be a trifle if there were not also an Authority to vindicate those Laws from Contempt and Injury he would be a Lord only spurn'd at by Rebels Soveraignty is not preserved without Justice When the Psalmist speaks of the Majesty of God's Kingdom he tells us that Righteousness and Judgment are the Habitation of his Throne Psal 97.1 2. These are the Engines of Divine dignity which render him glorious and majestick A Legislative power would be trampled on without executive by this the reverential apprehensions of God are preserved in the Wâ—rld He is known to be Lord of the World by the Judgements which he executes Psal 9.16 When he seems to have lost his dominion or given it up in the World he recovers it by punishment When he takes some away with a Whirlwind and in his Wrath the natural consequence men make of it is this Surely there is a God that Judgeth the Earth Psal 58.9.11 He reduceth the Creature by the lash of his judgments that would not acknowledge his Authority in his precepts Those sins which disown his Government in the Heart and Conscience as Pride inward blasphemy c. he hath reserved a time hereafter to reckon for He doth not presently shoot his arrows into the marrow of every delinquent but those sins which traduce his Government of the World and tear up the Foundations of humane converse and a publick respect to him he reckons with particularly here as well as hereafter that the Life of his Soveraignty might not always faint in the World 3. This of punishing was the second discovery of his dominion in the World His first act of Soveraignty was the giving a Law the next his appearance in the State of a judge When his orders were violated he rescues the honour of them by an execution of Justice He first judg'd the Angels punishing the evil ones for their crime the first Court he kept among them as a Governour was to give them a Law the second Court he kept was as a Judge trying the Delinquents and adjudging the Offenders to be reserved in Chains of darkness till the final Execution Jude 6. And at the same time probably he confirmed the good ones in their obedience by Grace So the first discovery of his dominion to man was the giving him a precept the next was the inflicting a punishment for the
nobler education Though some other reasons may be render'd yet that which affords the greatest acquiescence is the Soveraign will of God Why did Christ choose out of the meanest of the people the Twelve Apostles to be Heralds of his Grace in Judaea and other parts of the World And aftewards select Paul before Gamaliel his Instructor and others of the Jews as Learned as himself and advance him to be the most eminent Apostle above the heads of those who had ministred to Christ in the days of his flesh Why should he preserve Eleven of those he first called to propagate and enlarge his Kingdom and leave the other to the employment of shedding his Blood Why in the times of our reformation he should choose a Luther out of a Monastery and leave others in their superstitious nastiness to perish in the Traditions of their Fathers Why set up Calvin as a Bulwark of the Gospel and let others as learned as himself wallow in the sink of Popery 'T is his pleasure to do so The Potter hath power to separate this part of the Clay to form a Vessel for a more publick use and another part of the Clay to form a Vessel for a more private one God takes the meanest Clay to form the most excellent and honourable Vessels in his House As he form'd man that was to govern the Creatures of the same Clay and Earth whereof the Beasts were form'd and not of that nobler Element of water which gave birth to the Fish and Birds So he forms some that are to do him the greatest service of the meanest materials to manifest the absolute right of his Dominion 7. His Soveraignty is manifest in the bestowing much Wealth and Honour upon some and not vouchsafing it to the more industrious labours and attempts of others Some are abas'd and others are elevated some are enricht and others impoverisht some scarce feel any Cross and others scarce feel any comfort in their whole lives Some sweat and toyl and what they labour for runs out of their reach others sit still and what they wish for falls into their lap One of the same Clay hath a Diadem to beautifie his head and another wants a covering to protect him from the weather One hath a stately Palace to lodge in and another is scarce Master of a Cottage where to lay his head A Scepter is put into one mans hand and a spade into anothers A Rich Purple garnisheth one mans body while another wraps himself in Dunghil rags The Poverty of some and the Wealth of others is an effect of the divine Soveraignty whence God is said to be the Maker of the Poor as well as the Ri â— Prov. 22.2 Not only of their persons but of their conditions The Earth â—â—d the fulness thereof is his propriety and he hath as much a right as Jose◠〈◊〉 to bestow changes of Rayment upon what Benjamins he please There 〈◊〉 an Election to a greater degree of worldly felicity as there is an Election of some to a greater degree of supernatural Grace and Glory As he makes it rain upon one City and not upon