How wonderful is this Wisdom of God! That the seed of the woman born of a mean Virgin brought forth in a stable spending his days in affliction misery and poverty without any pomp and splendor passing some time in a Carpenters shop with Carpenters tools and afterwards exposed to a horrible and disgraceful death Mark 6 6. should by this way pull down the gates of Hell subvert the kingdom of the Devil and be the hammer to break in pieces that power which he had so long exercised over the World Thus became he the Author of our life by being bound for a while in the chains of death and arrived to a principality over the most malicious powers by being a prisoner for us and the anvâ—l of their rage and fury 7. The Wisdom of God appears In giving us this way the surest ground of comfort and the strongest incentive to obedience The Rebel is reconciled and the rebellion shamed God is propitiated and the sinner sanctified by the same blood What can more contribute to our comfort confidence than Gods richest gift to us What can more enflame our love to him than our recovery from death by the oblation of his Son to misery and death for us It doth as much engage our duty as secure our happiness It presents God glorious and gracious and therefore every way fit to be trusted in regard of the interest of his own glory in it and in regard of the effusions of his grace by it It renders the Creature obliged in the highest manner and so awakens his industry to the strictest and noblest obedience Nothing so effectual as a crucified Christ to wean us from sin and stifle all motions of despair a means in regard of the Justice signaliz'd in it to make man to hate the sin which had ruined him and a means in regard of the love exprest to make him delight in that Law he had violated 2. Cor. 5.14 15. The love of Christ and therefore the love of God exprest in it constrains us no longer to live to our selves 1. It is a ground of the highest comfort and confidence in God Since he hath given such an evidence of his impartial truth to his threatning for the honour of his Justice we need not question but he will be as punctual to his promise for the honour of his mercy T is a ground of confidence in God since he hath redeemed us in such a way as glorifies the steadiness of his veracity as well as the severity of his Justice We may well trust him for the performance of his promise since we have experience of the execution of his threatning his mâ—rciful truth will as much engage him to accomplish the one as his just truth did to inflict the other The goodness which shone forth in weaker rays in the Creation breaks out with stronger beams in redemption And the mercy which before the appearance of Christ was manifested in some small Rivulets diffuseth itself like a boundless Ocean That God that was our Creator is our Redeemer the Repayrer of our Breaches and the Restorer of our Paths to dwell in And the plenteous Redemption from all Iniquity manifested in the Incarnation and Passion of the Son of God is much more a ground of hope in the Lord than it was in the past Ages when it could not be said the Lord hath but the Lord shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities Psal 130.8 It is a full Warrant to cast our selves into his Arms. 2. At incentive to obedience 1. The Commands of the Gospel require the obedience of the Creature There is not one Precept in the Gospel which interferes with any rule in the Law but strengthens it and represents it in its true exactness The heat to scorch us is allaied but the light to direct us is not extinguisht Not the least allowance to any sin is granted not the least affection to any sin is indulg'd The Law is temper'd by the Gospel but not null'd and cast out of doors by it It enacts that none but those that are sanctified shall be glorified that there must be Grace here if we expect Glory hereafter that we must not presume to expect an admittance to the Vision of Gods face unless our Souls be clothed with a robe of Holiness Heb. 12.14 It requires an obedience to the whole Law in our intention and purpose and an endeavour to observe it in our actions It promotes the honour of God and ordains a universal Charity among men it reveals the whole Counsel of God and furnisheth men with the holiest Laws 2. It presents to us the exactest pattern for our Obedience The redeeming Person is not only a Propitiation for the sin but a pattern to the sinner 1 Pet. 2.21 The Conscience of man after the fall of Adam approved of the reason of the Law but by the corruption of Nature man had no strength to perform the Law The possibility of keeping the Law by Human Nature is evidenced by the Appearance and life of the Redeemer and an assurance given that it shall be advanc'd to such a state as to be able to observe it We aspire to it in this life and have hopes to attain it in a future And while we are here the Actor of our Redemption is the copy for our Imitation The Pattern to imitate is greater than the Law to be ruled by What a lustre did his Vertues cast about the World How attractive are his Graces With what high Examples for all Duties has he furnish'd 〈◊〉 out of the copy of his Life 3. It presents us with the strongest motives to Obedience Tit. 2.11 12. The grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness What Chains bind faster and closer than love Here is love to our nature in his Incarnation love to us though Enemies in his Death and Passion Encouragements to Obedience by the proffers of Pardon for former Rebellions By the disobedience of man God introduceth his redeeming Grace and ingageth his Creature to more Ingenious and excellent returns than his Innocent state could oblige him to In his Created state he had goodness to move him he hath the same goodness now to oblige him as a Creature and a greater love and mercy to oblige him as a repaired Creature and the terror of Justice is taken off which might invenom his Heart as a Criminal In his revolted state he had misery to discourage him in his redeemed state he hath love to attract him Without such a way black despaire had seized upon the Creature exposed to a remediless misery And God would have had no returns of love from the best of his earthly Works But if any sparks of Ingenuity be left they will be excited by the efficacy of this Argument The willingness of God to receive returning sinners is manifested in the highest degree and the willingness of a sinner to return to him in duty hath the strongest engagements He hath done as much to
