such a return that he hath usually aggravated from the Benefits he hath bestow'd upon Men. Every thought of him should be attended with a Motion sutable to the Excellency of his Nature and Works Can we think those nobler Spirits the Angels look upon themselves or those Frames of things in the Heavens and Earth without starting some practical Affection to him for them Their knowledge of his Excellency and Works cannot be a lazy Contemplation 'T is impossible their Wills and Affections should be a thousand Miles distant from their Understandings in their Operations 'T is not the least part of his condescending Goodness to Court in such Methods the Affections of us Worms and manifest his desire to be beloved by us Let us give him then that Affection he deserves as well as demands and which cannot be with-held from him without horrible Sacriledge There is nothing worthy of love besides him Let no Fire be kindled in our hearts but what may ascend directly to him 7. The seventh Instruction is this This renders God a fit Object of trust and confidence Since none is good but God none can be a full and satisfactory Ground or Object of confidence but God As all things derive their beings so they derive their helpfulness to us from God they are not therefore the principal Objects of trust but that Goodness alone that renders them fit Instruments of our support They can no more challenge from us a stable Confidence than they can a Supream Affection 'T is by this the Psalmist allures Men to a trust in him * Psal 34.8 Taste and see how good the Lord is What is the consequence Blessed is the Man that trusts in thee The Voice of Divine Goodness sounds nothing more intelligibly and a taste of it produceth nothing more effectually than this As the Vials of his Justice are to make us fear him so the Streams of his Goodness are to make us rely on him As his Patience is design'd to broach our Repentance so his Goodness is most proper to strengthen our assurance in him That Goodness which surmounted so many difficulties and conquer'd so many motions that might be made against any repeated Exercise of it after it had been abus'd by the first Rebellion of Man That Goodness that after so much contempt of it appeared in such a Majestick tenderness and threw aside those impediments which Men had cast in the way of Divine Inclinations This Goodness is the foundation of all reliance upon God Who is better than God And therefore Who more to be trusted than God As his Power cannot act any thing weakly so his Goodness cannot act any thing unbecomingly and unworthy of his Infinite Majesty And here consider 1. Goodness is the first motive of trust Nothing but this could be the encouragement to Man had he stood in a State of Innocence to present himself before God The Majesty of God would have constrain'd him to keep his due distance but the Goodness of God could only hearten his Confidence 'T is nothing else now that can preserve the same temper in us in our lapsed Condition To regard him only as the Judge of our Crimes will drive us from him but only the regard of him as the Donor of our Blessings will allure us to him The principal Foundation of Faith is not the Word of God but God himself and God as consider'd in this Perfection As the Goodness of God in his Invitations and Providential Blessings leads us to Repentance * Rom. 2.4 so by the same reason the Goodness of God by his Promises leads us to Reliance If God be not first believed to be good he would not be believed at all in any thing that he speaks or swears If you were not satisfied in the goodness of a Man though he should swear a thousand times you would value neither his Word nor Oath as any security Many times where we are certain of the goodness of a Man we are willing to trust him without his promise This Divine Perfection gives Credit to the Divine Promises they of themselves would not be a sufficient ground of trust without an apprehension of his truth nor would his truth be very comfortable without a belief of his good will whereby we are assured that what he promises to give he gives liberally free and without regret The truth of the Promiser makes the Promise Credible but the goodness of the Promiser makes it chearfully relied on In Psal 73. Asaphs Penitential Psalm for his distrust of God he begins the first Verse with an assertion of this Attribute v. 1. Truly God is good to Israel and ends with this fruit of it Verse 28. I will put my trust in the Lord God 'T is a mighty ill Nature that receives not with assurance the Dictates of Infinite Goodness that cannot deceive or frustrate the hopes we conceive of him that is unconceivably more abundant in the breast and inclinations of the Promiser than expressible in the words of his Promise All true faith works by love * Gal. 5.6 and therefore necessarily includes a particular eying of this Excellency in the Divine Nature which renders him amiable and is the Motive and Encouragement of a love to him His Power indeed is a foundation of trust but his Goodness is the principal Motive of it His Power without good Will would be dangerous and could not allure Affection and his good Will without Power would be useless and though it might merit a love yet could not create a Confidence both in conjunction are strong grounds of hope Especially since his Goodness is of the same infinity with his Wisdom and Power and that he can be no more wanting in the effusions of this upon them that seek him than in his Wisdom to contrive or his Power to effect his Designs and Works 2. This goodness is more the foundation and motive of trust under the Gospel than under the Law They under the Law had more evidences of Divine Power and their trust eyed that much though there was an eminency of goodness in the frequent deliverances they had yet the Power of God had a more glorious dress than his Goodness because of the extraordinary and miraculous ways whereby he brought those deliverances about Therefore in the Catalogue of Believers in Heb. 11. you shall find the Power of God to be the Center of their Rest and Trust and their Faith was built upon the extraordinary Marks of Divine Power which were frequently visible to them But under the Gospel goodness and love was intended by God to be the chief Object of trust suitable to the Excellency of that Dispensation he would have an Exercise of more ingenuity in the Creatures Therefore 't is said Hosea 3.5 A promise of Gospel-times They shall fear God and his goodness in the later days when they shall return to seek the Lord and David their King 'T is not said they shall fear God and his Power but
office We must come to some supream Judge who can Judge Conscience it self As a man can have no surer evidence that he is a being than because he thinks he is a thinking being So there is no surer evidence in nature that there is a God than that every man hath a natural principle in him which continually cites him before God and puts him in mind of him and makes him one way or other fear him and reflects upon him whether he will or no A man hath less power over his Conscience than over any other faculty He may choose whether he will exercise his understanding about or move his will to such an object but he hath no such Authority over his Conscience he cannot limit it or cause it to cease from acting and reflecting and therefore both that and the law about which it acts are settled by some supream Authority in the mind of man and this is God Fourthly IV. The evidence of a God results from the vastness of desires in man and the real dissatisfaction he hath in every thing below himself Man hath a boundless appetite after some Soveraign Good As his understanding is more capacious than any thing below so is his Appetite larger This affection of desire exceeds all other affections Love is determined to something known Fear to something apprehended but Desires approach nearer to Infiniteness and pursue not only what we know or what we have a glimps of but what we find wanting in what we already enjoy That which the desire of man is most naturally carryed after is Bonum some fully satisfying good We desire knowledge by the sole impulse of reason but we desire Good before the excitement of reason and the desire is always after Good but not always after Knowledge Now the Soul of man finds an imperfection in every thing here and cannot scrape up a perfect satisfaction and felicity In the highest fruitions of worldly things t is still pursuing something else which speaks a defect in what it already hath The world may afford a felicity for our dust the body but not for the inhabitant in it t is two mean for that Is there any one Soul among the Sons of men that can upon a due enquiry say it was at rest and wanted no more that hath not sometimes had desires after an immaterial Good The Soul follows hard after such a thing and hath frequent looks after it Psal 63.8 Man desires a stable Good but no sublunary thing is so And he that doth not desire such a Good wants the rational nature of a man This is as natural as Understanding Will and Conscience Whence should the Soul of man have those desires How came it to understand that something is still wanting to make its nature more perfect if there were not in it some notion of a more perfect being which can give it rest Can such a capacity be supposed to be in it without something in being able to satisfie it If so the noblest Creature in the world is miserablest and in a worse condition than any other Other Creatures obtain their ultimate desires they are filled with good Psal 104.28 And shall man only have a vast desire without any possibility of enjoyment Nothing in man is in vain He hath objects for his affections as well as affections for objects Every Member of his body hath its end and doth attain it Every affection of his Soul hath an object and that in this World and shall there be none for his desire which comes nearest to infinite of any affection planted in him This boundless desire had not its original from man himself Nothing would render it self restless something above the bounds of this world implanted those desires after a higher Good and made him restless in every thing else And since the Soul can only rest in that which is infinite there is something infinite for it to rest in Since nothing in the world though a man had the whole can give it a satisfaction there is something above the world only capable to do it otherwise the Soul would be always without it and be more in vain than any other Creature There is therefore some infinite being that can only give a contentment to the Soul and this is God And that goodness which implanted such desires in the Soul would not do it to no purpose and mock it in giving it an infinite desire of satisfaction without intending it the pleasure of enjoyment if it doth not by its own folly deprive it self of it The felicity of human nature must needs exceed that which is allotted to other Creatures 4. And last Reason Fourth Reason As t is a folly to deny that which all Nations in the World have consented to which the frame of the world evidenceth which man in his Body Soul Operations of Conscience witnesseth to So t is a folly to deny the Being of God which is witnessed unto by extraordinary occurrences in the world 1. In extraordinary Judgments When a just revenge follows abominable crimes especially when the Judgment is suted to the sin by a strange Concatenation and succession of Providences methodized to bring such a particular punishment When the sin of a Nation or person is made legible in the inflicted Judgment which testifies that it cannot be a casual thing The Scripture gives us an account of the necessity of such Judgments to keep up the reverential thoughts of God in the World Psal 9.16 The Lord is known by the judgment which he executes the wicked is snared in the work of his own hand And Jealousy is the name of God Exod. 34.14 Whose name is Jealous He is distinguisht from false Gods by the Judgments which he sends as men are by their names Extraordinary Prodigies in many Nations have been the Heralds of extraordinary Judgments and presages of the particular Judgments which afterwards they have felt of which the Roman Histories and others are full That there are such things is undeniable and that the events have been answerable to the threatning unless we will throw away all human Testimonies and count all the Histories of the World Forgeries Such things are evidences of some invisible Power which orders those affairs And if there be invisible Powers there is also an efficacious cause which moves them A Government certainly there is among them as well as in the world and then we must come to some supream Governour which presides over them Judgments upon notorious offenders have been evident in all ages The Scripture gives many instances I shall only mention that of Herod Agrippa which Josephus mentions * Lib. 19. Antiq. Act. 12.21.22.23 He receives the flattering applause of the people and thought himself a God But by the suddain stroak upon him was forced by his torture to confess another I am God saith he in your account but a higher calls me away The will of the Heavenly Deity is to be endured The Angel
the Lord and his goodness or the Lord for his goodness Fear is often in the Old Testament taken for Faith or Trust This Divine Goodness the Object of Faith is that goodness discover'd in David their King the Messiah our Jesus God in this Dispensation recommends his goodness and love and reveals it more clearly than other Attributes that the Soul might have more prevailing and sweeter attractives to confide in him 3. A confidence in him gives him the glory of his goodness Most Nations that had nothing but the light of Nature thought it a great part of the Honour that was due to God to implore his Goodness and cast their Cares upon it To do good is the most honourable thing in the World and to acknowledge a goodness in a way of confidence is as high an honour as we can give to it and a great part of gratitude for what it hath already exprest Therefore we find often that an acknowledgment of one Benefit received was attended with a trust in him for what they should in the future need * Psal 56.13 Thou hast delivered my Soul from Death wilt thou not deliver my Feet from falling So 2 Cor. 1.10 And they who have been most eminent for their trust in him have had the greatest Elogies and Commendations from him As a diffidence doth disparage this Perfection thinking it meaner and shallower than it is so Confidence highly honours it We never please him more than when we trust in him * Psal 147.11 The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear him in them that hope in his Mercy He takes it for an Honour to have this Attribute exalted by such a Carriage of his Creature He is no less offended when we think his heart straitned as if he were a Parcimonious God than when we think his Arm shortned as if he were an impotent and feeble God Let us therefore make this use of his Goodness to hearten our Faith When we are scar'd by the terrours of his Justice when we are dazled by the arts of his Wisdom and confounded by the splendour of his Majesty we may take refuge in the Sanctuary of his Goodness this will encourage us as well as astonish us Whereas the consideration of his other Attributes would only amaze us but can never refresh us but when they are consider'd marching under the Conduct and Banners of this When all the other Perfections of the Divine Nature are lookt upon in conjunction with this Excellency each of them send forth ravishing and benign influences upon the applying Creature 'T is more advantageous to depend upon Divine Bounty than our own Cares We may have better assurance upon this account in his Cares for us than in ours for our selves Our goodness for our selves is Finite and besides we are too ignorant His goodness is Infinite and attended with an infinite Wisdom we have reason to distrust our selves not God We have reason to be at rest under that kind influence we have so often experimented He hath so much goodness that he can have no deceit His goodness in making the Promise and his goodness in working the heart to a Reliance on it are grounds of trust in him * Psal 119.49 Remember thy word to thy Servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope If his Promise did not please him why did he make it If Reliance on the Promise doth not please him why did his Goodness work it It would be inconsistent with his Goodness to mock his Creature and it would be the highest Mockery to publish his Word and Create a temper in the heart of his supplicant suited to his Promise which he never intended to satisfie He can as little wrong his Creature as wrong himself and therefore can never disappoint that Faith which in his own methods casts it self into the arms of his Kindness and is his own Workmanship and calls him Author That Goodness that imparted it self so freely in Creation will not neglect those nobler Creatures that put their trust in him This renders God a fit Object for trust and confidence 8. The eighth Instruction This renders God worthy to be obeyed and honour'd There is an Excellency in God to allure as well as Soveraignty to enjoyn Obedience The infinite Excellency of his Nature is so great that if his Goodness had promised us nothing to encourage our Obedience we ought to prefer him before our selves devote our selves to serve him and make his glory our greatest content but much more when he hath given such admirable Expressions of his Liberality and stor'd us with hopes of richer and fuller Streams of it When David consider'd the Absolute Goodness of his Nature and the Relative Goodness of his Benefits he presently expresseth an ardent desire to be acquainted with the Divine Statutes that he might make ingenuous returns in a dutiful observance * Psal 119.68 Thou art good and thou dost good teach me thy Statutes As his Goodness is the Original so the acknowledgment of it is the end of all which cannot be without an observance of his Will His Goodness requires of us an ingenuous not a servile Obedience And this is Establisht upon two Foundations 1. Because the Bounty of God hath laid upon us the strongest Obligations The strength of an Obligation depends upon the greatness and numerousness of the Benefits received The more Excellent the favours are which are conferr'd upon any Person the more right hath the Benefactor to claim an observance from the Person better'd by him Much of the Rule and Empire which hath been in several Ages conferred by Communities upon Princes hath had its first spring from a sense of the advantages they have receiv'd by them either in protecting them from their Enemies or rescuing them from an ignoble Captivity in enlarging their Territories or increasing their Wealth Conquest hath been the Original of a constrain'd but Beneficence always the Original of a voluntary and free Subjection * Amyrald Discert p. 65. Obedience to Parents is founded upon their right because they are instrumental in bestowing upon us Being and Life and because this of life is so great a benefit the Law of Nature never dissolves this Obligation of Obeying and Honouring Parents 'T is as long liv'd as the Law of Nature and hath an universal practice by the strength of that Law in all parts of the World And those rightful Chains are not unlockt but by that which unties the knot between Soul and Body Much more hath God a Right to be obey'd and reverenced who is the principal Benefactor and mov'd all those second Causes to impart to us what conduc'd to our advantage The just Authority of God over us results from the superlativeness of his Blessings he hath pour'd down upon us which cannot be equall'd much less exceeded by any other As therefore upon this account he hath a claim to our choicest Affections so he hath also to most exact Obedience and
other things in conjunction with this the nature of God the way to Worship him the manner of the Worlds Existence his own state We may resonably suppose him to have a good stock of knowledge what is become of it It cannot be supposed that the first man should acquaint his posterity with an object of Worship and leave them ignorant of a Mode of Worship and of the end of Worship we find in Scripture his immediate posterity did the first in Sacrifices and without doubt they were not ignorant of the other how come Men to be so uncertain in all other things and so confident of this if it were only a Tradition how did debates and irreconcilable questions start up concerning other things and this remain untouch'd but by a small number whatsoever Tradition the first Man left besides this is lost and no way recoverable but by the Revelation God hath made in his Word How comes it to pass this of a God is longer liv'd than all the rest which we may suppose Man left to his immediate descendents How come men to retain the one and forget the other What was the reason this surviv'd the ruin of the rest and surmounted the uncertainties into which the other sunk Was it likely it should be handed down alone without other attendants on it at first Why did it not expire among the Americans who have lost the account of their own descent and the Stock from whence they sprung and cannot reckon above eight hundred or a thousand years at most Why was not the manner of the worship of a God transmitted as well as that of his Existence How came men to dissent in their Opinions concerning his Nature whether he was corporeal or incorporeal finite or infinite omnipresent or limited Why were not men as negligent to transmit this of his Existence as that of his Nature No reason can be rendred for the security of this above the other but that there is so clear a tincture of a Deity upon the minds of men such traces and shadows of him in the creatures such indelible instincts within and invincible arguments without to keep up this universal consent The Characters are so deep that they cannot possibly be rased out which would have been one time or other in one Nation or other had it depended only upon Tradition since one Age shakes off frequently the Sentiments of the former I cannot think of above one which may be called a Tradition which indeed was kept up among all Nations viz. Sacrifices which could not be natural but instituted What ground could they have in Nature to imagin that the blood of Beasts could expiate and wash off the guilt and stains of a rational Creature Yet they had in all places but among the Jews and some of them only lost the knowledg of the reason and end of the Institution which the Scripture acquaints us was to typifie and signifie the Redemption by the Promised Seed This Tradition hath been superannuated and laid aside in most parts of the World while this Notion of the Existence of a God hath stood firm But suppose it were a Tradition was it likely to be a meer intention and figment of the first Man Had there been no reason for it this Posterity would soon have found out the weakness of its Foundation What advantage had it been to him to transmit so great a falshood to kindle the fears or raise the hopes of his Posterity if there were no God It cannot be supposed he should be so void of that natural affection men in all ages bear to their Descendents as so grosly to deceive them and be so contrary to the simplicity and plainness which appears in all things nearest their Original 2. Neither was it by any mutual Intelligence of Governours among themselves to keep people in subjection to them If it were a political design at first it seems it met with the general nature of Mankind very ready to give it entertainment I. It is unaccountable how this should come to pass It must be either by a joynt Assembly of them or a mutual Correspondence If by an Assembly who were the persons let the name of any one be mentioned When was the time Where was the place of this appearance By what Authority did they meet together Who made the first motion and first started this great Principle of Policy By what means could they assemble from such distant parts of the World humane Histories are utterly silent in it And the Scripture the antientest History gives an account of the attempt of Babel but not a word of any design of this nature What mutual Correspondence could such have whose Interests are for the most part different and their designs contrary to one another How could they who were divided by such vast Seas have this mutual Converse How could those who were different in their Customs and Manners agree so unanimously together in one thing to gull the People If there had been such a Correspondence between the Governours of all Nations what is the reason some Nations should be unknown to the world till of late times How could the business be so secretly managed as not to take Vent and Issue in a discovery to the World Can reason suppose so many in a joynt Conspiracy and no mans Conscience in his life under sharp Afflictions or on his death bed when Conscience is most awakened constrain him to reveal openly the Cheat that beguil'd the World How came they to be so uanimous in this Notion and to differ in their Rites almost in every Country why could they not agree in one Mode of Worship throughout all the World as well as in this universal Notion If there were not a mutual intelligence it can not be conceived how in every Nation such a state-Engineer should rise up with the same trick to keep people in aw What is the reason we cannot find any Law in any one Nation to constrain men to the beleif of the Existence of a God since politick Stratagems have been often fortified by Laws Besides such men make use of Principles received to effect their Contrivances and are not so impolitick as to build designes upon Principles that have no Foundation in nature Some Heathen Law-givers have pretended a converse with their Gods to make their Laws be received by the people with a greater veneration and fix with stronger obligation the observance and perpetuity of them but this was not the introducing of a new Principle but the supposition of an old received Notion that there was a God and an application of that Principle to their present designe The pretence had been vain had not the notion of a God been ingrafted Politicians are so little possessed with a Reverence of God that the first Mighty one in the Scripture which may reasonably gain with the Atheist the credit of the Ancientest History in the World is represented without any fear of God * Gen.
sense and those that have life and sense are made for those that are endued with reason When the Psalmist admiringly considers the Heavens Moon and Starrs he intimates man to be the end for which they were Created Psal 8.3 4. What is man that thou art mindful of him He expresseth more particularly the Dominion that Man hath over the beasts of the field the fowl of the Air and whatsoever passes through the paths of the Sea vers 6.7.8 and concludes from thence the excellency of Gods Name in all the Earth All things in the World one way or other Center in an usefulness for man some to feed him some to clothe him some to delight him others to instruct him some to exercise his wit and others his strength Since man did not make them he did not also order them for his own use If they conspire to serve him who never made them they direct man to acknowledge an other who is the joynt Creator both of the Lord and the Servants under his Dominion And therefore as the inferior natures are ordered by an invisible hand for the good of man so the nature of man is by the same hand ordered to acknowledge the Existence and the glory of the Creator of him This visible order man knows he did not constitute he did not settle those Creatures in subserviency to himself they were placed in that order before he had any acquaintance with them or Existence of himself which is a question God puts to Job to consider of Job 38.4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the Earth declare if thou hast understanding All is ordered for Mans use the Heavens answer to the Earth as a roof to a floor both composing a delightful habitation for man vapors ascend from the Earth and the Heaven concocts them and returns them back in welcome showers for the supplying of the Earth * Jer. 10.13 The light of the Sun descends to beautifie the Earth and imploys its heat to midwife its fruits and this for the good of the community whereof Man is the head and though all Creatures have distinct natures and must act for particular ends according to the Law of their Creation yet there is a joynt combination for the good of the whole as the common end just as all the Rivers in the world from what part soever they come whether North or South fall into the Sea for the supply of that mass of waters which loudly proclaims some infinitely wise nature who made those things in so exact an harmony * Morn de verit cap. 1. pag. 7. As in a Clock the hammer which strikes the bell leads us to the next Wheel that to another the little wheel to a greater whence it derives its motion this at last to the spring which acquaints us that there was some Artist that framed them in this subordination to one another for this orderly motion 4. This order or Subserviency is regular and uniforme Every thing is determined to its peculiar nature * Amiraut The Sun and Moon make day and night months and years determine the seasons never are defective in coming back to their station and place they wander not from their Roads shock not against one another nor hinder one another in the functions assigned them From a small grain or seed a Tree springs with body root bark leaves fruit of the same shape figure smell tast that there should be as many parts in one as in all of the same kind and no more and that in the Womb of a sensitive Creature should be formed one of the same kind with all the due members and no more and the Creature that produceth it knows not how it is formed or how t is perfected If we say this is nature this nature is an intelligent being if not how can it direct all causes to such uniforme ends If it be intelligent this nature must be the same we call God Who ordered every herb to yeild seed and every fruit-Tree to yeild fruit after its kind and also every Beast and every creeping thing after its kind Gen. 11 12 24. And every thing is determined to its particular season The sap riseth from the Root at its appointed time enlivening and cloathing the branches with a new Garment at such a time of the Suns returning not wholly hindered by any accidental coldness of the weather it being often colder at its return than it was at the Suns departure All things have their Seasons of flourishing budding blossoming bringing forth fruit they ripen in their seasons cast their leaves at the same time throw off their old cloaths and in the spring appear with new Garments but still in the same fashion * Coccei sum Theol. cap. 8. § 77. The Winds and the Rain have their seasons and seem to be administred by laws for the profit of man No satisfactory cause of those things can be ascribed to the Earth the Sea to the Air or Stars Can any understand the spreading of his clouds or the noise of his Tabernacle Job 38.29 The natural reason of those things cannot be demonstrated without recourse to an infinite and intelligent being Nothing can be rendred capable of the direction of those things but a God This regularity in Plants and Animals is in all Nations The Heavens have the same motion in all parts of the world all men have the same Law of nature in their mind all Creatures are stampt with the same law of Creation In all parts the same Creatures serve for the same use and though there be different Creatures in India and Europe yet they have the same subordination the same subserviency to one another and ultimately to man which shows that there is a God and but one God who tunes all those different strings to the same notes in all places Is it nature meerly conducts these natural causes in due measures to their proper effects without interfering with one another Can meer nature be the cause of those musical proportions of time You may as well conceive a Lute to sound its own strings without the hand of an Artist a City well Governed without a Governor an Army keep its Stations without a General as imagine so exact an order without an Orderer Would any Man when he hears a Clock strike by sit intervals the hour of the day imagine this regularity in it without the direction of one that had understanding to manage it He would not only regard the motion of the Clock but commend the diligence of the Clock-Keeper 5. This order and Subserviency is constant Children change the customes and manners of their Fathers Magistrats change the Laws they have received from their Ancestors and enact new ones in their room But in the world all things consist as they were created at the beginning The Law of nature in the Creatures hath met with no change * Petav. ex Athanas Tâ—eol Dog tom 1. lib. 1.
