make them march in the same order to their Confusion as they did in their Creation Who can jumble the whole Frame together and by a Word dissolve the Pillars of the World and make the Fabrick lie in a ruinous heap 2. In effecting his Purposes by small Means In making use of the Meanest Creatures As the Power of God is seen in the creation of the smallest Creatures and assembling so many perfections in the little body of an Insect as an Ant or Spider So his Power is not less magnified in the use he makes of them As he magnifies his Wisdom by using ignorant Instruments so he exalts his Power by employing weak Instruments in his service The Meaness and Imperfection of the matter sets off the Excellency of the Workman so the weakness of the Instrument is a foyl to the Power of the principal Agent When God hath effected things by Means in the Scripture he hath usually brought about his Purposes by weak Instruments Moses a Fugitive from Egypt and Aaron a Captive in it are the Instruments of the Israelites Deliverance By the motion of Moses his Rod he works Wonders in the Court of Pharaoh and summons up his Judgments against him He brought down Pharaohs stomack for a while by a squadron of Lice and Locusts wherein Divine Power was more seen than if Moses had brought him to his own Articles by a multitude of Warlike Troops The fall of the Walls of Jericho by the sound of Rams horns was a more glorious Character of Gods Power than if Joshuah had batter'd it down with an hundred of Warlike Engines Josh 6.20 Thus the great Army of the Midianites which lay as Grasshoppers upon the ground were routed by Gideon in the head of Three hundred Men and Goliah a Giant laid level with the ground by David a Stripling by the force of a Sling A Thousand Philistines dispatcht out of the World by the Jaw Bone of an Ass in the hand of Sampson He can master a stout Nation by an Army of Locusts and render the Teeth of those little Insects as destructive as the Teeth yea the strongest Teeth the Cheek Teeth of a great Lion * Joel 1.6 7. The Thunderbolt which produceth sometimes dreadful effects is compacted of little Atoms which fly in the Air small Vapors drawn up by the Sun and mixt with other Sulphurous matter and petrifying Juice Nothing is so weak but his Strength can make victorious nothing so small but by his Power he can accomplish his great ends by it nothing so vile but his Mâ—ght can conduct to his glory and no Nation so mighty but he can waste and enfeeble by the Meanest Creatures God is great in Power in the greatest things and not little in the smallest his Power in the minutest Creatures which he uses for his service surmounts the force of our Understanding III. The Power of God appears in Redemption As our Saviour is called the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.24 so he is called the Power of God The Arm of Power was lifted up as high as the designs of Wisdom were laid deep As this way of Redemption could not be contriv'd but by an Infinite Wisdom so it could not be accomplish'd but by an Infinite Power None but God could shape such a design and none but God could effect it The Divine Power in Temporal deliverances and freedom from the slavery of humane Oppressors vails to that which glitters in Redemption whereby the Devil is defeated in his designs stript of his spoils and yok'd in his strength The Power of God in Creation requires not those degrees of Admiration as in Redemption In Creation the World was erected from Nothing as there was Nothing to act so there was Nothing to oppose no victorious Devil was in that to be subdued no thundring Law to be silenced no Death to be conquer'd no Transgression to be pardoned and rooted out no Hell to be shut no Ignominious death upon the Cross to be suffered It had been in the nature of the thing an easier thing to Divine Power to have created a new World than repair'd a broken and purified a polluted one This is the most admirable Work that ever God brought forth in the World greater than all the Marks of his Power in the first Creation And this will appear 1. In the Person Redeeming 2. In the publication and propagation of the Doctrine of Redemption 3. In the application of Redemption I. In the Person Redeeming First In his Conception 1. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin Luke 1.35 The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee Which act is exprest to be the effect of the Infinite Power of God and it expresses the supernatural manner of the forming the Humanity of our Saviour and signifies not the Divine Nature of Christ infusing it self into the Womb of the Virgin for the Angel refers it to the manner of the operation of the Holy Ghost in the producing the Humane Nature of Christ and not to the Nature assuming that Humanity into union with it self The Holy Ghost or the Third Person in the Trinity overshadowed the Virgin and by a Creative act fram'd the Humanity of Christ and united it to the Divinity It is therefore exprest by a word of the same import with that used Gen. 1.2 The Spirit moved upon the face of the face of the Waters which signifies as it were a Brooding upon the Chaos shadowing it with his Wings as Hens sit upon their Eggs to form them and hatch them into Animals or else it is an allusion to the Cloud which covered the Tent of the Congregation when the Glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle * Exod. 40 34 It was not such a Creative Act as we call Immediate which is a production out of Nothing but a Mediate Creatâ—on such as Gods bringing things into form out of the first Matter which had nothing but an Obediential or Passive