sports much less the powers of the Soul whereby t is evident we prefer the latter before any service to God Since there is a fulness of Animal Spirits why might they not be excited in holy duties as well as in other operations but that there is a reluctancy in the Soul to exercise its Supremacy in this case and perform any thing becoming a Creature in subjection to God as a Ruler 2. T is evident also in the distractions we have in his service How loth are we to serve God fixedly one hour nay a part of an hour notwithstanding all the thoughts of his Majesty and the Eternity of glory set before our eye What man is there since the fall of Adam that served God one hour without many wandrings and unsutable thoughts unfit for that service How ready are our hearts to start out and unite themselves with any worldly objects that please us 3. Weariness in it evidenceth it To be weary of our dulness signifies a desire to be weary of service signifies a discontent to be ruled by God How tired are we in the performance of Spiritual duties when in the vain triflings of time we have a perpetual motion How will many willingly revel whole nights when their hearts will flag at the Threshold of a Religious service Like Dagon * 1 Sam. 5.4 lose both our heads to think and hands to act when the Ark of God is present Some in the Prophet wished the new Moon and the Sabbath over that they might sell their Corn and be busied again in their worldly affairs * Amos 8.5 A slight and weariness of the Sabbath was a slight of the Lord of the Sabbath and of that freedom from the Yoke and rule of sin which was signified by it The design of the Sacrifices in the new Moon was to signifie a rest from the tyranny of sin and a consecration to the Spiritual service of God Servants that are quickly weary of their work are weary of the Authority of their Master that enjoyns it If our hearts had a value for God it would be with us as with the needle to the Load-stone there would be upon his beck a speedy motion to him and a fixed union with him When the Judgments and affections of the Saints shall be fully refined in glory they shall be willing to behold the face of God and be under his Government to Eternity without any weariness As the holy Angels have owned God as their Soveraign neer these six thousand years without being weary of running on his Errands But alas while the flesh clogs us there will be some Reliques of unwillingness to hear his Injunctions and weariness in performing them tho men may excuse those things by extrinsick causes yet Gods unerring Judgment calls it a weariness of himself Isa 43.22 Thou hast not called upon me oh Jacob but thou hast been weary of me ch Israel Of this he taxeth his own people when he tells them he would have the beasts of the Field The Dragons and the Owls the Gentiles that the Jews counted no better than such to honour him and acknowledge him their rule in a way of duty ver 20.21 6. This contempt is seen in a deserting the rule of God when our expectations are not answered upon our service When services are performed from carnal principles they are soon cast off when carnal ends meet not with desired satisfaction But when we own our selves Gods Servants and God our Master our eyes will wait upon him till he have mercy on us * Psal 123.2 T is one part of the duty we owe to God as our Master in Heaven to continue in Prayer Col. 4.1 2. And by the same reason in all other service and to watch in the same with thanksgiving To watch for occasions of praise to watch with chearfulness for further manifestations of his Will strength to perform it success in the performance that we may from all draw matter of praise As we are in a posture of obedience to his precepts so we should be in a posture of waiting for the blessing of it But naturally we reject the duty we owe to God if he do not speed the blessing we expect from him How many do secretly mutter the same as they in Job 21.15 What is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profit shall we have if we Pray to him They serve not God out of Conscience to his Commands but for some carnal profit and if God make them to wait for it they will not stay his leasure but cease solliciting him any longer Two things are exprest that God was not worthy of any Homage from them What is the Almighty that we should serve him and that the service of him would not bring them in a good Revenue or an advantage of that kind they expected Interest drives many men on to some kind of service and when they do not find an advance of that they will acknowledge God no more but like some beggers if you give them not upon their asking and calling you good Master from blessing they will turn to cursing How often do men do that secretly practically if not plainly which Jobs Wife advised him to Curse God and cast off that disguise of integrity they had assumed Job 2.9 Dost thou still retain thy integrity Curse God What a stir and puling and crying is here Cast off all thoughts of Religious service and be at Daggers drawing with that God who for all thy service of him has made thee so wretched a spectacle to men and a banquet for worms The like temper is deciphered in the Jews Mal. 3.14 T is in vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances that we have walked mournfully before the Lord What profit is it that we have regarded his Statutes and carryed our selves in a way of subjection to God as our Soveraign when we inherit nothing but sorrow and the Idolatrous Neighbors swim in all kind of pleasures as if it were the most miserable thing to acknowledge God If men have not the benefits they expect they think God unrighteous in himself and injurious to them in not conferring the favour they imagine they have merited And if they have not that recompence they will deny God that subjection they owe to him as Creatures Grace moves to God upon a sense of duty corrupt nature upon a sense of Interest Sincerity is encouraged by gracious returns but is not melted away by Gods delay or refusal Corrupt nature would have God at its back and steers a course of duty by hope of some carnal profit not by a sense of the Soveraignty of God 7. This contempt is seen in breaking promises with God * Reyn. One while the Conscience of a man makes vows of new obedience and perhaps binds himself with many an Oath but they prove like Jonahs Gourd withering the next day after their birth This was Pharaohs