understand what storms it is to contest with or why it shoots up its branches towards Heaven Doth it know it needs the droppings of the clouds to preserve it self and make it fruitful These are acts of understanding The root is downward to preserve its own standing the branches upward to preserve other Creatures This understanding is not in the Creature it self but originally in another Thunders and Tempests know not why they are sent yet by the direction of a mighty hand they are instruments of Justice upon a wicked world * Coccei sum Theolog. cap. 8. § 67. c. Rational Creatures that act for some end and know the end they aim at yet know not the manner of the natural motion of the members to it When we intend to look upon a thing we take no counsel about the natural motion of our eyes we know not all the principles of their operations or how that dull matter whereof our bodies are composed is subject to the order of our minds * Peirson on the Creed p. 35. We are not of Counsel with our stomacks about the concoction of our meat or the distribution of the nourishing juyce to the several parts of the body Neither the Mother nor the Foetus sit in Council how the formation should be made in the Womb. We know no more than a plant knows what Stature it is of and what medicinal vertue its fruit hath for the good of man yet all those natural operations are perfectly directed to their proper end by an higher wisdom than any human understanding is able to conceive since they exceed the ability of an inanimate or fleshly nature yea and the wisdom of a man Do we not often see reasonable Creatures acting for one end and perfecting a higher than what they aimed at or could suspect When Josephs Brethren sold him for a Slave their end was to be rid of an Informer * Gen. 37.2 But the action issued in preparing him to be the preserver of them and their families Cyrus his end was to be a Conqueror but the action ended in being the Jews deliverer Prov. 16.9 A mans heart deviseth his way but the Lord directs his steps 3. Therefore there is some superior understanding and nature which so acts them That which acts for an end unknown to it self depends upon some over-ruling wisdom that knows that end Who should direct them in all those ends but he that bestowed a being upon them for those ends * Lessius de providen lib. 1. pag. 652. who knows what is convenient for their life security and propagation of their natures An exact knowledge is necessary both of what is agreeable to them and the means whereby they must attain it which since it is not inherent in them is in that wise God who puts those instincts into them and governs them in the exercise of them to such ends Any man that sees a dart flung knows it cannot hit the mark without the skil and strength of an Archer Or he that sees the hand of a Dial pointing to the hours successively knows that the Dial is ignorant of its own end and is disposed and directed in that motion by an other All Creatures ignorant of their own natures could not universally in the whole kind and in every Climate and Country without any difference in the whole world tend to a certain end if some over-ruling wisdom did not preside over the world and guide them and if the Creatures have a Conductor they have a Creator All things are turned round about by his Council that they may do whatsoever he Commands them upon the face of the world in the earth * Job 37.12 So that in this respect the folly of Atheism appears Without the owning a God no account can be given of those actions of Creatures that are an imitation of Reason To say the Bees c. are rational is to equal them to man nay make them his superiors since they do more by nature than the wisest man can do by art T is their own Counsel whereby they act or anothers If it be their own they are reasonable Creatures If by anothers t is not meer nature that is necessary Then other Creatures would not be without the same skill There would be no difference among them If nature be restrained by another it hath a superior if not t is a free agent T is an understanding being that directs them And then it is something superior to all Creatures in the world and by this therefore we may ascend to the acknowledgment of the necessity of a God Fourthly IV. Add to the production and order of the world and the Creatures acting for their end the preservation of them Nothing can depend upon it self in its preservation no more than it could in its being If the order of the world was not fixed by it self the preservation of that order cannot be continued by it self Tho the matter of the world after Creation cannot return to that nothing whence it was fetched without the power of God that made it because the same power is as requisite to reduce a thing to nothing as to raise a thing from nothing yet without the actual exerting of a power that made the Creatures they would fall into confusion Those contesting qualities which are in every part of it could not have preserved but would have consumed and extinguisht one another and reduced the world to that confused Chaos wherin it was before the Spirit moved upon the waters As contrary parts could not have met together in one form unless there had been one that had conjoyned them So they could not have kept together after their conjunction unless the same hand had preserved them Natural contrarieties cannot be reconciled T is as great power to keep discords knit as at first to link them Who would doubt but that an Army made up of several Nations and humors would fall into a Civil War and sheath their Swords in one anothers bowels if they were not under the management of some wise General or a Ship dash against the Rocks without the skill of a Pilot * Gassend Phy. sect 6. lib. 4. cap. 2. pa. 101. As the body hath neither life nor motion without the active presence of the Soul which distributes to every part the vertue of acting sets every one in the exercise of its proper function and resides in every part So there is some powerful cause which doth the like in the world that rules and tempers it There is need of the same power and action to preserve a thing as there was at first to make it When we consider that we are preserved and know that we could not preserve our selves we must necessarily run to some first cause which doth preserve us All works of art depend upon nature and are preserved while they are kept by the force of nature As a Statue depends upon the matter whereof it is
a humane way and not in a divine Is not this to impose Laws upon God To esteem our selves wiser than he To think him negligent of his own service and that our feeble brains can find out ways to accommodate his honour better than himself hath done Thus do men for the most part equal their own imaginations to Gods oracles As Solomon built a high place to Moloch and Chemoch upon the Mount of Olives to face on the East part Hierusalem and the Temple * 1 Kings 11.7 This is not only to impose Laws on God but also to make self the Standard of them 8. 'T is evidenc'd in suting interpretations of Scripture to their own minds and humors Like the Lacedemonians that drest the Images of their Gods according to the fashion of their own Countrey We would wring Scripture to sâ—rve our own designs and Judge the Law of God by the law of sin and make the Serpentine seed in us to be the interpreter of Divine Oracles This is like Belshazar to drink healths out of the sacred Vessels As God is the Author of his Law and Word so he is the best interpreter of it the Scripture having an impress of divine Wisdom Holiness and Goodness must be regarded according to that impress with a submission and meekness of Spirit and Reverence of God in it But when in our enquiries into the word we enquire not of God but consult flesh and blood the temper of the times wherein we live or the satisfaction of a party we side withal and impose glosses upon it according to our own fancies it is to put Laws upon God and make self the rule of him He that interprets the law to bolster up some eager appetite against the Will of the law-giver ascribes to himself as great an authority as he that enacted it 9. In falling off from God after some fair compliances when his Will grateth upon us and crosseth ours They will walk with him as far as he pleaseth them and leave him upon the first distast as tho God must observe their humors more than they his Will Amos must be suspended from Prophecying because the Land could not bear his words and his discourses condemned their unworthy practices against God * Amos. 7.10 c. The Young man came not to receive directions from our Saviour but expected a Confirmation of his own rules rather than an imposition of new * Mark 10.17 22. He rather cares for Commendations than instructions and upon the disappointment turns his back He was sad that Christ would not suffer him to be rich and a Christian together and leaves him because his Command was not suitable to the Law of his Covetousness Some truths that are at a further distance from us we can hear gladly But when the Conscience begins to smart under others if God will not observe our Wills we will with Herod be a Law to our selves * Mark 6 2â—.27 More instances might be observed Ingratitude is a setting up self and an imposing Laws on God T is as much as to say God did no more than he was obliged to do as if the Mercies we have were an Act of Duty in God and not of bounty Insatiable desires after wealth Hence are those speeches Jam. 4.13 We will go into such a City and buy and sell c. to get gain As tho they had the Command of God and God must Lacquey after their Wills VVhen our hearts are not contented with any supply of our wants but are craving an overplus for our lust When we are unsatisfied in the midst of plenty and still like the Grave cry give give Incorrigibleness under affliction c. Secondly 2. The second main thing As Man would be a Law to himself So he would be his own end and happiness in opposition to God Here four things shall be discoursed on 1. Man would make himself his own End and Happiness 2. He would make any thing his End and Happiness rather than God 3. He would make himself the End of all Creatures 4. He would make himself the End of God First 1. Man would make himself his own End and Happiness As God ought to be esteem'd the first cause in point of our dependance on him so he ought to be our last end in point of our enjoyment of him When we therefore trust in our selves we refuse him as the first cause and when we act for our selves and expect a blessedness from our selves we refuse him as the Chiefest good and last End which is an undeniable piece of Atheism For man is a Creature of a higher rank than others in the world and was not made as Animals Plants and other works of the Divine power materially to glorifie God but a rational Creature intentionally to Honour God by obedience to his Rule dependance on his goodness and zeal for his glory T is therefore as much a slighting of God for man a Creature to set himself up as his own End as to regard himself as his own Law For the discovery of this observe that there is a three-fold self-love 1. Natural which is common to us by the Law of nature with other Creatures Inanimate as well as Animate and so closely twisted with the nature of every Creature that it cannot be dissolved but with the dissolution of nature it self It consisted not with the wisdom and goodness of God to Create an unnatural nature or to Command any thing unnatural Nor doth he for when he Commands us to Sacrifice out Selves and dearest lives for himself t is not without a promise of a more noble state and being in exchange for what we lose This self-love is not only commendable but necessary as a Rule to measure that duty we owe to our Neighbour whom we cannot love as our selves if we do not first love our selvs God having planted this self-love in our nature makes this natural principle the measure of our affection to all Mankind of the same blood with our selves 2. Carnal self-love when a man loves himself above God in opposition to God with a contempt of God when our thoughts affections designs Center only in our own fleshly interest and rifle God of his honour to make a present of it to our selves Thus the natural self-love in it self good becomes Criminal by the excess when it would be superior and not subordinate to God 3. A Gracious self-love VVhen we love our selves for higher ends than the nature of a Creature as a Creature dictates Viz. in subserviency to the Glory of God This is a reduction of the revolted Creature to his true and happy order A Christian is therefore said to be Created in Christ to good works * Eph. 1 10. As all Creatures were Created not only for themselves but for the honour of God so the Grace of the new Creation carries a man to answer this end and to order all his operations to the Honour of God and his
self always before us is to acknowledge no being but our selves to be God Secondly 2. The second thing Man would make any thing his End and happiness rather than God An end is so necessary in all our actions that he deserves not the name of a rational Creature that proposeth not one to himself This is the distinction between rational Creatures and others they act with a formal intention whereas other Creatures are directed to their end by a natural instinct and moved by nature to what the others should be moved by reason When a Man therefore Acts for that end which was not intended him by the Law of his Creation nor is suited to the noble faculties of his Soul He acts contrary to God overturns his order and merits no better a title than that of an Atheist A Man may be said two ways to make a thing his last end and chief good 1. Formally When he actually Judges this or that thing to be his chiefest good and orders all things to it So Man doth not formally Judge sin to be good or any object which is the incentive of sin to be his last end This cannot be while he hath the exercise of his rational faculties 2. Vertually and implicitely When he loves any thing against the Command of God and preferrs in the stream of his actions the enjoyment of that before the fruition of God and lays out more strength and expends more time in the gaining that than answering the true end of his Creation VVhen he acts so as if something below God could make him happy without God or that God could not make him happy without the addition of something else Thus the Glutton makes a God of his dainties the ambitious Man of his Honour the incontinent Man of his lust and the Covetous Man of his wealth and Consequently esteems them as his chiefest good and the most noble end to which he directs his thoughts Thus he vilifies and lessens the true God which can make him happy in a multitude of false Gods that can only render him miserable He that loves pleasure more than God says in his heart there is no God but his pleasure He that loves his belly more than God says in his heart there is no God but his belly Their happiness is not accounted to lie in that God that made the World but in the pleasure or profit they make their God In this tho a Created object be the immediate and subordinate term to which we turn yet principally and ultimately the affection to it terminates in self Nothing is naturally entertained by us but as it affects our sense or mingles with some promise of advantage to us This is seen 1. In the fewer thoughts we have of God than of any thing else Did we apprehend God to be our chiefest good and highest end should we grudge him the pains of a few days thoughts upon him Men in their Travells are frequently thinking upon their intended stage But our thoughts run upon new acquisitions to increase our wealth rear up our Families Revenge our injuries and support our reputation Trifles possess us but God is not in all our thoughts * Psa 10.4 seldom the sole object of them VVe have durable thoughts of transitory things and flitting thoughts of a durable and Eternal good The Covenant of grace engageth the whole heart to God and bars any thing else from ingrossing it But what strangers are God and the Souls of most men Though we have the knowledge of him by Creation yet he is for the most part an unknown God in the Relations wherein he stands to us because a God undelighted in Hence it is as one obeserves * Jackson vol. book 1. cap. 14. pa. 48. that because we observe not the ways of Gods wisdom conceive not of him in his vast perfections nor are stricken with an admiration of his goodness that we have fewer good sacred Poems than of any other kind The wits of Men hang the wing when they come to exercise their reasons and fancies about God Parts and strength are given us as well as Corn and Wine to the Isralites for the service of God but those are Consecrated to some Cursed Baal * Hos 2.8 Like Venus in the Poet we forsake Heaven to follow some Adonis 2. In the greedy pursuit of the World * Quod quisque prae caeteris petit summum judicat bonum Bâ—et lib. 3. pa. 24. When we pursue worldly wealth or worldly reputation with more vehemency than the riches of grace or the favour of God VVhen we have a foolish imagination that our happiness consists in them we prefer Earth before Heaven broken Cisterns which can hold no water before an ever Springing Fountain of glory and bliss And as tho there were a defect in God cannot be content with him as our portion without an addition of something inferior to him VVhen we make it our hopes and say to the wedge thou art my Confidence and rejoyce more because it is great and because our hand hath gotten much than in the priviledge of Communion with God and the promise of an everlasting fruition of him * Job 31.24.25 This is so gross that Job joyns it with the Idolatry of the Sun and Moon which he purgeth himself of ver 26. And the Apostle when he mentions Covetousness or Covetous men passes it not over without the title of Idolatry to the vice and Idolater to the person * Col. 3.5 Eph. 5.5 In that it is a preferring Clay and Dirt as an end more desirable than the original of all goodness in regard of affection and dependence 3. In a strong addictedness to sensual pleasures Phil. 3.19 VVho make their belly their God subjecting the truths of God to the maintenance of their Luxury In debasing the higher faculties to project for the satisfaction of the sensitive appetite as their chief happiness whereby many render themselves no better than a rout of sublimated brutes among men and gross Atheists to God VVhen mens thoughts run also upon inventing new methods to satisfie their bestial appetite forsaking the pleasures which are to be had in God which are the delights of Angels for the satisfaction of brutes This is an open and unquestionable refusal of God for our end when our rest is in them as if they were the chief good and not God 4. In paying a service upon any success in the World to Instruments more than to God the Soveraign Author VVhen they Sacrifice to their Net and burn incense to their Drag * Hab. 1.16 Not that the Assyrian did offer a Sacrifice to his arms but ascrib'd to them what was due only to God and appropriated the Victory to his forces and arms The Prophet alludes to those that worshipped their VVarlike Instruments whereby they had attained great Victories and those Artificers who worshipped the Tools by which they had purchased great wealth in the stead of God
are coupled here together that which hath Wealth and that which hath those glorious Creatures in Heaven for its Object And though some may think it a light Sin yet the Crime being of deeper guilt a denial of God deserves a severer punishment and falls under the Sentence of the just Judge of all the Earth under that Notion which Job intimates in those words this also were an Iniquity to be punished by the Judge The kissing the hand to the Sun Moon or any Idol was an external Sign of Religious Worship among those and other Nations This is far less than an inward hearty Confidence and an affectionate Trust If the motion of the hand be much more is the affection of the heart to an excrementitious Creature or a brutish Pleasure is a Denial of God and a kind of an Abjuring of him siince the Supream Affection of the Soul is undoubtedly and solely the Right of the Soveraign Creator and not to be given in common to others as the outward gesture may in a way of civil respect Nothing that is an Honour peculiar to God can be given to a Creature without a plain exclusion of God to be God it being a disowning the rectitude and excellency of his Nature If God should command a Creature such a Love and such a Confidence in any thing inferior to him He would deny himself his own Glory He would deny himself to be the most excellent Being Can the Romanists be free from this when they call the Cross Spem unicam and say to the Virgin In te Domina speravi as Bonaventure c. Good reason therefore have Worldlings and Sensualists persons of immoderate fondness to any thing in the world to reflect upon themselves since though they own the Being of a God they are guilty of so great disrespect to him that cannot be excused from the title of an unworthy Atheism And those that are renewed by the Spirit of God may here see ground of a daily Humiliation for the frequent and too common Excursions of their Souls in Creature Confidences and Affections whereby they fall under the charge of an act of practical Atheism though they may be free from an habit of it 3. The third thing is Man would make himself the end of all Creatures Man would fit in the Seat of God and set his heart as the heart of God as the Lord saith of Tyrus Ezek. 28.2 What is the consequence of this but to be esteemed the chief Good and end of other Creatures A thing that the heart of God cannot but be set upon it being an inseparable Right of the Deity who must deny himself if he deny this affection of the Heart Since it is the nature of Man deriv'd from his Root to desire to be equal with God it follows that he desires no Creature should be equal with him but subservient to his ends and his glory He that would make himself God would have the Honour proper to God He that thinks himself worthy of his own supream affection thinks himself worthy to be the Object of the supream affection of others Whosoever counts himself the chiefest Good and last End would have the same place in the thoughts of others Nothing is more natural to Man than a desire to have his own Judgment the Rule and Measure of the Judgments and Opinions of the rest of Mankind He that sets himself in the Place of the Prince doth by that act challenge all the Prerogatives and Dues belonging to the Prince and apprehending himself fit to be a King apprehends himself also worthy of the Homage and Fealty of the Subjects He that loves himself chiefly and all other things and persons for himself would make himself the end of all Creatures It hath not been once or twice only in the World that some vain Princes have assumed to themselves the title of Gods and caused Divine Adorations to be given to them and Altars to smoke with Sacrifices for their Honour What hath been practised by one is by Nature seminally in all We would have all pay an Obedience to us and give to us the Esteem that is due to God This is evident 1. In Pride When we entertain an high Opinion of our selves and act for our own Reputes we dispossess God from our own hearts and while we would have our Fame to be in every mans mouth and be admired in the hearts of men we would chase God out of the hearts of others and deny his Glory a Residence any where else that our Glory should reside more in their minds than the Glory of God that their thoughts should be filled with our Atchievements more than the Works and Excellency of God with our Image and not with the Divine Pride would paramount God in the affections of others and justle God out of their Souls and by the same reason that man doth thus in the Place where he lives he would do so in the whole world and press the whole Creation from the Service of their true Lord to his own Service Every proud man would be counted by others as he counts himself the highest chiefest piece of Goodnes and be adored by others as much as he adores and admires himself No proud man in his self-love and self-admiration thinks himself in an Error and if he be worthy of his own admiration he thinks himself worthy of the highest esteem of others that they should value him above themselves and value themselves only for him What did Nebuchadnezzar intend by setting up a Golden Image and commanding all his Subjects to worship it upon the highest Penalty he could inflict but that all should aim only at the pleasing his Humor 2. In using the Creatures contrary to the End God has appointed God created the World and all things in it as steps whereby men might ascend to a Prospect of him and the acknowledgment of his Glory and we would use them to dishonour God and gratifie our selves He appointed them to supply our necessities and support our rational delights and we use them to cherish our sinful lusts We wring groans from the Creature in diverting them from their true scope to one of our own fixing when we use them not in his service but purely for our own and turn those things he created for himself to be instruments of Rebellion against him to serve our turns and hereby endeavour to defeat the ends of God in them to establish our own ends by them This is a high dishonour to God a Sacrilegious undermining of his Glory * Sabunde Tit. 200. P. 352. to reduce what God hath made to serve our own glory and our own pleasure It perverts the whole Order of the World and directs it to another end than what God hath constituted to another intention contrary to the intention of God and thus Man makes himself a God by his own Authority As all things were made by God so they are for God but while we
and his own happiness So loth is God to give any just occasion of dissatisfaction to his Creature as well as dishonour himself All those wonders of his mercy are inhanc'd by the hainousness of our Atheism a multitude of gracious thoughts from him above the multitude of contempts from us * Psal 106. â— What Rebells in actual Arms against their Prince aiming at his Life ever found that favour from him to have all their necessaries richly afforded them without which they would starve and without which they would be unable to manage their attempts as we have received from God Had not God had riches of goodness forbearance and long suffering and infinite riches too the despight the world hath done him in refusing him as their Rule Happiness and End would have emptied him long agoe * Rom. 2.4 2. It brings in a Justification of the exercise of his Justice If it gives us occasion loudly to praise his Patience it also stops our mouths from accusing any acts of his Vengeance What can be too sharp a recompence for the despising and disgracing so great a Being The highest contempt merits the greatest anger and when we will not own him for our happiness 't is equal we should feel the misery of separation from him If he that is guilty of Treason deserves to lose his Life what punishment can be thought great enough for him that is so disingenious as to prefer himself before a God so infinitely good and so foolish as to invade the rights of one infinitely powerful 'T is no injustice for a Creature to be for ever left to himself to see what advantage he can make of that self he was so busily imployed to set up in the place of his Creator The Soul of Man deserves an infinite punishment for despising an infinite good And it is not unequitable that that self which Man makes his Rule and Happiness above God should become his Torment and Misery by the Righteousness of that God whom he despised 3. Hence ariseth a necessity of a new state and frame of Soul to alter an Atheistical Nature We forget God Think of him with reluctancy Have no respect to God in our course and acts This cannot be our original state God being infinitely good never let man come out of his hands with this actual unwillingness to acknowledge and serve him He never intended to dethrone himself for the work of his hands or that the Creature should have any other end than that of his Creator As the Apostle saith in the Case of the Galatians Error Gal. 5.8 This perswasion came not of him that called you so this frame comes not from him that created you How much therefore do we need a restoring Principle in us Instead of ordering our selves according to the Will of God we are desirous to fulfil the Wills of the Flesh * Ephes 2.3 There is a necessity of some other principle in us to make us fulfil the Will of God since we were created for God not for the Flesh We can no more be voluntarily serviceable to God while our serpentine nature and Devillish habits remain in us than we can suppose the Devil can be willing to glorifie God while the nature he contracted by his fall abides powerfully in him Our Nature and Will must be changed that our actions may regard God as our End that we may delightfully meditate on him and draw the motives of our obedience from him Since this Atheism is seated in Nature the change must be in our Nature Since our first aspirings to the rights of God were the fruits of the Serpents breath which tainted our Nature there must be a removal of this taint whereby our Natures may be on the side of God against Satan as they were before on the side of Satan against God There must be a supernatural Principle before we can live a supernatural Life i. e. live to God since we are naturally alienated from the Life of God The aversion of our Natures from God is as strong as our inclination to evil we are disgusted with one and pressed with the other we have no will no heart to come to God in any service This Nature must be broken in pieces and new moulded before we can make God our Rule and our End While mens deeds are evil they cannot comply with God * Joh. 3.19 20. much less while their natures are evil Till this be done all the service a man performs riseth from some evil imagination of the heart which is evil only evil and that continually * Gen. 6.5 from wrong Notions of God wrong Notions of Duty or corrupt Motives All the pretences of Devotion to God are but the Adoration of some golden Image Prayers to God for the ends of self are like those of the Devil to our Saviour when he askt leave to go into the Herd of Swine The Object was right Christ the end was the destruction of the Swine and the satisfaction of their malice to the Owners There is a necessity then that depraved ends should be removed that that which was Gods end in our framing may be our end in our acting viz. his glory which cannot be without a change of Nature We can never honour him supreamly whom we do not supreamly love Till this be we cannot glorifie God as God though we do things by his Command and Order no more than when God imployed the Devil in afflicting Job * Job 1. His performance cannot be said to be good because his end was not the same with Gods he acted out of Malice what God commanded out of Soveraignity and for gracious designs Had God imployed an Holy Angel in his design upon Job the Action had been good in the Affliction because his Nature was holy and therefore his ends holy but bad in the Devil because his ends were base and unworthy 4. We may gather from hence the difficulty of Conversion and Mortification to follow thereupon What is the reason men receive no more impression from the Voice of God and the Light of his Truth than a dead man in the Grave doth from the roaring Thunder or a blind Mole from the Light of the Sun 'T is because our Atheism is as great as the deadness of the one or the blindness of the other The Principle in the heart is strong to shut the door both of the thoughts and affections against God If a Friend oblige us we shall act for him as for our selves We are won by intreaties soft words overcome us but our hearts are as deaf as the hardest Rock at the call of God Neither the joys of Heaven proposed by him can allure us nor the flasht terrors of Hell affright us to him as if we conceived God unable to bestow the one or execute the other The true reason is God and self contest for the Deity The Law of Sin is God must be at the foot-stool the Law of God is Sin
have all the Utensils of the Sanctuary employed about his service to be holy The Inwards of the Sacrifice were to be rinsed thrice * As the Jewish Doctors observe on Lev. 1.9 The Crop and Feathers of sacrificed Doves was to be hung Eastward towards the entrance of the Temple at a distance from the Holy of Holies where the presence of God was most eminent * Lev. 1.16 When Aaron was to go into the Holy of Holies he was to sanctifie himself in an extraordinary manner * Lev. 16.4 The Priests were to be bare footed in the Temple in the exercise of their Office shoes alway were to be put off upon holy ground Look to thy foot when thou goest to the House of God saith the wise man Eccles 5.1 Strip the affections the feet of the Soul of all the dirt contracted discard all earthly and base thoughts from the heart A Beast was not to touch the Mount Sinai without losing his Life Nor can we come near the Throne with brutish affections without losing the life and fruit of the worship An unholy Soul degrades himself from a Spirit to a Brute and the worship from spiritual to brutish If any unmortified sin be found in the Life as it was in the comers to the Temple It taints and pollutes the Worship * Isa 1.15 All worship is an acknowledgment of the excellency of God as he is holy * Jer. 7.9 10. Hence it is called a sanctifying Gods Name How can any person sanctifie Gods Name that hath not a holy resemblance to his Nature If he be not holy as he is holy he cannot worship him according to his excellency in Spirit and in Truth No worship is spiritual wherein we have not a communion with God But what intercourse can there be between a holy God and an impure Creature between Light and Darkness We have no fellowship with him in any service unless we walk in the Light in service and out of service as he is Light * 1 John 1.7 The Heathen thought not their Sacrifices agreeable to God without washing their hands whereby they signified the preparation of their hearts before they made the Oblation Clean hands without a pure heart signify nothing The frame of our hearts must answer the purity of the outward Symbols Psal 26.6 I will wash my hands in Innocence so will I compass thine Altar oh Lord He would observe the appointed Ceremonies but not without cleansing his heart as well as his hands Vain Man is apt to rest upon outward acts and rites of worship But this must alway be practised The words are in the present Tense I wash I compass Purity in worship ought to be our continual Care If we would perform a spiritual service wherein we would have communion with God it must be in Holiness If we would walk with Christ it must be in white * Revel 3.4 alluding to the white Garments the Priests put on when they went to perform their service As without this we cannot see God in Heaven so neither can we see the beauty of God in his own Ordinances 11. Spiritual worship is performed with spiritual ends with raised aims at the glory of God No duty can be spiritual that hath a carnal aim Where God is the sole Object he ought to be the principal End In all our actions he is to be our End as he is the principle of our Being much more in Religious Acts as he is the Object of our worship The worship of God in Scripture is exprest by the seeking of him * Heb. 11.6 Him not our selves all is to be referred to God As we are not to live to our selves that being the sign of a carnal state so we are not to worship for our selves Rom. 14.7 8. As all actions are denominated good from their end as well as their object so upon the same account they are denominated spiritual The end spiritualizeth our natural actions much more our religious Then are our faculties devoted to him when they center in him If the intention be evil there is nothing but darkness in the whole service Luke 11.34 The first institution of the Sabbath the solemn day for worship was to contemplate the glory of God in his stupendous works of Creation and render him a homage for them Revel 4.11 Thou art worthy oh Lord to receive Honour Glory and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created No worship can be returned without a glorifying of God and we cannot actually glorify him without direct aims at the promoting his honour As we have immediately to do with God so we are immediately to mind the praise of God As we are not to content our selves with habitual grace but be rich in the exercise of it in worship so we are not to acquiesce in habitual aims at the glory of God without the actual outflowings of our hearts in those aims 'T is natural for Man to worship God for self Self-righteousness is the rooted aim of Man in his worship since his revolt from God and being sensible it is not to be found in his natural actions he speaks for it in his moral and religious By the first Pride we flung God off from being our Soveraign and from being our end since a Pharisaical Spirit struts it in nature not only to do things to be seen of men but to be admired by God Isa 58.3 Wherefore have we fasted and thou takest no knowledge This is to have God worship them instead of being worshipped by them Cain's carriage after his Sacrifice testified some base end in his worship he came not to God as a Subject to a Soveraign but as if he had been the Soveraign and God the Subject and when his design is not answered and his desire not gratified he proves more a Rebel to God and a Murderer of his Brother Such base scents will rise up in our worship from the body of death which cleaves to us and mix themselves with our services as Weeds with the Fish in the Net David therefore after his People had offered willingly to the Temple beggs of God that their hearts might be prepared to him * 1 Cron. 29.18 that their hearts might stand right to God without any squinting to self-ends Some present themselves to God as poor men offer a present to a great person not to honour him but to gain for themselves a reward richer than their gift What profit is it that we have kept his Ordinance c Mal. 3.14 Some worship him intending thereby to make him amends for the wrong they have done him wipe off their scores and satisfie their debts as though a spiritual wrong could be recompensed with a bodily service and an infinite Spirit be outwitted and appeased by a carnal flattery Self is the Spirit of Carnality To pretend a homage to God and intend only the advantage of self is rather