disposition to whatsoever stamp the Powerful Wisdom of God should imprint upon it So the substance of the Virgin had no active but only a passive disposition to this work The Matter of the Body was Earthy the substance of the Virgin the forming of it was Heavenly the Holy Ghost working upon that Matter And therefore when it is said Mat. 1.18 that she was found with Child of the Holy Ghost 't is to be understood of the Efficacy of the Holy Ghost not of the Substance of the Holy Ghost The matter was Natural but the manner of Conceiving was in a Supernatural way above the methods of Nature In reference to the Active Principle the Redeemer is called in the Prophecy †Isai 4.2 The Branch of the Lord in regard of the Divine hand that planted him In respect to the Passive Principle The Fruit of the Earth in regard of the Womb that bare him and therefore said to be made
and expire every moment and slipaway between our fingers while we are using them Have we not heard of Gods dispersing the greatest Empires like Chaff before a whirlwind or as smoke out of a Chimny * Hos 13.3 which tho it appears as a compacted cloud as if it would choak the Sun is quickly scattered into several parts of the Air and becomes invisible Nettles have often been heirs to stately Palaces as God threatens Israel * Hos 9.6 We cannot promise our selves over night any thing the next day A Kingdom with the glory of a throne may be cut off in a morning * Hos 10.15 The new wine may be taken from the mouth when the Vintage is ripe the devouring locust may snatch away both the hopes of that and the harvest * Joel 1.15 they are therefore things which are not and Nothing cannot be a fit object for confidence or affection * Prov. 23.5 Wilt thou set thy eies upon that which is not for riches certainly make themselves wings They are not properly beings because they are not stable but flitting They are not because they may not be the next moment to us what they are this they are but Cisterns not Springs and broken Cisterns not sound and stable no solidity in their substance nor stability in their duration What a foolish thing is it then to prefer a transient felicity a meer nullity before an eternal God What a senseless thing would it be in a man to prefer the Map of a Kingdom which the hand of a Child can teare in pieces before the Kingdom shadowed by it How much more inexcusable is it to value things that are so far from being Eternal that they are not so much as duskie resemblances of an Eternity Were the things of the world more glorious than they are yet they are but as a counterfeit Sun in a Cloud which comes short of the true Sun in the heavens both in glory and duration and to esteem them before God is unconceivably baser than if a man should Value a parti-colour'd bubble in the Air before a durable rock of Diamonds The comforts of this world are as Candles that will end in a Snuff whereas the felicity that flows from an eternal God is like Sun that shines more and more to a perfect day 3. They cannot therefore be fit for a soul which was made to have an interest in Gods Eternity The soul being of a perpetual nature was made for the fruition of an Eternal good without such a good it can never be perfect Perfection that noble thing riseth not from any thing in this world nor is a title due to a Soul while in this world 't is then they are said to be made perfect when they arrive at that entire conjunction with the eternal God in another life * Heb. 12.23 The soul cannot be enobled by an acquaintance with these things or establish'd by adependence on them they cannot confer what a rational nature should desire or supply it with what it wants The soul hath a resemblance to God in a post-Eternity Why should it be drawn aside by the blandishments of earthly things to neglect its true establishment and lacquey after the Body which is but the shadow of the Soul and was made to follow it and serve it But while it busieth it self altogether in the concerns of a perishing body and seeks satisfaction in things that glide away it becomes rather a body than soul descends below its nature reproacheth that God who hath imprinted upon it an image of his own Eternity and loseth the comfort of the everlastingness of its Creator How shall the whole world if our lives were as durable as that be an happy Eternity to us who have Souls that shall survive all the delights of it which must fry in those flames that shall fire the whole frame of nature at the general conflagration of the world * 2 Pet. 3.10 4. Therefore let us provide for an happy interest in the Eternity of God Man is made for an eternal state The Soul hath such a perfection in its nature that it is fit for Eternity and cannot display all its operations but in Eternity To an Eternity it must go and live as long as God himself lives Things of a short duration are not proportion'd to a Soul made for an eternal continuance to see that it be a comfortable Eternity is worth all our care Man is a forecasting Creature and considers not only the present but the future too in his provisions for his family and shall he disgrace his nature in casting off all consideration of a future Eternity Get possession therefore of the eternal God A portion in this life is the lot of those who shall be for ever miserable * Psal 17.14 But God an everlasting portion is the lot of them that are design'd for happiness * Psal 73.26 God is my portion for ever Time is short * 1 Cor. 7.29 The whole time for which God design'd this building of the world is of a little compass 't is a Stage erected for rational Creatures to act their parts upon for a few thousand years the