besides As he sent Jesus Christ to satisfie his Justice for the expiation of the Guilt of Sin so he sends the Holy Ghost for the cleansing the filth of Sin and overmastering the power of it Himself is the Fountain the Son is the Patern and the Holy Ghost the immediate Imprinter of this stamp of Holiness upon the Creature God hath such a value for this Attribute that he designs the glory of this in the renewing the Creature more than the happiness of the Creature though the one doth necessarily follow upon the other yet the one is the principal Design and the other the consequent of the former Whence our Salvation is more frequently set forth in Scripture by a Redemption from Sin and Sanctification of the Soul than by a Possession of Heaven †Tit. 2.11 12 13 14 and many other places Indeed as God could not create a Rational Creature without interesting this Attribute in a special manner so he cannnt restore the Fallen Creature without it As in creating a Rational Creature there must be Holiness to adorn it as well as Wisdom to form the design and Power to effect it so in the restoration of the Creature as he could not make a Reasonable Creature unholy so he cannot restore a Fallen Creature and put him in a meet posture to take pleasure in him without communicating to him a resemblance of himself As God cannot be Blessed in himself without this Perfection of Purity so neither can a Creature be blessed without it As God would be Unlovely to himself without this Attribute so would the Creature be unlovely to God without a stamp and mark of it upon his Nature So much is this Perfection one with God valued by him and interested in all his Works and Ways The third Thing I am to do is to lay down some Propositions in the defence of God's holiness in all his acts about or concerning sin It was a prudent and pious advice of Camero Not to be too busie and rash in Inquiries and Conclusions about the reason of God's Providence in the matter of sin The Scripture hath put a bar in the way of such Curiosity by telling us that the ways of God's Wisdom and Righteousness in his Judgments are unsearchable * Rom. 11.33 Much more the ways of God's Holiness as he stands in relation to Sin as a Governour of the World we cannot consider those things without danger of flipping Our Eyes are too weak to look upon the Sun without being dazled Too much Curiosity met with a just check in our first Parent To be desirous to know the reason of all God's proceedings in the matter of Sin is to second the Ambition of Adam to be as wise as God and know the reason of his actings equally with himself 'T is more easie as the same Author saith to give an Account of God's Providence since the Revolt of Man and the Poyson that hath universally seiz'd upon Human Nature than to make guesses at the manner of the fall of the first Man The Scripture hath given us but a short Account of the manner of it to discourage too curious Inquiries into it 'T is certain that God made Man upright and when Man sinned in Paradice God was active in sustaining the substantial nature and act of the Sinner while he was sinning though not in supporting the sinfulness of the Act He was permissive in suffering it He was Negative in withholding that Grace which might certainly have prevented his Crime and consequently his Ruin though he withheld nothing that was sufficient for his Resistance of that Temptation wherewith he was assaulted And since the Fall of Man God as a wise Governour is directive of the Events of the Transgression and draws the choicest Good out of the blackest Evil and limits the sins of men that they creep not so far as the evil Nature of men would urge them to and as a righteous Judge he takes away the talent â—rom idle Servants and the Light from wicked ones whereby they stumble and fall into Crimes by the inclinations and proneness of their own corrupt Natures leaves them to the Byas of their own vitious habits denies that grace which they have forfeited and have no right to challenge and turns their sinful actions into punishments both to the Committers of them and others 1. Proposition God's holiness is not chargeable with any blemish for his creating man in a mutable state 'T is true Angels and Men were created with a changeable Nature and though there was a rich and glorious stamp upon them by the Hand of God yet their Natures were not uncapable of a base and vile Stamp from some other Principle As the Silver which bears upon it the Image of a great Prince is capable of being melted down and imprinted with no better an Image than that of some vile and monstrous Beast Though God made Man upright yet he was capable of seeking many inventions Eccl. 7.29 yet the hand of God was not defiled by forming Man with such a Nature It was sutable to the Wisdom of God to give the Rational Creature whom he had furnisht with a power of acting righteously the liberty of choice and nor fix him in an unchangeable state without a trial of him in his Natural that if he did obey his obedience might be the more valuable and if he did freely offend his offence might be more inexcusable 1. No Creature can be capable of immutability by Nature Mutability is so essential to a Creature that a Creature cannot be supposed without it You must suppose it a Creator not a Creature if you allow it to be of an Immutable Nature Immutability is the property of the Supream Being God only hath immortality 1 Tim. 6.16 Immortality as opposed not only to a natural but to a sinful death the word only appropriates every sort of Immortality to God and excludes every Creature whether Angel or Man from a Partnership with God in this by Nature Every Creature therefore is capable of a Death in sin None is good but God and none is naturally free from change but God which excludes every Creature from the same Prerogative and certainly if one Angel sinned all might have sinned because there was the same root of Mutability in one as well as another 'T is as possible for a Creature to be Creator as for a Creature to have naturally an incommunicable property of the Creator All things whether Angels or Men are made of nothing and therefore capable of defection * Suarez Vâ—l. 2. p. 5.8 because a Creature beâ—ng made of nothing cannot be good per essentiam or essentially good but by participation from another Agaâ—n every Rational Creature being made of nothing hath a Superior which created him and governs him and is capable of a Precept and consequently capable of Disobedience as well as Obedience to the Precept to transgress it as well as obey it God cannot sin because he