to mock him than worship him When we believe that we ought to be satisfied rather than God glorified we set God below our selves imagin that he should submit his own honour to our advantage We make our selves more glorious than God as though we were not made for him but he hath a Being only for us this is to have a very low esteem of the Majesty of God Whatsoever any man aims at in worship above the glory of God that he forms as an Idol to himself instead of God and sets up a Golden-Image God counts not this as a Worship The Offerings made in the Wilderness for forty years together God esteemed as not offered to him Amos 5.25 Have you offered to me Sacrifices and Offerings in the Wilderness forty years oh House of Israel They did it not to God but to themselves for their own security and the attainment of the possession of the promised Land A spiritual Worshipper performs not worship for some hopes of carnal advantage he uses ordinances as means to bring God and his Soul together to be more fitted to honour God in the world in his particular place When he hath been inflamed and humble in any address or duty he gives God the glory his heart sutes the doxology at the end of the Lords-prayer ascribes the Kingdom Power and Glory to God alone and if any viper of Pride starts out upon him he endeavours presently to shake it off That which was the first end of our framing ought to be the chief end of our acting towards God But when men have the same ends in worship as Brutes the satisfaction of a sensitive part the service is no more than brutish The acting for a sensitive end is unworthy of the Majesty of God to whom we address and unbecoming a rational Creature The acting for a sensitive end is not a rational much less can it be a spiritual service though the Act may be good in it self yet not good in the Agent because he wants a due end We are then spiritual when we have the same end in our redeemed services as God had in his redeeming love viz. his own Glory 12. Spiritual service is offered to God in the name of Christ Those are only spiritual Sacrifices that are offered up to God by Jesus Christ * 1 Pet. 2.5 that are the fruits of the Sanctification of the Spirit and offered in the mediation of the Son As the Altar sanctifies the gift so doth Christ spiritualize our services for Gods acceptation as the Fire upon the Altar separated the airy and finer parts of the sacrifice from the terrene and earthly This is the Golden Altar upon which the Prayers of the Saints are offered up before the Throne * Revel 8.3 As all that we have from God streams through his blood so all that we give to God ascends by vertue of his merits All the blessings God gave to the Israelites came out of Sion * Psal 134.3 The Lord bless thee out of Sion that is from the Gospel hid under the Law all the duties we present to God are to be presented in Sion in an evangelical manner All our worship must be bottomed on Christ God hath intended that we should honour the Son as we honour the Father As we honour the Father by offering our service only to him so we are to honour the Son by offering it only in his name In him alone God is well pleased because in him alone he finds our services spiritual and worthy of acceptation We must therefore take fast hold of him with our Spirits and the faster we hold him the more spiritual is our worship To do any thing in the name of Christ is not to believe the worship shall be accepted for it self but to have our eye fixed upon Christ for the acceptance of it and not to rest upon the work done as carnal people are apt to do The Creatures present their acknowledgments to God by Man and man can only present his by Christ It was utterly unlawful after the building of the Temple to sacrifice any where else The Temple being a type of Christ it is utterly unlawful for us to present our services in any other name than his This is the way to be spiritual If we consider God out of Christ we can have no other notions but those of horror and bondage We behold him a Spirit but environ'd with Justice and Wrath for Sinners But the consideration of him in Christ vails his Justice draws forth his Mercy represents him more a Father than a Judge In Christ the aspect of Justice is changed and by that the temper of the Creature so that in and by this Mediator we can have a spiritual boldness and access to God with confidence * Eph. 3.12 whereby the Spirit is kept from benummedness and distraction and our Souls quickned and refined The thoughts kept upon Christ in a duty of worship quickly elevates the Soul and spiritualizeth the whole service Sin makes our services black and the blood of Christ makes both our persons and services white To conclude this Head God is a Spirit infinitely happy therefore we must approach to him with cheerfulness He is a Spirit of infinite Majesty therefore we must come before him with reverence He is a Spirit infinitely high therefore we must offer up our Sacrifices with the deepest humility He is a Spirit infinitely holy therefore we must address with purity He is a Spirit infinitely glorious we must therefore acknowledge his excellency in all that we do and in our measures contribute to his glory by having the highest aims in his worship He is a Spirit infinitely provoked by us therefore we must offer up our worship in the name of a pacifying Mediator and Intercessour 3. The third general is why a spiritual worship is due to God and to be offered to him We must consider the Object of Worship and the Subject of worship the Worshipper and the Worshipped God is a spiritual Being Man is a reasonable Creature The nature of God informs us what is fit to be presented to him our own nature informs us what is fit to be presented by us Reason 1. The best we have is to be presented to God in worship For 1. Since God is the most excellent Being he is to be served by us with the most excellent thing we have and with the choicest veneration God is so incomprehensibly excellent that we cannot render him what he deserves We must render him what we are able to offer the best of our affiections the flower of our strength the Cream and Top of our Spirits By the same reason that we are bound to give to God the best worship we must offer it to him in the best manner We cannot give to God any thing too good for so blessed a Being God being a great King slight services become not his Majesty * Mal. 1.13 14. 'T is unbecoming the
will to please him longings to enjoy him as a holy and sanctifying God in his Ordinances as well as a blessed and glorified God in Heaven What do we expect in our approaches from him That which may make divine impressions upon us and more exactly conform us to the divine nature Or do we design nothing but an empty formality a rowling eye and a filling the Air with a few words without any openings of heart to receive the incomes which according to the nature of the duty might be conveyed to us Can this be a spiritual worship The Soul then closely waits upon him when its expectation is only from him Psal 62.6 Are our hearts seasoned with a sense of sin a sight of our spiritual wants raised notions of God glowing affections to Him strong appetite after a spiritual fulness Do we rouze up our sleepy Spirits and make a Covenant with all that is within us to attend upon him So much as we want of this so much we come short of a spiritual worship In Psal 57.7 My heart is fixed oh God my heart is fixed David would fix his heart before he would engage in a praising act of worship He appeals to God about it and that with doubling the expression as being certain of an inward preparedness Can we make the same appeals in a fixation of Spirit 2. How are our hearts fixed upon him How do they cleave to him in the duty Do we resign our Spirits to God and make them an intire Holocaust a whole burnt-offering in his worship Or do we not willingly admit carnal thoughts to mix themselves with spiritual duties and fasten our minds to the Creature under pretences of directing them to the Creator Do we not pass a meer complement on God by some superficial act of devotion while some covetous envious ambitious voluptuous imagination may possess our minds Do we not invert Gods Order and worship a Lust instead of God with our Spirits that should not have the least service either from our Souls or Bodies but with a spiritual disdain be sacrificed to the just indignation of God How often do we fight against his Will while we cry hail Master instead of crucifying our own thoughts crucifying the Lord of our Lives Our outward carriage plausible and our inward stark naught Do we not often regard iniquity more than God in our hearts in a time of worship Roul some filthy imagination as a sweet morsel under our tongues and taste more sweetness in that than in God Do not our Spirits smell rank of Earth while we offer to Heaven and have we not hearts full of thick Clay as their hands were full of blood * Isa 1.15 When we sacrifice do we not wrap up our Souls in communion with some sordid fancy when we should entwine our Spirits about an amiable God While we have some fear of him may we not have a love to something else above him This is to worship or swear by the Lord and by Malchom * Zeph. 1.5 How often doth an Apish-fancy render a service inwardly ridiculous under a grave outward posture skipping to the Shop Ware-house Compting-house in the space of a short Prayer And we are before God as a Babel a confusion of internal languages and this in those parts of worship which are in the right use most agreeable to God profitable for our selves ruinous to the Kingdom of Sin and Satan and means to bring us into a closer communion with the Divine Majesty Can this be a spiritual worship 3. How do we act our graces in worship Though the Instrument be strung if the strâ—ngs be not wound up what melody can be the issue All readiness and alacrity discover a strength of nature and a readiness in Spirituals discovers a spirituality in the heart As unaffecting thoughts of God are not spiritual thoughts so unaffecting addresses to God are not spiritual addresses Well tâ—en what awakenings and elevations of Faith and Love have we What strong outflowings of our Souls to him What indignation against Sin What admirations of redeeming Grace How low have we brought our corruptions to the foot-stool of Christ to be made his conquered Enemies How straitly have we claspt ouâ— Faith about the Cross and Throne of Christ to become his intimate Spouse Do we in hearing hang upon the lips of Christ in prayer take hold of God and wil not let him go in confessions rent the Caul of our hearts and indite our Souls before him with a deep humility Do we act more by a soaring love than a drooping fear So far as our Spitits are servile so far they are legal and carnal so much as they are free and spontaneous so much they are evangelical and spiritual As men under the Law are subject to the constraint of Bondage * Heb. 2.15 all their life-time in all their worship so under the Gospel they are under a constraint of love * 2 Cor. 5.14 How then are believing affections exercised which are alway accompanied with holy fear a fear of his goodness that admits us into his presence and a fear to offend him in our act of worship So much as we have of forced or feeble affection so much we have of carnality 4. How do we find our hearts after worship By an after carriage we may judge of the spirituality of it 1. How are we as to inward strength When a worship is spiritually performed grace is more strengthened corruption more mortified The Soul like Sampson after his awakening goes out with a renewed strength As the inward man is renewed day by day that is every day so it is renewed in every worship Every shower makes the grass and fruit grow in good ground where the root is good and the weeds where the ground is naught The more prepared the heart is to obedience in other duties after worship the more evidence there is that it hath been spiritual in the exercise of it 'T is the end of God in every dispensation as in that of John Baptist To make ready a People prepared for the Lord * Luke 1 17. When the heart is by worship prepared for fresh acts of obedience and hath a more exact watchfulness against the incroachments of Sin As carnal men after worship sprout up in spiritual wickedness so do spiritual Worshippers in spiritual graces Spiritual fruits are a sign of a spiritual frame When men are more prone to sin after duty 't is a sign there was but little communion with God in it and a greater strength of sin because such an act is contrary to the end of worship which is the subduing of Sin 'T is a sign the Physick hath wrought well when the stomach hath a better appetite to its appointed food and worship hath been well performed when we have a stronger inclination to other acts well pleasing to God and a more sensible distaste of those temptations we too much relisht before 'T is a sign of
and Truth in the inward parts * Psal 51.6 And therefore infinite Goodness and Holiness cannot but hate worship presented to him with deceitful carnal and flitting affections They must be more nauseous to God than a putrified Carcass can be to Man They are the prophanings of that which should be the habitation of the Spirit They make the Spirit the seat of duty a filthy dung-hill and are as loathsome to God as Mony-changers in the Temple were to our Saviour We see the evil of carnal frames and the necessity and benefit of spiritual frames For further help in this last let us practise thesâ— following directions Direction 1. Keep up spiritual frames out of worship To avoid low affections we must keep our hearts as much as we can in a setled elevation If we admit unworthy dispositions at one time we shall not easily be rid of them at another * Fitzherbert Pol. in relig part 2. cap. 19. § 12. As he that would not be bitten with Gnats in the Night must keep his windows shut in the Day when they are once entred 't is not easie to expel them In which respect one adviseth to be such out of worship as we would be in worship If we mix spiritual affections with our worldly employments worldly affections will not mingle themselves so easily with our heavenly engagements If our hearts be spiritual in our outward calling they will scarce be carnal in our religious service If we walk in the Spirit we shall not fulfil the lusts of the Flesh * Gal. 5.16 A spiritual walk in the day will hinder carnal lustings in worship The Fire was to be kept alive upon the Altar when Sacrifices were not offered from morning till night from night till morning as well as in the very time of Sacrifice A spiritual life and vigour out of worship would render it at its season sweet and easie and preserve a spontaneity and preparedness to it and make it both natural and pleasant to us Any thing that doth unhinge and discompose our Spirits is inconsistent with religious services which are to be performed with the greatest sedateness and gravity All irregular passions disturb the serenity of the Spirit and open the door for Satan * Eph. 4.26.27 Saith the Apostle Let not the Sun go down upon your wrath neither give place to the Devil Where wrath breaks the Lock the Devil will quickly be over the Threshold and though they be allayed yet they leave the heart sometime after like the Sea rowling and swelling after the storm is ceased Mixture with ill company leaves a tincture upon us in worship Ephraims allying himself with the Gentiles bred an indifferency in Religion Hos 7.8 Ephraim hath mixed himself with the People Ephraim is a Cake not turn'd It will make our hearts and consequently our services half Dough as well as half bak'd These and the like make the holy Spirit withdraw himself and then the Soul lies like a wind-bound Vessel and can make no way When the Sun departs from us it carries its Beams away with it then doth Darkness spread it self over the Earth and the Beasts of the Forests creep out * Psal 1â—4 2â— When the Spirit withdraws a while from a good man it carries away though not habitual yet much of the exciting and assisting grace and then carnal dispositions perk up themselves from the bosome of natural corruption To be spiritual in worship we must bar the door at other times against that which is contrary to it As he that would not be infected with a contagious disease carries some Preservative about with him and inures himself to good scents To this end be much in secret ejaculations to God these are the purest slights of the Soul that have more of fervor and less of carnality they preserve a liveliness in the Spirit and make it more fit to perform solemn stated worship with greater freedom and activity A constant use of this would make our whole lives lives of worship As frequent sinful acts strengthen habits of sin so frequent religious acts strengthen habits of grace Direction 2. Excite and exercise particularly a love to God and dependence on him Love is a commanding affection a uniting graces it draws all the faculties of the Soul to one Center The Soul that loves God when it hath to do with him is bound to the beloved Object It can mind nothing else during such impressions When the affection is set to the worship of God every thing the Soul hath will be bestowed upon it As David's disposition was to the Temple 1 Chron. 29.3 Carnal frames like the Fouls will be lighting upon the Sacrifice but not when it is enflam'd Though the scent of the flesh invite them yet the heat of the fire drives them to their distance A flaming love will singe the Flies that endeavour to interrupt and disturb us The happiness of Heaven consists in a full attraction of the Soul to God by his glorious influence upon it There will be such a diffusion of his goodness throughout the Souls of the Blessed as will unite the affections perfectly to him These affections which are scattered here will be there gathered into one flame moving to him and centring in him Therefore the more of a heavenly frame possesses our affections here the more settled and uniform will our hearts be in all their motions to God and operations about him Excite a dependence on him Pro. 16.3 Commit thy works to the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established Let us go out in Gods strength and not in our own vain is the help of man in any thing and vain is the help of the heart 'T is through God only we can do valiantly in spiritual concerns as well as temporal the want of this makes but slight impressions upon the Spirit Direction 3. Nourish right conceptions of the Majesty of God in your minds Let us consider that we are drawing to God the most amiable Object the best of Beings worthy of infinite honour and highly meriting the highest affections we can give a God that made the world by a word that upholds the great frame of Heaven and Earth a Majesty above the conceptions of Angels who uses not his power to strike us to our deserved punishment but his love and bounty to allure us a God that gave all the Creatures to serve us and can in a trice make them as much our Enemies as he hath now made them our Servants Let us view him in his greatness and in his goodness that our hearts may have a true value of the worship of so great a Majesty and count it the most worthy employment with all diligence to attend upon him When we have a fear of God it will make our worship serious when we have a joy in God it will make our worship durable Our affections will be raised when we represent God in the most reverential endearing and obliging
Glory belonging to all the Attributes of God 'T is not a single perfection of the Divine Nature nor is it limited to particular Objects thus and thus disposed Mercy and Justice have their distinct objects and distinct acts Mercy is conversant about a Penitent Justice conversant about an obstinate Sinner In our notion and conception of the Divine Perfections his Perfections are different The Wisdom of God is not his Power nor his Power his Holiness but Immutability is the Center wherein they all unite There is not one Perfection but may be said to be and truly is immutable none of them will appear so glorious without this Beam this Sun of Immutability which renders them highly excellent without the least shadow of imperfection How cloudy would his Blessedness be if it were changeable How dim his Wisdom if it might be obscur'd How feeble his Power if it were capable to be sickly and languish How would Mercy lose much of its lustre if it could change into wrath and Justice much of its dread if it could be turned into Mercy while the object of Justice remains unfit for Mercy and one that hath need of Mercy continues only fit for the Divine Fury But unchangeableness is a Thread that runs through the whole Web 'T is the enamel of all the rest none of them without it could look with a triumphant aspect His Power is unchangeable * Isa 26.4 In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength his Mercy and his Holiness endure for ever He never could nor ever can look upon iniquity * Hab. 1.13 He is a Rock in the righteousness of his ways the truth of his word the holiness of his proceedings and the rectitude of his nature All are exprest Deut. 32.4 He is a Rock his work is perfect for all his ways are Judgment A God of Truth and without Iniquity just and right is he All that we consider in God is unchangeable for his Essence and his Properties are the same and therefore what is necessarily belonging to the Essence of God belongs also to every perfection of the nature of God none of them can receive any addition or diminution From the unchangeableness of his nature the Apostle James 1.17 infers the unchangeableness of his Holiness and himself in Mal. 3.6 the unchangeableness of his Counsel 3. Vnchangeableness doth necessarily pertain to the Nature of God 'T is of the same necessity with the rectitude of his Nature He can no more be changeable in his Essence than he can be unrighteous in his Actions God is a necessary Being He is necessarily what he is and therefore is unchangeably what he is Mutability belongs to contingency If any perfection of his nature could be separated from him he would cease to be God What did not possess the whole Nature of God could not have the Essence of God 'T is reciprocated with the Nature of God Whatsoever is immutable by Nature is God whatsoever is God is immutable by Nature Some Creatures are immutable by his Grace and Power * Archbolâ— Serm. God is holy happy wise good by his Essence Angels and Men are made holy wise happy strong and good by Qualities and Graces The Holiness Happiness and Wisdom of Saints and Angels as they had a beginning so they are capable of increase and diminution and of an end also for their standing is not from themselves or from the nature of created strength holiness or wisdom which in themselves are apt to fail and finally to decay but from the stability and confirmation they have by the Gift and Grace of God The Heaven and Earth shall be changed and after that renewal and reparation they shall not be changed Our Bodies after the Resurrection shall not be changed but for ever be made conformable to the glorious Body of Christ * Phil. 3.21 but this is by the powerful Grace of God So that indeed those things may be said afterwards rather to be unchanged than unchangeable because they are not so by nature but by soveraign dispensation As Creatures have not necessary Beings so they have not necessary Immutability Necessity of being and therefore Immutability of being belongs by nature only to God otherwise if there were any change in God he would be sometimes what he was not and would cease to be what he was which is against the nature and indeed against the natural notion of a Deity Let us see then 1. In what regards God is immutable 2. Prove that God is immutable 3. That this is proper to God and incommunicable to any Creature 4. Some propositions to clear the unchangeableness of God from any thing that seems contrary to it 5. The Use First in what respects God is unchangeable 1. God is unchangeable in his Essence He is unalterably fixed in his Being that not a Particle of it can be lost from it not a Mite added to it If a Man continue in being as long as Methuselah Nine hundred and Sixty nine years yet there is not a day nay an hour wherein there is not some alteration in his substance though no substantial part is wanting yet there is an addition to him by his Food a diminution of something by his Labour He is always making some acquisition or suffering some loss But in God there can be no alteration by the accession of any thing to make his substance greater or better or by diminution to make it less or worse He who hath no being from another cannot but be always what he is God is the first Being an independent Being He was not produced of himself or of any other but by nature always hath been and therefore cannot by himself or by any other bechanged from what he is in his own nature That which is not may as well assume to it self a Being as he who hath and is all Being have the least change from what he is Again because he is a Spirit he is not subject to those mutations which are found incorporeal and bodily Natures Because he is an absolutely simple Spirit not having the least particle of composition he is not capable of those changes which may be in created Spirits 1. If his Essence were mutable God would not truly be It could not be truly said by himself I am that I am * Exod. 3.14 if he were such a Thing or Being at this time and a different Being at another time Whatsoever is changed properly is not because it doth not remain to be what it was That which is changed was something is something and will be something a Being remains to that thing which is changed yet though it may be said such a thing is yet it may be also said such a thing is not because it is not what it was in its first being 't is not now what it was 't is now what it was not 't is another thing than it was it was another thing than it is it will be another thing than
what it is or was 'T is indeed a Being but a different Being from what it was before But if God were changed it could not be said of him that he is but it might also be said of him that he is not or if he were changeable or could be changed it might be said of him he is but he will not be what he is or he may not be what he is but there will be or may be some difference in his Being and so God would not be I am that I am for though he would not cease utterly to be yet he would cease to be what he was before 2. Again If his Essence were mutable he could not be perfectly blessed and fully rejoyce in himself If he changed for the better he could not have an infinite pleasure in what he was before the change because he was not infinitely blessed and the pleasure of that state could not be of a higher kind than the state it self or at least the apprehension of a happiness in it If he changed for the worse he could not have a pleasure in it after the change for according to the diminution of his state would be the decrease of his pleasure His pleasure could not be infinite before the change if he changed for the better it could not be infinite after the change if he changed for the worse If he changed for the better he would not have had an infinite Goodness of being before and not having an infinite Goodness of Being he would have a finite Goodness of Being for there is no medium between finite and infinite Then though the change were for the better yet being finite before something would be still wanting to make him infinitely blessed because being finite he could not change to that which is infinite for finite and infinite are extreams so distant that they can never pass into one another that is that that which is finite should become infinite or that which is infinite should become finite So that supposing him mutable his Essence in no state of change could furnish him with an infinite peace and blessedness 3. Again If Gods Essence be changed he either encreaseth or diminisheth * Hugo Victorin in Petavio Whatsoever is changed doth either gain by receiving some thing larger and greater than it had in it self before or gains nothing by being changed If the former then it receives more than it self more than it had in it self before The Divine Nature cannot be encreased for whatsoever receives any thing than what it had in it self before must necessarily receive it from another because nothing can give to it self that which it hath not But God cannot receive from another what he hath not already because whatsoever other things possess is derived from him and therefore contained in him as the Fountain contains the Vertue in it self which it conveys to the Streams so that God cannot gain any thing If a thing that is changed gain nothing by that change it loseth something of what it had before in it self and this loss must be by it self or some other God cannot receive any loss from any thing in himself he cannot will his own diminution that is repugnant to every Nature He may as well will his own destruction as his own decrease Every decrease is a partial destruction But it is impossible for God to dye any kind of Death to have any resemblance of death for he is immortal and only hath Immortality * 1 Tim. 6.16 therefore impossible to be diminisht in any particle of his Essence nor can he be diminisht by any thing in his own Nature because his infinite simplicity admits of nothing distinct from himself or contrary to himself All decreases come from something contrary to the nature of that thing which doth decrease Whatsoever is made less than it self was not truly unum one and simple because that which divides it self in separation was not the same in conjunction Nor can he be diminisht by any other without himself because nothing is superior to God nothing stronger than God which can oppress him But whatsoever is changed is weaker than that which changeth it * Victorinus in Petavio and sinks under a Power it cannot succesfully resist Weakness belongs not to the Deity Nor lastly can God change from a State wherein he is to another State equal to the former as men in some cases may do for in passing from one state to another equal to it something must be parted with which he had before that some other thing may accrue to him as a recompense for that loss to make him equal to what he was This recompense then he had not before though he had something equal to it And in this case it could not be said by God I am that I am but I am equal to what I was for in this case there would be a diminution and increase which as was shewed can not be in God 4. Again God is of himself from no other * Austin Fulgen in Petavio Natures which are made by God may increase because they began to be they may decrease because they were made of nothing and so tend to nothing the condition of their original leads them to defect and the Power of their Creator brings them to increase But God hath no original he hath no defect because he was not made of nothing He hath no increase because he had no beginning He was before all things and therefore depends upon no other thing which by its own change can bring any change upon him * Petav. Tom. 1. p. 173. That which is from it self cannot be changed because it hath nothing before it nothing more excellent than it self But that which is from another as its first cause and chief good may be changed by that which was its efficient cause and last end 2. God is immutable in regard of Knowledge God hath known from all Eternity all that which he can know so that nothing is hid from him He knows not at present any more than he hath known from Eternity and that which he knows now he always knows All things are open and naked before him Heb. 4.13 A man is said to be changed in regard of knowledge when he knows that now which he did not know before or knows that to be false now which he thought true before or hath something for the Object of his Understanding now which he had not before But 1. This would be repugnant to the Wisdom and Omniscience which belongs to the Notion of a Deity That cannot be God that is not infinitely wise that cannot be infinitely wise that is either ignorant of or mistaken in his apprehension of any one thing If God be changed in knowledge it must be for want of wisdom all change of this nature in Creatures implies this defect preceding or accompanying it Such a thought of God would have been unworthy of him that is only
from no other cause but the unchangeableness of his Nature The reason why Men stand not to their Covenant is because they are not always the same I am that is I am the same before the Creation of the World and since the creation of the World before the entrance of Sin and since the entrance of Sin before their going into Egypt and whiles they remain in Egypt * Spanhe Synta part 1. p. 39. The very Name Jehovah bears according to the Grammatical Order a mark of Gods Unchangeableness It never hath any thing added to it nor any thing taken from it It hath no Plural Number no Affixes a Custom peculiar to the Eastern Languages It never changes its letters as other words do * Petav. Theol Dogmat. Tom. 1. cap 6. § 6.7 8. That only is a true being which hath not only an eternal Existence but stability in it That is not truly a Being that never remains in the same state All things that are changed cease to be what they were and begin to be what they were not and therefore cannot have the title truly applied to them they are they are indeed but like a River in a continual Flux that no man ever sees the same let his eye be fixed upon one place of it the water he sees slides away and that which he saw not succeeds in its place let him take his eye off but for the least moment and fix it there again and he sees not the same that he saw before All sensible things are in a perpetual stream that which is sometimes this and sometimes that is not because it is not always the same whatsoever is changed is something now which it was not alway But of God it is said I am which could not be if he were changeable for it may be said of him he is not as well he is because he is not what he was If we say not of him he was nor he will be but only he is whence should any change arrive He must invincibly remain the same of whose Nature Perfections Knowledge and Will it cannot be said it was as if it were not now in him or it shall be as if it were not yet in him But he is because he doth not only exist but doth alway exist the same I am that is I receive from no other what I am in my self He depends upon no other in his Essence Knowledge Purposes and therefore hath no changing Power over him 2. If God were changeable He could not be the most perfect Being God is the most perfect Being and possesses in himself infinite and essential Goodness Mat. 5.48 Your heavenly Father is perfect If he could change from that Perfection he were not the highest Exemplar and Copy for us to write after If God doth change it must be either to a greater Perfection than he had before or to a less mutatio perfectiva vel amissiva If he changes to acquire a Perfection he had not then he was not before the most excellent Being necessarily He was not what he might be there was a defect in him and a privation of that which is better than what he had and was and then he was not alway the best and so was not alway God and being not alway God could never be God for to begin to be God is against the Notion of God Not to a less perfection than he had that were to change to imperfection and to lose a perfection which he possessed before and cease to be the best Being for he would lose some good which he had and acquire some evil which he was free from before So that the soveraign Perfection of God is an invincible Bar to any change in him For which way soever you cast it for a change his supream Excellency is impaired and nulled by it For in all change there is something from which a thing is changed and something to which it is changed so that on the one part there is a loss of what it had and on the other part there is an acquisition of what it had not If to the better he was not perfect and so was not God if to the worse he will not be perfect and so be no longer God after that change If God be changed his change must be voluntary or necessary if voluntary he then intends the change for the better and chose it to acquire a Perfection by it The Will must be carried out to any thing under the notion of some Goodness in that which it desires Since Good is the Object of the desire and will of the Creature Evil cannot be the Object of the desire and will of the Creator And if he should be changed for the worse when he did really intend the better it would speak a defect of Wisdom and a mistake of that for good which was evil and imperfect in it self and if it be for the better it must be a motion or change for something without himself that which he desireth is not possessed by himself but by some other There is then some good without him and above him which is the end in this change for nothing acts but for some end and that end is within it self or without it self If the end for which God changes be without himself then there is something better than himself Besides if he were voluntarily changed for the better why did he not change before If it were for want of Power he had the imperfection of weakness If for want of knowledge of what was the best Good he had the imperfection of Wisdom he was ignorant of his own Happiness If he had both Wisdom to know it and Power to effect it it must be for want of Will He then wanted that love to himself and his own Glory which is necessary in the supream Being Voluntarily he could not be changed for the worse he could not be such an Enemy to his own Glory there is nothing but would hinder its own Imperfection and becoming worse Necessarily he could not be changed for that necessity must arise from himself and then the difficulties spoken of before will recurr or it must arise from another He cannot be bettered by another because nothing hath any good but what it hath received from the hands of his bounty and that without loss to himself nor made worse if any thing made him worse it would be Sin but that cannot touch his Essence or obscure his Glory but in the design and nature of the Sin it self Job 35.6 7. If thou sinnest what dost thou against him Or if thy Transgressions be multiplyed what dost thou unto him If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receives he at thy hand He hath no addition by the Service of Man no more than the Sun hath of Light by a multitude of Torches kindled on the Earth nor any more impair by the Sins of Men than the Light of the Sun hath by mens
manifestation of himself If by his dwelling in heaven be meant his whole essence why is it not also to be meant by his dwelling in the Ark It was not sure part of his essence that was in heaven and part of his essence that was on earth his essence would then be divided and can it be imagined that he should be in Heaven and the Ark at the same time and not in the spaces between Could his essence be split into fragments and a gap made in it that two distant spaces should be fill'd by him and all between be empty of him So that Gods being said to dwell in Heaven and in the Temple is so far from impairing the truth of this doctrine that it more confirms and evidences it 2. Nor do the Expressions of God's coming to us or departing from us impair this Doctrine of his Omnipresence God is said to hide his face from his People * Psal 10.1 to be far from the Wicked and the Gentiles are said to be afar off viz. from God †Prov. 15.29 and upon the manifestation of Christ made near †Eph 2.17 These must not be understood of any distance or nearness of his Essence for that is equally near to all persons and things but of some other special way and manifestation of his Presence Thus God is said to be in Believers by Love as they are in him * 1 Joh. 4.15 He that abides in love abides in God and God in him He that loves is in the thing beloved and when two love one another they are in one another God is in a Righteous man by a special grace and far from the Wicked in regard of such special Works and God is said to be in a place by a special manifestation as when he was in the Bush * Exod. 3. or manifesting his Glory upon Mount Sinai †Exod. 24.16 The Glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai God is said to hide his face when he withdraws his comforting Presence disturbs the repose of our hearts flasheth Terror into our Consciences when he puts men under the smart of the Cross as tho' he had ordered his Mercy utterly to depart from them or when he doth withdraw his special assisting Providence from us in our affairs so he departed from Saul when he withdrew his direction and Protection from him in the concerns of his Government * 1 Sam. 16.14 The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul i. e. the Spirit of Government God may be far from us in one respect and near to us in another far from us in regard of Comfort yet near to us in regard of Support when his Essential Presence continues the same this is a necessary consequent upon the infiniteness of God the other is an act of the Will of God so he was said to forsake Christ in regard of his obscuring his Glory from his Humane Nature and inflicting his Wrath tho' he was near to him in regard of his Grace and preserved him from contracting any spot in his Sufferings We do not say the Sun is departed out of the Heavens when it is be-misted it remains in the same part of the Heavens passes on its course tho' its Beams do not reach us by reason of the Bar between us and it The Soul is in every part of the Body in regard of its Substance and constantly in it tho' it doth not act so spritely and vigorously at one time as at another in one and the same Member and discover it self so sensibly in its Operations so all the various effects of God towards the Sons of men are but divers Operations of one and the same Essence He is far from us or near to us as he is a Judg or a Benefactor when he comes to Punish it notes not the approach of his Essence but the stroak of his Justice when he comes to Benefit 't is not by a new access of his Essence but an efflux of his Grace he departs from us when he leaves us to the Frowns of his Justice he comes to us when he encircles us in the Arms of his Mercy but he was equally present with us in both dispensations in regard of his Essence And likewise God is said to come down * Gen. 11.5 And the Lord came down to see the City when he doth some signal and wonderful Works which attract the minds of men to the acknowledgment of a Supream Power and Providence in the World who judg'd God absent and careless before 3. Nor is the Essential Presence of God with all Creatures any disparagement to him Since it was no disparagement to Create the Heaven and the Earth 't is no disparagement to him to him to fill them if he were Essentially present with them when he created them 't is no dishonour to him to be Essentiall present with them to support them if it were his Glory to Create them by his Essence when they were nothing Can it be his disgrace to be present by his Essence since they are something and something good and very good in his Eye * Gen. 1.31 God saw every thing and behold it was very good or mighty good all ordered to declare his Goodness Wisdom Power and to make him adorable to man and therefore took complacency in tehm There is a Harmony in all things a Combination in them for those glorious Ends for which God Created them and is it a disgrace for God to be present with his own Harmonious composition Is it not a Musicians Glory to touch with his fingers the Trebble the least and tenderest string as well as the strongest and greatest Base Hath not every thing some Stamp of Gods own Being upon it since he eminently contains in himself the Perfections of all his Works whatsoever hath Being hath a Foot-step of God upon it who is all Being every thing in the Earth is his Foot-Stool having a mark of his Foot upon it all declare the Being of God because they had their Being from God and will God account it any disparagement to him to be present with that which confirms his Being and the glorious Perfections of his nature to his intelligent Creatures the meanest things are not without their Vertues which may boast Gods being the Creator of them and rank them in the midst of his Works of Wisdom as well as Power Doth God debase himself to be present by his Essence with the things he hath made more than he doth to know them by his Essence Is not the least thing known by him How not by a faculty or act distinct from his Essence but by his Essence it self How is any thing disgraceful to the Essential Presence of God that is not disgraceful to his Knowledge by his Essence Besides would God make any thing that should be an invincible reason to him to part with his own infiniteness by a contraction of his own Essence into a less compass than