greatest part of which time is run out and then shall time like a rivulet fall into the Sea of Eternity from whence it sprung As Time is but a slip of Eternity so it will end in Eternity our advantages consist in the present instant what is past never promised a return and cannot be fetcht back by all our vows What is future we cannot promise our selves to enjoy we may be snatcht away before it comes Every minute that passeth speaks the fewer remaining till the time of death And as we are every hour further from our beginning we are nearer our end The Child born this day grows up to grow nothing at last In all Ages there is but a step between us and Death as David said of himself * 1 Sam. 20.3 The little time that remains for the Devil till the day of Judgment envenoms his wrath he rageth because his time is short * Rev. 13 1â— The little time that remains between this moment and our death should quicken our diligence to inherit the endless and unchangeable Eternity of God 5. Often meditate on the Eternity of God The Holiness Power and Eternity of God are the fundamental Articles of all Religion upon which the whole body of it leans His Holiness for conformity to him his Power and Eternity for the support of Faith and Hope The strong and incessant Cries of the four Beasts representing that Christian Church are holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come * Revel 4.8 Though his Power is intimated yet the chiefest are his Holiness three times exprest and his Eternity which is repeated v. 9. who lives for ever and ever This ought to be the constant practice in the Church of the Gentiles
him So it is impossible but that the seed of God by his Eternal purpose should be brought to a Spiritual life and that calling cannot be retracted for that gift and calling is without repentance * Rom. 11.29 And when repentance is removed from God in regard of some works the immutability of those works is declared And the reason of that immutability is their pure dependance on the Eternal favour and unchangeable grace of God * Eph. 1.9 11. purpos'd in himself and not upon the mutability of the Creature Hence their happiness is not as Patents among men quam diu bene se gesserint so long as they behave themselves well but they have a promise that they shall behave themselves so as never wholly to depart from God Jer. 32.40 I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me God will not turn from them to do them good and promiseth that they shall not turn from him for ever or forsake him And the bottom of it is the everlasting Covenant and therefore believing and sealing for security are linkt together Eph. 1.13 And When God doth inwardly teach us his Law he puts in a Will not depart from it Psalm 119.102 I have not departed from thy Judgments what is the reason For thou hast taught me 3. By this Eternal Happiness is ensured This is the Inference made from the Eternity and Unchangeableness of God in the verse following the Text verse 28. The Children of thy Servants shall continue and their Seed shall be established before thee This is the sole conclusion drawn from those Perfections of God solemnly asserted before The Children which the Prophets and Apostles have begotten to thee shall be totally delivered from the reliques of their Apostacy and the punishment due to them and rendred partakers of Immortality with thee as Sons to dwell in their Fathers house for ever The Spirit begins a spiritual Life here to fit for an immutable Life in Glory hereafter where Believers shall be placed upon a Throne that cannot be shaken and possess a Crown that shall not be taken off their heads for ever 3. Use Of Exhortation 1. Let a sense of the changeableness and uncertainty of all other things beside God be upon us There are as many changes as there are figures in the world The whole fashion of the world is a transient thing every man may say as Job * Job 10.17 Changes and War are against me Lot chose the Plain of Sodom because it was the richer Soyl He was but a little time there before he was taken Prisoner and his substance made the Spoyl of his Enemie That is again restored but a while after Fire from Heaven devours his Wealth though his Person was secur'd from the Judgment by a special Providence We burn with a desire to settle our selves but mistake the way and build Castles in the Air which vanish like bubbles of Sope in water And therefore 1. Let not our thoughts dwell much upon them Do but consider those Souls that are in the possession of an unchangeable God that behold his never fading Glory Would it not be a kind of Hell to them to have their thoughts starting out to these things or find any desire in themselves to the changeable trifles of the Earth Nay have we not reason to think that they cover their faces with shame that ever they should have such a weakness of Spirit when they were here below as to spend more thoughts upon them than were necessary for this present Life much more that they should at any time value and court them above an unchangeable Good Do they not disdain themselves that they should ever debase the immutable perfections of God as to have neglecting thoughts of him at any time for the entertainment of such a mean and inconstant Rival 2. Much less should we trust in them or rejoyce in them The best things are mutable and things of such a Nature are not fit Objects of confidence Trust not in Riches they have their wanes as well as increases they rise sometimes like a Torrent and flow in upon men but resemble also a Torrent in as suddain a fall and departure and leave nothing but slime behind them Trust not in Honour all