another Amos 4.7 So he causeth prosperity to distil upon the head of one and not upon another Crowning some with earthly blessings while he crosseth others with continual afflictions For he speaks of himself as a great proprietor of the Corn that nourisheth us and the VVine that cheers us and the VVood that warms us Hosea 2.8 9. I will take away not your Corn and Wine but my Corn my Wine my Wooll His right to dispose of the Goods of every particular person is unquestionable He can take away from one and passe over the propriety to another thus he devolv'd the right of the Egyptian Jewels to the Israelites and bestow'd upon the Captives what before he had vouchsafed to the oppressors As every Soveraign state demands the Goods of their Subjects for the publick advantage in a case of exigency though none of that wealth was gain'd by any publick Office but by their private industry and gain'd in a Countrey not subject to the Dominion of those that require a portion of them By this right he changes strangely the scene of the world sometimes those that are high are reduc'd to a mean and ignominious condition those that are mean are advanc'd to a state of Plenty and Glory The Counter which in accounting signifies now but a penny is presently rais'd up to signifie a pound The proud Ladies of Israel instead of a Girdle of curious needle-work are brought to make use of a Cord as the vulgar Translates Rent a rag or list of Cloth Isaiah 3.24 And Sack-cloth for a stomacher instead of Silk This is the Soveraign act of God as he is Lord of the world Psal 71.6 7. Promotion comes neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South but God is Judge he pulls down one and sets up another He doth no wrong to any man if he lets him languish out his days in poverty and disgrace If he gives or takes away he meddles with nothing but what is his own more than ours If he did dispense his benefits equally to all men would soon think it their due The inequality and changes preserve the notion of Gods Soveraignty and correct our natural unmindfulness of it if there were no changes God would not be fear'd as the King of all the Earth Psal 55.19 To this might also be referred his investing some Countries with greater Riches in their Bowels and on the surface The disposing some in the fruitful and pleasant Regions of Canaan or Italy while he settles others in the Icy and barren parts of the Northern Climates 8. His Soveraignty is manifest in the times and seasons of dispensing his Goods He is Lord of the times when as well as of the Goods which he doth dispose of to any person these the Father hath put in his own power Acts. 1.7 As it was his Soveraign pleasure to restore the Kingdom to Israel so he would pitch upon the time when to do it and would not have his right invaded so much as by a question out of curiosity This disposing of opportunities in many things come be referred to nothing else but his Soveraign pleasure Why should Christ come at the twilight and evening of the World at the fulness and not at the beginning of time Why he should be from the infancy of the world so long wrapt up in a promise and not appear in the flesh till the last times and gray hairs of the world when so many persons in all Nations had been hurryed out of the world without any notice of such a Redeemer What was this but his Soveraign will Why the Gentiles should be left so long in the Devils chains wallowing in the sink of their abominable superstitions since God had declar'd his intention by the Prophets to call multitudes of them and reject the Jews Why he should deferre it so
long can be referred to nothing but the same cause What is the reason the vail continues so long upon the heart of the Jews that is promised one time or other to be taken off Why doth God delay the accomplishment of those glorious predictions of the happiness and interest of that people is it because of the sin of their Ancestors a reason that cannot bear much weight If we cast it upon that account their conversion can never be expected can never be effected if for the sins of their Ancestors is it not also for their own sins Do their sins grow less in number or less venimous or provoking in quality by this delay Is not their Blasphemy of Christ as malitious their hatred of him as strong and rooted as ever Do they not as much approve of the bloody act of their Ancestors since so many ages are past as their Ancestors did applaud it at the time of the Execution Have they not the same disposition and will discovered sufficiently by the scorn of Christ and of those that profess his Name to act the same thing over again were Christ now in the same state in the world and they invested with the same power of Government If their Conversion were deferr'd one age after the death of Christ for the sins of their prâ—ceding Ancestors is it to be expected now since the present generation of the Jews in all Countries have the sins of those remote the succeeding and their more immediate Ancestors lying upon them This therefore cannot be the reason but as it was the Soveraign pleasure of God to foretell his intention to overcome the stoutness of their hearts