if God understands his own Power and Excellency nothing can be hid from him that was brought forth by that Power as well as nothing can be unknown to him that that Power is able to produce * Bradwardin p. 6. If God knows nothing besides himself he may then believe there is nothing beside himself we shall then fancy a God miserably mistaken If he knows nothing besides himself then things were not Created by him or not understandingly and voluntarily Created but drop'd from him before he was aware To think that the first cause of all should be ignorant of those things he is the cause of is to make him not a voluntary but natural Agent and therefore necessary and then that the Creature came from him as Light from the Sun and moisture from the Water this would bean absurd opinion of the Worlds Creation if God be a voluntary Agent as he is he must be an intelligent Agent The faculty of Will is not in any Creature without that of Understanding also If God be an intelligent Agent his knowledg must extend as far as his operation and every object of his operation unless we imagine God hath lost his Memory in that long Tract of time since the first Creation of them An Artificer cannot be ignorant of his own Work If God knows himself he knows himself to be a Cause how can he know himself to be a Cause unless he know the Effects he is the Cause of One relation implies another a man cannot know himself to be a Father unless he hath a Child because it is a name of relation and in the notion of it refers to another The name of cause is a name of relation and implies an effect If God therefore know himself in all his Perfections as the Cause of things he must know all his acts what his Wisdom contrived what his Counsel determin'd and what his Power effected The knowledg of God is to be suppos'd in a free determination of himself and that knowledg must be perfect both of the object act and all the circumstances of it How can his Will freely produce any thing that was not first known in his Understanding From this the Prophet argues the understanding of God and the unsearchableness of it because he is the Creator of the ends of the earth Isa 40.28 and the same reason David gives of Gods Knowledg of him and of every thing he did and that afar off because he was formed by him Psal 139.2 15 16. As the perfect making of things only belongs to God so doth the perfect knowledg of things 't is absurd to think that God should be ignorant of what he hath given Being to that he should not know all the Creatures and their qualities the Plants and their vertues as that a man should not know the Letters that are formed by him in Writing Every thing bears in it self the mark of Gods Perfections and shall not God know the representation of his own vertue 5. Without this Knowledg God could no more be the Governour than he could be the Creator of the World Knowledg is the Basis of Providence to Know things is before the Government of things a practical knowledg cannot be without a theoretical knowledg Nothing could be directed to its proper end without the knowledg of the nature of it and its suitableness to answer that end for which it is intended As every thing even the minutest falls under the conduct of God so every thing falls under the knowledg of God A Blind Coach-man is not able to hold the Reins of his Horses and direct them in right Paths Since the Providence of God is about particulars his Knowledg must be about particulars he could not else govern them in particular nor could all things be said to depend upon him in their Being and Operations Providence depends upon the knowledg of God and the exercise of it upon the Goodness of God it cannot be without Understanding and Will Understanding to know what is convenient and Will to perform it When our Saviour therefore speaks of Providence he intimates these two in a special manner Your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of these things Mat. 6.32 and goodness in Luke 11.13 The reason of Providence is so joyned with Omniscience that they cannot be separated What a kind of God would he be that were ignorant of those things that were governed by him The ascribing this Perfection to him asserts his Providence for it is as easy for one that knows all things to look over the whole World if writ with Monosyllables in every little particular of it as it is with a man to take a view of one Letter in an Alphabet Sabund Tit. 84. much changed Again if God were not Omniscient how could he reward the Good and punish the Evil the works of men are either rewardable or punishable not only according to their outward circumstances but inward Principles and Ends and the degrees of Venom lurking in the heart The exact discerning of these without a possibility to be deceived is necessary to pass a right and infallible Judgment upon them and proportion the censure and punishment to the Crime Without such a Knowledg and discerning men would not have their due nay a Judgment just for the matter would be unjust in the manner because unjustly past without an understanding of the merit of the Cause 'T is necessary therefore that the Supream Judg of the World should not be thought to be blindfold when he distributes his Rewards and Punishments and muffle his face when he passes his Sentence 'T is necessary to ascribe to him the knowledg of mens thoughts and intentions the secret wills and aims the hidden works of darkness in every mans Conscience because every mans work is to be measured by the Will and inward frame 'T is necessary that he should perpetually retain all those things in the indelible and plain records of his Memory that there may not be any work without a just proportion of what is due to it This is the glory of God to discover the secrets of all hearts at last as 1 Cor. 4.5 the Lord shall bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the Counsels of all hearts and then shall every man have praise of God This knowledg fits him to be a Judg the reason why the ungodly shall not stand in Judgment is because God knows their ways which is implyed in his knowing the way of the righteous * Psal 1.5 6. I now proceed to the Vse VSE the first is of information or instruction If God hath all knowledg then 1. Jesus Christ is not a meer Creature The two Titles of wonderful Counsellor and mighty God are given him in conjunction Isa 9.6 not only the Angel of the Covenant as he is called Malach. 3.1 or the Executor of his Counsels but a Counsellor in conjunction with him in Counsel as well as
of them this must be either out of Sloth but how incompatible is laziness to a pure and infinite activity or out of Majesty but 't is no less for the glory of his Majesty to conduct them than it was for the glory of his Power to erect them into Being he that counts nothing unworthy of his Arms to make nothing unworthy of his Understanding to know why should he count any thing unworthy of his Wisdom to govern If he knows them to neglect them it must be because he hath no Will to it or no Goodness for it either of these would be a stain upon God to want Goodness is to be Evil and to want Will is to be negligent and scornful which are inconsistent with an Infinite Active Goodness Doth a Father neglect providing for the wants of the Family which he knows or a Physician the cure of that Disease he understands God is Omniscient he therefore sees all things he is good he doth not therefore neglect any thing but conducts it to the end he appointed it There is nothing so little that can escape his Knowledg and therefore nothing so little but falls under his Providence nothing so sublime as to be above his Understanding and therefore nothing can be without the compass of his Conduct nothing can escape his Eye and therefore nothing can escape his Care nothing is known by him in vain as nothing was made by him in vain there must be acknowledg'd therefore some end of this knowledg of all his Creatures Instruct 3. Hence then will follow the certainty of a day of Judgment To what purpose can we imagine this Attribute of Omniscience so often declared and urg'd in Scripture to our consideration but in order to a government of our practise and a future Tryal Every Perfection of the Divine Nature hath sent out brighter Rays in the World than this of his Infinite Knowledg his Power hath been seen in the Being of the World and his Wisdom in the Order and Harmony of the Creatures his Grace and Mercy hath been plentifully poured out in the mission of a Redeemer and his Justice hath been elevated by the Dying-Groans of the Son of God upon the Cross But hath his Omniscience yet met with a Glory proportionable to that of his other Perfections all the Attributes of God that have appeared in some beautiful glimmerings in the World wait for a more full manifestation in Glory as the Creatures do for the manifestation of the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 But especially this since it hath been less evidenced than others and as much or more abused than any it expects therefore a publick righting in the eye of the World There have been indeed some few sparks of this Perfection sensibly struck out now and then in the World in some horrors of Conscience which have made men become their own Accusers of unknown Crimes in bringing out hidden Wickedness to a publick view by various Providences This hath also been the design of sprinklings of Judgments upon several Generations as Psal 90.8 We are consumed by thy Anger and by thy Wrath we are troubled thou hast set our Iniquities before thee and our secret Sins in the light of thy Countenance The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Youth as well as secret i.e. Sins committed long ago and that with secrecy By this he hath manifested that secret Sins are not hid from his eye Tho' inward Terrors and outward Judgments have been let loose to worry men into a belief of this yet the corruptions of men would still keep a contrary notion in their minds that God hath forgotten that he hides his face from Transgression and will not regard their Impiety Psal 10.11 There must therefore be a time of Tryal for the publick demonstration of this Excellency that it may receive its due Honour by a full Testimony that no secrecy can be a shelter from it As his Justice which consists in giving every one his due could not be Glorified unless men were called to an account for their actions so neither would his Omniscience appear in its illustrious colours without such a manifestation of the secret motions of mens hearts and of Villanies done under Lock and Key when none were conscious to them but the committers of them Novv the last Judgment is the time appointed for the opening of the Books Dan. 7.10 The Book of Gods Records and Conscience the counter-part were never fully opened and read before only novv and then some some pages turn'd to in particular Judgments and out of those Books shall men be judged according to their Works Rev. 20.12 Then shall the defaced Sins be brought vvith all their circumstances to every mans memory the Counsels of mens hearts fled far from their present remembrance all the habitual knovvledg they had of their ovvn actions shall by Gods knovvledg of them be excited to an actual revievv and their vvorks not only made manifest to themselves but notorious to the World All the Words Thoughts Deeds of men shall be brought forth into the light of their ovvn minds by the infinite Light of Gods understanding reflecting on them His Knovvledg renders him an unerring Witness as vvell as his Justice a swift Witness Mal. 3.5 a svvift Witness because he shall vvithout any circuit or length of Speech convince their Consciences by an invvard illumination of them to take notice of the blackness and deformity of their hearts and vvorks In all Judgments God is somevvhat knovvn to be the searcher of hearts the time of Judgment is the time of his remembrance Hos 8.13 Now will he remember their iniquity and visit their sins but the great instant or now of the full glorifying it is the grand day of account This Attribute must have a time for its full Discovery and no time can be fit for it but a time of a general reckoning Justice cannot be exercis'd without Omniscience for as Justice is a giving to every one his due so there must be knowledg to discern what is due to every man the searching the heart is in order to the rewarding the works 4. This Perfection in God gives us ground to believe a Resurrection Who can think this too hard for his Power since not the least Atome of the Dust of our Bodies can escape his Knowledg An infinite Understanding comprehends every mite of a departed Carcass this will not appear impossible nor irrational to any upon a serious consideration of this excellency in God The body is perished the matter of it hath been since clothed with different forms and figures part of it hath been made the body of a Worm part of it returned to the Dust that hath been blown away by the Wind part of it hath been concocted in the Bodies of Cannibals Fish ravenous Beasts the Spirits have evaporated into Air part of the Blood melted into Water what then is the matter of the body annihilated is that wholly perished no the
the suggestions of their Carnal Wisdom The Brats of Soul-destroying Errors may walk about the World in a garb and disguise of good words and fair speeches as it is in the 18th Verse by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple And for their encouragement to a constancy in the Gospel Doctrine he assures them that all those that would dispossess them of Truth to possess them with Vanity are but Satans Instruments and will fall under the same Captivity and Yoke with their Principal Verse 18. The God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly Whence observe 1. All Corrupters of Divine Truth and Troublers of the Churches Peace are no better than Devils Our Saviour thought the Name Satan a Title merited by Peter when he breathed out an Advice as an Ax at the Root of the Gospel the Death of Christ the foundation of all Gospel Truth and the Apostle concludes them under the same Character which hinder the superstructure and would mix their Chaff with his Wheat Mat. 16.23 Get thee behind me Satan 'T is not Get thee behind me Simon or Get thee behind me Peter but Get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence to me Thou dost oppose thy self to the Wisdom and Grace and Authority of God to the Redemption of Man and to the good of the World As the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Truth so is Satan the Spirit of Falshood As the Holy Ghost inspires Believers with Truth so doth the Devil corrupt Unbelievers with Error Let us cleave to the Truth of the Gospel that we may not be counted by God as part of the Corporation of Fallen Angels and not be barely reckon'd as Enemies of God but in league with the greatest Enemy to his Glory in the World 2. The Reconciler of the World will be the subduer of Satan The God of Peace sent the Prince of Peace to be the Restorer of his Rights and the Hammer to beat in pieces the Usurper of them As a God of Truth he will make good his Promise as a God of Peace he will perfect the design his Wisdom hath laid and begun to act In the subduing Satan he will be the Conqueror of his Instruments He saith nor God shall bruise your Troublers and Hereticks but Satan The fall of a General proves the rout of the Army Since God as a God of Peace hath delivered his own he will perfect the Victory and make them cease from bruising the heel of his Spiritual Seed 3. Divine Evangelical Truth shall be Victorious No Weapon formed against it shall prosper The Head of the Wicked shall fall as low as the Feet of the Godly The Devil never yet bluster'd in the World but he met at last with a disappointment His Fall hath been like Lightning sudden certain vanishing 4. Faith must look back as far as the foundation Promise The God of Peace shall bruise c. The Apostle seems to allude to the first Promise Gen. 2.15 A Promise that hath vigor to nourish the Church in all Ages of the World 'T is the standing Cordial out of the Womb of this Promise all the rest have taken their birth The Promises of the Old Testament were designed for those under the New and the full performance of them is to be expected and will be enjoyed by them 'T is a mighty strengthning to Faith to trace the footsteps of Gods Truth and Wisdom from the Threatning against the Serpent in Eden to the bruise he received in Calvary and the Triumph over him upon Mount Olivet 5. We are to confide in the Promise of God but leave the season of its accomplishment to his Wisdom He will bruise Satan under your feet therefore do not doubt it and shortly therefore wait for it Shortly it will be done that is quickly when you think it may be a great way off or shortly that is seasonably when Satans Rage is hottest God is the best Judge of the seasons of distributing his own Mercies and darting out his own Glory 'T is enough to encourage our waiting that it will be and that it will be shortly but we must not measure God's shortly by our Minutes The Apostle after this concludes with a comfortable Prayer That since they were liable to many Temptations to turn their backs upon the Doctrine which they had learned yet he desires God who had brought them to the knowledge of his Truth would confirm them in the belief of it since it was the Gospel of Christ his dear Son and a Mystery he had been chary of and kept in his own Cabinet and now brought forth to the World in pursuance of the ancient Prophesies and now had publish'd to all Nations for that end that it might be obeyed and concludes with a Doxology a voice of Praise to him who was only Wise to effect his own purposes Verses 25 26 27. Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the Mystery which was kept secret since the World began but now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the commandment of the Everlasting God made known to all Nations for the obedience of Faith This Doxology is interlac'd with many Comforts for the Romans He explains the causes of this glory to God Power and Wisdom Power to establish the Romans in Grace which includes his Will This he proves from a Divine Testimony viz. the Gospel the Gospel committed to him and preached by him which he commends by calling it the preaching of Christ and describes it for the instruction and comfort of the Church from the Adjuncts the obscurity of it under the old Testament and the clearness of it under the New It was hid from the former Ages and kept in silence not simply and absolutely but comparatively and in part because in the Old Testament the Doctrine of Salvation by Christ was confin'd to the limits of Judea preached only to the Inhabitants of that Country To them he gave his Statutes and his Judgments and dealt not so magnificently with any Nation †Psal 147.19 20. but now he causes it to spring with greater Majesty out of those narrow bounds and spread its Wings about the World This manifestation of the Gospel he declares first from the subject All Nations 2. From the principal efficient cause of it The Commandment and Order of God 3. The Instrumental cause The Prophetick Scriptures 4. From the End of it Gomarus in loc The obedience of Faith 1. Observe The glorious Attributes of God bear a comfortable respect to Believers Power and Wisdom are here mention'd as two props of their Faith his Power here includes his Goodness Power to help without Will to assist is a dry Chip The Apostle mentions not Gods Power simply and absolutely considered for that of it self is no more comfort to Men than it is to Devils but
great Invasion And the spirit of God hath particularly left upon record that Particle as we may reasonably suppose to such a purpose And so in the description of the blessed Virgin Luke 1.27 There is nothing of her Holiness mentioned which is with much diligence recorded of Elizabeth Vers 6. Righteous walking in all the commandments of God blameless Probably to prevent the superstition which God foresaw would arise in the World And we do not find more undervaluing speeches uttered by Christ to any of his Disciples in the exercise of his Office than to her except to Peter As when she acquainted him with the want of Wine at the Marriage in Cana she receives a slighting answer Woman what have I to do with thee John 2.4 And when one was admiring the blessedness of her that bare him he turns the Discourse another way to pronounce a blessedness rather belonging to them that hear the Word of God and keep it Luke 11.27 28. in a mighty Wisdom to Antidote his people against any conceit of the prevalency of the Virgin over him in Heaven in the Exercise of his Mediatory Office 2. As his Wisdom appears in his Government by his Laws so it appears in the various inclinations and conditions of Men. As there is a distinction of several Creatures and several qualities in them for the Common good of the World so among men there are several inclinations and several Abilities as Donatives from God for the Common advantage of Human Society As several Chanels cut out from the same River run several waies and refresh several Soils one Man is qualified for one Employment another marked out by God for a different Work yet all of them fruitful to bring in a Revenue of Glory to God and a harvest of Profit to the rest of Mankind How unusefull would the Body be if it had but one Member 1 Cor. 12.19 How unprovided would a House be if it had not Vessels of Dishonour as well as of Honour The Corporation of Mankind would be as much a Chaos as the Matter of the Heavens and the Earth was before it was distinguisht by several forms breathed into it at the Creation Some are inspired with a particular Genius for one Art some for another Every man hath a distinct Talent If all were Husband-men where would be the Instruments to Plow and Reap If all were Artificers where would they have Corn to nourish themselves All men are like Vessels and Parts in the Body design'd for distinct Offices and Functions for the good of the whole and mutually return an advantage to one another As the variety of Gifts in the Church is a fruit of the Wisdom of God for the preservation and increase of the Church so the variety of Inclinations and Employments in the World is a fruit of the Wisdom of God for the preservation and subsistence of the World by mutual Commerce What the Apostle largely discourseth of the former in 1 Cor. 12. may be applied to the other The various Conditions of men is also a fruit of Divine Wisdom Some are Rich and some Poor the Rich have as much need of the Poor as the Poor have of the Rich If the Poor depend upon the Rich for their livelyhood the Rich depend upon the Poor for their Conveniencies Many Arts would not be learn'd by men if Poverty did not oblige them to it and many would faint in the learning of them if they were not thereunto encouraged by the Rich. The Poor labour for the Rich as the Earth sends Vapours into the vaster and fuller Air and the Rich return advantages again to the Poor as the Clouds do the Vapours in Rain upon the Earth As Meat would not afford a nourishing Juyce without Bread and Bread without other Food would immoderately fill the Stomach and not be well digested so the Rich would be unprofitable in the Common-wealth without the Poor and the Poor would be burthensom to a Common-wealth without the Rich The Poor could not be easily govern'd without the Rich nor the Rich sufficiently and conveniently provided for without the Poor If all were Rich there would be no Objects for the exercise of a Noble part of Charity If all were Poor there were no Matter for the exercise of it Thus the Divine Wisdom planted various Inclinations and diversified the Conditions of Men for the publick advantages of the World 2. Gods Wisdom appears in the government of Men as Fallen and Sinful or in the government of Sin After the Law of God was broke and Sin invaded and conquer'd the World Divine Wisdom had another Scene to act in and other Methods of Government were necessary The Wisdom of God is then seen in ordering those Jarring Discords drawing Good out of Evil and Honour to himself out of that which in its own Nature tended to the supplanting of his Glory God being a Soveraign Good would not suffer so great an Evil to enter but to serve himsâ—lf of it for some greater End for all his Thoughts are full of Goodness and Wisdom Now though the Permission of Sin be an Act of his Soveraignty and the Punishment of Sin be an Act of his Justice yet the Ordination of Sin to good is an Act of his Wisdom whereby he doth dispose the Evil over-rules the Malice and orders the Events of it to his own Purposes Sin in it self is a Disorder and therefore God doth not permit Sin for it self for in its own Nature it hath nothing of Amiableness but he wills it for some Righteous End which belongs to the manifestation of his Glory which is his aim in all the Acts of his Will He wills it not as Sin but as his Wisdom can order it to some greater Good than was before in the World and make it contribute to the beauty of the Order he intends As a dark Shadow is not delightful and pleasant in it self nor is Drawn by a Painter for any Amiableness there is in the Shadow it self but as it serves to set forth that Beauty which is the main design of his Art so the glorious Effects which arise from the Entrance of Sin into the World are not from the Creatures Evil but the Depths of Divine Wisdom Particularly 1. Gods Wisdom is seen in the bounding of Sin As it is said of the Wrath of Man it shall praise him and the remainder of Wrath God doth restrain Psal 76.10 He sets limits to the boyling Corruption of the Heart as he doth to the boisterous Waves of of the Sea Hitherto shalt thou go and no further As God is the Rector of the World he doth so restrain Sin so temper and direct it as that Human Society is preserved which else would be overflown with a Deluge of Wickedness and Ruine would be brought upon all Communities The World would be a Shambles a Brothel-house if God by his Wisdom and Goodness did not set bars to that Wickedness which is in the Hearts of Men The whole Earth
would be as bad as Hell Since the Heart of Man is a Hell of Corruption by that the Souls of all Men would be excited to the acting the worst Villanies since every thought of the heart of Man is only evil and that continually Gen. 6.5 if the Wisdom of God did not stop these Floud-gates of Evil in the Hearts of Men it would overflow the World and frustrate all the Gracious Designs he carries on among the Sons of Men. Were it not for this Wisdom every House would be filled with Violence as well as every Nature is with Sin What harm would not strong and furious Beasts do did nâ—t the Skill of Man tame and bridle them How often hath Divine Wisdom restrain'd the Viciousness of Human Nature and let it run not to that point they â—â—â—â—â—'d but to the end he purposed Labans Fury and Esaus Enmity against 〈…〉 â—ere pâ—â—t in within bounds for Jacobs safety and their Hearts over-ruled 〈…〉 intended destruction of the good Man to a perfect Amity * Gen. 31.29 Gen. 32. II. Gods Wisdom is seen in the bringing glory to himself out of Sin 1. Out of Sin it self God erects the Trophies of Honour upon that which is a Natural means to hinder and deface it His glorious Attributes are drawn out to our view upon the occasion of Sin which otherwise had lain hid in his own Being Sin is altogether black and abominable but by the Admirable Wisdom of God he hath drawn out of the dreadful darkness of Sin the saving Beams of his Mercy and displayed his Grace in the Incarnation and Passion of his Son for the Atonement of Sin Thus he permitted Adams Fall and wisely order'd it for a fuller discovery of his own Nature and a higher elevation of Mans good that as Sin reigned to death so might Grace reign through Righteousness to Eternal life by Jesus Christ Rom. 5.21 The unbounded Goodness of God could not have appeared without it His Goodness in rewarding Innocent Obedience would have been manifested but not his Mercy in pardoning Rebellious Crimes An Innocent Creature is the Object of the Rewards of Grace as the standing Angels are under the Beams of Grace but not under the Beams of Mercy because they were never Sinful and consequently never Miserable Without Sin the Creature had not been Miserable Had Man remained Innocent he had not been the Subject of Punishment and without the Creatures Misery Gods Mercy in sending his Son to save his Enemies could not have appeared The abundance of Sin is a Passive occasion for God to manifest the Abundance of his Grace The Power of God in the changing the Heart of a Rebellious Creature had not appeared had not Sin infected our Nature We had not clearly known the Vindictive Justice of God had no Crime been committed for that is the proper Object of Divine Wrath. The Goodness of God could never have permitted Justice to exercise it self upon an Innocent Creature that was not guilty either Personally or by Imputation Psal 11.7 The righteous Lord loveth Righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright Wisdom is illustrious hereby God suffered Man to fall into a Mortal Disease to shew the virtue of his own Restoratives to cure Sin which in it self is Incurable by the Art of any Creature And otherwise this Perfection whereby God draws Good out of Evil had been utterly useless and would have been destitute of an Object wherein to discover it self Again Wisdom in ordering a Rebellious head-strong World to its own ends is greater than the ordering an Innocent World exactly observant of his Precepts and complying with the End of the Creation Now without the entrance of Sin this Wisdom had wanted a Stage to act upon Thus God raised the Honour of his Wisdom while Man ruin'd the Integrity of his Nature and made use of the Creatures breach of his Divine Law to establish the Honour of it in a more signal and stable manner by the Active and Passive Obedience of the Son of his Bosom Nothing serves God so much as an occasion of glorifying himself as the entrance of Sin into the World by this occasion God communicates to us the knowledge of those Perfections of his Nature which had else been folded up from us in an Eternal Night his Justice had lain in the dark as having nothing to punish his Mercy had been obscure as having none to pardon a great part of his Wisdom had been silent as having no such Object to order 2. His Wisdom appears In making use of sinful Instruments He uses the Malice and Enmity of the Devil to bring about his own Purposes and makes the sworn Enemy of his Honour contribute to the Illustrating of it against his will This great Crafts-Master he took in his own Net and defeated the Devil by the Devils Malice by turning the Contrivances he had hatch'd and accomplish'd against Man against himself He used him as a Tempter to grapple with our Saviour in the Wilderness whereby to make him fit to succour us and as the God of this World to inspire the wicked Jews to Crucifie him whereby to render him actually the Redeemer of the World and so made him an Ignorant Instrument of that Divine Glory he design'd to ruine * Moulins Serm. Decad. 10. p. 221 232. 'T is more Skill to make a curious piece of Workmanship with Ill condition'd Tools than with Instruments naturally sitted for the work 'T is no such great wonder for a Limner to draw an exact piece with a fit Pencil and sutable Colours as to begin and perfect a beautiful work with a Straw and Water things improper for such a design This Wisdom of God is more admirable and astonishing than if a Man were able to rear a vast Palace by Fire whose nature is to consume Combustible matter not to erect a Building To make things serviceable contrary to their own Nature is a Wisdom peculiar to the Creator of Nature Gods making use of Devils for the glory of his Name and the good of his People is a more amazing piece of Wisdom than his Goodness in employing the Blessed Angels in his work To promise that the World which includes the God of the World and Death and Things present let them be as Evil as they will should be ours that is for our good and for his glory is an act of Goodness but to make them serviceable to the Honour of Christ and the good of his People is a Wisdom that may well raise our highest Admirations †1 Cor. 3.22 They are for Believers as they are for the glory of Christ and as Christ is for the glory of God To Chain up Satan wholly and frustrate his Wiles would be an Argument of Divine Goodness but to suffer him to run his risque and then improve all his Contrivances for his own glorious and gracâ—ous Ends and Purposes manifests besides his Power and Goodness his Wisdom also He uses the Sins of Evil
Instruments for the glory of his Justice Isa 10.5 6 7. Thus he served himself of the Ambition and Covetousness of the Assyrians Chaldeans and Romans for the Correction of his People and Punishment of his Rebels Just as the Roman Magistrates used the fury of Lions and other wild Beasts in their Theatres for the Punishment of Criminals The Lions acted their Natural temper in tearing those that were expos'd to them for a Prey but the intent of the Magistrates was to punish their Crimes The Magistrate inspir'd not the Lions with their Rage that they had from their Natures but served themselves of that Natural Rage to execute Justice 3. Gods Wisdom is seen in bringing good to the Creature out of Sin He hath ordered Sin to such an end as Man never dreamt of the Devil never imagin'd and Sin in its own Nature could never attain Sin in its own Nature tends to no good but that of Punishment whereby the Creature is brought into order It hath no relation to the Creatures good in it self but to the Creatures mischief But God by an act of Infinite Wisdom brings good out of it to the Creature as well as glory to his Name contrary to the Nature of the Crime the Intention of the Criminal and the Design of the Tempter God willed Sin that is he willed to permit it that he might communicate himself to the Creature in the most excellent manner He willed the Permission of Sin as an occasion to bring forth the Mystery of the Incarnation and Passion of our Saviour as he permitted the Sin of Josephs Brethren that he might use their Evil to a good end He never because of his Holiness wills Sin as an End but in regard of his Wisdom he wills to permit it as a Means and Occasion And thus to draw good out of those things which are in their own Nature most contrary to Good is the highest pitch of Wisdom 1. The Redemption of Man in so excellent away was drawn from the occasion of Sin The greatest Blessing that ever the World was blest with was usher'd in by Contrarieties by the Lust and irregular Affection of Man the first Promise of the Redeemer by the Fall of Adam Gen. 3.15 and the bruising the heel of that Promised Seed by the blackest Tragedy acted by wicked Rebels the Treachery of Judas and the Rage of the Jews the highest Good hath been brought forth by the greatest Wickedness As God out of the Chaos of rude and indigested Matter framed the first Creation so from the S ns of Men and Malice of Satan he hath erected the Everlasting Scheme of Honour in a New Creation of all things by Jesus Christ The Devil inspir'd Man to content his own fury in the Death of Christ and God order'd it to accomplish his own design of Redemption in the Passion of the Redeemer The Devil had his Diabolical Ends and God over-powers his Action to serve his own Divine ends The Person that betrayed him was admitted to be a Spectator of the most private Actions of our Saviour that his Innocence might be justified to shew that he was not afraid to have his Enemies Judges of his most retir'd Privacies While they all thought to do their own Wills Divine Wisdom orders them to do Gods Will. Acts 2.23 Him being delivered by the determinate Counsel and Fore-knowledge of God you have taken and by wicked hands have Crucified and slain And wherein the Crucifiers of Christ sinned in shedding the richest Blood upon their Repentance they found the expiation of their Crimes and the discovery of a superabundant Mercy Nothing but Blood was aimed at by them The best Blood was shed by them but Infinite Wisdom makes the Cross the Scene of his own Righteousness and the Womb of Mans Recovery By the occasion of Mans Lapsed state there was a way open to raise Man to a more excellent Condition than that whereinto he was put by Creation And the depriving Man of the happiness of an Earthly Paradise in a way of Justice was an occasion of advancing him to a Heavenly Felicity in a way of Grace The Violation of the Old Covenant occasionally introduc'd a better The loss of the first Integrity usher'd in a more stable Righteousness an Everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9.24 And the falling of the First Head was succeeded by one whose standing could not but be Eternal The Fall of the Devil was ordered by Infinite Wisdom for the good of that Body from which he fell 'T is supposed by some that the Devil was the Chief Angel in Heaven the Head of all the rest and that he Falling the Angels were left as a Body without a Head and after he had Politically beheaded the Angels he endeavoured to destroy Man and rout him out of Paradise But God takes the opportunity to set up his Son as the Head of Angels and Men. And thus whilst the Devil endeavoured to spoil the Corporation of Angels and make them a Body contrary to God God makes Angels and Men one Body under one Head for his Service The Angels in losing a defectible Head attained a more excellent and glorious Head in another Nature which they had not before though of a Lower Nature in his Humanity yet of a more glorious Nature in his Divinity From whence many suppose they derive their Confirming Grace and the stability of their standing All things in Heaven and Earth are gathered together in Christ Eph. 1.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All united in him and reduced under one Head That though our Saviour be not properly their Redeemer for Redemption supposeth Captivity yet in some sense he is their Head and Mediator so that now the Inhabitants of Heaven and Earth are but one Family Ephes 3.15 And the Innumerable Company of Angels are parts of that Heavenly and Triumphant Jerusalem and that General Assembly whereof Jesus Christ is Mediator Heb. 12.22 29. 2. The Good of a Nation often by the skill of Divine Wisdom is promoted by the Sins of some Men. The Patriarchs selling Joseph to the Midianites Gen. 37.28 was without question a Sin and a breach of Natural Affection yet by Gods Wise Ordination it proved the Safety of the whole Church of God in the World as well as the Egyptian Nation †Gen. 45.5 8. Gen. 50.20 The Jews Unbelief was a step whereby the Gentiles arose to the knowledge of the Gospel As the setting of the Sun in one place is the rising of it in another ‖ Mat. 22 9◠He uses the Corruptions of Men Instrumentally to propagate his Gospel He built up the True Church by the Preaching of some out of envy Phil. 1.15 as he blessed Israel out of the Mouth of a False Prophet Numb 23. How often have the Heresies of Men been the occasion of clearing up the Truth of God and fixing the more lively Impressions of it on the Hearts of Believers Neither Judah nor Tamar in their Lust dreamt of a