the Honour and Applause in the World is no better than an Inheritance of Wind which the Pilot is not sure of but shifts from one corner to another and stands not perpetually in the same point of the Heavens How in a few Ages did the house of David a great Monarch and a man after Gods own heart descend to a mean condition and all the glory of that house shut up in the stock of a Carpenter David's Sheep-hook was turned into a Scepter and the Scepter by the same hand of Providence turned into a Hatchet in Joseph his Descendent Rejoyce not immoderately in wisdom That and Learning languish with Age. A wound in the head may impair that which is the Glory of a Man If an Organ be out of frame Folly may succeed and all a mans Prudence be wound up in an irrecoverable Dotage Nebuchadnezzar was no Fool yet by a suddain hand of God he became not only a Fool or a mad Man but a kind of Brute Rejoyce not in strength that decays and a mighty Man may live to see his strong Arm withered and a Grass-hopper to become a Burthen * Eccles 12.5 The strong men shall bow themselves and the Grinders shall cease because they are few * V. 3. Nor rejoyce in Children they are like Birds upon a Tree that make a little chirping musick and presently fall into the Fowlers Net Little did Job expect such sad news as the loss of all his Progeny at a blow when the Messenger knocked at his Gate And such changes happen oftentimes when our expectations of comfort and a contentment in them are at the highest How often doth a string crack when the Musitian hath wound it up to a just height for a Tune and all his pains and delight marr'd in a Moment Nay all these things change while we are using them like Ice that melts between our fingers and Flowers that wither while we are smelling to them The Apostle gave them a good title when he called them uncertain riches and thought it a strong argument to disswade them from trusting in them * 1 Tim 6.17 The wealth of the Merchant depends upon the Winds and Waves and the revenue of the Husbandman upon the Clouds and since they depend upon those things which are used to express the most changeableness they can be no fit Object for trust Besides God sometimes kindles a Fire under all a mans Glory which doth insensibly consume it * Isa 10.16 and while we have them the fear of losing them renders us not very happy in the
Worship He is present to observe and present to accept our Petitions and answer our Suits Good men have not only the Essential Presence which is common to all but his gracious presence not only the presence that flows from his nature but that which flows from his Promise his Essential Presence makes no difference between this and that man in regard of Spirituals without this in conjunction with it his nature is the cause of the Presence of his Essence his Will engag'd by his Truth is the cause of the Presence of his Grace He promis'd to meet the Israelites in the place where he should set his name and in all places where he doth Record it Exod. 20.4 In all places where I Record my Name I will come unto thee and I will Bless thee in every place where I shall manifest the special Presence of my Divinity In all places hands may be lifted up without doubting of his ability to hear he dwells in the contrite Hearts wherever it is most in the exercise of contrition which is usually in times of special Worship Isa 57.15 and that to revive and refresh them Habitation notes a special Presence tho' he dwell in the highest Heavens in the sparklings of his Glory he dwells also in the lowest Hearts in the beams of his Grace as none can expel him from his Dwelling in Heaven so none can reject him from his residence in the heart The Tabernacle had his peculiar Presence fixed to it Levit. 26.11 his Soul should not abhor them as they are washed by Christ tho' they are loathsom by Sin In a greater dispensation there cannot be a less Presence since the Church under the New Testament is called the Temple of the Lord wherein he will both dwell and walk 2 Cor. 6.6 Or. I will indwell in them as if he should say I will dwell in and in them I will dwell in them by Grace and walk in them by exciting their Graces he will be more intimate with them than their own Souls and converse with them as the Living God i. e. as a God that hath Life in himself and Life to convey to them in their Converse with him and shew his Spiritual Glory among them in a greater measure than in the Temple since that was but a heap of Stones and the figure of the Christian Church the mystical Body of his Son His presence is not less in the Substance than it was in the Shadow this Presence of God in his Ordinances is the Glory of a Church as the Presence of a King is the Glory of a Court the Defence of it too as a Wall of Fire Zech. 2.5 alluding to the Fire Travellers in a Wilderness made to fright away wild Beasts 'T is not the meaness of the place of Worship can exclude him the second Temple was not so magnificent as the first of Solomon's Erecting and the Jews seem to despond of so glorious a Presence of God in the second as they had in the first because they thought it not so good for the entertainment of him that inhabits Eternity but God comforts them against this conceit again and again Hag. 2.3.4 Be strong Be strong Be strong I am with you the meaness of the place shall not hinder the grandeur of my Presence no matter what the Room is so it be the Presence-Chamber of the King wherein he will favour our Suits he can every where slide into our Souls with a perpetual sweetness since he is every where and so intimate with every one that fears him If we should see God on Earth in his