so it is his Soveraign pleasure that it shall not be perform'd till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in Rom. 11.25 As he is Lord of his own Grace so he is Lord of the Time when to dispense it Why did God create the world in 6 days which he could have erected and beautified in a moment Because it was his pleasure so to do Why did he frame the World when he did and not many ages before Because he is Master of his own work Why did he not resolve to bring Israel to the fruition of Canaan till after four hundred years Why did he draw out their deliverance to so long time after he began to attempt it Why such a multitude of Plagues upon Pharoah to work it when he could have cut short the work by one mortal blow upon the Tyrant and his accomplices It was his Soveraign pleasure to act so though not without other reasons intelligible enough by looking into the story Why doth he not bring man to a perfection of stature in a moment after his Birth but let him continue in a tedious infancy in a semblance to beasts for want of an exercise of reason Why doth he not bring this or that man whom he intends for service to a fitness in an instant but by long tracts of Study and through many Meanders and Labyrinths VVhy doth he transplant a hopeful person in his youth to the pleasures of another VVorld and let another of an eminent Holiness continue in the misery of this and wade through many Floods of Afflictions VVhat can we chiefly referre all these things to but his Soveraign pleasure The times are determined by God Acts 17.26 3. The Dominion of God is manifested as a Governor as well as a Law-giver and Proprietor 1. In disposing of States and Kingdomes Psa l. 75.7 God is Judge he puls down one and sets up another Judge is to be taken not in the same sence that we commonly use the word for a judicial Minister in a way of tryal but for a Governour as you know the extraordinary Governours rais'd up among the Jews were call'd Judges whence one intire Book in the Old Testament is so denominated the Book of Judges God hath a Prerogative to change times and seasons Dan. 2.21 i. e. The Revolutions of Government whereby times are alter'd * Mr. Mede in one of his Letters How many Empires that have spread their wings over a great part of the world have had their Carkasses torn in peices and unheard off Nations pluckt of the wings of the Roman Eagle after it had prey'd upon many Nations of the World And the Macedonian Empire was as the dew that is dried up a short time after it falls He erected the Chaldaean Monarchy us'd Nebuchadnezzar to overthrow and punish the ungrateful Jews and by a Soveraign act gave a great parcel of Land into his hands and what he thought was his right by conquest was Gods donative to him You may read the Chartâ—r to Nebuchadnezzar whom he terms his Servant Jer. 27.6 And now I have given all those Lands the Lands are mentioned verse 3. Into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon my Servant Which Decree he pronounceth after his asserting his right of Soveraignty over the whole Earth ver 5. After that he puts a period to the Chaldaean Empire and by the same Soveraign Authority decrees Babylon to be a spoil to the Nations of the North Countrey and delivers her up as a spoil to the Persian Jer. 50.9 10. And this for the manifestation of his Soveraign Dominion that he was the Lord that made peace and created evil Isaiah 45.6 7. God afterwards overthrows that by the Grecian Alexander prophesied of under the figure of a Goat with one horn between his Eyes Dan. 8. The swift current of his Victories as swift as his motion shew'd it to be from an extraordinary hand of Heaven and not either from the policy or strength of the Macedonian His strength in the Prophet is described to be less being but one horn running against the Persian describ'd under the figure of a Ramm with two horns * Josephus And himself acknowledg'd a Divine motion exciting him to that great attempt when he saw Joddus the High Priest coming out in his Priestly Robes to meet him at his approach to Jerusalem whom he was about to Worship acknowledging that the Vision which put him upon the Persian War appear'd to him in such a garb What was the reason Israel was rent from Judah and both split into two distinct Kingdoms Because Rehoboam would not hearken to sober and sound Counsels but follow the advice of upstarts What was the reason he did not harken to sound advice since he had so advantagious an Education under his Father Solomon the wisest Prince of the World The Cause was from the Lord. 1 Kings 12.15 That he might perform what he had before spoke In this he acted according to his Royal Word but in the first resolve he acted as a Soveraign Lord that had the disposal of all Nations in the world And though Ahab had a numerous posterity Seventy Sons to inherit the Throne after him yet God by his Soveraign Authority gives them up into the hands of Jehu who strips them of their lives and hopes together not