the battle when they will rebell against the light God doth often leave them to their own course sentence him that is filthy to be filthy still ‖ Reve. 22.11 which is a righteous act of God as he is Rector and Governor of the World Man's not receiving or not improving what God gives is the cause of Gods not giving further or taking away his own which before he had bestowed This is so far from being repugnant to the Holiness and Righteousness of God that it is rather a commendable act of his Holiness and Righteousness as the Rector of the World not to let those gifts continue in the hand of a man who abuses them contrary to his glory Who will blame a Father that after all the good Counsels he hath given his Son to reclaim him all the Corrections he hath inflicted on him for his irregular practice leaves him to his own courses and withdraws those assistances which he scoft at and turned the deaf Ear unto Or who will blame the Physician for deserting the Patient who rejects his Counsel will not follow his Prescriptions but dasheth his Physick against the Wall No man will blame him no man will say that he is the cause of the Patients death but the true cause is the fury of the Distemper and the obstinacy of the diseased Person to which the Physician left him And who can justly blame God in this case who yet never denied supplies of Grace to any that sincerely sought it at his hands and what man is there that lies under a hardness but first was guilty of very provoking sins What unholiness is it to deprive men of those assistances because of their sin and afterwards to direct those counsels and practices of theirs which he hath justly given them up unto to serve the ends of his own glory in his own methods 4. Which will appear further by considering that God is not oblig'd to continue his Grace to them It was at his liberty whither he could give any renewing Grace to Adam after his fall or to any of his Posterity He was at his own liberty to withold it or communicate it But if he were under any Obligation then surely he must be under less now since the multiplication of Sin by his Creatures But if the Obligation were none just after the fall there is no pretence now to fasten any such Obligation on God That God had no Obligation at first hath been spoken to before He is less obliged to continue his Grace after a repeated refusal and a peremptory abuse than he was bound to proffer it after the first Apostacy God cannot be charg'd with unholiness in withdrawing his Grace after we have received it unless we can make it appear that his Grace was a thing due to us as we are his Creatures and as he is Governor of the World What Prince looks upon himself as oblig'd to reside in any particular place of his Kingdom But suppose he be bound to inhabit in one particular City yet after the City rebells against him is he bound to continue his Court there spend his Revenue among Rebels endanger his own Honour and Security inlarge their Charter or maintain their Ancient Priviledges Is it not most just and righteous for him to withdraw himself and leave them to their own Tumultuousness and Sedition whereby they should eat the fruit of their own doings If there be an Obligation on God as a Governor it would rather lie on the side of Justice to leave Man to the Power of the Devil whom he courted and the prevalency of those Lusts he hath so often caressed and wrap up in a Cloud all his common Illuminations and leave him destitute of all common workings of his Spirit 8. Proposition Gods Holiness is not blemisht by his commanding those things sometimes which seem to be against Nature or thwart some other of his Precepts As when God commanded Abraham with his own hand to Sacrifice his Son * Gen. 22.2 there was nothing of Unrighteousness in it God hath a Soveraign Dominion over the lives and beings of his creatures whereby as he creates one day he might annihilate the next and by the same right that he might demand the life of Isaac as being his Creature he might demand the Obedience of Abraham in a ready return of that to him which he had so long enjoy'd by his grant 'T is true killing is unjust when it is done without cause and by a private Authority But the Authority of God surmounts all private and Publick Authority whatsoever Our lives are due to him when he calls for them and they are more than once forfeit to him by reason of Transgression But howsoever the case is God commanded him to do it for the trial of his Grace but suffered him not to do it in favour to his ready Obedience But had Isaac been actually slain and offer'd how had it been unrighteous in God who enacts Laws for the Regulation of his Creature but never intended them to the prejudice of the Rights of his Soveraignty Another Case is that of the Israelites borrowing Jewels of the Egyptians by the order of God †Exod. 11.2.3 Exod. 12.36 Is not God Lord of mans goods as well as their lives What have any they have not received that not as Proprietors independent on God but his Stewards and may not he demand a portion of his Steward to bestow upon his Favourite He that had power to dispose of the Egyptians Goods had power to order the Israelites to ask them Besides God acted the part of a just Judge in ordering them their wages for their Service in this method and making their Task-masters give them some recompence for their unjust oppression so many years It was a Command from God therefore rather for the preservation of Justice the Basis of all those Laws which link human Society than any infringement of it It was a material recompence in part though not a formal one in the intention of the Egyptians It was but in part a recompence It must needs come short of the dammage the poor Captives had sustained by the tyranny of their Masters who had inslav'd them contrary to the rules of hospitality and could not make amends for the lives of the poor Infants of Israel whom they had drowned in the River He that might for the unjust oppression of his People have taken away all their Lives destroy'd the whole Nation and put the Israelites into the possession of their Lands could without any unrighteousness dispose of part of their Goods And it was rather an act of Clemency to leave them some part who had doubly forfeited all Again the Egyptians were as ready to lend by Gods influence as the Israelites were to ask by Gods order And though it was a loan God as Soveraign of the World and Lord of the Earth and the fulness thereof alienated the property by assuming them to the use of the