amiableness as Moses did should we not be encouraged by his Presence to present our Requests to him to Eccho out our Praises of him and have we not as great a ground now to do it since he is as really present with us as if he were visible to us he is in the same room with us as near to us as our Souls to our Bodies not a word but he hears not a motion but he sees not a breath but he perceives he is through all he is in all 4. The Omnipresence of God is a comfort in all special Services God never puts any upon a hard task but he makes Promises to encourage them and assist them and the matter of the Promise is that of his Presence so he did assure the Prophets of Old when he set them difficult tasks and strengthned Moses against the Face of Pharaoh by assuring him he would be with his Mouth Exod. 4.12 and when Christ put his Apostles upon a Contest with the whole World to Preach a Gospel that would be Foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling Block to the Jews he gives them a Cordial only compos'd of his Presence Math. 28.20 I will be with you 't is this presence scatters by its Light the darkness of our Spirits 'T is this that is the cause of what is done for his Glory in the World 't is this that mingles its self with all that is done for his Honour 't is this from whence springs all the assistance of his Creatures markt out for special purposes 5. This Presence is not without the special Presence of all his Attributes Where his Essence is his Perfections are because they are one with his Essence yea they are his Essence tho' they have their several degrees of manifestation As in the Covenant he makes over himself as our God not a part of himself but his whole Deity so in promising of his Presence he means not a part of it but the whole the Presence of all the Excellencies of his nature to be manifested for our good 'T is not a piece of God is here and another parcel there but God in his whole Essence and Perfections in his Wisdom to guide us his Power to protect and support us his Mercy to pity us his Fulness to refresh us and his Goodness to relieve us He is ready to sparkle out in this or that Perfection as the necessities of his People require and his own Wisdom directs for his own Honour So that being not far from us in any excellency of his nature we can quickly have recourse to him upon any emergency so that if we are miserable we have the presence of his Goodness if we want direction we have the presence of his Wisdom if we are weak we have the presence of his Power and should we not rejoyce in it as a man doth in the Presence of a Powerful Wealthy and Compassionate Friend 3. USE of Exhortation 1. Let us be much in the actual Thoughts of his Truth How should we enrich our understandings with the knowledge of the Excellency of God whereof this is none of the least nor hath less of Honey in its Bowels tho' it be more Terrible to the Wicked than the Presence of a Lyon 't is this that makes all other excellencies of the Divine Nature sweet What would Grace
by our own or think it to be of so gross a Temper as a Created mind that he hath Eyes of Flesh or sees or knows as man sees Job 10.4 We can no more measure his Knowledg by ours than we can measure his Essence by our Essence As he hath an incomprehensible Essence to which ours is but as a Drop of a Bucket so he hath an incomprehensible Knowledg to which ours is but as a grain of Dust or meer Darkness his thoughts are above our thoughts as the Heavens are above the Earth The Knowledg of God is variously divided by the Schools and acknowledg'd by all Divines 1. A Knowledg visionis simplicis intelligentiae the one we may call a Sight the other an Vnderstanding the one refers to sense the other to the mind 1. A Knowledg of Vision or Sight Thus God knows himself and all things that really were are or shall be in time all those things which he hath Decreed to be tho' they are not yet actually sprung up in the World but lye couchant in their Causes 2. A Knowledg of Intelligence or simple Vnderstanding the object of this is not things that are in Being or that shall by any Decree of God ever be existent in the World but such things as are possible to be wrought by the Power of God tho' they shall never in the least peep up into Being but lye for ever wrapt up in Darkness and nothing Suarez de Deo lib. 3. cap. 4. p. 130. This also is a necessary Knowledg to be allowed to God because the object of this Knowledg is necessary The possibility of more Creatures than ever were or shall be is a conclusion that hath a necessary Truth in it as it is necessary that the power of God can produce more Creatures tho' it be not necessary that it should produce more Creatures so it is necessary that whatsoever the Power of God can work is possible to be And as God knows this possibility so he knows all the objects that are thus possible and herein doth much consist the Infiniteness of his Knowledg as shall be shewn presently These two kinds of Knowledg differ That of Vision is of things which God hath Decreed to be tho' they are not yet That of Intelligence is of things which never shall be yet they may be or are possible to be if God please to Will and Order their Being one respects things that shall be the other things that may be and are not repugnant to the Nature of God to be The Knowledg of Vision follows the Act of Gods Will and supposeth an Act of Gods Will before Decreeing things to be If we could suppose any first or second in Gods Decree we might say God knew them as possible before he Decreed them he knew them as future because he Decreed them For without the Will of God Decreeing