with others so he will treat us and what relates to us as we will ourselves We would have God resign his Authority to our humors and our humors should be in the place of a God to him to direct him what was fit to do in our cause When things go not according to our vote our impatience is a wish that God were depos'd from his Throne that he would surrender his seat to some that would deal more favourably and be more punctual observers of our directions Let us look to our selves in regard of this sin which is too common and the root of much mischief This seems to be the first bubbling of Adam's will he was not content with the condition wherein God had placed him but affected another which ended in the ruine of himself and of Mankind 3. Limiting God in his way of working to our methods is another part of the contempt of his dominion When we will prescribe him methods of acting that he should deliver us in this or that way we would not suffer him to be the Lord of his own favors and have the priviledg to be his own director When we will limit him to such a time wherein to work our deliverance we would rob him of the power of times and seasons which are solely in his hand We would regulate his conduct according to our imaginations and assume a power to give Laws to our Soveraign Thus the Israelites limited the holy one of Israel Psal 78.41 They would controul his absolute dominion and of a Soveraign make him their slave Man that is God's vassal would set bounds to his Lord and cease to be a servant and commence Master when he would give not take directions from him When God had given them Manna and their fancies were weary of that delicious food they would prescribe Heaven to rain down some other sort of food for them When they wanted no sufficient provision in the Wilderness they quarrell'd with God for bringing them out of Egypt and not presently giving them a place of Seed of Figgs Vines and Pomegranates Numb 20.5 which is call'd a striving with the Lord ver 13. a contending with him for his Lordship When we tempt God and require a sign of him as a mark of his favour we circumscribe his dominion when we will not use the means he hath appointed but father our lazyness upon a trust in his providence as if we expected he should work a miracle for our relief when we censure him for what he hath done in the course of his providence when we capitulate with him and promise such a service if he will do us such a good turn according to our platform we would bring down his Soveraign pleasure to our will we invade his Throne and expect a submissive Obedience from him Man that hath not wit enough to govern himself would be governing God and those that cannot be their own Sovereigns affect a Soveraignty over Heaven 4. Pride and presumption is another invasion of his dominion When men will resolve to go to morrow to such a City to such a Fair and Market to traffick and get gain without thinking of the necessity of a Divine License as if our selves were the Lords of our time and of our lives and God were to lacquy after us James 4.13.15 Ye that say to day we will go into such a City and buy and sell whereas ye ought to say if the Lord will we shall live As if they had a free hold and were not Tenants at will to the Lord of the Manour When we presume upon our own strength or wit to get the better of our adversaries As the Germans as Tacitus relates assur'd themselves by the numerousness of their Army of a victory against the Romans and prepar'd chaines to fetter the Captives before the conquest which were found in their camp after their defeat When we are peremptory in expectations of success according to our will As Pharoah Exod. 15.9 I will pursue I will overtake I will divide the spoyl my lust shall be satisfied upon them I will draw my sword my hand shall destroy them He speaks more like a God than a man as if he were the Soveraign power and God only his Vicar and Lieutenant How he struts without thinking of a superiour power to curb him When men ascribe to themselves what is the sole fruit of God's Soveraign pleasure As the King of Assyria speaks a Language fit only to be spoken by God Isa 10 13 14. c. I have removed the bounds of the people my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people I have gathered all the earth which God declares to be a wrong to his Soveraignty by the title wherewith he prefaceth his threatning against him ver 16. Therefore shall the Lord the Lord of Hosts send among his fat ones leanness c. 'T is indeed a rifling if not of his Crown yet of the most glittering Jewel of it his Glory He that mocks the poor reproacheth his Maker Prov. 17.5 He never thinks that God made them poor and himself rich He owns not his riches to be dropt upon him by the divine hand Self is the great invader of God's Soveraignty doth not only spurn at it but usurp it and assume divine honorus payable only to the Universal Soveraign The Assyrian was not so modest as the Chaldean who would impute his power and victories to his Idol Hab. 1.11 whom he thought to be God though yet robbing the true God of his Authority and so much was signified by their names Nebuchadnezzar Evil-Merodach Belshazzar Nebo Merodach Bel being the Chaldean Idols and the names signifying Lord of wealth giver of riches and the like When we behave our selves proudly towards