Why did he give Grace to Abel and not to Cain since they both lay in the same womb and equally deriv'd from their Parents a taint in their Nature But that he would show a standing example of his Soveraignty to the future ages of the World in the first posterity of man Why did he give Grace to Abraham and separate him from his Idolatrous Kindred to dignifie him to be the root of the Messiah Why did he confine his promise to Isaac and not extend it to Ishmael the Seed of the same Abraham by Hagar or to the Children he had by Keturah after Sarahs death What reason can be alledged for this but his Soveraign Will Why did he not give the fallen Angels a moment of Repentance after their sin but condemned them to irrevocable pains Is it not as free for him to give Grace to whom he please as Create what Worlds he please to form this corrupted clay into his own Image as to take such a parcel of dust from all the rest of the Creation whereof to compact Adam's body Hath he not as much jurisdiction over the sinful mass of his Creatures in a new Creation as he had over the Chaos in the old And what reason can be rendered of his advancing this part of matter to the nobler dignity of a Star and leaving that other part to make up the dark body of the Earth To compact one part into a glorious Sun and another part into a hard Rock but his Royal Prerogative What is the reason a Prince subjects one Malefactor to punishment and lifts up another to a place of truth and profit That Pharoah honoured the Butler with an attendance on his Person and remitted the Baker to the hands of the Executioner It was his pleasure And is not as great a right due to God as is allow'd to the worms of the Earth What is the reason he hardens a Pharoah by a denying him that Grace which should mollifie him and allows it to another 'T is because he will Rom. 9.18 Whom he will he hardens Hath not man the liberty to pull up the sluce and let the water run into what part of the ground he pleases What is the reason some have not a heart to understand the beauty of his ways Because the Lord doth not give it them Deut. 29.4 Why doth he not give all his converts an equal measure of his sanctifying Grace some have Mites and some have Treasures Why doth he give his Grace to some sooner to some later some are inspir'd in their infancy others not till a full age and after some not till they have fallen into some gross sin as Paul some betimes that they may do him service others later as the Thief upon the Cross and presently snatcheth them out of the World Some are weaker some stronger in nature some more beautiful and lovely others more uncomely and sluggish 'T is so in supernaturals What reason is there for this but his own will This is instead of all that can be assigned on the part of God He is the free disposer of his own Goods and as a Father may give a greater portion to one Child than to another And what reason of complaint is there against God may not a Toad complain that God did not make it a man and give it a portion of reason Or a Fly complain that God did not make it an Angel and give it a Garment of Light had they but any spark of understanding as well as man complain that God did not give him Grace as well as another Unless he sincerely desir'd it and then was denyed it he might complain of God though not as Soveraign yet as a promiser of Grace to them that ask it God doth not render his Soveraignty formidable he shuts not up his Throne of Grace from any that seek him he invites man his Arms are open and the Scepter stretched out and no man continues under the arrest of his Lusts but he that is unwilling to be otherwise and such a one hath no reason to complain of God 3. His Soveraignty is manifest in disposing the means of Grace to some not to all He hath caus'd the Sun to shine bright in one place while he hath left others benighted and deluded by the Devils Oracles Why do the Evangelical dews fall in this or that place and not in another Why was the Gospel publisht in Rome so soon and not in Tartary Why hath it been extinguisht in some places as soon almost as it had been kindled in them Why hath one place been honoured with the beams of it in one age and been covered with darkness the next One Country hath been made a sphear for this Star that directs to Christ to move in and afterwards it hath been taken away and placed in another Sometimes more clearly it hath shone sometimes more darkly in the same place what is the reason of this 'T is true something of it may be referred to the Justice of God but much more to the Soveraignty of God That the Gospel is publisht latter and not sooner the Apostle tell us is according to the Commandement of the Everlasting God Rom. 16.26 1. The means of Grace after the Families from Adam became distinct were never granted to all the World After that fatal breach in Adam's Family by the death of Abel and Cain's separation we read not of the means of Grace continued among Cain's Posterity it seems to be continued in Adam's sole Family and not publisht in Societies till the time of Seth. Gen. 4.26 Then began men to call upon the Name of the Lord. It was continued in that Family till the Deluge which was 1523 years after the Creation according to some or 1656 years according to others After that when the World degenerated it was communicated to Abraham and setled in the posterity that descended from Jacob Though he left not the World without a witness of himself and some sprinklings of revelations in other parts as appears by the book of Job and the discourses of his Friends 2. The Jews had this priviledge granted them above other Nations to have a clearer Revelation of God God separated them from all the World to honour them with the depositum of his Oracles Rom. 3.2 To them were committed the Oracles of God In which regard all other Nations are said to be without God as being destitute of so great a priviledge Eph. 2.12 The Spirit blew in Canaan when the Lands about it felt not the saving breath of it He hath not dealt so with any Nation and as for his Judgments they have not known them Psal 147.20 The rest had no warnings from the Prophets no dictates from Heaven but what they had by the light of Nature the view of the works of Creation and the Administration of Providence and what remain'd among them of some ancient Traditions deriv'd from Noah which in tract of time were much defaced We read but