a thing to come to pass God cannot know that it will infallibly come to pass But the Knowledg of Intelligence stands without any Act of his Will in order to the Being of those things he knows he knows possible things only in his Power he knows other things both in his Power as able to effect them and in his Will as determining the Being of them such Knowledg we must grant to be in God for there is such a kind of knowledg in man for man doth not only know and see what is before his eyes in this World but he may have a conception of many more Worlds and many more Creatures which he knows are possible to the Power of God 2. Secondly There is a speculative and practical knowledg in God 1. A speculative knowledg is when the truth of a thing is known without a respect to any working or practical operation The knowledg of things possible is in God only speculative Suarez de Deo lib. 3. cap. 4. p. 138. and some say Gods knowledg of himself is only speculative because there is nothing for God to work in himself and tho' he knows himself yet this knowledg of himself doth not terminate there but flowers into a love of himself and delight in himself yet this love of himself and delight in himself is not enough to make it a practical knowledg because it is natural and naturally and necessarily flows from the knowledg of himself and his own Goodness he cannot but love himself and delight in himself upon the knowledg of himself But that which is properly practise is where there is a dominion over the action and it is wrought not naturally and necessarily but in a way of freedom and counsel As when we see a beautiful Flower or other thing there ariseth a delight in the mind this no man will call Practise because it is a natural affection of the Will arising from the virtue of the object without any consideration of the Understanding in a practical manner by counselling commanding c. 2. A Practical knowledg which tends to operation and practise and is the principle of working about things that are known as the knowledg an Artificer hath in an Art or Mystery This knowledg is in God the knowledg he hath of the things he hath decreed is such a kind of knowledg for it terminates in the act of Creation which is not a natural and necessary act as the loving himself and delighting in himself is but wholly free for it was at his liberty whether he would create them or no this is called discretion Jer. 10.12 He hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion Such also is his knowledg of the things he hath created and which are in being for it terminates in the government of them for his own glorious ends 'T is by this knowledg the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down their dew Prov 3 20. This is a knowledg whereby he knows the essence qualities and properties of what he creates and governs in order to his own glory and the common good of the World over which he resides so that speculative knowledg is Gods knowledg of himself and things possible practical knowledg is his knowledg of his creatures and things governable yet in some sort this practical knowledg is not only of things that are made but of things which are possible which God might make tho' he will not for as he knows that they can be created so he knows how they are to be created and how to be governed tho' he never will create them This is a practical knowledg for it is not requisite to constitute a knowledg practical actually to act but that the knowledg in it self be referrible to action Suarez de Deo l. 3. c. 4. p. 140. 3. There is a knowledg of approbation as well as apprehension This the Scripture often mentions words of understanding are used to signifie the acts of affection This knowledg adds to the simple act of the understanding the complacency and pleasure of the will and is
Throne * Rev. 4.8 10. a Metaphor taken from the triumphing Generals among the Romans who hung up their victorious Laurels in the Capitol dedicating them to their Gods acknowledging them their Superiors in strength and Authors of their victory This self-emptiness at the consideration of Divine Purity is the note of the true Church represented by the 24 Elders and a note of a true Member of the Church whereas boasting of Perfection Merit is the property of the Antichristian tribe that have mean thoughts of this adorable Perfection think themselves more righteous than the unspotted Angels What a self annihilation is therein a good man when the sense of Divine Purity is most lively in him yea how detestable is he to himsel There is as little proportion between the holiness of the Divine Majesty and that of the most righteous Creature as there is between a nearness of a Person that stands upon a Mountain to the Sun and of him that beholds him in a Vale one is nearer than the other but it is an advantage not to be boasted of in regard of the vast distance that is between the Sun and the elevated Spectator 3. This would make us full of an affectionate Reverence in all our approaches to God By this Perfection God is rendred venerable and fit to be reverenc'd by his Creature and magnificent thoughts of it in the Creature would awaken him to an actual reverence of the Divine Majesty Psal 111.9 Holy and reverend is his name a good opinion of this would engender in us a sincere respect towards him we should then serve the Lord with fear as the Expression is Psal 2.11 that is be afraid to cast any thing before him that may offend the eyes of his Purity Who would venture rashly and garishly into the presence of an eminent Moralist or of a righteous King upon his Throne The fixedness of the Angels arose from