others and imagine our selves greater than our Maker ever meant us When we would give Laws to others and expect the most submissive observances from them as if God had resign'd his Authority to us and made us in his stead the rightful Monarchs of the World To disdain that any creature should be above us is to disdain God's Soveraign disposition of men and consequently his own superiority over us A proud man would govern all and would not have God his Soveraign but his Subject to over-value our selves is to under-value God 5. Slight and careless worship of God is another contempt of his Soveraignty A Prince is contemn'd not only by a neglect of those reverential postures which are due to him but in a reproachful and scornful way of paying them To behave our selves uncomely or immodestly before a Prince is a dis-esteem of Majesty Soveraignty requires aw in every address where this is wanting there is a dis-respect of Authority We contemn God's Dominion when we give him the service of the Lip the Hand the Knee and deny him that of the Heart as they in Ezekiel Ezek. 33.31 as though he were the Soveraign only of the body and not of the soul To
Province a Rebel if he disobeys the Orders sent him by the soveraign Prince that commission'd him Rebellion against God is a crime of Princes as well as Rebellion against Princes a Crime of Subjects Saul is charg'd with it by Samuel in a high manner for an act of simple disobedience though intended for the service of God and the enriching his Country with the spoils of the Amalekites 1 Sam. 15.23 Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft like Witchcraft or Covenanting with the Divel acting as if he had received his commission not from God but from Sathan Magistrates as commission'd by God ought to act for him Doth humane authority ever give a Commission to any to rebel against it self did God ever depute any earthly soveraignty against his glory and give them leave to out-law his Laws to introduce their own No when he gave the vicarious dominion to Christ he calls upon the Kings of the Earth to be instructed and be Wise and kiss the Son Psal 2.10.12 i. e. To observe his orders and pay him homage as their Governour What a silly doltish thing is it to resist that supream Authority to which the Arch-Angels submit themselves and regulate their employments punctually by their instructions Those excellent Creatures exactly obey him in all the acts of their subordinate Government in the World those in whose hand the greatest Monarch is no more than a silly fly between the fingers of a Giant A contradiction to the interest of God hath been fatal to Kings The four Monarchies have had their wings clipt and most of them have been buried in their own ashes they have all like the imitators of Lucifers pride fallen from the Heaven of their Glory to the depth of their shame and misery All Governours are bound to be as much obedient to God as their Subjects are bound to be submissive to them Their Authority over men is limited Gods Authority over them is absolute and unbounded Though every Soul ought to be subject to the higher powers yet there is a higher power of all to which those higher powers are to subject themselves they are to be keepers of both the Tables of the Law of God and are then most soveraigns when they set in their own practice an example of obedience to God for their Subjects to write after 2. They ought to imitate God in the exercise of their soveraignty in ways of Justice and Righteousness Though God be an absolute soveraign yet his Government is not Tyrannical but managed according to the rules of Righteousness Wisdom and Goodness If God that created them as well as their Subjects doth so exercise his Government 't is a duty incumbent upon them to do the same Since they are not the Creators of their people but the conductors As Gods Government tends to the good of the World so ought theirs to the good of their Countries God committed not the government of the World to the Mediator in an unlimited way but for the good of the Church in order to the Eternal Salvation of his people Eph. 1.22 He gave him to be head over all things to the Church He had power over the Devils to restrain them in their temptation and malice power over the Angels to order their Ministry for the Heirs of Salvation So power is given to Magistrates for the Civil preservation of the World and of humane Society They ought therefore to consider for what ends they are placed over the rest of mankind and not exercise their Authority in a licentious way but conformable to that Justice and Righteousness wherein God doth administer his government and for the preservation of those who are committed to them 3. Magistrates must then be obey'd when they act according to Gods order and within the bounds of the divine Commission They are no friends to the soveraignty of God that are Enemies to Magistracy his Ordinance Sam was a good Governour though none of the best men and the despisers of his Government after Gods choice were the Sons of Belial 1 Sam. 10.27 Christ was no Enemy to Caesar To pull down a faithful Magistrate such an one as Zerubbabel is to pluck