by theft from the Christian Granting many years indulgences upon slight performances the repeating so many Ave-Maries and Pater-Nosters in a day Canonizing Saints claiming the Keyes of Heaven and disposing of the honours and glory of it And proposing Creatures as objects of Religions Worship wherein he answers the Character of the Apostle 2 Thes 2.4 Shewing himself that he is God in challenging that power which is only the right of Divine Soveraignty exalting himself above God in indulging those things which the Law of God never allow'd but hath severely prohibited This controuling the Soveraignty of God not allowing him the rights of his Crown is the Soul and Spirit of many errors Why are the decrees of election and praeterition denyed because men will not acknowledge God the Soveraign disposer of his Creature Why is effectual calling and efficacious grace denyed because they will not allow God the proprietor and distributer of his own goods Why is the satisfaction of Christ deny'd because they will not allow God a power to vindicate his own Law in what way he pleaseth Most of the errors of men may be resolv'd into a denyal of God's Soveraignty All have a tincture of the first evil sentiment of Adam 2. The Soveraignty of God is contemned in the practices of men 1. As he is a Law-giver 1. When Laws are made and urg'd in any State contrary to the Law of God 'T is part of God's Soveraignty to be a Law-giver not to obey his Law is a breach made upon his right of Government But it is Treason in any against the Crown of God to Mint Laws with a stamp contrary to that of Heaven whereby they renounce their due subjection and vy with God for Dominion snatch the supremacy from him and account themselves more Lords than the Soveraign Monarch of the World When men will not let God be the Judge of good and evil but put in their own vote controuling his to establish their own Such are not content to be as Gods subordinate to the supream God to sit at his feet Nor co-ordinate with him to sit equal upon his Throne but paramount to him to over-top and shadow his Crown A boldness that leaves the serpent in the first temptation under the Character of a more commendable modesty who advised our first Parents to attempt to be as Gods but not above him and would enervate a Law of God but not enact a contrary one to be observ'd by them Such was the usurpation of Nebuchadnezzar to set up a Golden Image to be ador'd Dan. 3. as if he had power to mint Gods as well as to conquer men to set the stamp of a Deity upon a peice of Gold as well as his own Effigies upon his currant Coyn. Much of the same nature was that of Darius by the motion of his flatterers to prohibit any Petition to be made to God for the space of 30 dayes as though God was not to have a Worship without a License from a doting peice of clay Dan. 6.7 * Trap. in loc So Henry the Third of France by his Edict silenced Masters of Families from praying with their Houshoulds And it is a farther contempt of God's Authority when good men are opprest by the sole weight of power for not observing such Laws * Faucheur vol. 2. p. 663. 664. as if they had a real Soveraignty over the Consciences of men more than God himself When the Apostles were commanded by an Angel from God to preach in the Temple the Doctrine of Christ Act. 5.19 20. they were fetcht from thence with a Guard before the Councel v. 26. And what is the Language of those States-men to them as absolute as God himself could speak to any Transgressors of his Law ver 28. Did not we straitly command you that you should not teach in this Name 'T is sufficient that we gave you a command to be silent and publish no more this Doctrine of Jesus 'T is not for you to examine our decrees but rest in our order as Loyal Subjects and comply with your Rulers They might have added though it be with the damnation of your souls How would those over-rule the Apostles by no other reason but their absolute pleasure And though God had espous'd their cause by delivering them out of the Prison wherein they had lockt them the day before Yet not one of all this Councel had the wit or honesty to entitle it a fighting against God but Gamaliel ver 39. So foolishly fond are men to put themselves in the place of God and usurp a jurisdiction over mens Consciences And to presume that Laws made against the interest and command of God must be of more force than the Laws of God's enacting 2. The Soveraignty of God is contemn'd in making additions to the Laws of God The Authority of a Sovereign Law-giver is invaded and vilified when an inferior presumes to make orders equivalent to his Edicts 'T is a Praemunire against Heaven to set up an Authority distinct from that of God or to enjoyn any thing as necessary in matter of worship for which a Divine Commission cannot be shewn God was alway so tender of this part of his prerogative that he would not have any thing wrought in the Tabernacle not a Vessel not an instrument but what himself had prescribed Exod. 25.9 According to all that I shew thee after the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all the Instruments thereof even so shall ye make it which is strictly urg'd again ver 40. Look that thou make them after their pattern Look to it beware of doing any thing of thine own head and justling with my Authority It was so afterwards in the matter of the Temple which succeeded the Tabernacle God gave the model of it to David and made him understand in writing by his hand upon him even all the works of this pattern 1 Chron. 28.19 Neither the Royal Authority in Moses who was King in Jesurun nor in David who was a man after God's own heart and called to the Crown by a special and extraordinary providence nor Aaron and the High Priests his Successors invested in the Sacerdotal Office had any Authority from God to do any thing in the framing the Tabernacle or Temple of their own heads God barr'd them from any thing of that nature by giving them an exact pattern so dear to him was alwayes this flower of his Crown And afterwards the power of appointing Officers and Ordinances in the Church was delegated to Christ and was among the rest of those Royalties given to him which he fully compleated for the edifying of the body Ephes 4.11 12. And he hath the Elogy by the Spirit of God to be faithfull as Moses was in all his house to him that appointed him Heb. 3.2 Faithfulness in a trust implyes a punctual observing directions God was still so tender of this that even Christ the son should no more do any thing in this