the continual prospect of this What if we had been with Isaiah when he saw the Vision and beheld him in the same glory and the heavenly Quire in their reverential Posture in the Service of God would it not have barred our wandrings and stak'd us down to our Duty Would not the fortifying an Idea of it in our Minds produce the same effect 'T is for want of this we carry our selves so loosely and unbecomingly in the Divine Presence with the same or meaner Affections than those wherewith we stand before some vile Creature that is our Superiour in the World as though a piece of filthy Flesh were more valuable than this Perfection of the Divinity How doth the Psalmist double his Exhortation to men to sing Praise to God Psal 47.6 Sing praise to God sing praises sing praise to our King sing praise because of his Majesty and the Purity of his Dominion And verse 8. God reigns over the Heathen God sits upon the Throne of his Holiness How would this elevate us in Praise and prostrate us in Prayer when we praise and pray with an understanding and insight of that Nature we bless or implore as he speaks verse 7. Sing ye praise with understanding The holiness of God in his Government and Dominion the holiness of his Nature and the holiness of his Precepts should beget in us an humble respect in our Approaches The more we grow in a sense of this the more shall we advance in the true performance of all our Duties * Amyrald Moral Tom. 5. p. 462. Those Nations which ador'd the Sun had they at first seen his Brightness wrapped and maskt in a Cloud and paid a veneration to it how would their Adorations have mounted to a greater point after they had seen it in its full brightness shaking off those Vails and chasing away the Mists before it what a profound reverence would they have paid it when they beheld it in its Glory and Meridian Brightness Our reverence to God in all our Addresses to him will arrive to greater degrees if every act of Duty be usher'd in and season'd with the thoughts of God as sitting upon a Throne of Holiness we shall have a more becoming sense of our own Vileness a greater ardor to his Service a deeper respect in his Presence if our Understanding be more clear'd and possessed with Notions of this Perfection Thus take a view of God in this part of his Glory before you fall down before his Throne and assure your selves you will find your hearts and services quickned with a new and lively Spirit 4. A due sense of this Perfection in God would produce in us a fear of God and arm us against Temptations and Sin What made the Heathens so wanton and loose but the representations of their Gods as vitious Who would stick at Adulteries and more prodigious Lusts that can take a Pattern for them from the Person he adores for a Deity Upon which account Plato would have Poets banish'd from his Commonwealth because by dressing up their Gods in wanton garbs in their Poems they encourag'd wickedness in the People But if the thoughts of Gods holiness were imprest upon us we should regard sin with the same eye mark it with the same detestation in our measures as God himself doth So far as we are sensible of the Divine Purity we should account sin vile as it deserves we should hate it intirely without a grain of love to it and hate it perpetually Psal 119.104 Through thy Precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way He looks into God's Statute-Book and thereby arrives to an understanding of the Purity of his Nature whence his hatred of Iniquity commenc'd This would govern our Motion check our Vices it would make us tremble at the hissing of a Temptation When a Corrup ion did but peep out and put forth its head a look to the Divine Purity would be attended with a fresh Conâ—oy of Strength to resist it There is such Fortification as to be wrapped up in the sense of this This would fill us with an awe of God we should be asham'd to admit any filthy thing into us which we know is detestable to his pure Eye As the approach of a grave and serious Man makes Children hasten their Trifles out of tâ—e way so would a Consideration of this Attribute make us cast away our Idols and fling away our ridiculous thoughts and designs 5. A due sense of this Perfection would inflame us with a vehement desire to be conform'd to him All our Desires would be ardent to regulate our selves according to this Pattern of Holiness and Goodness which is not to be equalled the Contemplating it as it shines forth in the Face of Christ will transform us into the same Image †2 Cor. 3.19 Since our lapsed state we cannot behold the holiness of God in it self without affrightment nor is it an Object of Imitation but as tempered in Christ to our view When we cannot without blinding our selves look upon the Sun
yet he hath also power to verifie his word and accomplish his will assure your selves he will not at all acquit the wicked He will not acquit the wicked He will not always account the criminal an innocent as he seems to do by a present sparing of them and dealing with them as if they were destitute of any provoking carriage towards him and he void of any resentment of it He will not acquit the wicked how is this who then can be saved Is there no place for remission He will not acquit the wicked i. e. He will not acquit obstinate sinners As he hath Patience for the wicked so he hath Mercy for the penitent The wicked are the subjects of his long suffering but not of his acquitting grace He doth not presently punish their sins because he is slow to anger But without their Repentance he will not blot out their sins because he is righteous in judgment If God should acquit them without