a Signet from the hand of God For in that capacity he accounts him Hag. 2.23 Gods servants stand or fall to their own Master How doth he check Aaron and Miriam for speaking against Moses his servant Numb 12.8 Were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses against Moses as related to you in the capacity of a Governour against Moses as related to me in the capacity of my servant To speak any thing against them as they act by Gods order is an invasion of Gods soveraign right who gave them their Commission To act against just power or the justice of an Earthly power is to act against Gods Ordinance who ordained them in the World but not any abuse or ill use of their power 2. USE How dreadful is the consideration of this doctrine to all rebels against God Can any man that hath brains in his head imagine it an inconsiderable thing to despise the soveraign of the World It was the sole crime of disobedience to that positive Law whereby God would have a visible memorial of his soveraignty preserved in the eye of Man that showered down that deluge of misery under which the World groans to this day God had given Adam a Soul whereby he might live as a rational Creature and then gives him a Law whereby he might live as a dutiful Subject For God forbidding him to eat of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil declared his own supremacy over Adam and his propriety in the pleasant World he had given him by his bounty he let him know hereby that man was not his own Lord nor was to live after his own sentiments but the directions of a superior * Chrysost in Gen. Hom. 16. As when a great Lord builds a magnificent Palace and brings in tanoher to inhabit it he reserves a small duty to himself not of an equal value with the House but for an acknowledgment of his own right that the Tenant may know he is not the Lord of it but hath his grant by the liberality of another God hereby gave Adam matter for a pure Obedience that had no foundation in his own Nature by any implanted Law he was only in it to respect the will of his soveraign and to understand that he was to live under the power of a higher than himself There was no more moral evil in the eating of this fruit as considered distinct from the command than in eating of any other fruit in the Garden Had there been no prohibition he might with as much safety have fed upon it as upon any other No Law of nature was transgrest in the act of eating of it but the soveraignty of God over him was denied by him and for this the death threatned was inflicted on him and his posterity For
Vitals He can never want weapons who is Soveraign over the thunders of Heaven and stones of the Earth over every creature and can by a Soveraign word turn our greatest comforts into curses 3. This Punishment must be terrible How doth David a great King sound in his body prosperous in his Crown and successful in his conquests setled in all his Royal conveniencies groan under the wrathful touch of a greater King than himself Psal 6. Psal 38. and his other Paenitential Psalms Not being able to give himself a writ of ease by all the delights of his Palace and Kingdom If the wrath of a King be as the roaring of a Lyon to a poor subject Prov. 19.10 how great is the wrath of the King of Kings that cannot be set forth by the terror of all the amazing vollies of thunder that have been since the Creation if the noise of all were gather'd into one single crack As there is an unconceivable ground of joy in the special favour of so mighty a King so is there of terror in his severe displeasure Psal 76.12 He is terrible to the Kings of the earth with God is terrible Majesty What a folly is it then to rebel against so mighty a Soveraign III. USE of Comfort The Throne of God drops hony and sweetness as well as dread and terror All his other attributes afford little relief without this of his dominion and Universal command When therefore he speaks of his being the God of his people he doth often preface it with the Lord thy God His Soveraignty as a Lord being the ground of all the comfort we can take in his federal relation as our God Thy God but Superior to thee thy God not as thy Cattle and Goods are thine in a way of sole propriety but a Lord too in a way of Soveraignty not only over thee but over all things else for thee As the end of God's setling Earthly Governments was for the good of the communities over which the Governours preside So God exerciseth his Government for the good of the World and more particularly for the good of the Church over which he is a peculiar Governour 1. His love to his people is as great as his Soveraignty over them He stands not upon his Dominion with his people so much as upon his affection to them He would not be call'd Baali my Lord i. e. he would not be known only by the name of Soveraignty but Ishi my Husband a name of Authority and sweetness together Hos 2.16.19 c. He signifies that he is not only the Lord of our spirits and bodies but a Husband by a Marriage knot admitting us to a nearness to him and Communion of goods with him Though he Majestically sits upon a high Throne yet it is a Throne encircled with a Rainbow