own affections according to the holiness of his own Will As it is the effect of his power so it is an argument of his power the greatness of the effect demonstrates the fulness and sufficiency of the Cause The more feeble any man is in reason the less command he hath over his passions and he is the more heady to revenge Revenge is a sign of a Childish mind the stronger any man is in reason the more command he hath over himself Prov. 16.32 He that is slow to Anger is better than the mighty and he that rules his own Spirit than he that takes a City He that can restrain his Anger is stronger than the Coesars and Alexanders of the World that have fill'd the Earth with slain Carcasses and ruin'd Cities By the same reason God's slowness to Anger is a greater argument of his Power than the creating a World or the power of dissolving it by a Word In this he hath a Dominion over Creatures in the other over himself This is the reason he will not return to destroy because I am God and not Man Hosea 11.9 I am not so weak and impotent as man that cannot restrain his Anger This is a strength possessed only by a God wherein a Creature is no more able to parallel him than in any other So that he may be said to be the Lord of himself as it is in the verse before the Text that he is the Lord of Anger in the Hebrew instead of furious as we translate it so he is the Lord of Patience The end why God is Patient is to shew his Power Rom. 9.22 What if God willing to shew his Wrath and to make his Power known endured with much Long-suffering the Vessels of Wrath fitted to destruction To shew his Wrath upon Sinners and his Power over himself in bearing such indignities and forbearing punishment so long when men were vessels of wrath fitted for destruction of whom there was no hopes of amendment Had he immediately broken in peices those Vessels his power had not so eminently appear'd as it hath done in tolerating them so long that had provoked him to take them off so often There is indeed the power of his Anger and there is the power of his Patience and his power is more seen in his Patience than in his Wrath. 'T is no wonder that he that is above all is able to crush all But it is a wonder that he that is provok't by all doth not upon the first provocation rid his hands of all This is the reason why he did bear such a weight of provocations from vessels of wrath prepar'd for ruine that he might 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shew what he was able to do the Lordship and Royalty he had over himself The power of God is more manifest in his Patience to a multitude of Sinners than it could be in Creating Millions of Worlds out of nothing this was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a power over himself 5. This Patience being a branch of Mercy the exercise of it is founded in the Death of Christ Without the consideration of this we can give no account why Divine Patience should extend it self to us and not to the fallen Angels The threatning extends it self to us as well as to the fallen Angels The threatning must necessarily have sunk man as well as those glorious Creatures had not Christ stept into our relief * Testaâ—d de natur Grat. Thes 119. Had not Christ interposed to satisfie the Justice of God man upon his sin had been actually bound over to punishment as well as the fall'n Angels were upon theirs and been fettered in chains as strong as those Spirits feel The reason why man was not hurl'd into the same deplorable condition upon his sin as they were is Christs promise of taking our nature and not theirs Had God design'd Christ's taking their nature the same Patience had been exercised towards them and the same offers would have been made to them as are made to us In regard of these fruits of this Patience Christ is said to buy the wickedest Apostates from him 1 Pet. 2.1 Denying the Lord that bought them such were bought by him as bring upon themselves just destruction and whose damnation slumbers not ver 3. he purchased the continuance of their lives and the stay of their execution that offers of Grace might be made to them This Patience must be either upon the account of the Law or the Gospel for there are no other rules whereby God governs the World a fruit of the Law it was not that spake nothing but Curses after Disobedience not a letter of Mercy was writ upon that And therefore nothing of Patience Death and Wrath was denounced no slowness to Anger intimated It must be therefore upon the account of the Gospel and a fruit of the Covenant of Grace whereof Christ was Mediator Besides this perfection being God's waiting that he might be Gracious Isaiâ—h 30.18 that which made way for Gods Grace made way for his waiting to manifest it God discovered not his Grace but in Christ And therefore discovered not his Patience but in Christ 't is in him he met with the satisfaction of his Justice that he might have a ground for the manifestation of his Patience And the Sacrifices of the Law wherein the Life of a beast was accepted for the sin of a man discovered the ground of his forbearance of them to be the expectation of the great sacrifice whereby sin was to be compleatly expiated Gen. 8.21 The publication of his Patience to the end of the World is presently after the sweet savor he found in Noah's sacrifice The promised and design'd coming of Christ was the cause of that Patience God exercised before in the World And his gathering the Elect together is the reason of his Patience since his death 6. The naturalness of his Veracity and Holiness and the strictness of his Justice are no barrs to the exercise of his patience 1. His Veracity In those threatnings where the punishment is exprest but not the time of inflicting it prefixt and determined in the threatning his veracity suffers no dammage by the delaying Execution so it be once done though a long time after the credit of his Truth stands unshaken As when God promises a thing without fixing the time he is at liberty to pitch upon what time he pleases for the performance of it without staining his faithfulness to his Word by not giving the thing promised presently Why should the deferring of Justice upon an offender be any more against his Veracity than his delaying an answer to the petitions of a suppliant But the difference will lie in the threatning Gen. 2.17 In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death The time was there setled In that day thou shalt dye some referre day to eating not to dying and render the sentence thus I do not prohibit thee the eating this fruit for