Repentance for their crimes he must himself repent of his own Law and Righteous Sanction of it He will not acquit i. e. he will not go back from the thing he hath spoken and forbear at long run the punishment he hath threatned The Lord hath his way in the Whirl-wind The way of God signifies sometimes the Law of God sometimes the providential operations of God Ezek. 18.25 Is not my way equal It seems there to take in both And in the Storm and the Clouds are the dust of his feet * Tirinus in loc The Prophet describes here the fight of God with the Assyrians as if he rusht upon them with a mighty noise of an Army raising the dust with the feet of their horses and motion of their Chariots Symbolically it signifies the multitude of the Chaldean and Median forces invading besieging and storming the City It signifies 1. The rule of Providence The way of God is in every motion of the creature He rules all things Whirl-wind Storms Clouds his way is in all their walks in the whirlings and blustrings of the one in the raising and dissolving the other He blows up the Winds and compacts the Clouds to make them serviceable to his designs 2. The management of wars by God His way is in the storm As he was the Captain of the Assyrians against Samaria so he will be the Captain of the Medes against Niniveh As Israel was not so much wasted by the Assyrians as by the Lord who levied and arm'd their Forces So Niniveh shall be subverted rather by God than by the Arms of the Medes Their force is describ'd not to be so much from Humane power as Divine God is President in all the commotions of the World his way is in every Whirl-wind 3. The easiness of executing the judgment He is of so great power that he can excite Tempests in the Air and overthrow them with the Clouds which are the dust of his feet He can blind his enemies and avenge himself on them he is Lord of Clouds and can fill their womb with Hail Lightnings and Thunders to burst out upon those he kindles his anger against He is of so great force that he needs not use the strength of his Arm but the dust of his Feet to effect his destroying purpose 4. The suddenness of the judgment Whirl-winds come suddenly without any harbingers to give notice of their approach Clouds are swift in their motion Isa 60.8 Who are those that flie as a Cloud i. e. with a mighty nimbleness What God doth he shall do on the sudden come upon them before they are aware be too quick for them in his motion to over-run and over-reach them The winds are describ'd with wings in regard of the quickness of their motion 5. The terror of judgments The Lord hath his way in the Whirl-wind i. e. in great displeasure The anger of the Lord is often compar'd to a storm He shall bring Clouds of judgments upon them many and thick as terrible as when a day is turn'd into night by the mustering of the darkest clouds that interpose between the Sun and the Earth Clouds and darkness are round about him and a fire goes before him when he burns up his enemies Psal 97.2 3. The judgments shall have terror without mercy as clouds obscure the light and are dark masks before the face and glory of the Sun and cut off its refreshing Beams from the Earth Clouds note multitude and obscurity God could crush them without a Whirlwind beat them to powder with one touch but he will bring his judgments in the most surprizing and amazing manner to flesh and blood so that all their Glory shall be chang'd into nothing but terror by the noise of the bellowing winds and the clouds like ink blacking the Heavens 6. The confusion of the Offenders upon God's proceeding A Whirlwind is not only a boysterous wind that hurls and rouls every thing out of its place but by its circular motion by its winding to all points of the compass it confounds things and jumbles them together It keeps not one point but by a circumgyration toucheth upon all Clouds like dust shall be blown in their face and gumm up their eyes They shall be in a posture of confusion not know what counsels to take what motions to resolve upon Let them look to every point of Heaven and Earth they shall meet with a Whirlwind to confound them and cloudy dust to blind them 7. The irresistibleness of the judgment Winds have more than a Gyant like force a torrent of compacted Air that with an invincible wilfulness bears all before it displaceth the firmest Trees and levels the tallest Towers and pulls up bodies from their natural place Clouds also are over our heads and above our reach When God places them upon his people for defence they are an invincible security Isa 4.5 And when he moves them as his Chariot against a people they end in an irresistible destruction Thus the ruine of the wicked is describ'd Prov. 10.25 As the Whirlwind passes so is the wicked no more It blows them down sweeps them away they irrecoverably fall before the force of it What heart can endure and what hands can be strong in the days wherein God doth deal with them Ezek. 22.14 Thus is the judgment against Niniveh describ'd God hath his way in the Whirlwind to thunder down their strongest Walls which were so thick that Chariots could march a-breast upon them and batter down their mighty Towers which that City had in multitudes upon their Walls They are the first words I intend to insist upon to treat of the Patience of God describ'd in those words The Lord is slow to anger Doct. Slowness to anger or admirable Patience is the property of the divine nature As Patience signifies suffering so it is not in God The divine nature is impassible uncapable of any impair it cannot be touched by the violences of men nor the essential Glory of it be diminisht by