Stock for the Redeemer yet God gave a Son from that Unlawful Bed whereof Christ came according to the flesh Gen. 38.29 compared with Mat. 1.3 Jonahs Sin was probably the first and remote occasion of the Ninivites giving credit to his Prophesy His Sin was the cause of his Punishment and his being slung into the Sea might facilitate the reception of his Message and excite the Ninivites Repentance whereby a Cloud of severe Judgment was blown away from them 'T is thought by some That when Jonah passed through the Streets of Niniveh with his Proclamation of Destruction he might be known by some of the Mariners of that Ship from whence he was cast Over-board into the Sea and might after their Voyage be occasionally in that City the Metropolis of the Nation and the place of some of their Births and might acquaint the People that this was the same Person they had cast into the Sea by his own consent for his acknowledg'd running from the Presence of the Lord for that he had told them Jonah 1.10 and the Marriners Prayer Verse 14. evidenceth it whereupon they might conclude his Message worthy of Belief since they knew from such Evidences that he had sunk into the Bowels of the Waters and now saw him safe in their Streets by a Deliverance unknown to them and that therefore that Power that delivered him could easily verifie his Word in the threatned Judgment Had Jonah gone at first without committing that Sin and receiving that Punishment his Message had not been judged a Divine Prediction but a fruit of some Enthusiastick madness His Sin upon this account was the first occasion of averting a Judgment from so great a City 3. The good of the Sinner himself is sometimes promoted by Divine Wisdom ordering the Sin As God had not permitted Sin to enter upon the World unless to bring Glory to himself by it so he would not let Sin remain in the little World of a Believers Heart if he did not intend to order it for his good What is done by Man to his damage and disparagement is directed by Divine Wisdom to his advantage not that it is the intent of the Sin or the Sinner but it is the event of the Sin by the Ordination of Divine Wisdom and Grace As without the Wisdom of God permitting Sin to enter into the World some Attributes of God had not been Experimentally known so some Graces could not have been exercis'd For where had there been an Object for that Noble Zeal in vindicating the Glory of God had it not been invaded by an Enemy The intenseness of Love to him could not have been so strong had we not an Enemy to hate for his sake Where had there been any place for that Noble part of Charity in holy Admonitions and Compassion to the Souls of our Neighbours and Endeavours to reduce them out of a destructive to a happy Path Humility would not have had so many grounds for its growth and exercise and holy Sorrow had had no fewel And as without the appearance of Sin there had been no exercise of the Patience of God so without Afflictions the Fruits of Sin there had been no ground for the exercise of the Patience of a Christian one of the Noblest parts of Valour Now Sin being Evil and such as cannot but be Evil hath no respect in it self to any good and cannot work a gracious End or any thing profitable to the Creature nay it is a hindrance to any good and therefore what good comes from it is Accidental occasioned indeed by Sin but efficiently caused by the over-ruling Wisdom of God taking occasion thereby to display it self and the Divine Goodness The Sins and Corruptions remaining in the Heart of a Man God orders for good and there are good effects by the direction of his Wisdom and Grace I. As the Soul respects God 1. God often brings forth a sensibleness of the necessity of Dependance on him The Nurse often lets the Child slip that it may the better know who supports it and may not be too venturous and confident of its own strength Peter would trust in Habitual Grace and God suffers him to Fall that he might trust more in Assisting Grace Mat. 26.35 Though I should die with thee yet I will not deny thee God leaves sometimes the brightest Souls in an Eclipse to manifest that their Holiness and the preservation of it depend upon the darting out his Beams upon them As the Falls of Men are the effects of their coldness and remisness in Acts of Faith and Repentance so the fruit of these Falls is often a running to him for Refuge and a deeper sensibleness where their Security lies It makes us Lower our swelling Sails and come under the Lee and Protection of Divine Grace When the Pleasures of Sin answer the expectations of a Revolted Creature he reflects upon his former state and sticks more close to God when before God had little of hâ—s Company Hos 2.7 I will return to my first husband for then it was better with me than now As God makes the Sins of Men sometimes an occasion of their Conversion so he sometimes makes them an occasion of a further Conversion Onesimus run from Philemon and was met with by Paul who proved an Instrument of his Conversion Philem. 10. My Son Onesimus whom I have begotten in my Bonds His slight from his Master was the occasion of his Regeneration by Paul a Prisoner The Falls of Believers God orders to their further stability He that is fallen for want of using his Staff will Lean more upon it to preserve himself from the like Disaster God by permitting the Lapses of Men doth often make them despair of their own strength to subdue their Enemies and rely upon the strength of Christ wherein God hath laid up Power for us and so becomes stronger in that strength which God hath ordained for them We are very apt to trust in our selves and have confidence in our own worth and strength and God lets loose Corruptions to abate this swelling humor This was the reason of the Apostle Pauls Thorn in the flesh 2 Cor. 12.9 whether it were a Temptation or Corruption or Sickness that he might be sensible of his own inability and where the sufficiency of Grace for him was placed He that is in danger of Drowning and hath the Waves come over his head will with all the might he hath lay hold upon any thing near him which is capable to Save him God lets his People sometâ—mes sink into such a condition that they may lay the faster hold on him who is near to all that call upon him 2. God hereby raiseth higher Estimations of the value and virtue of the Blood of Christ As the great Reason why God permitted Sin to enter into the World was to honour himself in the Redeemer so the Continuance of Sin and the Conquests it sometimes makes in Renewed Men are to honour the Infinite
order and fit every Stone in the Building make all things in weight and measure to let them afterwards run at hap hazard Would he bring forth his Power to view in the Creation and let a more glorious perfection lye idle when it had so large a Field to move in Infinite wisdom is inconsistent with inactivity All Prudence doth illustrate itself in untying the hardest knots and disposing the most difficult Affairs to a happy and successful Issue All those various Arts and Inventions among men which lend their assisting hand to one another and those various Employments their several Genius's lead them to whereby they support one anothers welfare are Beams and instincts of Divine wisdom in the Government of the World He that made all things in wisdom †Psal 104.24 would not leave his works to act and move only according to their own folly and idly behold them jumble together and run counter to that end he designed them for we must not fancy a Divine Wisdom to be destitute of Activity 3. Here we may see a ground of God's patience The most impotent persons are the most impatient when un-foreseen Emergencies arise or at Events expected by them when their feeble Prudence was not a sufficient match to contest with them or prevent them But the wiser any man is the more he bears with those things which seem to cross his Intentions because he knows he grasps the whole Affair and is sure of attaining the end he proposeth to himself yet as a finite wisdom can have but a finite patience so an infinite wisdom possesses an infinite patience The wise God intends to bring glory to himself and good to some of his Creatures out of the greatest evils that can happen in the World He beholds no exorbitant Afflictions and monstrous Actions but what he can dispose to a good and glorious end even to work together for good to them that love God * Rom. 8.28 and therefore doth not presently fall foul upon the Actors till he hath wrought out that temporary Glory to himself and Good to his People which he designs The times of Ignorance God winkt at till he had brought his Son into the World and manifested his wisdom in Redemption and when this was done he presseth men to a speedy repentance †Acts 17.30 that as he forebore punishing their Crimes in order to the displaying his wisdom in the design'd Redemption so when he had effected it they must forbear any longer abusing his Patience 4. Hence appears the Immutability of God in his Decrees He is not destitute of a Power and Strength to change his own Purposes but his Infinite Perfection of Wisdom is a bar to his laying aside his Eternal Resolves and f rming new ones Isai 46.10 He resolves the end from the beginning and his couâ—sel stands stands immovable because it is Counsel 'T is an impotent Counsel that is subject to a daily thwarting it self Inconstant Persons are accounted by Men destitute of a due measure of Prudence If God change his Mind 't is either for the better or the worse if for the better he was not wise in his former Purpose if for the worse he is not wise in his present Resolve No alteration can be without a reflect on of Weakness upon the former or present determination God must either cease to be as Wise as he was before or begin to be Wiser than he was before the change which to think or imagine is to deny a Deity If any Man change his Resolution he is apprehensive of a flaw in his former Purpose and finds an Inconvenience in it which moves him to such a change which must be either for want of fore-sight in himselâ— or want of a due consideration of the object of his Counsel Neither of whicâ— can be imagined of God without a denial of the Deity No tâ—ere are no blots and blemishes in his Purposes and Promises Repentance indeed is an act of Wisdom in the Creature but it presupposeth Folly in his former Actions which is inconsistent with Infinite Perfection Men are often too rash in Promising and therefore what they promise in haste they perform at leasure or not at all They consider not before they Vow and make After-enquiries whether they had best stand to it The only wise God need not any After-game As he is Soveraignly Wise he sees no cause of râ—versing any thing and wants not expedients for his own Purpose and as he is Infinitely Powerful he hath no Superiour to hinder him from executing his Will and making his People enjoy the effects of his Wisdom If he had a recollection of Thoughts as Man hath and saw a necessity to mend them he were not Infinitely Wise in his first Decrees As in Creation he looked back upon the several Pieces of that goodly Frame he had erected and saw them so exact that he did not take up his Pensil again to mend any Particle of the first Draught so his Promises are made with such Infinite Wisdom and Judgment that what he writes is Irreversible and for Ever as the Decrees of the Medes and Persians All the words of God are Eternal because they are the Births of Righteousness and Judgment Hos 2.19 I will betroth thee to me for ever in Righteousness and Judgment He is not of a wavering and flitting Discretion If he Threatens he wisely considers what he Threatens if he Promises he wisely considers what he Promises and therefore is Immutable in both 5. Hence it follows thâ—t God is a fit Object for our Trust and Confidence For God being Infinitely Wise when he Promises any thing he sees every th ng which may hinder and every thing which may promote the execution of it so that he cannot discover any thing aftâ—rwards that may move him to take up After thougâ—ts He hath more Wisdom than to promise any thing hand over head or any thing which he knows he cannot accomplish Thougâ— God as True be the Object of our Trust yet God as Wise is the Foundation of our Trust We trust him in his Promise the Promise was made by Mercy and 't is perform d by Truth but Wisdom conducts all Means to the accomplishment of it There are many Men whose Honesty we can confide in but whose Discretion we are diffident of But there is no defect eith r of the one or the other which may scare us from a depending upon God in our concerns The words of Mans wisdom the Apostle entitles Enticing 1 Cor. 2.4 in opposition to the words of Gods wisdom which are firm stable and undeniable demonstrations As the Power of God is an encouragement of Trust because he is able to effect so the Wisdom of God comes into the rank of those Attributes which support our Faith To put a Confidence in him we must be perswaded not only that he is Ignorant of nothing in the World but that he is Wise to manage the whole course of Nature
we see all his acts we cannot see all the draughts of his skill in them An unskilful hearer of a musical lesson may receive the melody with his Ear and understand not the rarities of the composition as it was wrought by the Musitians mind Under the old Testament there was more of Divine Power and less of his Wisdom apparent in his acts As his Laws so his acts were more fitted to their Sense Under the new Testament there is more of Wisdom and less of power As his Laws so his acts are more fitted to a spiritual mind Wisdom is less discernable than power Our Wisdom therefore in this case as it doth in other things consists in silence and expectation of the end and event of a work We owe that honour to God that we do to men wiser than our selves to imagin he hath reason to do what he doth though our shallowness cannot comprehend it We must suffer God to be wiser than our selves and acknowledg that there is something soveraign in his waies not to be measured by the feeble reed of our weak understandings And therefore we should acquiesce in his proceedings take heed we be not found slanderers of God but be adorers instead of Censurers and lift up our hands in admiration of him and his waies instead of citing him to answer it at our Bar. Many things in the first appearance may seem to be rash and unjust which in the Issue appear comely and regular If it had been plainly spoke before that the Son of God should dye that a most holy person should be crucified it would have seemed cruel to expose a Son to misery unjust to inflict punishment upon one that was no Criminal to joyn together exact Goodness and Physical evil that the Soveraign should dye for the Malefactor and the Observer of the Law for the Violators of it But when the whole design is unravelled what an admirable connexion is there of Justice and Mercy Love and Wisdom which before would have appeared absurd to the muddied reason of man We see the Gardiner pulling up some delightful Flowers by the roots digging up the Earth overwhelming it with Dung an ignorant person would imagine him wild out of his wits and charge him with spoiling his Garden But when the Spring is arrived the spectator will acknowledge his skill in his former Operations The truth is the whole design and methods of God are not to be judged by us in this World the full declaration of the whole contexture is reserved for the other World to make up a part of good mens happiness in the amazing views of divine Wisdom as well as the other perfections of his nature We can no more perfectly understand his Wisdom than we can his Mercy and Iustice till we see the last lines of all drawn and the full expressions of them We should therefore be sober and modest in the consideration of Gods ways his Judgments are unsearchable and his ways past finding out The riches of his Wisdom are past our counting his depths not to be fathomed yet they are depths of righteousness and equity Though the full manifestation of that equity the grounds and methods of his proceedings are unknown to us As we are too short fully to know God so we are too ignorant fully to comprehend the acts of God Since he is a God of Judgment we should wait till we see the issue of his works Esa 30.18 And in the mean time with the Apostle in the Text give him the glory of all in the same expressions To the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ for ever Amen A DISCOURSE UPON THE Power of God Job 26.14 Loe these are parts of his wayes but how little a portion is heard of him but the thunder of his power who can understand BILDAD had in the foregoing Chapter entertain'd Job with a Discourse of the dominion and power of God and the purity of his righteousness whence he argues an impossibility of the justification of Man in his Presence who is no better than a Worm Job in this Chapter acknowledges the greatness of Gods power and descants more largely upon it than Bildad had done but doth Preface it with a kind of Ironical speech as if he had not acted a friendly part or spake little to the purpose or the matter in hand The subject of Job's Discourse was the worldly happiness of the Wicked and the Calamities of the Godly And Bildad reads him a Lecture of the extent of Gods Dominion the number of his Armies and the unspotted rectitude of his Nature in comparison of which the purest Creatures are foul and crooked Job therefore from verse 1. to verse 4. taxeth him in a kind of scoffing manner that he had not touched the Point but rambled from the Subject in hand and had not applyed a Salve proper to his Sore Verse 2. How hast thou helped him that is without power how savest thou the arm of him that hath no strength c. your discourse is so impertinent that it will neither strengthen a weak person nor instruct a simple one * Munster But since Bildad would take up the Argument of Gods Power and discourse so short of it Job would shew that he wanted not his Instructions in that kind and that he had more distinct Conceptions of it than his Antagonist had uttered And therefore from verse 5. to the end of the Chapter he doth magnificently treat of the Power of God in several Branches And verse 5. he begins with the lowest Dead things are formed from under the waters and the inhabitants thereof You read me a Lecture of the Power of God in the heavenly Host Indeed it is visible there yet of a larger extent and Monuments of it are found in the lower parts What do you think of those dead things under the Earth and Waters of the Corn that dies and by the moysâ—â—ng influences of the Clouds springs up again with a numerous progeny and increase for the nourishment of man What do you think of those varieties of Metals and Minerals conceived in the bowels of the Earth those Pearls and Riches in the depths of the Waters midwifed by this Power of God Add to these those more prodigious Creatures in the Sea the Inhabitants of the Waters with their vastness and variety which are all the Births of Gods Power both in their first Creation by his mighty Voice and their propagation by his cherishing Providence Stop not here but consider also that his Power extends to Hell either the Graves the Repositories of all the crumbled dust that hath yet been in the World for so Hell is sometimes taken in Scripture Verse 6. Hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering The several lodgings of deceased men are known to him No skreen can obscure them from his sight nor their dissolution be any bar to his Power when the time is come to compact those mouldred Bodies to entertain
Justice abus'd his Goodness done injury to all those Attributes which are necessary to his relief It was not so in Creation nothing was uncapable of disobliging God from bringing it into Being The Dust which was the Matter of Adams Body needâ—d only the extrinsick Power of God to form it into a Man and inspire it with a living Soul It had not render'd it self obnoxious to Divine Justice nor was capable to excite any disputes between his Perfections But after the entrance of Sin and the merit of Death thereby there was a resistance in Justice to the free Remission of Man God was to exercise a Power over himself to answer his Justice and pardon the Sinner as well as a power over the Creature to reduce the Run-away and Rebel Unless we have recourse to the Infiniteness of Gods Power the infiniteness of our Guilt will weigh us down We must consider not only that we have a mighty Guilt to press us but a mighty God to relieve us In the same act of his being our Righteousness he is our Strength In the Lord have I righteousness and strength Isai 45.24 2. In the sense of Pardon When the Soul hath been wounded with the sense of sin and its Iniquities have star'd it in the face the raising the Soul from a despairing condition and lifting it above those Waters which terrified it to cast the light of Comfort as well as the light of Grace into a heart covered with more than an Egyptian Darkness is an act of his Infinite and Creating Power Isai 57.19 I create the fruit of the lips peace Men may wear out their Lips with numbring up the Promises of Grace and Arguments of Peace but all will signifie no more without a Creative Power than if all Men and Angels should call to that White upon the Wall to shine as splendidly as the Sun God only can create Jerusalem and every Child of Jerusalem a rejoycing * Isai 65.18 A Man is no more able to apply to himself any word of Comfort under the sense of Sin than he is able to Convert himself and turn the proposals of the Word into gracious Affections in his heart To restore the joy of Salvation is in Davids Judgment an act of Soveraign Power equal to that of creating a clean heart Psal 51.10 12. Alas 't is a state like to that of Death as Infinite Power can only raise from Natural death so from a Spiritual death also from a Comfortless death In his favour there is life in the want of his Favour there is death The Power of God hath so placed Light in the Sun that all Creatures in the World all the Torches upon Earth kindled together cannot make it Day if that doth not rise so all the Angels in Heaven and Men upon Earth are not competent Chirurgions for a wounded Spirit The cure of our Spiritual Ulcers and the pouring in Balm is an Act of Soveraign Creative Power 'T is more visible in silencing a Tempestuous Conscience than the Power of our Saviour was in the stilling the stormy Winds and the roaring Waves As none but Infinite Power can remove the Guilt of Sin so none but Infinite Power can remove the Despairing sense of it III. This Power is evident in the preserving Grace As the Providence of God is a manifestation of his Power in a continued Creation so the preservation of Grace is a manifestation of his Power in a continued Regeneration To keep a Nation under the Yoke is an act of the same Power that subdu'd it 'T is this that strengthens Men in suffering against the Fury of Hell †Colos 1.13 't is this that keeps them from falling against the force of Hell the Fathers hand John 10.29 His strength abates and moderates the violence of Temptations his Staff sustains his People under them his Might defeats the Power of Satan and bruiseth him under a Believers feet The Counterworkings of Indwelling Corruption the reluctances of the Flesh against the breathings of the Spirit the fallacy of the Senses and the rovings of the Mind have ability quickly to stifle and extinguish Grace if it were not maintain'd by that Powerful blast that first inbreathed it No less Power is seen in perfecting it than was in planting it ‖ 2 Pet. 1.3 no less in fulfilling the work of Faith than in ingrafting the Word of Faith 2 Thess 1.11 The Apostle well understood the Necessity and Efficacy of it in the preservation of Faith as well as in the firâ—t infusion when he expresses himself in those terms of a Greatness or Hyperbole of Power his Mighty Power or the Power of his Might Ephes 1.19 The Salvation he bestows and the Strength whereby he effects it are joyned together in the Prophets Song Isai 12.2 The Lord is my strength and my salvation And indeed God doth more magnifie his Power in continuing a Believer in the World a weak and half-rigg'd Vessel in the midst of so many Sands whereon it might split so many Rocks whereon it might dash so many Corruptions within and so many Temptations without than if he did immediately transport him into Heaven and cloth him with a perfectly Sanctified Nature To Conclude What is there then in the World which is destitute of Notices of Divine Power Every Creature affords us the Lesson all acts of Divine Government are the marks of it Look into the Word and the manner of its propagation instructs us in it your Changed Natures your Pardoned Guilt your Shining Comfort your quell'd Corruptions the standing of your staggering Graces are sufficient to preserve a sense and prevent a forgetfulness of this great Attribute so necessary for your support and conducing so much to your comfort Vses I. Of Information and Instruction 1. If Incomprehensible and Infinite Power belongs to the Nature of God then Jesus Christ hath a Divine Nature because the Acts of Power proper to God are ascribed to him This Perfection of Omnipotence doth unquestionably pertain to the Deity and is an incommunicable Property and the same with the Essence of God He therefore to whom this Attribute is ascribed is essentially God This is challenged by Christ in conjunction with Eternity Revel 1.8 I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty This the Lord Christ speaks of himself He who was equal with God proclaims himself by the Essential title of the Godhead part of which he repeats again verse 11. and this is the Person which walks in the midst of the seven Golden Candlesticks the Person that was dead and now lives vers 17 18. which cannot possibly be meant of the Father the first Person who can never come under that denomination of having been dead Being therefore adorn'd with the same Title he hath the same Deity and though his Omnipotence be only positively asserted v. 8. yet his Eternity being asserted v. 11 17. it inferreth
as his own Knowledge God having an Infinite Knowledge of himself can only have an Infinite Love to himself and consequently an Infinite Holiness without any defect because he loves himself according to the vastness of his own Amiableness which no finite Being can Therefore though the Angels be exempt from Corruption and Soil they cannot enter into comparison with the Purity of God without acknowledgment of a dimness in themselves Besides He charges them with folly and puts no trust in them because they have the power of sinning though not the act of sinning They have a possible Folly in their own Nature to be charged with Holiness is a quality separable from them but it is inseparable from God Had they not at first a mutability in their Nature none of them could have sinned there had been no Devils but because some of them sinned the rest might have sinned And though the standing Angels shall never be changed yet they are still changeable in their own Nature and their standing is due to Grace not to Nature and though they shall be for ever preserved yet they are not nor ever can be Immutable by Nature for then they should stand upon the same bottom with God himself but they are supported by Grace against that Changeableness of Nature which is essential to a Creature The Creator only hath Immortality that is Immutability ‖ 1. Tim. 3.16 'T is as certain a Truth that no Creature can be naturally Immutable and Impeccable as that God cannot create any thing actually polluted and imperfect 'T is as possible that the highest Creature may sin as it is possible that it may be annihilated It may become not holy as it may become not a Creature but Nothing The Holiness of a Creature may be reduc'd into Nothing as well as his Substance But the Holiness of the Creator cannot be diminish'd dimm'd or overshadowed James 1.17 He is the Father of lights with whom is no variableness or shadow of turning 'T is as impossible his Holiness should be blotted as that his Deity should be extinguish'd For whatsoever Creature hath essentially such or such qualities cannot be stript of them without being turned out of its Essence As a Man is essentially Rational and if he ceaseth to be Rational he ceaseth to be Man The Sun is essentially Luminous if it should become dark in its own Body it would cease to be the Sun In regard of this absolute and only Holiness of God 't is thrice repeated by the Seraphims Isai 6.3 The Threefold Repetition of a word notes the Certainty or Absoluteness of the thing or the Irreversibleness of the Resolve as Ezek. 21.27 I will overturn overturn overturn notes the Certainty of the Judgment also Revel 8.8 Woe woe woe Three times repeated signifies the same The Holiness of God is so absolutely peculiar to him that it can no more be exprest in Creatures than his Omnipotence whereby they may be able to create a World or his Omniscience whereby they may be capable of knowing all things and knowing God as he knows himself 3. God is so holy that he cannot possibly approve of any Evil done by another but doth perfectly abhor it it would not else be a glorious holiness Psal 5.3 He hath no pleasure in wickedness He doth not only love that which is just but abhor with a perfect hatred all things contrary to the Rule of Righteousness Holiness can no more approve of sin than it can commit it To be delighted with the evil in anothers act contracts a Guilt as well as the Commission of it for approbation of a thing is a consent to it Sometime the approbation of an evil in another is a more grievous Crime than the act it self as appears in Rom. 1.32 who knowing the Judgment of God not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do it Where the not only manifests it to be a greater guilt to take pleasure in them Every sin is aggravated by the delight in it to take pleasure in the evil of anothers Act on shews a more ardent affection and love to sin than the Committer himself may have This therefore can as little fall upon God as to do an evil act himself yet as a man may be delighted with the Consequences of anothers sin as it may occasion some publick good or private good to the guilty person as sometimes it may be an occasion of his repentance when the horridness of a fact stares him in the face and occasions a self-reflection for that and other Crimes which is attended with an indignation against them and sincere remorse for them so God is pleased with those good things his Goodness and Wisdom bring forth upon the occasion of sin But in regard of his Holiness he cannot approve of the evil whence his Infinite Wisdom drew forth his own glory and his Creatures good His Pleasure is not in the sinful act of the Creature but in the act of his own goodness and skill turning it to another end than what the Creature aimed at 1. He abhors it necessarily Holiness is the glory of the Deity therefore necessary The Nature of God is so holy that he cannot but hate it Hab. 1.13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity He is more opposite to it than light to darkness and therefore it can expect no countenance from him A love of holiness cannot be without a hatred of every thing that is contrary to it As God necessarily loves himself so he must necessarily hate every thing that is against himself And as he loves himself for his own excellency and holiness he must necessarily detest whatsoever is repugnant to his holiness because of the evil of it Since he is infinitely good he cannot but love goodness as it is a resemblance to himself and cannot but abhor unrighteousness as being most distant from him and contrary to him If he have any esteem for his own Perfections he must needs have an implacable aversion to all that is so repugnant to him that would if it were possible destroy him and is a point directed not only against his glory but against his life If he did not hate it he would hate himself For since Righteousness is his Image and Sin would deface his Image if he did not love his Image and loath what is against his Image he would loath himself he would be an Enemy to his own Nature †Turretin de satisfact p. 35.36 Nay if it were possible for him to love it it were possible for him not to be holy it were possible then for him to deny himself and will that he were no God which is a palpable Contradiction Yet this necessity in God of hating sin is not a brutish necessity such as is in meer Animals that avoid by a natural Instinct not of choice what is prejudicial to them but most free as well as necessary arising from an infinite
can have no Superior to impose a Precept on him A Rational Creature with a liberty of Will and power of Choice cannot be made by Nature of such a mould and temper but he must be as well capable of chusing wrong as of chusing right and therefore the standing Angels and glorified Saints though they are Immutable 't is not by Nature that they are so but by Grace and the good pleasure of God for though they are in Heaven they have still in their Nature a remote power of sinning but it shall never be brought into act because God will always incline their Wills to love him and never concur with their Wills to any evil act Since therefore Mutability is essential to a Creature as a Creature this changeableness cannot properly be charged upon God as the Author of it for it was not the term of God's creating act but did necessarily result from the Nature of the Creature as unchangeableness doth result from the Essence of God The brittleness of a Glass is no blame to the Art of him that blew up the Glass into such a fashion that imperfection of brittleness is not from the Workman but the Matter So though changeableness be an Imperfection yet it is so necessary a one that no Creature can be naturally without it Besides though Angels and Men were mutable by Creation and capable to exercise their Wills yet they were not necessitated to evil and this mutability did not infer a necessity that they should fall because some Angels which had the same root of changeableness in their Natures with those that fell did not fall which they would have done if capableness of changing and necessity of changing were one and the same thing 2. Though God made the Creature mutable yet he made him not evil There could be nothing of evil in him that God created after his own Image and pronounced good Gen. 1.27 31. Man had an ability to stand as well as a capacity to fall He was created with a principle of acting freely whereby he was capable of loving God as his chief Good and moving to him as his last end there was a beam of Light in man's Understanding to know the Rule he was to conform to a harmony between his Reason and his Affections an original Righteousness So that it seem'd more easie for him to determine his Will to continue in Obedience to the Precept than to swerve from it to adhere to God as his chief Good than to listen to the Charms of Satan God created him with those advantages that he might with more facility have kept his eyes fixt upon the Divine Beauty than turn his back upon it and with greater ease have kept the Precept God gave him than have broken it The very first thought darted or impression made by God upon the Angelical or Human Nature was the knowledge of himself as their Auhtor and could be no other than such whereby both Angels and Men might be excited to a love of that adorable Being that had framed them so gloriously out of nothing And if they turned their Wills and Affections to another Object it was not by the direction of God but contrary to the impression God had made upon them or the first thought he flasht into them They turned themselves to the admiring their own Excellency or affecting an advantage distinct from that which they were to look for only from God 1 Tim. 3.6 Pride was the cause of the Condemnation of the Devil Though the Wills of Angels and Men were created mutable and so were imperfect yet they were not created evil Though they might sin yet they might not sin and therefore were not evil in their own Nature What reflection then could this Mutability of their Nature be upon God So far is it from any that he is fully cleared by storing up in the Nature of Man sufficient Provision against his departure from him God was so far from creating him evil that he fortified him with a knowledge in his Understanding and a strength in his Nature to withstand any Invasion The Knowledge was exercised by Eve in the very Moment of the Serpents assaulting her Gen. 3.3 Eve said to the Serpent God hath said ye shall not eat of it And had her thoughts been intent upon this God hath said and not diverted to the motions of the Sensitive Appetite and Liquorish Palate it had been sufficient to put by all the Passes the Devil did or could have made at her So that you see though God made the Creature Mutable yet he made him not evil This clears the Holiness of God 3. Therefore it follows That though God created man changeable yet he was not the cause of his change by his fall Though Man was created defectible yet he was not determin'd by God influencing his Will by any positive act to that change and apostacy God placed him in a free posture set life and happiness before him on the one hand misery and death on the other As he did not draw him into the Arms of perpetual Blessedness so he did not drive him into the Gulph of his Misery * Amyral Mâ—â—aâ— Tom. 1. p. 615 616. He did not incline him to Evil. It was repugnant to the Goodness of God to corrupt the Righteousness of those Faculties he had so lately beautified him with It was not likely he should deface the beauty of that Work he had compos'd with so much Wisdom and Skill Would he by any Act of his own make that had which but a little before he had acquiesced in as good Angels and Men were left to their liberty and conduct of their Natural Faculties and if God inspir'd them with any Motions they could not but be Motions to good and suted to that righteous Nature he had endued them with But it is most probable that God did not in a Supernatural way act inwardly upon the Mind of Man but left him wholly to that Power which he had in Creation furnisht him with The Scripture frees God fully from any blame in this and lays it wholly upon Satan as the Tempter and upon Man as the Determiner of his own Will Gen. 3.6 Eve took of the Fruit and did eat and Adam took from her of the Fruit and did eat And Solomon Eccl 7.29 distinguisheth God's Work in the Creation of Man upright from Man's Work in seeking out those ruining inventions God created Man in a righteous state and Man cast himself into a forlorn state As he was a Mutable Creature he was from God as he was a changed and corrupted Creature it was from the Devil seducing and his own pliableness in admitting As Silver and Gold and other Metals were created by God in such a form and figure yet capable of receiving other forms by the industrious Art of Man When the Image of a Man is put upon a piece of Metal God is not said to create that Image though he created the Substance with
appear that God was bound to those Additional Acts when he had already lighted up in him a Spirit which was the Candle of the Lord Prov. 20.27 whereby he was able to discern all if he had attended to it It was enough that God did not necessitate Man to sin did not counsel him to it that he had given him sufficient warning in the Threatning and sufficient strength in his Faculties to fortifie him against Temptation He gave him what was due to him as a Creature of his own framing he withdrew no help from him that was due to him as a Creature and what was not due he was not bound to impart Man did not beg Preserving Grace of God and God was not bound to offer it when he was not Petition'd for it especially Yet if he had begg'd it God having before furnish'd him sufficiently might by the right of his Soveraign Dominion have denied it without any Impeachment of his Holiness and Righteousness Though he would not in such a case have dealt so bountifully with his Creature as he might have done yet he could not have been impleaded as dealing Unrighteously with his Creature The single word that God had already utter'd when he gave him his Precept was enough to oppose against all the Devils Wiles which tended to invalidate that Word The Understanding of Man could not imagine that the Word of God was vainly spoken and the very suggestion of the Devil as if the Creator should envy his Creature would have appear'd ridiculous if he had attended to the Voice of his own Reason God had done enough for him and was obliged to do no more and dealt not Unrighteously in leaving him to act according to the Principles of his Nature To Conclude If Gods Permission of Sin were enough to charge it upon God or if God had been obliged to give Adam Supernatural Grace Adam that had so capacious a Brain could not be without that Plea in his Mouth Lord thou mightest have prevented it the commission of it by me could not have been without thy permission of it Or Thou hast been wanting to me as the Author of my Nature No such Plea is brought by Adam into the Court when God Tried and Cast him No such Pleas can have any strength in them Adam had reason enough to know that there was sufficient Reason to over-rule such a Plea Since the Permission of Sin casts no Durt upon the Holiness of God as I think hath been cleared we may under this Head consider Two things more 1. That Gods Permission of Sin is not so much as his Restraint or Limitation of it Since the entrance of the First sin into the World by Adam God is more a hinderer than a permitter of it If he hath permitted that which he could have prevented he prevents a world more that he might if he pleased permit The Hedges about Sin are larger than the Outlets they are but a few Streams that glide about the World in comparison of that mighty Torrent he dams up both in Men and Devils He that understands what a Lake of Sodom is in every Mans Nature since the universal Infection of Humane Nature as the Apostle describes it Rom. 3.9 10 c. must acknowledge That if God should cast the Reins upon the Necks of Sinful men they would run into Thousands of abominable Crimes more than they do The impression of all Natural Laws would be raz'd out the World would be a publick Stews and a more bloody Slaughter-house Humane Society would sink into a Chaos no Star-light of commendable Morality would be seen in it the World would be no longer an Earth but an Hell and have lain deeper in Wickedness than it doth If God did not limit Sin as he doth the Sea and put Bars to the Waves of the Heart as well as those of the Waters and say of them Hitherto you shall go and no further Man hath such a furious Ocean in him as would over-flow the Banks and where it makes a breach in one place it would in a Thousand if God should suffer it to act according to its impetuous Current As the Devil hath Lust enough to destroy all Mankind if God did not bridle him deal with every Man as he did with Job ruine their Comforts and deform their Bodies with Scabs infect Religion with a Thousand more Errors fling Disorders into Common-wealths and make them as a Fiery Furnace full of nothing but Flame If He were not Chain'd by that Powerful Arm that might let him loose to fulfil his Malicious Fury what Rapines Murders Thefts would be committed if he did not stint him Abimelech would not only Lust after Sarah but deflow'r her Laban not only pursue Jacob but rifle him Saul not only hate David but murder him David not only threaten Nabal but root him up and his Family did not God girdle in the Wrath of Man * Psal 76 1â— aâ— tâ—â— word Restrain signifies A greater remainder of Wrath is pent in than flames out which yet swells for an Outlet God may be concluded more Holy in Preventing Mens sins than the Author of Sin in Permitting some since were it not for his Restraints by the pull-back of Conscience and infus'd Motions and outward Impediments the World would swarm more with this Cursed Brood 2. His Permission of Sin is in order to his own Glory and a greater Good 'T is no reflection upon the Divine Goodness to leave Man to his own Conduct whereby such a Deformity as Sin sets foot in the World since he makes his Wisdom illustrious in bringing Good out of Evil and a Good greater than that Evil he suffer'd to spring up Maâ—us bonum â—aith Bradward God did not permit Sin as Sin or permit it barely for it self As Sin is not lovely in its own Nature so neither is the Permission of Sin intrinsically good or amiable for it self but for those ends aimed at in the Permission of it God permitted Sin but approved not of the Object of that Permission Sin because that considered in its own Nature is solely Evil Nor can we think that God could approve of the Act of Permission considered only in it self as an Act but as it respected that Event which his Wisdom would order by it We cannot suppose that God should permit Sin but for some great and glorious End for it is the manifestation of his own glorious Perfections he intends in all the Acts of his Will Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath wrought all things which is not only his act of Creation but Ordination For Himself that is for the discovery of the Excellency of his Nature and the Communication of himself to his Creature Sin indeed in its own Nature hath no tendency to a good End the Womb of it Teems with nothing but Monsters 't is a spurn at Gods Soveraignty and a slight of his Goodness It both deforms and