Ezek. 1.28 To shew that his Government of his people is not only in away of absolute Dominion but also in a way of federal relation He seems to own himself their Subject rather than their Soveraign when he gives them a Charter to command him in the affairs of his Church Isa 45.11 Ask of me things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands command you me Some read it by way of question as a corrective of a sawcyness Do you ask of me things to come and seem to command me concerning the works of my hands as if you were more careful of my interest among my people than I am who have form'd them But if this were the sense it would seem to discourage an importunity of Prayer for publick deliverance And therefore to take it according to our Translation 't is an exhortation to Prayer and a mighty encouragement in the management and exercise of it Urge me with my promise in a way of humble importunity and you shall find me as willing to perform my word and gratifie your desires as if I were rather under your Authority than you under mine As much as to say if I be not as good as my word to satisfie those desires that are according to my promise implead me at my own Throne and if I be failing in it I will give Judgment against my self Almost like Princes Charters and gracious grants we grant such a thing against us and our heirs giving the subject power to implead them if they be not punctually observ'd by them How is the love of God seen in his condescension below the Majesty of Earthly Governours He that might command by the absoluteness of his Authority doth not only do that but intreats in the quality of a subject as if he had not a fulness to supply us but needed something from us for a supply of himself 2 Cor. 5.20 As though God did beseech you by us And when he may challenge as a due by the right of his propriety what we bestow upon his poor which are his Subjects as well as ours he reckons it as a loan to him as if what we had were more our own than his Prov. 19.17 He stands not upon his Dominion so much with us when he finds us Conscientious in paying the duty we owe to him He rules as a Father by Love as well as by Authority He enters into a peculiar Communion with poor Earthly Worms plants his gracious Tabernacle among the troops of sinners instructs us by his word invites us by his benefits admits us into his presence is more desirous to bestow his smiles than we to receive them And acts in such a manner as if he were willing to resign his Scepter into the hands of any that were possessed with more love and kindness to us than himself This is the comfort of Believers 2. In his being Soveraign his pardons carry in them a full security He that hath the Keyes of Hell and Death pardons the crime and wipes off the guilt Who can repeal the act of the chief Governour What tribunal can null the decrees of an absolute Throne Is 43.25 I even I am he that blots out thy transgressions for my names sake His soveraign dominion renders his mercy comfortable The clemency of a Subject though never so great cannot pardon people may pity a criminal while the Executioner tortures him and strips him of his Life but the clemency of the supream Prince establisheth a pardon Since we are under the dominion of God if he pardons who can reverse it If he doth not what will the pardons of men profit us in regard of an eternal state If God be a King for ever then he whom God forgives he in whom God reigns shall live for ever Else he would want Subjects on Earth and have none of his lower Creatures which he form'd upon the Earth to reign over after the dissolution of the World if his pardons did not stand secure he would after this Life have no voluntary subjects that had formerly a being upon the Earth he would be a King only over the damn'd Creatures 3
Corruptions will certainly be subdued in his voluntary subjects The Covenant I will be your God implyes protection government and relief which are all grounded upon Soveraignty That therefore which is our greatest burden will be remov'd by his Soveraign power Micah 7.19 He will subdue our iniquities If the outward enemies of the Church shall not bear up against his Dominion and perpetuate their rebellions unpunisht those within his people shall as little bear up against his Throne without being destroy'd by him The billows of our own hearts and the raging waves within us are as much at his beck as those without us And his Soveraignty is more eminent in quelling the corruptions of the heart than the commotions of the World in reigning over mens Spirits by changing them or curbing them more than over mens bodies by pinching and punishing them The remainders of Satans Empire will moulder away before him since he that is in us is a greater Soveraign than he that is in the World 1 Joh. 4.4 His enemies will be laid at his feet and so neveâ— shall prevail against him when his Kingdom shall come He could not be Lord of any man as a happy creature if he did not by his power make them happy and he could not make them happy unless by his Grace he made them holy He could not be praised as a Lord of Glory if he did not make some creatures glorious to