315 And Wisdom Pag. 344 345 The Wisdom of God appears in his government of Man as Rational Pag. 352 ad 357 As Sinful Pag. 357 ad 366 As Restored Pag. 367 368 369 The Power of God appears in Natural government Pag. 445 ad 451 Moral Pag. 451 452 453 Gracious and Judicial Pag. 453 ad 456 The Goodness of God in it Pag. 645 ad 660 God only fit for it Pag. 395 396 477 478 551 †671 672 Doth actually manage it Pag. 396 672 ad 675 Is contemned Pag. 759 ad 763 Vide Laws Governour God's Dominion as such Pag. 741 ad 748 Grace the Power of God in planting it Pag. 467 ad 470 Vide Conversion And preserving it 471 V. Perseverance God's withdrawing it no blemish to his Holiness Pag. 536 537 538 Shall be perfected in the Upright Pag. 552 God exercises a Soveraignty in bestowing and denying it Pag. 731 ad 734 Means of Grace vide Means Graces must be acted in Worship Pag. 145 ad 149 We should examine how we acted them after it Pag. 163 Growth in Grace annex'd to true Sanctification Pag. 699 Should be labour'd after Pag. 563 564 H. HAbits Spiritual to be acted in Spiritual Worship Pag. 145 146 The rooting up Evil ones shews the Power of God Pag. 469 470 Christ's sitting at Gods Right Hand doth not prove the Ubiquity of his Human Nature Pag. 251 252 Hardness how God and how Man is the cause of it Pag. 536 537 Harmony of the Creatures shew the Being and Wisdom of God Pag. 21 ad 27 Heart of Man how curiously contrived Pag. 30 We should examine our selves how our Hearts are prepared for Worship Pag. 162 How they are fixed in it and how they are after it Pag. 162 163 164 God orders all Mens to his own ends Pag. 452 453 Heaven the enjoyment of God there will be always fresh and glorious Pag. 195 Why called God's Throne Pag. 257 Heavenly Bodies subservient to the good of the World Pag. 22 23 Hosea when he Prophesied Pag. 801 Holiness a necessary ingredient in Spiritual Worship Pag. 152 153 A glorious Perfection of God Pag. 495 Own'd to be so both by Heathens and Hereticks ibid. God cannot be conceiv'd without it Pag. 495 496 It hath an excellency above all his other Perfections Pag. 496 Most loftily and frequently sounded forth by the Angels ib. He Swears by it ib. 'T is his glory and life Pag. 496 497 The glory of all the rest Pag. 497 498 What it is and how distinguish'd from Righteousness Pag. 498 His Essential and necessary Perfection Pag. 498 499 God only absolutely Holy Pag. 499 450 Causes him to abhor all Sin necessarily intensly universally and perpetually Pag. 501 502 503 Inclines him to love it in others Pag. 503 551 552 So Great that he cannot positively will and encourage Sin in others or do it himself Pag. 504 505 506 Appears in his Creation Pag. 507 508 In his Government Pag. 508 ad 513 In Redemption Pag. 513 514 515 In Justification Pag. 515 516 In Regeneration Pag. 516 Defended in all his Acts about Sin Pag. 517 ad 540 How much it is contemned in the World and wherein Pag. 540 ad 546 To hate and scoff at it in others how great a Sin Pag. 543 544 Necessarily obliges him to punish Sin Pag. 547 548 And exact satisfaction for it Pag. 549 550 Fits him for the government of the World Pag. 551 †Comfortable to Holy men Pag. 552 †Shall be perfected in the Upright Pag. 552 We should get and preserve right and strong Apprehensions of it and the advantage of so doing Pag. 552 ad 556 We should glorifie God for it and how Pag. 556 557 558 And labour after a conformity to it and wherein Pag. 558 559 563 Motives to do so Pag. 559 ad 562 And Directions Pag. 563 We should labour to grow in it Pag. 563 564 Exert it in our Approaches to God Pag. 564 Seek it at his hands Pag. 564 565 Holy Ghost his Deity proved Pag. 476 Humility a necessary ingredient in Spiritual Worship Pag. 151 152 We should examine our selves about it after Worship Pag. 164 A Consideration of God's Eternity would promote it Pag. 197 198 199 And of his Knowledge Pag. 339 †And of his Wisdom Pag. 409 And of his Power Pag. 491 And of his Holiness Pag. 553 554 And of his Goodness Pag. 668 And his Soveraignty Pag. 775 776 Hypocrites their false Pretences a virtual denial of God's Knowledge Pag. 328 It is Terrible to them Pag. 335 336 I. IDleness 't is an abuse of Gods Mercies to make them an occasion of it Pag. 668 Idolatry of the Heathens proves the belief of a God to be Universal Pag. 6 7 The first Object of it was the Heavenly Bodies Pag. 15 Springs from unworthy Imaginations of God Pag. 95 Not countenanc'd by Gods Omnipresence Pag. 260 Springs from a want of due Notion of God's Infinite Power Pag. 480 A contempt of God's Dominion Pag. 759 Jehovah signifies God's Eternity Pag. 189 And his Immutability Pag. 217 God called so but once in the Book of Job Pag. 440 Image of God in Man consists not in external form and figure Pag. 119 120 Unreasonable to make any of him Pag. 120 121 122 123 'T is Idolatry so to do Pag. 123 The defacing it an injury to God's Holiness Pag. 541 542 Man at first made after it Pag. 607 Imaginations Men naturally have unworthy ones of God Pag. 94 Vain ones the cause of Idolatry and Superstition and Presumtion Pag. 95 96 Worse than Idolatry or Atheism Pag. 96 97 An injury to God's Holiness Pag. 541 Imitation of God Man naturally hath no desire of it Pag. 99 We should strive to imitate his Immutability in that which is good Pag. 238 239 In Holiness wherein and why and how Pag. 558 ad 563 And in Goodness Pag. 691 692 Immortal God is so Pag. 127 Vide Eternity of God Immutability a Property of God Pag. 208 'T is a Perfection Pag. 208 209 A glory belonging to all his Attributes Pag. 209 Necessary to him Pag. 209 210 God is Immutable in his Essence Pag. 210 211 In Knowledge Pag. 211 ad 214 In his Will though the things willed by him are not Pag. 214 215 216 This doth not infringe his liberty Pag. 216 Immutable in regard of place Pag. 216 217 Proved by Arguments Pag. 217 ad 220 397 477 Incommunicable to any Creature Pag. 221 222 517 518 Objections against it answered Pag. 222 ad 229 Ascribed to Christ Pag. 229 230 A ground and encouragement to Worship him Pag. 230 231 How contrary to God in it Man is Pag. 231 232 233 Terrible to Sinners Pag. 233 2â—4 Comfortable to the Righteous and wherein Pag. 234 235 236 An Argument for Patience Pag. 237 Should make us prefer God before all Creatures Pag. 237 We should imitate this his Immutability in Goodness Motives to it Pag. 238 239 Impatience of Men is great when God crosses them