Will because there was a flaw contracted in that Nature that came right and true out of his hand And as he that winds up his disordered Watch is in the same manner the cause of its motion then as he was when it was regular yet by that act of his he is not the cause of the false motion of it but that is from the deficiency of some part of the Watch it self So though God concurs to that Action of the Creature whereby the Wickedness of the Heart is drawn out yet is not God therefore as Unholy as the Heart 5. God hath one End in his Concurrence and Man another in his Action So that there is a Righteous and often a gracious End in God when there is a base and unworthy End in Man God concurs to the substance of the Act Man produceth the circumstance of the Act whereby it is Evil. God orders both the Action wherein he concurs and the Sinfulness over which he presides as a Governour to his own Ends. In Josephs case Man was sinful and God merciful his Brethren acted Envy and God design'd Mercy Gen. 45.4 5. They would be rid of him as an Eyesore and God concurr'd with their Action to make him their Preserver Gen. 50.20 Ye thought evil against me but God meant it unto good God concur'd to Judas his action of betraying our Saviour he supported his Nature while he contracted with the Priests and supported his Members while he was their Guide to apprehend him God's end was the manifestation of his choicest love to Man and Judas his end was the gratification of his own Covetousness The Assyrian did a Divine Work against Hierusalem but not with a Divine end * Isa 10.5.6 â— He had a mind to enlarge his Empire enrich his Coffers with the Spoil and gain the Title of a Conqueror he is desirous to Invade his Neighbours and God employs him to punish his Rebels but he means not so nor doth his heart think so He intended not as God intended The Axe doth not think what the Carpenter intends to do with it But God used the rapine of an Ambitious Nature as an Instrument of his Justice As the exposing Malefactors to wild Beasts was an ancient Punishment whereby the Magistrate intended the execution of Justice and to that purpose used the natural fierceness of the Beasts to an end different from what those ravaging Creatures aim'd at God concur'd with Satan in spoiling Job of his Goods and scarifying his Body God gave Satan license to do it Job 1.12 21. and Job acknowledges it to be God's act But their ends were different God concurred with Satan for the clearing the Integrity of his Servant when Satan aim'd at nothing but the provoking him to Curse his Creator The Physician applies Leeches to suck the superfluous blood but the Leeches suck to glut themselves without any regard to the intention of the Physician and the welfare of the Patient In the same act where men intend to hurt God intends to correct so that his concurrence is in a holy manner while men commit unrighteous actions A Judge commands the Executioner to execute the Sentence of Death which he hath justly pronounced against a Malefactor and admonisheth him to do it out of love to Justice the Executioner hath the Authority of the Judge for his Commission and the protection of the Judge for his Security The Judge stands by to countenance and secure him in the doing of it but if the Executioner hath not the same intention as the Judge viz. a love to Justice in the performance of his Office but a private hatred to the Offender the Judge though he commanded the fact of the Executioner yet did not command this Error of his in it and though he protects him in the Fact yet he owns not this corrupt disposition in him in the doing of what was enjoyn'd him as any act of his own To Conclude this Since the Creature cannot act without God cannot lift up a Hand or move his Tongue without God's preserving and upholding the Faculty and preserving the power of Action and preserving every Member of the Body in its actual Motion and in every circumstance of its Motion we must necessarily suppose God to have such a way of concurrence as doth not intrench upon his Holiness We must not equal the Creature to God by denying its dependence on him Nor must we imagine such a concurrence to the sinfulness of an act as stains the Divine Purity which is I think sufficiently salv'd by distinguishing the matter of the act from the evil adhering to it For since all evil is founded in some good the evil is distinguishable from the good and the deformity of the action from the action it self which as it is a created act hath a dependance on the will and influence of God And as it is a sinful act is the product of the will of the Creature 6. Proposition The holiness of God is not blemisht by proposing Objects to a man which he makes use of to sin There is no Object propos'd to man but is directed by the Providence of God which influenceth all motions in the World and there is no Object propos'd to man but his active Nature may according to the goodness or badness of his disposition make a good or an ill use of That two men one of a charitable the other of a hard-hearted disposition meet with an indigent and necessitous Object is from the Providence of God yet this indigent person is relieved by the one and neglected by the other There could be no action in the World but about some Object there could be no Object offer'd to us but by Divine Providence the active Nature of man would be in vain if there were not Objects about which it might be exercis'd Nothing could present it self to man as an Object either to excite his Grace or awaken his Corruption but by the conduct of the Governour of the World That David should walk upon the Battlements of his Palace and Bathsheba be in the Bath at the same time was from the Divine Providence which orders all the affairs of the World * 2 Sam. 117. and so some understand Jer. 6.21 Thus saith the Lord I will lay stumbling blocks before this People and the Fathers and Sons together shall fall upon them Since they have offered Sacrifices without those due qualifications in their hearts which were necessary to render them acceptable to me I will lay in their way such Objects which their Corruption will use ill to their further sin and ruin so Psal 105.25 He turned their heart to hate his people that is by the multiplying his People he gave occasion to the Egyptians of hating them instead of caressing them as they had formerly done But God's Holiness is not blemisht by this for 1. This proposing or presenting of Objects invades not the liberty of any man The Tree of the Knowledge of Good
said unto him Why callest thou me good There is none good but one that is God THE words are part of a Reply of our Saviour to the Young-mans Petition to him A certain Person came in haste running as being eager for satisfaction to entreat his directions what he should do to inherit Everlasting Life The Person is described only in general vers 17. There came one A certain Man But Luke describes him by his Dignity * Luke 18.18 A certain Ruler One of Authority among the Jews He desires of him an Answer to a legal Question What he should do Or as Matthew hath it What good thing shall I do that I may have Eternal Life * Mat. 19.16 He imagin'd Everlasting Felicity was to be purchased by the works of the Law He had not the least Sentiments of Faith Christ's Answer implies there was no hopes of the happiness of another World by the works of the Law unless they were perfect and answerable to every Divine Precept He doth not seem to have any ill or hypocritical intent in his Address to Christ not to tempt him but to be instructed by him He seems to come with an ardent desire to be satisfi'd in his Demand he performed a solemn act of Respect to him he kneeled to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prostrated himself upon the ground Besides Christ is said vers 21. to love him which had been inconsistent with the knowledge Christ had of the hearts and thoughts of Men and the abhorrence he had of Hypocrites had he been only a Counterfeit in this Question But the first Reply Christ makes to him respects the Title of Good Master which this Ruler gave him in his Salutation 1. Some think that Christ hereby would draw him to an acknowledgment of him as God You acknowledge me good How come you to salute me with so great a Title since you do not afford it to your greatest Doctors Lightfoot in loc observes that the Title of Rabbi bone is not in all the Talmud You must own me to be God since you own me to be good Goodness being a Title only due and properly belonging to the Supream Being If you take me for a Common-man with what Conscience can you salute me in a manner proper to God Since no Man is good no not one but the heart of Man is evil continually The Arrians used this place to back their denying the Deity of Christ Because say they He did not acknowledge himself good therefore he did not acknowledge himself God * Erasm in loc But he doth not here deny his Deity but reproves him for calling him Good when he had not yet confest him to be more than a Man * Augustin You behold my Flesh but you consider not the fulness of my Deity If you account me Good account me God and imagine me not to be a simple and a meer Man He disowns not his own Deity but allures the Young-man to a confession of it Why call'st thou me good since thou dost not discover any apprehensions of my being more than a Man Though thou comest with a greater Esteem to me than is commonly entertain'd of the Doctors of the Chair why dost thou own me to 〈◊〉 unless thou own me to be God If Christ had deny'd himself in this Speech to be good he had rather entertain'd this Person with a frown and sharp reproof for giving him a Title due to God alone than have received him with that courtesie and complaisance as he did * Hensius in Matth. Had he said there is none good but the Father he had excluded himself but in saying there is none good but God he comprehends himself 2. Others say that Christ had no intention to draw him to an acknowledg◠〈◊〉 of his Deity but only asserts his Divine Authority or Mission from God * Calvin in loc For which interpretation Maldonat calls Calvin an Arrianizer He doth not here assert the Essence of his Deity but the Authority of his Doctrine As if he should have said you do without ground give me the Title of good unless you believe I have a Divine Commission for what I declare and act Many do think me an Impostor an Enemy of God and a friend to Devils you must firmly believe that I am not so as your Rulers report me but that I am sent of God and authorized by him you cannot else give me the Title of good but of wicked And the reason they give for this interpretation is because it is a question whether any of the Apostles understood him at this time to be God which seems to have no great strength in it since not only the Devil had publickly owned him to be the Holy One of God * Luke 4.34 but John the Baptist had born Record that he was the Son of God †Joh. 1.32 34. and before this time Peter had confest him openly in the hearing of the rest of the Disciples that he was the Christ the Son of the living God ‖ Mat. 16.16 But I think Paraeus his interpretation is best which takes in both those Either you are serious or deceitful in this Address if you are serious Why do you call me good and make bold to fix so great a Title upon one you have no higher thoughts of than of a meer Man Christ takes occasion from hence to assert God to be only and Sovereignly good * Trismegist Paemand câ—p 2. There is none good but God God only hath the honour of absolute goodness and none but God merits the name of good ‖ Eugubin de Peren. Philos lib. 5. cap. 9. A Heathen could say much after the same manner All other things are far from the nature of good call none else good but God for this would be a profane Errour Other things are only good in opinion but have not the true Substance of Goodness He is Good in a more excellent way than any Creature can be denominated Good 1. God is only Originally Good Good of himself All Created Goodness is a Rivulet from this Fountain but Divine Goodness hath no Spring God depends upon no other for his Goodness he hath it in and of himself Man hath no Goodness from himself God hath no Goodness from without himself His Goodness is no more derived from another than his Being If he were Good by any External thing that thing must be in being before him or after him If before him he was not then himself from Eternity If after him he was not Good in himself from Eternity The End of his Creating things then was not to confer a Goodness upon his Creatures but to partake of a Goodness from his Creatures God is Good by and in himself since all things are only Good by him and all that Goodness which is in Creatures is but the breathing of his own Goodness upon them They have all their loveliness from the same Hand they have their Being
this Sentiment when the Jews Educated by God in a wiser School were wedded to that Notion The Pharisees were highly fond of it it was the only Argument they used in Prayer for Divine Blessing You have one of them boasting of his frequency in Fasting and his exactness in paying his Tithes †Luke 19.12 as if God had been beholding to him and could not without manifest wrong deny him his demand And Paul confesseth it to be his own Sentiment before his Conversion he accounted this Righteousness of the Law gain to him * Phil. 3.7 he thought by this to make his Market with God The whole Nation of the Jews affected it †Rom. 10.3 Going about to Establish their own Righteousness compassing Sea and Land to make out a Righteousness of their own as the Pharisees did to make Proselytes The Papists follow their Steps and Dispute for Justification by the Merit of Works and find out another Key of Works of Supererogation to unlock Heavens Gate than what ever the Scripture informed us of 'T is from hence also that Men are so ready to make Faith as a Work the cause of our Justification Man foolishly thinks he hath enough to set up himself after he hath proved Bankrupt and lost all his Estate This Imagination is born with us and the best Christians may find some sparks of it in themselves when there are springings up of joy in their Hearts upon the more close performance of one Duty than of another as if they had wiped off their Scores and given God a satisfaction for their former neglects We have forsaken all and follow'd thee was the boast of his Disciples What shall we have therefore was a Branch of this Root †Mat. 19.27 Eternal Life is a gift not by any Obligation of Right but an abundance of goodness 't is owing not to the dignity of our Works but the magnificent Bounty of the Divine Nature and must be sued for by the Title of God's Promise not by the Title of the Creatures Services We may observe 3. How insufficient are some Assents to Divine Truth and some Expressions of Affection to Christ without the Practice of Christian Precepts This Man Addrest to Christ with a profound Respect acknowledging him more than an ordinary Person with a more Reverential Carriage than we read any of his Disciples paid to him in the day of his Flesh he fell down at his Feet kist his Knees as the Custom was when they would testifie the great Respect they had to any eminent Person especially to their Rabbins All this some think to be included in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †Vers 17. Lightfoot in loc He seems to acknowledge him the Messiah by giving him the Title of Good a Title they did not give to their Doctors of the Chair He breaths out his opinion that he was able to instruct him beyond the ability of the Law He came with a more than ordinary Affection to him and expectation of advantage from him evident by his departing sad when his expectations were frustrated by his own perversity it was a sign he had a high esteem of him from whom he could not part without marks of his Grief What was the cause of his refusing the instructions he pretended such an affection to receive He had Possessions in the World How soon do a few drops of Wordly advantages quench the first Sparks of an ill grounded love to Christ How vain is a complemental and cringing devotion without a supream preference of God and valuation of Christ above every outward allurement We may observe this 4. We should never admit any thing to be ascrib'd to us which is proper to God Why callest thou me Good There is none Good but One that is God If you do not acknowledge me God ascribe not to me the Title of Good It takes off all those Titles which fawning Flatterers give to Men Mighty Invincible to Princes Holiness to the Pope We call one another Good without considering how Evil and Wise without considering how Foolish Mighty without considering how Weak and Knowing without considering how Ignorant No man but hath more of Wickedness than Goodness of Ignorance than Knowledge of Weakness than Strength God is a jealous God of his own Honour he will not have the Creature share with him in his Royal Titles 'T is a part of Idolatry to give Men the Titles which are due to God a kind of a Worship of the Creature together with the Creator Worms will not stand out but assault Herod in his Purple when he Usurps the Prerogative of God and prove stiff and invincible Vindicators of their Creators Honor when summoned to Arms by the Creators Word †12 Acts 22.23 The Observation which I intend to prosecute is this Doct. Pure and Perfect Goodness is only the Royal Prerogative of God Goodness is a choice Perfection of the Divine Nature This is the true and genuine Character of God He is Good He is Goodness Good in Himself Good in his Essence Good in the Highest Degree possessing whatsoever is Comely Excellent Desirable the Highest Good because the First Good whatsoever is perfect Goodness is GOD whatsoever is truly Goodness in any Creature is a resemblance of God * Ficin in Dionys. de divin nom cap 511. All the Names of God are comprehended in this one of Good All Gifts all variety of Goodness are contained in him as one common Good He is the efficient cause of all Good by an over-flowing Goodness of his Nature He refers all things to Himself as the end for the representation of his own Goodness Truly God is Good †Psal 73.1 Certainly it is an undoubted Truth 't is written in his Works of Nature and his Acts of Grace * Exod. 34.6 He is abundant in Goodness And every thing is a Memorial not of some few Sparks but of his greater Goodness †Psal 145.7 This is often celebrated in the Psalms and Men invited more than once to Sing forth the Praises of it * Psal 107.8.15.21.31 It may better be admired than sufficiently spoken of or thought of as it Merits 'T is discovered in all his Works as the Goodness of a Tree in all its Fruits 't is easie to be seen and more pleasant to be contemplated In General 1. All Nations in the World have acknowledged GOD Good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was one of the Names the Platonists exprest him by and Good and God are almost the same words in our Language All as readily consented in the Notion of his Goodness as in that of his Deity Whatsoever divisions or disputes there were among them in the other Perfections of God they all agreed in this without dispute saith Synesius * Empedocles One calls him Venus in regard of his Loveliness †Hesiod Another calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Love as being the Band which tyes all things
it Good It had been inconsistent with the Supream Goodness of his Nature to have Created only Murderous Ravenous Injurious Creatures To have Created a Bedlam rather than a World A meer heap of Confusion would have been as inconsistent with his Divine Goodness as with his Divine Wisdom Again when his Goodness had moved him to make a Creature his Goodness would necessarily move him to be beneficial to his Creature not that this necessity results from any Merit in the Creature which he had framed but from the Excellency and Diffusiveness of his own Nature and his own Glory the end for which he form'd it which would have been obscure yea nothing without some degrees of his Bounty What occasion of acknowledgments and praise could the Creature have for its Being if God had given him only a miserable Being while it was innocent in action The Goodness of God would not suffer him to make a Creature without providing conveniencies for it so long as he thought good to maintain its Being and furnishing it with that which was necessary to answer that End for which he Created it And his own Nature would not suffer him to be unkind to his Rational Creature while it was Innocent It had been injustice to inflict Evil upon the Creature that had not offended and had no relation to an offending Creature The Nature of God could not have brought forth such an act †Cocceii sum Theolog. p. 91. And therefore some say that God after he had Created Man could not presently annihilate him and take away his Life and Being As a Soveraign he might do it as Almighty he was able to do it as well as Create him but in regard of his Goodness he could not Morally do it For had he annihilated Man as soon as ever he had made him he had not made Man for himself and for his own Glory to be loved worshipped sought and acknowledged by him He would not then have been the end of Man He had Created him in vain and the VVorld in vain which he assures us he did not * Isa 45.18 19. And certainly if the Gifts of God be without Repentance Man could not have been annihilated after his Creation without Repentance in God without any Cause had not Sin entred into the World If God did not say to Man after Sin had made its entrance into the World seek ye me in vain he could not because of his Goodness have said so to Man in his Innocence As God is necessarily Mind so he is necessarily Will as he is necessarily Knowing so he is necessarily Loving He could not be Blessed if he did not know Himself and his own Perfection Nor Good if he did not delight in Himself and his own Perfections And this Goodness whereby he delights in Himself is the source of his delight in his Creatures wherein he sees the footsteps of Himself If he loves Himself he cannot but love the Resemblance of Himself and the Image of his own Goodness He loves himself because he is the highest Goodness and Excellency and loves every thing as it resembles Himself because it is an efflux of his own Goodness And as he doth necessarily love Himself and his own Excellency so he doth necessarily love any thing that resembles that Excellency which is the Primary Object of his Esteem But 5. Though he be necessarily Good yet he is also freely Good The necessity of the Goodness of his Nature hinders not the liberty of his Actions The matter of his acting is not at all necessary but the manner of his acting in a good and bountiful way is necessary as well as free * Gilbert de Dei Dominio p. 6. He Created the World and Man freely because he might choose whether he would Create it but he Created them good necessarily because he was first necessarily good in his Nature before he was freely a Creator When he Created Man he freely gave him a positive Law but necessarily a Wise and Righteous Law because he was necessarily Wise and Righteous before he was freely a Lawgiver When he makes a Promise he freely lets the Word go out of his Lips but when he hath made it he is necessarily a faithful Performer because he was necessarily True and Righteous in his Nature before he was freely a Promiser God is necessarily good in his Nature but free in his Communications of it To make him necessarily to communicate his Goodness in the first Creation of the Creature would render him but impotent good without liberty and without will If the Communications of it be not free the Eternity of the VVorld must necessarily be concluded which some Anciently asserted from the Naturalness of Gods Goodness making the VVorld flow from God as Light from the Sun God indeed is necessarily good Affectivé in regard of his Nature but freely good Effectivé in regard of the Effluxes of it to this or that particular Subject he pitcheth on He is not so necessarily communicative of his Goodness as the Sun of his light or a Tree of its cooling shade that chooseth not its Objects but enlightens all indifferently without any variation or distinction This were to make God of no more Understanding than the Sun to shine not where it pleaseth but where it must He is an understanding Agent and hath a Soveraign Right to choose his own Subjects It would not be a Supream Goodness if it were not a voluntary Goodness 'T is agreeable to the Nature of the highest Good to be absolutely free to dispence his Goodness in what methods and measures he pleaseth according to the free determinations of his own VVill guided by the VVisdom of his Mind and regulated by the Holiness of his Nature He is not to give an account of any of his matters †Job 33.13 He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and he will have compassion on whom he will have compassion * Rom. 9.15 And he will be good to whom he will be good When he doth act he cannot but act well so it 's necessary yet he may act this good or that good to this or that degree so it is free As it is the Perfection of his Nature 't is necessary as it is the communication of his Bounty 't is voluntary The Eye cannot but see if it be open yet it may glance upon this or that colour fix upon this or that object as it is conducted by the VVill. God necessarily loves Himself because he is good yet not by constraint but freedom because his affection to Himself is from a knowledge of Himself He necessarily loves his own Image because 't is his Image yet freely because not blindly but from motions of understanding and will VVhat necessity could there be upon him to resolve to communicate his Goodness It could not be to make Himself better by it for he had a Goodness uncapable of any addition He confers a goodness on his
Creatures but reaps not a Harvest of goodness to his own Essence from his Creatures What obligation could there be from the Creature to confer a goodness on Him to this or that degree for this or that duration If he had not Created a Man nor Angel he had done them no wrong If he had given them only a simple Being he had manifested a part of his Goodness without giving them a right to challenge any more of him If he had taken away their Beings after a time when he had answered his End he had done them no Injury For what Law oblig'd him to enrich them and leave them in that Being wherein he had invested them but his sole Goodness Whatever sparks of goodness any Creature hath are the free effusions of Gods Bounty the Offspring of his Own inclination to do well the Simple favor of the Donor not purchased not merited by the Creature God is as unconstrained in his Liberty in all his Communications as infinite in his Goodness the Fountain of them 6. This Goodness is Communicative with the greatest Pleasure Moses desir'd to see his Glory God assures him he should see his Goodness †Exod. 33 18 19. intimating that his Goodness is his Glory and his Glory his delight also He sends not forth his Blessings with an ill Will He doth not stay till they are squeezed from him He prevents Men with his Blessings of Goodness * Psal 21.3 He is most delighted when he is most diffusive and his pleasure in bestowing is larger than his Creatures in possessing He is not covetous of his own Treasures He lays up his Goodness in order to laying it out with a complacency wholly Divine The jealousie Princes have of their Subjects makes them sparing of their Gifts for fear of giving them Materials for Rebellion Gods foresight of the ill use Men would make of his Benefits dampt him not in bestowing his Largesses He is uncapable of Envy His own Happiness can no more be diminish'd than it can be encreased None can over-top him in Goodness because nothing hath any Good but what is derived from him his Gifts are without Repentance Sorrow hath no footing in him who is infinitely Happy as well as infinitely Good Goodness and Envy are inconsistent How unjustly then did the Devil accuse God What God gives out of Goodness he gives with joy and gladness He did not only will that we should be but rejoice that he had brought us into Being He rejoiced in his Works †Psal 104.31 And his Wisdom stood by him delighting in the habitable parts of the Earth * Prov. 8.31 He beheld the World after its Creation with a complacency and still governs it with the same pleasure wherewith he reviewed it Infinite Chearfulness attends infinite Goodness He would not give if he had not a pleasure that others should enjoy his Goodness Since he is better than any thing and more communicative than any thing He is more joyful in giving out than the Sun can be to run its Race in powring forth Light He is said only to repent and grieve when Men answer not the obligations and ends of his Goodness which would be their own Felicity as well as his Glory Though he doth not force greater degrees of his Goodness upon those that neglect it yet he denies them not to those that sollicite him for it 'T is always greater pleasure to him to impart upon the importunities of the Creatures than it is to a Mother to reach out her Breast to her crying and longing Infant He is not wearied by the sollications of Men he is pleased with their Prayers because he is pleased with the imparting of his own Goodness He seems to be in travel with it longing to be delivered of it into the lap of his Creature He is as much delighted with Petitions for his Liberality in bestowing his best Goodness as Princes are weary of the craving of their Subjects None can be so desirous to squeeze those that are under them as God is delighted to enlarge his hand towards them 'T is the nature of his Goodness to be glad of Mens sollicitations for it because they are significant valuations of it and therefore fit occasions for him to bestow it Since he doth not delight in the unhappiness of any of his Creatures he certainly delights in what may conduce unto their felicity He doth with the same delight multiply the effects of his Goodness where his Wisdom sees it convenient as he beheld the first Fruits of his Goodness with a complacency upon the laying the top-stone of the Creation 7. The displaying of this Goodness was the Motive and End of all his Works of Creation and Providence * Amyral Moral Tom. 1. p. 260. God being infinitely Wise could not act without the highest Reason and for the highest End The reason that induced him to Create must be of as great an Eminency as Himself The Motive could not be taken from without him because there was nothing but Himself in Being It must be taken therefore from within Himself and from some one of those most Excellent Perfections whereby we conceive him But upon the exact consideration of all of them none can seem to challenge that Honour of being the Motive of them to resolve the setting forth any work but his own Goodness This being the first thing manifest in his Creation seems to be the first thing moving him to a Resolution to Create VVisdom may be considered as directing Power considered as Acting but it is natural to reflect upon Goodness as Moving the one to direct and the other to act Power was the Principle of his Action Wisdom the Rule of his Action Goodness the Motive of his Action Principle and Rule are awakened by the Motive and subservient to the End That which is the most amiable Perfection in the Divine Nature and that which he first took notice of as the Footsteps of them in the distinct view of every days work and the general view of the whole Frame seems to claim the best right to be entitled the Motive and End of his Creation of things God could have no End but himself because there was nothing besides himself Again the End of every Agent is that which he esteems good and the best good for that kind of action Since nothing is to be esteemed good but God nothing can be the ultimate End of God but himself and his own Goodness What a Man wills chiefly is his End but God cannot will any other thing but himself as his End because there is nothing Superior to himself in Goodness He cannot will any thing that Supreamly serves himself and his own Goodness as his End for if he did that which he wills must be Superior to himself in Goodness and then he is not God or Inferior to them in Goodness and then he would not be Righteous in willing that which is a lower Good before a higher
God cannot will any thing as his End of acting but himself without undeifying himself Gods Will being Infinitely Good cannot move for any thing but what is Infinitely Good and therefore whatsoever God made he made for himself †Prov. 16.4 that whatsoever he made might bear a badge of this Perfection upon it and be a discovery of his wonderful Goodness For the making things for himself doth not signifie any indigence in God that he made any thing to encrease his Excellency for that is capable of no addition but to manifest his Excellency God possessing every thing eminently in himself did not Create the World for any need he had of it Finite things were unable to make any accession to that which is Infinite Man indeed builds a House to be a shelter to him against Wind and Weather and makes Clothes to secure him from Cold and Plants Gardens for his Recreation and Health God is above all those little helps he did not make the World for himself in such a kind but for himself i. e. the manifestation of himself and the Riches of his Nature Not to make himself Blessed but to discover his own Blessedness to his Creatures and communicate something of it to them He did not garnish the World with so much Bounty that he might live more happily than he did before but that his Rational Creatures might have fit conveniencies As the end for which God demands the performance of our Duty is not for his own advantage but for our good * Deut. 10.13 so the end why he conferr'd upon us the excellency of such a Being was for our good and the discovery of his Goodness to us For had not God Created the World he had been wholly unknown to any but himself He produced Creatures that he might be known As the Sun shines not only to discover other things but to be seen it self in its beauty and brightness God would Create things because he would be known in his Glory and Liberality Hence it that he Created Intellectual Creatures because without them the rest of the Creation could not be taken notice of It had been in some sort in vain for no Nature lower than an Understanding Nature was able to know the Marks of God in the Creation and acknowledge him as God In this regard God is good above all Creatures because he intends only to communicate his Goodness in Creation not to acquire any Goodness or Excellency from them as Men do in their framing of things God is all and is destitute of nothing and therefore nothing accrues to him by the Creation but the acknowledgment of his Goodness This Goodness therefore must be the Motive and End of all his Works The third thing That God is good 1. The more excellent any thing is in Nature the more of goodness and kindness it hath For we see more of love and kindness in Creatures that are endued with Sense to their Descendents than in Plants that have only a Principle of Growth Plants preserve their Seeds whole that are enclosed in them Animals look to their young only after they are dropt from them yet after some time take no more notice of them than of a Stranger that never had any Birth from them But Man that hath a higher Principle of Reason cherisheth his Offspring and gives them Marks of his goodness while he lives and leaves not the World at the time of his Death without some testimonies of it Much more must God who is a higher Principle than Sense or Reason be good and bountiful to all his Offspring The more perfect any thing is the more it doth communicate it self The Sun is more excellent than the Stars and therefore doth more sensibly more extensively disperse its liberal Beams than the Stars do And the better any Man is the more charitable he is God being the most excellent Nature having nothing more excellent than himself because nothing more ancient than himself who is the ancient of days There is nothing therefore better and more bountiful than himself 2. He is the cause of all Created Goodness he must therefore himself be the Supream Good What Good is in the Heavens is the Product of some Being above the Earth and those varieties of Goodness in the Earth and several Creatures are some where in their fulness and union That therefore which possesses all those scattered Goodnesses in their fulness must be all Good All that Good which is display'd in Creatures therefore Soveraignly best Whatsoever Natural or Moral Goodness there is in the World in Angels or Men or Inferiour Creatures is a line drawn from that Center the bublings of that Fountain God cannot but be better then all since the Goodness that is in Creatures is the fruit of his own If he were not good he could produce no good he could not bestow what he had not If the Creature be good as the Apostle says every Creature is * 1 Tim. 4.4 he must needs be better than all because they have nothing but what is derived to them from him And much more goodness then all because Finite Being are not capable of receiving into them and containing in themselves all that goodness which is in an Infinite Being When we search for good in Creatures they come short of that satisfaction which is in God †Psal 4.6 As the certainty of a first Principle of all things is necessarily concluded from the being of Creatures and the upholding and sustaining Power and Virtue of God is concluded from the mutability of those things in the World whence we infer that there must be some Stable Foundation of those tottering things some firm Hinge upon which those changeable things do move without which there would be no Stability in the Kinds of things no order no agreement or union among them So from the goodness of every thing and their usefulness to us we must conclude him Good who made all those things And since we find distinct Goodnesses in the Creature we must conclude that one Principle whence they did slow excels in the Glory of Goodness All those little glimmerings of Goodness which are scattered in the Creatures as the Image in the Glass Represent the Face Posture Motion of him whose Image it is but not in the fulness of Life and Spirit as in the Original 'T is but a Shadow at the best and speaks something more excellent in the Copy As God hath an Infiniteness of Being above them so he hath a Supremacy of Goodness beyond them What they have is but a Participation from him what he hath must be infinitely super-eminent above them If any thing be good by it self it must be Infinitely Good it would set it self no bounds we must make as many Gods as particulars of Goodness in the World But being Good by the bounty of another that from whence they flow must be the chief Goodness * Fiâ—inus in Con. Amor. Orat 2. cap.