praise him And an Earthly Creature could not praise him perfectly unless he had every grain of enmity to his Glory taken out of his heart Since God is the only Soveraign he only can still the commotions in our spirits and pull down all the Ensigns of the Devil's royalty he can wast him by the powerful word of his lips 4. Hence is a strong encouragement for Prayer My King was the strong compellation David us'd in Prayer as an argument of comfort and confidence as well as that of My God Psal 5 2. Hearken to the voice of my cry my King and my God To be a King is to have an Office of Government and Protection He gives us liberty to approach to him as the Judge of all Heb. 12.23 i. e. As the Governour of the World we pray to one that hath the whole Globe of Heaven and Earth in his hand and can do whatsoever he will Though he be higher than the Cherubims and transcendently above all in Majesty yet we may soar up to him with the wings of our Soul Faith and Love and lay open our cause and find him as gracious as if he were the meanest subject on Earth rather than the most soveraign God in Heaven He hath as much of tenderness as he hath of Authority and is pleased with Prayer which is an acknowledgment of his Dominion an honouring of that which he delights to honour For Prayer in the notion of it imports thus much that God is the Rector of the World that he takes notice of humane affairs that he is a careful just wise Governour a store-house of blessing a fountain of goodness to the indigent and a releif to the oppressed What have we reason to fear when the soveraign of the World gives us liberty to approach to him and lay open our case That God who is King of the whole Earth not only of a few Villages or Cities in the Earth but the whole Earth and not only King of this dreggy place of our dross but of Heaven having prepar'd or established his Throne in the most glorious place of the Creation 5. Here is comfort in afflictions As a soveraign he is the Author of Afflictions as a soveraign he can be the remover of them he can command the waters of affliction to go so far and no farther If he speaks the Word a disease shall depart as soon as a servant shall from your presence with a Nod. If we are banisht from one place he can command a shelter for us in another If he orders Moab a Nation that had no great kindness for his people to let his outcasts dwell with them they shall entertain them and afford them sanctuary Isaiah 16.4 Again God chastneth as a soveraign but teacheth as a Father Psal 99.12 The exercise of his Authority is not without an exercise of his goodness He doth not correct for his own pleasure or the Creature 's torment but for the Creature 's instruction though the rod be in the hand of a soveraign yet it is tinctur'd with the kindness of divine bowels He can order them as a soveraign to mortifie our flesh and try our Faith In the severest tempest the Lord that rais'd the Wind against us which shatter'd the ship and tore its rigging can change that contrary wind for a more happy one to drive us into the Port. 6. 'T is a comfort against the projects of the Churches adversaries in times of publick commotions The consideration of the Divine soveraignty may arm us against the threatnings of mighty ones and the menaces of persecutors God hath Authority above the Crowns of men and a Wisdom superior to the cabals of men None can move a step without him he hath a negative voice upon their Counsels a negative hand upon their motions their politick resolves must stop at the point he hath prescrib'd them Their formidable strength cannot exceed the limits he hath set them their overreaching wisdom expires at the breath of God There is no Wisdom nor Vnderstanding nor Counsel against the Lord. Prov. 21.30 Not a bullet can be discharg'd nor a Sword drawn a wall battered nor a person dispatcht out of the world without the leave of God by the mightiest in the World The instruments of Satan are no more free from his soveraign restraint than their inspirer they cannot pull the hook out of their nostrils nor cast the bridle out of their mouths This soveraign can shake the Earth rend the Heavens overthrow Mountains the most Mountainous opposers of his interest Though the Nations rush in against his people like the rushing of many waters God shall rebuke them they shall be chased as the chaff of the Mountains before the Wind and like a rolling thing before the Whirlwind Isaiah 17.13 So doth he often burst in pieces the most mischievous designs and conducts the oppressed to a happy port He often turns the severest tempests into a calm as well as the most peaceful calm into a horrible storm How often hath a well-rigg'd ship that seemed to spâ—rn the Sea under her feet and beat the waves before her to a foam been swallowed up into the bowels of that Element over whose back she rode a little before God never comes to deliver his Church as a Governour but in a wrathful posture Ezek. 20.23 Surely saith the Lord with a mighty hand and with an out stretched arm and with fury pour'd out will I rule over you not with fury poured out upon the Church but fury pour'd out upon her Enemies as the words