to the Innocent and Culpable Could you account him Good if he did always with pleasure behold Evil and perpetually suffer the Oppressions of the Innocent under unpunisht Wickedness How should we know the Goodness of the Divine Nature and his Affection to the goodness of his Creature if he did not by some acts of severity witness his implacable aversion against Sin and his care to preserve the good Government of the World If corrupted Creatures should always be exempt from the effects of his Indignation he would declare himself not to be Infinitely Good because he would not be really Righteous No Man thinks it a Natural Vice in the Sun by the power of its scorching heat to dry up and consume the unwholsom Vapours of the Air nor are the demonstrations of Divine Justice any blots upon his Goodness since they are both for the defence and glory of his Holiness and for the preservation of the beauty and order of the World 2. Is it not part of the Goodness of God to make Laws and annex Threatn ngs And shall it be an impeachment of his Goodness to support them The more severe Laws are made for deterring Evil the better is that Prince accounted in making such provision for the welfare of the Community The design of Laws and the design of upholding the honour of those Laws by the punishment of Offenders is to promote Goodness and restrain Evil The Execution of those Laws must be therefore pursuant to the same design of Goodness which first setled them Would it not be contrary to Goodness to suffer that which was design'd for the support of Goodness to be scorn'd and slighted It would neither be prudence nor goodness but folly and vice to let Laws which were made to promote Vertue be broken with impunity Would not this be to weaken Vertue and give a new life and vigor to Vice Not only the Righteousness of the Law it self but the Wisdom of the Law-giver would be exposed to contempt if the Violations of it remained uncontroul'd and the Violence offer'd by Men passed unpunished None but will acknowledge the Divine Precepts to be the Image of the Righteousness of God and beneficial for the common good of the World * Rom. 7.12 The Law is holy just and good and so is every Precept of it The Law was for no other end but to keep the Creature in subjection to and dependance on God This dependance could not be preserved without a Law nor that Law be kept in Reputation without a Penalty nor would that Penalty be significant without an Execution Every Law loseth the nature of a Law without a Penalty and the Penalty loseth its vigor without the infliction of it How can those Laws attain their end if the Transgressions of them be not punished Would not the wickedness of Mens hearts be encouraged by such a kind of uncomely Goodness And all the threatnings be to no other end than to engender vain and fruitless fears in the minds of Men Is it good for the Majesty of God to suffer it self to be trampled on by his Vassals To suffer Men by their Rebellion to level his Law with the wickedness of their own hearts and by impunity slight his own Glory and incourage their Disobedience Who would give any Man any Prince any Father that should do so the name of a good Governor If it were a fruit of Divine Goodness to make Laws is it contrary to Goodness to support the honour of them 'T is every whit as rational and as good to vindicate the honour of his Laws by Justice as at first to settle them by Authority As much goodness to vindicate it from Contempt as at first to Enact it As it is as much Wisdom to preserve a Law as at first to frame it Shall his Precepts be thought by him unworthy of a support that were not thought by him unworthy to be made The same reason of Goodness that led him to enjoyn them will lead him to revenge them Did Evil appear odious to him while he Enacted his Law and would not his own Goodness as well as his Wisdom appear odious to him if he did never Execute it Would it not be a denial of his own Goodness to be led by the foolish and corrupt Judgment of his Creatures and slight his own Law because his Rebels spurn at it Since he valued it before they could actually contemn it would he not misjudge his own Law and his own Wisdom discount from the true value of them condemn his own Acts censure his Precepts as Unrighteous and therefore Evil and Injurious Remove the differences between Good and Evil look upon Vice and Virtue and Wickedness as Righteousness if he thought his Commands unworthy of a Vindication How can there be any support to the honour of his Precepts without sometimes Executing the severity of his Threatnings And as to his Threatnings of Punishment for the breach of his Laws are they not designed to discourage Wickedness as the Promises of Reward were designed to encourage Goodness Hath he not multiplied the one to scare Men from Sin as well as the other to allure Men to Obedience Is not the same Truth engaged to support the one as well as the other And how could he be abundant in Goodness if he were not abundant in Truth Both are linkt together * Exod. 34.6 If he neglected his Truth he would be out of love with his own Goodness since it cannot be manifested in performing the Promises to the Obedient if it be not also manifested in executing his Threatnings upon the Rebellious Had not God annext Threatnings to his Laws he would have had no care of his own Goodness The Order between God and the Creature wherein the declaration of his Goodness consisted might have been easily broken by his Creature Man would have freed himself from subjection to God been unaccountable to him Had this consisted with that infinite Goodness whereby he loves himself and loves his Creatures As therefore the annexing Threatnings to his Law was a part of his Goodness the Execution of them is so far from being a blemish that it is the honour of his Goodness The Rewards of Obedience and the Punishment of Disobedience refer to the same end viz. the due manifestation of the valuation of his own Law the glorifying his own Goodness which enjoyned so beneficial a Law for Man and the support of that goodness in the Creatures which by that Law he demands righteously and kindly of them 3. Hence it follows That not to punish Evil would be a want of Goodness to himself The Goodness of God is an indulgent Goodness in a way of Wisdom and Reason not a fond Goodness in a way of weakness and folly Would it not be a weakness always to bear with the Impenitent A want of expressing a goodness to Goodness it self Would not Goodness have more reason to complain for a want of Justice to rescue it
but because it is good and by a Communicated Goodness fitted for such a Production If God had been the Creating Principle of things only as he was a Living Being or as he was an Understanding Being then all things should have partaken of Life and Understanding because all things were to bear some Characters of the Deity upon them If by Understanding solely God were the Creator of all things all things should have born the Mark of the Deity upon them and should have been more or less Understanding but he Created things as he was Good and by Goodness he renders all things more or less like himself Hence every thing is accounted more noble not in regard of its Being but in regard of the beneficialness of its Nature The Being of things was not the End of God in Creating but the Goodness of their Being God did not rest from his Works because they were his Works i. e. because they had a Being but because they had a Good Being * Gen. 1. because they were naturally useful to the Universe Nothing was more pleasing to him than to behold those Shadows and Copies of his own Goodness in his Works 2. Creation was the first act of Goodness without himself †Petav. Theclog Dogmat. Tom. 1. p. 401. When he was alone from Eternity he contented himself with himself abounding in his own Blessedness delighting in that abundance He was incomprehensively rich in the possession of an unstain'd Felicity * Lessius de Perfect div p. 100. This Creation was the first Efflux of his Goodness without himself For the work of Creation cannot be called a work of Mercy Mercy supposeth a Creature miserable but that which hath no Being is subject to no Misery For to be Miserable supposeth a Nature in Being and deprived of that Good which belongs to the pleasure and felicity of Nature but since there was no Being there could be no Misery The Creation therefore was not an act of Mercy but an act of sole Goodness And therefore it was the Speech of an Heathen That when God first set upon the Creation of the World he transform'd himself into Love and Goodness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †Pherecyâ—es This led forth and animated his Power the first moment it drew the Universe out of the Womb of Nothing And 3. There is not one Creature but hath a Character of his Goodness The whole World is a Map to Represent and a Herald to proclaim this Perfection 'T is as difficult not to see something of it in every Creature with the Eye of our Minds as it is not to see the Beams of the Shining Sun with those of our Bodies * Psal 145.9 He is good to all He is therefore good in all Not a drop of the Creation but is a drop of his Goodness These are the Colours worn upon the Heads of every Creature As in every Spark the light of the Fire is manifested so doth every grain of the Creation wear the visible Badges of this Perfection In all the Lights the Father of Lights hath made the riches of Goodness apparent No Creature is silent in it 't is legible to all Nations in every work of his hands That as it is said of Christ †Psal 40.7 In the Volume of thy Book it is written of me In the Volume of the Book of the Scripture 't is written of me and my Goodness in Redemption So it may be said of God In the Volume of the Book of the Creature 't is written of me and my Goodness in Creation Every Creature is a Page in this Book whose Line is gone through all the Earth and their Words to the end of the World * Psal 19.4 Though indeed the less Goodness in some is obscur'd by the more resplendent Goodness he hath imparted unto others What an admirable piece of Goodness is it to communicate Life to a Fly How should we stand gazing upon it till we turn our Eye inwards and view our own Frame which is much more ravishing But let us see the Goodness of God in the Creation of Man 1. In the Being and Nature of Man God hath with a liberal hand conferr'd upon every Creature the best Being it was capable of in that Station and Order and conducing to that end and use in the World he intended it for But when you have run over all the measures of Goodness God hath poured forth upon other Creatures you will find a greater fulness of it in the Nature of Man whom he hath placed in a more Sublime Condition and endued with choicer Prerogatives than other Creatures He was made but little lower than the Angels and much more loftily crown'd with glory and honour than other Creatures †Psal 8 5. Had it not been for Divine Goodness this Excellent Creature had lain wrapt up in the Abyss of nothing Or if he had call'd it out of nothing there might have been less of Skill and less of Goodness display'd in the forming of it and a lesser kind of Being imparted to it than what he hath conferr'd 1. How much of Goodness is visible in his Body God drew out some part of the Dust of the Ground and Copy'd out this Perfection as well as that of his Power on that mean Matter by erecting it into the form of Man quickning that Earth by the Inspiration of a living Soul * Gen. 2.7 Of this Matter he composed an Excellent Body in regard of the Majesty of the Face Erectness of its Stature and Grace of every Part How neatly hath he wrought this Tabernacle of Clay this Earthly House as the Apostle calls it †2 Cor. 5.1 A curious wrought piece of Needle-work a Comely Artifice * Ps 139.15 an Embroyder'd Case for an Harmonious Lute What variety of Members with a due proportion without confusion beautiful to sight excellent for use powerful for strength It hath Eyes to conduct its Motion to serve in Matter for the Food and and delight of the Understanding Ears to let in the pleasure of Sounds to convey Intelligence of the Affairs of the World and the Counsels of Heaven to a more noble Mind It hath a Tongue to Express and sound forth what the learn'd Inhabitant in it thinks and Hands to act what the inward Counsellor directs and Feet to support the Fabrick 'T is temper'd with a kindly Heat and an Oyly Moisture for Motion and endued with conveyances for Air to qualifie the fury of the Heat and Nourishment to supply the decays of Moisture 'T is a Cabinet fitted by Divine Goodness for the enclosing a rich Jewel a Palace made of Dust to lodge in it the Viceroy of the World An Instrument dispos'd for the operations of the Nobler Soul which he intended to unite to that Refined Matter What is there in the situation of every part in the proportion of every Member in the usefulness of every Limb and String to the Offices
there would be no Government no security to any Man under his own Vine and Fig-tree The World would be a Den of wild Beasts preying upon one another every one would do what seems good in his Eyes The loss of Government is a Judgment God brings upon a Nation * Hab. 1.14 when Men become as the Fishes of the Sea to devour one another because they have no Ruler over them Private Dissensions will break out into Publick Disorders and Combustions 3. The Goodness of God in the preservation of Humane Society is seen in the restraints of the Passions of Men. He sets bounds to the Passions of Men as well as to the Roulings of the Sea * Psal 65.7 He stilleth the noise of the Waves and the tumults of the People Though God hath erected a Magistracy to stop the breaking out of those Flouds of Licentiousness which swell in the hearts of Men yet if God should not hold stiff Reins on the necks of those tumultuous and foaming Passions the World would be a place of unruly confusion and Hell Triumph upon Earth A Crazy State would be quickly broke in pieces by boisterous Nature The tumults of a People could no more be quell'd by the force of Man than the rage of the Sea by a puff of breath Without Divine Goodness neither the Wisdom nor watchfulness of the Magistrates nor the industry of Officers could preserve a State The Laws of Men would be too slight to curb the Lusts of Men if the Goodness of God did not restrain them by a secret hand and interweave their Temporal security with observance of those Laws The Sons of Belial did murmur when Saul was chosen King and that they did no more was the Goodness of God for the preservation of Humane Society If God did not restrain the impetuousness of Mens Lusts they would be the entire ruine of Humane Society their Lusts would render them as bad as Beasts and change the World into a Savage Wilderness 4. The Goodness of God is seen in the preservation of Humane Society in giving various inclinations to Men for publick advantage If all Men had an inclination to one Science or Art they would all stand idle Spectators of one another but God hath bestow'd various dispositions and gifts upon Men for the promoting the common good that they may not only be useful to themselves but to Society He will have none idle none unuseful but every one acting in a due place according to their measures for the good of others 5. The Goodness of God is seen in the witness he bears against those Sins that dâ—sturb Humane Sociâ—ty In those cases he is pleased to interest himself in a more signal manner to cool those that make it their business to overturn the order he hath established for the good of the Earth He doth not so often in this World punish those faults committed immediately against his own Honour as those that put the World into a hurry and confusion As a good Governor is more Merciful to Crimes against himself than those against his Community 'T is observed that the most turbulent seditious Persons in a State come to most violent ends As Corah Adonijah Zimri Achitophel draws Absalom's Sword against David and Israel and the next is he twists a Halter for himself Absalom heads a Party against his Father and God by a goodness to Israel hangs him up and prevents not its safety by David's indulgence and a future Rebellion had life been spared by the fondness of his Father His Providence is more evident in discovering Disturbers and the Causes that move them in defeating their Enterprizes and digging the Contrivers out of their Caverns and lurking holes In such cases God doth so act and use such Methods that he silenceth any Creature from challenging any partnership with him in the discovery He doth more severely in this World correct those actions that unlink the mutual assistance between Man and Man and the charitable and kind Correspondence he would have kept up The Sins for which the Wrath of God comes upon the Children of d sobedience in this World are of this sort * Col. 3.5 6. And when Princes will be oppressing the People God will be pouring contempt on the Princes and set the pâ—or on high from affliction * Psal 107.40 41. An evidence of Gods care and kindness in the preserving Humane Society is those strange discoveries of Murders though never so clandestine and subtilly committed more than of any other Crime among Men. Divine Care never appears more than in bringing those hidden and injurious works of darkness to light and a due Punishment 6. His Goodness is seen in ordering mutual Offices to one another against the Current of Mens Passions Upon this account he ordered in his Laws for the government of the Israelites that a Man should reduce the wandring Beast of his Enemy to the hand of his rightful Proprietor though he were a provoking Enemy and also help the poor Beast that belonged to one that hated him when he saw him sink under his burden * Exod. 23.4 5. When mutual assistance was necessary he would not have Men consider'd as Enemies or consider'd as Wicked but as of the same Blood with our selves that we might be serviceable to one another for the preservation of Life and Goods 7. His Goodness is seen in remitting something of his own Right for the prâ—serving a due dependance and subjection He declines the Right he had to the Vows of a Minor or one under the power of another waving what he might challenge by the voluntary obligation of his Creature to keep up the due order between Parents and Children Husbands and Wives Superiors and Inferiors those that were under the power of another as a Child under his Parents or a Wife under her Husband if they had vowed a Vow unto the Lord which concern'd his Honour and Worship it was void without the approbation of that person under whose charge they were * Numb 30.3 4 c. Though God was the Lord of every Mans Goods and Men but his Stewards and though he might have taken to himself what another had offer'd by a Vow since whatsoever could be offer'd was Gods own though it was not the Parties own who offer'd it yet God would not have himself ador'd by his Creature to the prejudice of the necessary ties of Humane Society He lays aside what he might challenge by his Soveraign Dominion that there might not be any breach of that Regular Order which was necessary for the preservation of the World If Divine Goodness did not thus order things he would not do the part of a Rector of the World The beauty of the World would be much defac'd it would be a confus'd Mass of Men and Women or rather Beasts and Bedlams Order renders every City every Nation yea the whole Earth beautiful This is an effect of Divine Goodness 3. His Goodness is
his moral Power whereby it is lawful for him to do what he will Among men Strength and Authority are two distinct things A Subject may be a Giant and be stronger than his Prince but he hath not the same Authority as his Prince Worldly Dominion may be seated not in a brawny Arm but a sickly and infirm Body As knowledge and wisdom are distinguisht knowledge respects the matter being and nature of a thing Wisdom respects the harmony order and actual usefulness of a thing Knowledge searcheth the nature of a thing and Wisdom employs that thing to its proper use A man may have much Knowledge and little Wisdom so a man may have much Strength and little or no Authority A greater strength may be setled in the Servant but a greater Authority resides in the Master strength is the natural vigor of a Man God hath an infinite strength he hath a strength to bring to pass whatsoever he decrees he acts without fainting and weakness Isaiah 40.28 and impairs not his strength by the exercise of it As God is Lord he hath a right to Enact as he is Almighty he hath a power to Execute His strength is the executive power belonging to his Dominion In regard of his Soveraignty he hath a right to Command all Creatures In regard of his Almightiness he hath power to make his Commands be obey'd or to punish men for the violation of them His power is that whereby he subdues all Creatures under him his Dominion is that whereby he hath a right to subdue all Creatures under him This Dominion is a right of making what he pleases of possessing what he made of disposing of what he doth possess whereas his power is an ability to make what he hath a right to Create to hold what he doth possess and to execute the manner wherein he resolves to dispose of his Creatures 2. All the other Attributes of God referre to this perfection of Dominion They all bespeak him fit for it and are discovered in the exercise of it which hath been manifested in the discourses of those Attributes we have passed through hitherto His Goodness fits him for it because he can never use his Authority but for the good of the Creatures and conducting them to their true end His Wisdom can never be mistaken in the exercise of it his power can accomplish the Decrees that flow from his absolute Authority What can be more rightful than the placing Authority in such an infinite Goodness that hath Bowels to pity as well as a Scepter to sway his Subjects That hath a mind to contrive and a will to regulate his contrivances for his own Glory and his Creatures good and an arm of power to bring to pass what he Orders Without this Dominion some perfections as Justice and Mercy would lie in obscurity and much of his Wisdom would be shrouded from our sight and knowledge 3. This of Dominion as well as that of Power hath been acknowledged by all The High Priest was to wave the Offering or shake it to and fro Exod. 29.24 which the Jews say was customarily from East to West and from North to South the four quarters of the World to signifie Gods Soveraignty over all the parts of the World And some of the Heathens in their Adorations turned their Bodies to all quarters to signifie the extensive Dominion of God throughout the whole Earth That Dominion did of right pertain to the Deity was confest by the Heathen in the name Baal given to their Idols which signifies Lord and was not a name of one Idol adored for a God but common to all the Eastern Idols God hath interwoven the notion of his Soveraignty in the Nature and Constitution of Man in the noblest and most inward acts of his Soul in that faculty or act which is most necessary for him in his converse in this World either with God or Man 'T is stampt upon the Conscience of Man and flashes in his face in every act of self Judgment Conscience passes upon a Man Every reflection of Conscience implies an obligation of man to some Law written in his Heart Rom. 2.15 This Law cannot be without a Legislator nor this Legislator without a Soveraign Dominion these are but natural and easie consequences in the mind of Man from every act of Conscience The indelible Authority of Conscience in Man in the whole exercise of it bears a respect to the Soveraignty of God clearly proclaims not only a supream being but a supream Governor and points man directly to it that a man may as soon deny his having such a reflecting principle within him as deny Gods Dominion over him and consequently over the whole World of rational Creatures 4. This notion of Soveraingty is inseparable from the notion of a God To acknowledge the Existence of a God and to acknowledge him a Rewarder are linkt together Heb. 11.6 To acknowledge him a Rewarder is to acknowledge him a Governor Rewards being the marks of Dominion The very name of a God includes in it a supremacy and an actual rule He cannot be conceived as God but he must be conceived as the highest Authority in the World 'T is as possible for him not to be God as not to be supream Wherein can the exercise of his excellencies be apparent but in his Soveraign rule To fancy an infinite power without a supream Dominion is to fancy a mighty senseless Statue fit to be beheld but not fit to be obey'd as not being able or having no right to give out Orders or not caring for the exercise of it God cannot be supposed to be the cheif being but he must be supposed to give Laws to all and receive Laws from none And if we suppose him with a perfection of Justice and Righteousness which we must do unless we would make a lame and imperfect God we must suppose him to have an intire Dominion without which he could never be able to manifest his Justice And without a supream Dominion he could not manifest the supremacy and infiniteness of his Righteousness 1. We cannot suppose God a Creator without supposing a Soveraign Dominion in him No Creature can be made without some Law in its Nature if it had not Law it would be Created to no purpose to no regular end it would be utterly unbecoming an infinite Wisdom to create a lawless Creature a Creature wholly vain much less can a rational Creature be made without a Law if it had no Law it were not rational For the very notion of a rational Creature implies reason to be a Law to it and implies an acting by rule * Maccov Colleg. Theolog 10. Disput 18. p. 6 7. or thereabout If you could suppose rational Creatures without a Law you might suppose that they might blaspheme their Creator and Murder their fellow Creatures and commit the most abominable villanies destructive to humane Society without sin for where there is no Law there is no
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
subject to God not in regard of the Divine Nature wherein there is an equality and consequently no Dominion of jurisdiction nor only in his humane nature but in the Oeconomy of a Redeemer considered as one design'd and consenting to be incarnate and take our flesh so that after this agreement God had a soveraign right to dispose of him according to the Articles consented to In regard of his undertaking and the advantage he was to bring to the Elect of God upon the Earth he calls God by the solemn Title of his Lord in that prophetick Psalm of him Psal 16.2 Oh my Soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord my Goodness extends not unto thee but unto the Saints that are in the Earth It seems to be the speech of Christ in Heaven mentioning the Saints on Earth as at a distance from him I can add nothing to the glory of thy Majesty but the whole fruit of my Mediation and Sufferings will redound to the Saints on Earth and it may be observed that God is call'd the Lord of Hosts in the Evangelical Prophets Isaiah Haggai Zachary and Malachy more in reference to this affair of Redemption and the deliverance of the Church than for any other works of his Providence in the World 1. This Soveraignty of God appears in requiring satisfaction for the sin of man Had he indulg'd man after his fall and remitted his offence without a just compensation for the injury he had received by his Rebellion his Authority had been vilified man would always have been attempting against his jurisdiction there would have been a continual succession of Rebellions on mans part and if a continual succession of indulgences on Gods part he had quite disown'd his Authority over man and stript himself of the flower of his Crown satisfaction must have been requir'd sometime or other from the person thus rebelling or some other in his stead and to require it after the first act of sin was more preservative to the right of the Divine soveraignty than to do it after a multitude of repeated revolts God must have laid aside his Authority if he had laid aside wholly the exacting punishment for the offence of man 2. This Soveraignty of God appears in appointing Christ to this work of Redemption His soveraignty was before manifest over Angels and Men by the right of Creation there was nothing wanting to declare the highest charge of it but his ordering his own Son to become a mortal Creature the Lord of all things to become lower than those Angels that had as well as all other things receiv'd their being and beauty from him and to be reckon'd in his death among the dust and refuse of the World He by whom God created all things not only became a man but a crucified man by the Will of his Father Gal. 1.4 Who gave himself for our sins according to the Will of God to which may referre that expression Prov. 8.22 of his being possessed by God in the beginning of his way Possession is the Dominion of a thing invested in the possessor he was possessed indeed as a Son by eternal Generation He was possessed also in the beginning of his way or works of Creation as a Mediator by special constitution to this the expression seems to referre if you read on to the end of verse 31. wherein Christ speaks of his rejoycing in the habitable part of his Earth the Earth of the great God who had design'd him to this special work of Redemption He was a Son by Nature but a Mediator by Divine Will in regard of which Christ is often call'd Gods servant which is a relation to God as a Lord. God being the Lord of all things the Dominion of all things inferior to him is inseparable from him and in this regard the whole of what Christ was to do and did actually do was acted by him as the Will of God and is exprest so by himself in the Prophesie Psal 40.7 Lo I come verse 8. I delight to do thy will which are put together Heb. 10.7 Lo I come to do thy Will O God The designing Christ to this work was an act of mercy but founded on his soveraignty His compassionate bowels might have pitied us without his being soveraign but without it could not have releived us It was the Counsell of his own will as well as of his Bowels None was his Counsellor or perswader to that mercy he shew'd Rom. 11.34 Who hath been his Counsellor for it refers to that Mercy in sending the deliverer out of Sion verse 26. as well as to other things the Apostle had been discoursing of As God was at liberty to create or not to create so he was at liberty to Redeem or not to Redeem and at his liberty whither to appoint Christ to this work or not to call him out to it In giving this order to his Son his soveraignty was exercised in a higher manner than in all the orders and instructions he hath given out to Men or Angels and all the employments he ever sent them upon Christ hath names which signifie an Authority over him He is called an Angel and a Messenger Mal. 3.1 An Apostle Heb. 3.1 Declaring thereby that God hath as much Authority over him as over the Angels sent upon his Messages or over the Apostles commission'd by His Authority as he was consider'd in the quality of Mediator 3. This Soveraignty of God appears in transferring our sins upon Christ The Supream Power in a Nation can only appoint or allow of a commutation of punishment 'T is a part of Soveraignty to transferr the penalty due to the crime of one upon an other and substitute a sufferer with the sufferers own consent in the place of a criminal whom he had a mind to deliver from a deserv'd punishment God transferr'd the sins of men upon Christ and inflicted on him a punishment for them He summ'd up the debts of man charg'd them upon the score of Christ imputing to him the guilt and inflicting upon him the penalty Isa 53.6 The Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all He made them all to meet upon his back He hath made him to be sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made so by the Soveraign pleasure of God A punishment for sin as most understand it which could not be Righteously inflicted had not sin been first Righteously imputed by the consent of Christ and the order of the Judge of the World This imputation could be the immediate act of none but God because he was the sole Creditor A Creditor is not bound to accept of another's suretiship but it is at his liberty whither he will or no and when he doth accept of him he may challenge the Debt of him as if he were the Principal Debtor himself Christ made himself sin for us by a voluntary submission and God made him sin for us by a full imputation and treated him penally
any affliction from God 't is a contempt of his Soveraignty as to contemn the frown displeasure and check of a Prince is an affront to Majesty 'T is as if they did not care a straw what God did with them but dare him to do his worst There is a despising the chastning of the Almighty Job 5.17 To be unhumbled under his hand is as much or more affront to him than to be impatient under it Afflictions must be entertained as a check from Heaven as a frown from the great Monarch of the World Under the feeling of every stroke we are to acknowledge his Soveraignty and Bounty to despise it is to make light of his Authority over us As to despise his favours is to make light of his kindness to us A sense of God's Dominion would make us observe every check from him and not diminish his Authority by casting off a due sense of his correction 6. This Dominion of God would make us resign up our selves to God in every thing He that considers himself a thing made by God a vassal under his Authority would not expostulate with him and call him to an account why he hath dealt so or so with him It would stab the vitals of all pleas against him We should not then contest with him but humbly lay our cause at his feet and say with Eli 1 Sam. 3.18 'T is the Lord let him do what seems good We should not commence a suit against God when he doth not answer our Prayers presently and send the mercy we want upon the wings of the wind He is the Lord the Soveraign The consideration of this would put an end to our quarrels with God Should I expect that the Monarch of the World should wait upon me or I a poor worm wait upon him Must I take State upon me before the Throne of Heaven and expect the King of Kings should lay by his Scepter to gratifie my humour Surely Jonah thought God no more than his fellow or his vassal at that time when he told him to his face he did well to be angry as though God might not do what he pleased with so small a thing as a Gourd He speaks as if he would have sealed a lease of ejectment to exclude him from any propriety in any thing in the World 7. This Dominion of God would stop our vain curiosity When Peter was desirous to know the fate of John the Beloved Disciple Christ answereth no more than this Joh. 21.22 If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee follow thou me Consider your duty and lay aside your curiosity since it is my pleasure not to reveal it The sense of God's absolute Dominion would silence many vain disputes in the World What if God will not reveal this or that the manner and method of his resolves should humble the Creature under intruding enquiries V. USE of Exhortation 1. The Doctrine of the Dominion of God may teach us Humility We are never truly abas'd but by the consideration of the eminence and excellency of the Deity Job never thought himself so pitiful a thing so despicable a creature as after God's magnificent declamation upon the Theme of his own Soveraignty Job 42.5 6. When God's name is regarded as the most excellent and Soveraign name in all the earth then is the Soul in the fittest temper to lie low and cry out what is man that so great a Majesty should be mindful of him When Abraham considers God as the Supream Judge of all the earth he then ownes himself but dust and ashes Gen. 18.25 27. Indeed how can vile and dusty man vaunt before God when the Angels far more excellent creatures cannot stand before him but with a Vail on their faces How little a thing is man in regard of all the earth How mean a thing is the earth in regard of the vaster Heavens How poor a thing is the whole World in comparison of God How pitiful a thing is man if compar'd with so excellent a Majesty There is as great a distance between God and man as between being and not being and the more man considers the Divine Royalty the more dis-esteem he will have of himself it would make him stoop and disrobe himself and fall low before the Throne of the King of Kings throwing down before his Throne any Crown he gloryed in Rev. 4.10 1. In regard of Authority How unreasonable is pride in the presence of Majesty How foolish is it for a Country Justice of Peace to think himself as great as his Prince that Commission'd him How unreasonable is pride in the presence of the greatest Soveraignty What is humane greatness before Divine The Stars discover no light when the Sun appears but in a humble posture withdraw in their lesser Beams to give the sole Glory of enlightning the World to the Sun who is as it were the Soveraign of those Stars and imparts a light unto them The greatest Prince is infinitely less if compar'd with God than the meanest scullion in his kitchin can be before him As the Wisdom Goodness and Holiness of man is a meer mote compared to the Goodness and Holiness of God so is the Authority of man a meer trifle in regard of the soveraignty of God And who but a simple Child would be proud of a mote or trifle Let man be as great as he can and command others he is still a subject to one greater than himself Pride would then vanish like smoak at the serious consideration of this soveraignty One of the Kings of this Country did very handsomly shame the flattery of his Courtiers that cried him up as Lord of Sea and Land by ordering his chair to be set on the Sand of the Sea shoar when the Tide was coming in and commanding the waters not to touch his feet which when they did without any regard to his Authority he took occasion thereby to put his flatterers out of countenance and instruct himself in a lesson of humility See saith he how I rule all things when so mean a thing as the water will not obey me 'T is a ridiculous pride that the Turk and Persian discover in their swelling Titles What poor soveraigns are they that cannot command a Cloud give out an effectual order for a drop of Rain in a time of drought or cause the bottles of Heaven to turn their mouth another way in a time of too much moisture Yet their own Prerogatives are so much in their minds that they justle out all thoughts of the supream Prerogative of God and give thereby occasion to frequent Rebellions against him 2. In regard of Propriety And this doctrine is no less an abatement of pride in the highest as well as in the meanest it lowers pride in point of Propriety as well as in point of Authority * Raynard de Deo p. 766. Is any proud of his possessions how many Lords of those possessions have gone before
and from every Creature to the great Landlord since all are Tenants and hold by him at his Will Every Creature in Heaven and Earth under the Earth and in the Sea were heard by John to ascribe blessing honour glory and power to him that sits on the Throne Rev. 5.13 We are as much bound to the soveraignty of God for his preâ—â—rvation of us as for his Creation of us We are no less oblig'd to him that preservs our beings when exposed to dangers than we are for bestowing a being upon us when we were not capable of danger Thankfulness is due to this Soveraign for publick concerns Hath he not preserved the Ship of his Church in the midst of whistling winds and roaring waves in the midst of the combats of men and Devils and rescued it often when it hath been near ship-wrackt 3. How should we be induc'd from hence to promote the honour of this Soveraign We should advance him as supream and all our actions should concur in his honour We should return to his Glory what we have receiv'd from his Soveraignty and enjoy by his mercy He that is the superior of all ought to be the end of all This is the harmony of the Creation that which is of an inferiour nature is order'd to the service of that which is of a more excellent nature thus water and earth that have a lower being are employ'd for the honour and beauty of the plants of the earth who are more excellent in having a principle of a growing life These plants are again subservient to the beasts and birds which exceed them in a principle of sense which the others want Those beasts and birds are order'd for the good of man who is superior to them in a Principle of reason and is invested with a Dominion over them Man having God for his superior ought as much to serve the glory of God as other things are design'd to be useful to man Other Governments are intended for the good of the Community the chief end is not the good of the Governours themselves But God being every way Soveraign the Soveraign being giving being to all things the Soveraign Ruler giving order and preservation to all things is also the end of all things to whose glory and honour all things all creatures are to be subservient Rom. 11.36 For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Of him as the efficient cause through him as the preserving cause to him as the final cause All our actions and thoughts ought to be addrest to his glory our whole beings ought to be consecrated to his honour though we should have no reward but the honour of having been subservient to the end of our Creation So much doth the excellency and Majesty of God infinitely elevated above us challenge of us Subjects use to value the safety honour and satisfaction of a good Prince above their own David is accounted worth 10000 of the people and some of his Courtiers thought themselves oblig'd to venture their lives for his satisfaction in so mean a thing as a little water from the Well of Bethlehem Doth not so great so good a Soveraign as God deserve the same affection from us Do we swear saith a Heathen * Arrian in Epicter to prefer none before Caesar and have we not greater reason to prefer none before God 'T is a Justice due from us to God to maintain his Glory as it is a Justice to preserve the right and property of another As God would lay aside his Deity if he did deny himself so a creature acts irregularly and out of the rank of a creature if it doth not deny it self for God He that makes himself his own end makes himself his own Soveraign To napkin up a gift he hath bestow'd upon us or to employ what we possess solely to our own Glory to use any thing barely for our selves without respect to God is to apply it to a wrong use and to injure God in his propriety and the end of his donation What we have ought to be us'd for the honour of God He retains the Dominion and Lordship though he grants us the use We are but Stewards not Proprietors in regard of God who expects an account from us how we have employ'd his goods to his honour The Kingdom of God is to be advanced by us we are to pray that his Kingdom may come we are to endeavour that his Kingdom may come that is that God may be known to be the chief Soveraign that his Dominion which was obscur'd by Adam's fall may be more manifested that his Subjects which are supprest in the World may be supported his Laws which are violated by the rebellions of men may be more obeyed and his enemies be fully subdued by his final judgment the last evidence of his Dominion in this State of the World that the Empire of sin and the Devil may be abolish'd and the Kingdom of God be perfected that none may rule but the great and rightful Soveraign Thus while we endeavour to advance the honour of his Throne we shall not want an honour to our selves He is too gracious a Soveraign to neglect them that are mindful of his Glory those that honour him he will honour 1 Sam. 2.30 4. Fear and reverence of God in himself and in his actions is a duty incumbent on us from this Doctrine Jer. 10.7 Who would not fear thee O King of Nations The ingratitude of the World is taxt in not reverencing God as a great King who had given so many marks of his Royal Government among them The Prophet wonders there was no fear of so great a King in the World Since among all the wise men of the Nations and among all their Kings there is none like unto this No more reverence of him since none ruled so wisely nor any ruled so graciously The dominion of God is one of the first sparks that gives fire to Religion and Worship consider'd with the goodness of this Soveraign Psal 22.27.28 All the Nations shall worship before thee for the Kingdom is the Lord's and he is Governour among the Nations Epicurus who thought God careless of humane affairs leaving thâ—â— at hap-hazard to the conduct of mens wisdom and mutability of fortune yet acknowledged that God ought to be worshipped by man for the excellency of his nature and greatness of his Majesty How should we reverence that God that hath a Throne encompast with such Glorious Creatures as Angels whose faces we are not able to behold though shadow'd in assum'd bodies How should we fear the Lord of Hosts that hath so many Armies at his command in the Heavens above and in the Earth below whom he can dispose to the exact obedience of his will how should men be afraid to censure any of his actions to sit judge of their Judge and call him to an account to their Bar How should such
abused and the World to go contrary to its natural end But since he did not level the World with its first nothing but healed the World so favourably it was evident that his patience pointed the World to a further design of Mercy and Goodness in him To imagine that God had no other design in his long-suffering but that of vengeance had been a notion unsuitable to the Goodness and Wisdom of God He would never have pretended himself to be a Friend if he had harboured nothing but enmity in his heart against them It had been far from his Goodness to give them a cause to suspect such a design in him as his patience certainly did had he not intended it Had he preserv'd men only for punishment 't is more like he would have treated men as Princes do those they reserve for the Axe or Halter give them only things necessary to uphold their lives till the day of Execution and not have bestowed upon them so many good things to make their lives delightful to them nor have furnisht them with so many excellent means to please their senses and recreate their minds it had been a mocking of them to treat them at the rate if nothing but punishment had been intended towards them If the end of it to lead men to Repentance were easily intelligble by them as the Apostle intimates Rom. 2.4 Which is to be linkt with the former chapter a discourse of the Gentiles Not knowing saith he that the riches of his forbearance and goodness leads thee to repentance it also gives them some ground to hope for pardon For what other argument can more induce to Repentance than expectation of Mercy upon a relenting and acknowledging the crime Without a design of pardoning Grace his patience would have been in a great measure exercis'd in vain For by meer patience God is not reconcil'd to a sinner no more than a Prince to a Rebel by bearing with him Nor can a sinner conclude himself in the favour of God no more than a Rebel can conclude himself in the favour of his Prince only this he may conclude that there is some hopes he may have the grant of a pardon since he hath time to sue it out And so much did the patience of God naturally signifie that he was of a reconcilable temper and was willing men should sue out their pardon upon Repentance otherwise he might have magnified his Justice and condemned men by the Law of Works 2. He therefore exercised so much patience to wait for mens Repentance All the notices and warnings that God gives men of either publick or personal calamities is a continual invitation to Repentance This was the common interpretation the Heathens made of extraordinary Presages and Prodigies which shew'd as well the delays as the approaches of Judgments What other notion but this that those warnings of Judgments witness a slowness to Anger and a willingness to turn his arrows another way should move them to multiply sacrifices go weeping to their Temples sound out prayers to their Gods and shew all those other Testimonies of a Repentance which their blind understandings hit upon If a * Amyraldus moral Tom. 2. p. 186. Prince should sometimes in a light and gentle manner punish a criminal and then relax it and shew him much kindness and afterwards inflict upon him another kind of punishment as light as the former and less than was due to his crime what could the Malefactor suspect by such a way of proceeding but that the Prince by those gently repeated chastisements had a mind to move him to a regret for his crime And what other thoughts could men naturally have of Gods conduct that he should warn them of great judgments send light afflictions which are Testimonies rather of a Patience than of a severe wrath but that it was intended to move them to a relenting and a breaking off their sins by working Righteousness Though Divine patience doth not in the event induce men to Repentance yet the natural tendency of such a treatment is to mollifie mens Hearts to overcome their obsstinacy and no man hath any reason to judge otherwise of such a proceeding The long suffering of God is Salvation saith Peter 2 Pet. 3.15 i. e. hath a tendency to Salvation in its being a sollicitation of men to the means of it For the Apostle cites Paul for the confirmation of it Even as our beloved Brother Paul hath written unto you which must refer to Rom. 2.4 It leads to Repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it conducts which is more than barely to invite it doth as it were take us by the hand and point us to the way wherein we should go and for this end it was exercised not only towards the Jews but towards the Gentiles not only towards those that are within the pale of the Church and under the dews of the Gospel but to those that are in darkness and in the shadow of death For this discourse of the Apostle was but an inference from what he had treated of in the first chapter concerning the Idolatry and ingratitude of the Gentiles since the Gentiles were to be punished for the abuse of it as well as the Jews as he intimates ver 9. 't is plain that his patience which is exercised towards the Idolatrous Gentiles was to allure them to Repentance as well as others and it was a sufficient motive in it self to perswade them to a change of their vile and gross acts to such as were morally good And there was enough in Gods dealing with them and in that light they had to engaged them to a better course than what they usually walked in And though men do abuse Gods long-suffering to encourage their impenitence and persisting in their crimes yet that they cannot reasonably imagine that to be the end of God is evident their own gripes of Conscience would acquaint them that it is otherwise They know that Conscience is a principle that God hath given them as well as Understanding and Will and other Faculties That God doth not approve of that which the voice of their own Consciences and of the Consciences of all men under natural light are utterly against And if there were really in this forbearance of God an approbation of mens crimes Conscience could not frequently and universally in all men check them for them What Authority could Conscience have to do it But this it doth in all men As the Apostle Rom. 1.22 They know the judgment of God that those that do such things which he had mentioned before are worthy of death In this thing the Consciences of all men cannot err They could not therefore conclude from hence Gods approbation of their iniquities but his desire that their Hearts should be touched with a Repentance for them The Sin of Ephraim is hid Hosea 13.12.13 i. e. God doth not presently take notice of it to order punishment he lays it in a secret place from
a power over our selves which is more noble than to be a Monarch over others A TABLE OF THE Places of Scripture Explained in this BOOK Some few of the Numbers being twice gone over the Reader may observe that this Mark †where 't is set after the Figures in this Table and the following Index directs him to the first of those Folio's and where he finds no Mark at all he is to consult the second GENESIS Chapters Verses Pages 1. 1. 346 439 440  26. 443 2. 7. 30 608  17. 796 3. 8. 803  15. 457 4. 26. 140 801 6. 6. 225 18. 19. 287 22. 12. ibid. 32. 30. 116 46. 4. 657 658 47. 31. 141 EXOD. Chapters Verses Pages 3. 11. 328  14. 187 188 4. 24. 801 6. 3. 439 440 9. 16. 454 15. 11. 494 32. 10. 602 33. 19. 585 34. 9. 806 NUMB. 34. 10. 116 DEUT. Chapters Verses Pages 32. 33 34. 300 34. 10. 116 I KINGS 8. 27. 250  39. 316 II KINGS 10. 9. 64 20. 1 4 5. 226 227 II CHRON. 11. 15. 68 JOB 4. 18. 500 9. 21. 320 12. 18. 742 743 14. 5. 293  17. 282 16. 19. 331 22. 14. 718 24. 12. 792 26. from v. 5. to the end of the Chapter 417 418 419 420 31. 26 27 28. 88 34. 21. 285 38. 7. 615 PSAL. Psalms Verses Pages 1. 4. 233 2. 4. 257 8. 4. 824 10. 11 13. 1 14. 1. 1 2 16. 2. 749 19. 1 2 3 4. 809  4. 348  9. 510  12. 288 22. 2 3 4. 558 26. 8. 257 27. 4. 497  10. 267 29. 10. 726 32. 1 2. 326 50. 21. 792 794  23. 326 51. 4. 303  6. 384 58. 3. 48  4. 49  10. 603 62. 11. 421 69. 19. 328 74. 14. 407 76. 12. 771 78. 36. 327  38. 804 90. 1. 179 180  2. 180 181  8. 318 102. 25 26 27. 203 4 5 6 7  from v. 3 to v. 28. 229 230 103. 3. 699  14. 333 † 19. 700 701 702 104. 2. 15  31. 206 207 105. 25. 534 106. 19 20. 122 111. 10. 14 113. 5. 257 130. 4. 130 139. 2. 300  7 8 9. 247 248  15 16. 30  16. 293  23 24. 233 †145. 17. 584 147. 1 2 3. 272 273  4. 273 717 718  5. 273 274 PROV Chapters Verses Pages 8. 12. 346  22. 192 749  30. 343 9. 10. 14 15. 11. 285 16. 4. 528 ECCL 8. 11. 48 ISAI 1. 10 11 14. 137 4. 2. 457 9. 6. 315 29. 15. 328 34. 4. 205 38. 1 5. 226 227 40. 15 17. 252 41. 21 22. 290 291 43. 20 21. 66 45. 5. 743  11. 769 48. 10. 657 52. 4 5. 658 54. 16. 346 66. 1. 251 JEREMY Chapters Verses Pages 6. 21. 534 7. 21. 137 12. 9. 233 15. 15. 789 16. 17. 287 21. 35 36. 205 23. from v. 16 to 24. 241 2 3 32. 31. 799 LAM 3. 33. 803 EZEK 4. 6. 802 8. 2. 497 9. 10. 803 11. 16. 657 18. 25. 790 20. 33. 771 DAN 7. 9. 124 HOSEA 1. 5. 816 2. 2 3. 804 814  16. 147  19. 769 5. 5. 513  12. 804 6. 4. 803 804  7. 752 7. 3. 69  15. 669 8. 12. 55 10. 15. 122 11. 10. 150 151  8. 804 13. 12 13. 336 †811 826 14. 2. 149 JOEL 1. 4. 804 AMOS 2. 6. 87 3. 2. 277 JONAH 3. 4 10. 226 227 MICAH 5. 2. 192 NAHUM Chapters Verses Pages 1. 1 2. 787 788  3. 788 789 790 791 HABAK. 1. 16. 86 ZEPH. 2. 1 2. 800 ZECH. 6. 1. 214 8. 3. 257 14. 16. 149 MAL. 1. 13 14. 64 3. 5. 319  6. 806 MATT. 1. 18. 457 3. 9. 423 5. 48. 792 827 7. 11. 551  23. 277 15. 6. 62 18. 10. 278 25. 12. 277 MARK 10. 18. 577 578 579 LUKE 1. 35. 456 10. 20. 235 JOHN 1. 3. 474.5 4. à 10 ad 24. 109 110  24. 110 111 112 129 130 5. 19. 472 6. 64. 317 7. 37. 149 9. 3. 712 10. 30. 262 12. 38. 303  39 41. 551 17. 5. 192 224 ACTS 7. 51. 57 17. 18. 461  28. 244 248  30. 799 ROM Chapters Verses Pages 1. 9. 143  19 20 21. 4 5 14 15   346 582  23. 257  25. 41 2. 4. 810 811 3. 9 10 11 12. 48  23. 546 547 5. 7. 584 7. 6. 135  8. 57 8. 4. 384  10. 796  21. 206  38 39. 333 9.  728  6. 135  22. 795 814 10. 18. 809 12. 1. 139 15. 5. 820 16. 25 26 27. à 341 †ad 337 I COR. 1. 21. 346 2. 2. 287  10 11. 278 10. 20 21. 68 II COR. 3. 18. 373 GAL. 3. 3. 135 EPH. 1. 10. 619  18. 374 2. 3. 102  12. 47 97 3. 10. 374 4. 6. 246 PHIL. 2. 6. 71 COL 1. 16. 473  20. 609 2. 3. 395 II TIM 1. 10. 630 631 2. 2. 235 TITUS 1. 16. 2.49 2. 19. 277 HEB. 1. 1 2 10 11. 229 230 473  9. 514 4. 12. 286 11. 3. 16 489  6. 4  16. 631  21. 141 JAMES 2. 10 11. 61 3. 15. 49 II PET. 2. 1. 795 2. 5. 801 3. 9. 798  12 13. 205 REV. 1. 10. 174 2. 18 19 22. 329 6. 10. 806  14. 205 THE INDEX A MEN are unwilling to have any Acquaintance with God Pag. 97 Vide Communion Actions a greater proof of Principles than words Pag. 49 All are known by God Pag. 285 Activity required in Spiritual Worship Pag. 144 145 Adam the greatness of his sin Pag. 625 754 Vide Man and Fall of man Additions in matters of Religion an invasion of God's Soveraignty Pag. 756 757 Vide Worship and Ceremonies Admiration ought to be exercis'd in Spiritual worship Pag. 148 Affections human in what sense ascribed to God Pag. 224 225 226 Sharp Afflictions make Atheists fear there is a God Pag. 42 43 Make us impatient Vide Impatience We should be patient under them v. Patience Many call on God only under them Pag. 92 Fill us with distraction in the Worship of God Pag. 166 The Presence of God a comfort in them Pag. 267 And his knowledge Pag. 322 The wisdom of God apparent in them Pag. 369 370 371 The wisdom of God a comfort in them Pag. 405 And his Power Pag. 485 486 And his Sovereignty Pag. 771 Do not impeach his Goodness Pag. 604 The Goodness of God seen in them Pag. 657 658 His Goodness a comfort in them Pag. 683 Acts of God's Soveraignty 711 712. The consideration of which would make us entertain them as we ought Pag. 774 775 Many neglect the serving of God till old Age. Pag. 65 Air how useful a Creature Pag. 23 Almighty how often God is so called in Scripture Pag. 421 How often in Job Pag. 440 Good Angels what benefit they have by Christ Pag.
by it Pag. 623 By the command of the Father Pag. 750 Debauch'd persons wish there were no God Pag. 53 Decrees of God no succession in them Pag. 186 Unchangeable 397 477. v. Immutability Defilement God not capable of it from any Corporeal thing Pag. 126 260 261 Delight holy Duties should be performed with it Pag. 149 150 All delight in worship doth not prove it to be spiritual Pag. 150 We should examin our selves after worship what delight we had in â—t Pag. 164 Deliverances chiefly to be ascribed to God Pag. 272 273 The Wisdom of God seen in them Pag. 371 372 373 Desires of Man naturally after an infinite good Pag. 36 37 Which evidences the being of a God Pag. 37 Men naturally have no desire of Remembrance of God converse with him thorough return to him or imitation of him Pag. 97 98 99 Devil Man naturally under his Dominion Pag. 67 68 God's restraining him how great a mercy v. Restraint Shall be totally subdued by God Pag. 341 †Outwitted by God Pag. 385 386 His first sin what it was Pag. 753 754 Vide Angel Direction Men neglect to ask it of God Vide Trusting in our selves Should seek it of him Pag. 399 Not to do it how sinful Pag. 403 Should not presume to give it to him Pag. 404 Disappointments make many cast off their Obedience to God Pag. 66 God Disappoints the devices of Men Pag. 745 746 Dispensations of God with his own Law Pag. 725 726 Distance from God naturally affected by Men Pag. 97 How great it is Pag. 546 547 Distractions in the Service of God how natural Pag. 65 66 165 Will be so while we have natural Corruption within Pag. 165 166 While we are in the Devil's Precinct Pag. 166 Most frequent in time of Affliction ibid. May be improved to make us more Spiritual Pag. 166 167 168 When we are humbled for them in worship Pag. 166 167 And for the baseness of our Natures the cause of them Pag. 167 Make us prize Duties of Worship the more ibid. Fill us with admirations of the graciousness of God Pag. 167 168 Prize the mediation of Christ 168 They should not discourage us if we resist them Pag. 168 169 And if we narrowly watch against them Pag. 169 Should be speedily cast out Pag. 178 Thoughts of God's Presence a remedy against them Pag. 270 Distresses v. Afflictions Distrust of God a contempt of God's Wisdom Pag. 405 And of his Power Pag. 481 And of his Goodness Pag. 665 Too great fear of man arises from it Pag. 481 482 Vide Trusting in God and in our selves Divinity of Christ v. Christ. Of the Holy Ghost v. Holy Ghost Doctrines that are self-pleasing desired by men Pag. 83 Vide Truths Dominion of God distinguisht from his Power Pag. 704 All his other Attributes fit him for it ibid. Acknowledg'd by all Pag. 704 705 Inseparable from the notion of God ibid. We cannot suppose God a Creator without it Pag. 705 Cannot be renounced by God himself ibid. Nor communicated to any Creature Pag. 706 Its foundation Pag. 706 ad 710 It is independent Pag. 710 711 Absolute Pag. 711 ad 714 Yet not tyrannical 714 Managed with Wisdom Righteousness and Goodness Pag. 714 ad 717 'T is Eternal Pag. 721 'T is manifested as he is a Law-giver Pag. 721 ad 727 As a Proprietor Pag. 727 ad 741 As a Governor Pag. 741 ad 748 As a Redeemer Pag. 748 ad 751 The contempt of it how great Pag. 752 All sin is a contempt of it Pag. 752 753 The first thing the Devil aim'd against Pag. 753 And Adam Pag. 754 Invaded by the Usurpations of men Pag. 754 755 Wherein it is contemned as he is a Law-giver Pag. 755 ad 758 As a Proprietor Pag. 758 759 As a Governor Pag. 759 ad 763 It is terrible to the wicked Pag. 766 767 768. Comfortable to the Righteous Pag. 769 ad 772 Should be often meditated upon by us Pag. 772 The Advantages of so doing Pag. 773 774 775 It should teach us Humility Pag. 775 776 Calls for our praise and thanks Pag. 776 777 778 Should make us promote his Honour Pag. 778 779 Calls for Fear Prayer and Obedience Pag. 779 780 Affords motives to obedience Pag. 780 781 And shews the manner of it Pag. 782 783 784 Calls for Patience Pag. 784 Affords motives to it Pag. 784 785 786 Shews us the true nature of it Pag. 786 Duties of Religion performed often meerly for self interest Pag. 91 ad 94 Men unwieldy to them Pag. 91 Perform them only in affliction Pag. 92 Vid. Service of God and Worship Dwelling in Heaven and in the Ark how to be understood of God Pag. 257 258 E. EAr of man how curious an Organ Pag. 31 Earth how useful Pag. 23 The Wisdom of God seen in it Pag. 348 849 Earthly things v. World Ejaculations how useful Pag. 176 Elect God knows all their persons Pag. 330 Election evidenced by Holiness Pag. 562 The Soveraignty of God appears in it Pag. 727 728 Not grounded on Merit in the Creature Pag. 728 729 Nor on foresight of Faith and Good Works Pag. 729 730 Elements though contrary yet linkt together Pag. 22 End All Creatures conspire to one common one Pag. 22 ad 27 Pursue their several Ends though they know them not Pag. 27 28 Men have corrupt Ends in Religious Duties Pag. 78 91 92 93 94 For evil Ends Pag. 58 Desire the knowledge of God's Law for by Ends Pag. 57 58 Man naturally would make himself his his own End Pag. 80 ad 84 How sinful this is Pag. 84 85 Man would make any thing his End rathan God Pag. 85 86 87 A Creature or a Lust Pag. 87 88 How sinful this is ibid. Would make himself the End of all Creatures Pag. 88 89 How sinful this is Pag. 89 Would make himself the End of God Pag. 90 ad 94 How sinful this is Pag. 94 Cannot make God his End till converted Pag. 100 Spiritual ones required in Spiritual Worship Pag. 153 154 Many have other Ends in it Pag. 154 God orders the Hearts of all men to his own Pag. 452 453 God hath one and Man another in sin Pag. 532 533 We should make God our end Pag. 563 God makes himself his own End how to be understood Pag. 592 His Being the End of all things is one foundation of his Dominion Pag. 708 709 Not using God's gifts for the End for which he gave them how great a sin Pag. 758 759 Enemies of the Church v. Church We should be kind to our worst Enemies Pag. 692 Enjoyment of God in Heaven always fresh and glorious Pag. 195 We should endeavour after it here Pag. 685 686 Men Envy the gifts and prosperities of others Pag. 77 78 An imitation of the Devil ibid. A sense of God's Goodness would check it Pag. 689 A contempt of God's Dominion Pag. 758 Essence of God cannot be seen Pag. 115 116 is unchangeable Pag. 210 211
glory Pag. 83 Resignation of our selves would flow from consideration of God's Wisdom Pag. 414 415 Should from that of his Soveraignty Pag. 775 Restraint of Men and Devils by God in mercy to man Pag. 357 451 452 527 528 650 744 745 Resolutions good how soon broken Pag. 232 Resurrection of the Body no incredible Doctrine Pag. 319 320 479 480 The Power of God in that of Christ Pag. 460 Of Men ascribed to Christ Pag. 476 Reverence necessary in the worship of God Pag. 150 151 Revelations of God are not to be censured Pag. 403 404 Riches inordinate desire after them a hindrance to Spiritual worship Pag. 177 God exercises a Soveraignty in bestowing them Pag. 740 Rivers how useful Pag. 349 Rome why called Babylon Pag. 13 S. SAcraments the goodness of God in appointing them Pag. 639 Salvation of men how desirous God is of it Pag. 636 637 638 808 809 810 Sanctification deserves our thanks as much as Justification Pag. 698 Vide Holiness Satisfaction of the Soul only in God Pag. 36 37 127 128 200 Necessary for sin Pag. 549 550 Scepticks must own a first Cause Pag. 21 Scoffing at Holiness a great sin Pag. 543 544 And at Convictions in others Pag. 553 Scriptures are wrested and abused Pag. 58 59 79 Ought to be prized and studied Pag. 107 The not fulfilling some Predictions in them doth not prove God to be changeable Pag. 226 227 Of the Old Testament give credit to the New and of the New illustrate those of the Old Pag. 334 335 All Truth to be drawn thence ibid. Of the Old Testament to be studied ibid. Something in them sutable to all sorts of men Pag. 354 355 Written so as to prevent foreseen Corruptions Pag. 355 356 To study Arguments from them to defend sin a contempt of God's Holiness Pag. 542 543 The goodness of God in giving them as a Rule Pag. 652 653 654 Sea how useful Pag. 23 The Wisdom of God seen in it Pag. 349 And his Power Pag. 419 446 447 Searching the Hearts of Men how to be understood of God Pag. 287 Seasons the variety of them necessary Pag. 350 Secrecy a poor refuge to sinners Pag. 335 Secret sins cause stings of Conscience Pag. 35 313 Known to God Pag. 263 265 334 335 Shall be revealed in the Day of Judgment Pag. 318 319 Prayers and Works known to God Pag. 331 Security Men abuse God's blessings to it Pag. 668 Self man most opposite to those Truths that are most contrary to it Pag. 60 Man sets up as his own Rule Pag. 70 Dissatisfied with Conscience when it contradicts its desires Pag. 71 72 Meerly the agreeableness to it the spring of many materially good Actions Pag. 72 73 90 ad 94 153 154 Would make it the rule of God Pag. 74 ad 80 And his own end and the end of all Creatures and of God vid. End Applauding thoughts of it how common Pag. 82 Men ascribe the glory of what they have or do to it Pag. 82 83 Desire Doctrines pleasing to it Pag. 83 Highly concern'd for any injury done to it ibid. Obey it against the light of Conscience Pag. 84 How great a sin this is Pag. 84 85 The giving mercies pleasing to it the only cause of many mens love to God Pag. 90 91 Men unweildy to their duty where it is not concern'd Pag. 91 How sinful this is Pag. 94 The great Enemy to the Gospel and Conversion Pag. 101 102 Self-love threefold Pag. 80 81 The cause of all sin and hindrance of Conversion Pag. 81 82 Service of God how unwilling men are to it Pag. 63 64 Slight in the performance of it Pag. 64 65 Shew not that natural vigor in it as they do in their worldly business Pag. 65 Quickly weary of it Pag. 65 66 Desert it Pag. 66 The presence of God a comfort in it Pag. 268 Hypocritical pretences for avoiding it a denial of God's Knowledge Pag. 328 A sense of God's Goodness would make us faithful in it Pag. 681 Some called to and fitted for more eminent ones in their Generation Pag. 739 ad 744 Omissions of it a contempt of God's Soveraignty Pag. 762 763 Sin founded in a secret Atheism and Self-love Pag. 50 81 Reflects a dishonour on all the Attributes of God Pag. 50 Implies God is unworthy of a Being Pag. 50 51 Would make him a foolish impure and miserable Being Pag. 51 52 More troublesom than Holiness Pag. 63 To make it our end a great debasing of God Pag. 87 88 No excuse but an aggravation that we serve but one Pag. 87 Abstinence from it proceeds many times from an evil Cause Pag. 90 91 325 326 God's name word and mercies made use of to countenance it Pag. 94 542 543 668 669 815 Spiritual to be avoided Pag. 128 'T is folly Pag. 193 Past ones we should be humbled for Pag. 197 336 †Hath brought a Curse on the Creation Pag. 207 Vide Creatures Past known to God Pag. 282 283 All known to him and how Pag. 287 288 289 336 †337 †A sense of God's Knowledge and Holiness would check it Pag. 337 338 †554 555 Bounded by God Pag. 357 God brings glory to himself and good to the Creature out of it Pag. 358 ad 366 God hath shewn the greatest hatred of it in redemption Pag. 384 385 A contempt of God's Power Pag. 480 481 Abhorred by God Pag. 501 502 503 547 In God's People more severely punisht in this World than in others Pag. 502 503 God cannot be the Author of in others or do it himself Pag. 504 505 506 God punishes it and cannot but do so Pag. 511 547 548 549 The Instruments of it detestable to God Pag. 512 Opposite to the Holiness of God Pag. 540 To charge it on God or defend it by his word a great sin Pag. 542 543 Entrance of it into the World doth not impeach God's goodness Pag. 594 595 Those that disturb Societies most signally punisht in this life Pag. 651 A contempt of God's Dominion Pag. 752 753 754 How much God is daily provoked by it Pag. 806 807 808 823 An abuse of God's Patience Pag. 815 816 Sincerity required in Spiritual worship Pag. 143 Cannot be unknown to God Pag. 330 331 Consideration of God's Knowledge would promote it Pag. 338 339 †Sinful times in them we should be most holy Pag. 558 Sinners God hath shewn the greatest love to them and hatred to their sins Pag. 384 385 Every thing in their possession detestable to God Pag. 512 Society the goodness of God seen in the preservation of it Pag. 649 ad 652 Could not subsist without restraining Grace v. Restraint Soul the vastness of its capacity and quickness of its motion Pag. 32 33 Its union to the Body wonderful ibid. God only can satisfie it v. Satisfaction They only can converse with God Pag. 127 Should be the Objects of our chiefest care Pag. 128 We should worship God with them Pag. 132 133 The Wisdom and