the Moral Law was publisht had been a vain exhortation had there been no revelation of the mind of God in all Ages 2. The dominion of God is manifest in the extent of his Laws As he is the Governour and Soveraign of the whole World so he Enacts Laws for the whole World One Prince cannot make Laws for another unless he makes him his Subject by right of conquest Spain cannot make Laws for England or England for Spain But God having the supream Government as King over all is a Lawgiver to all to irrational as well as rational Creatures The Heavens have their Ordinances Job 38.33 All Creatures have a Law imprinted on their beings Rational Creatures have Divine Statutes Copied in their heart For men it is clear Rom. 2.14 Every Son of Adam at his coming into the World brings with him a Law in his nature and when reason clears it self up from the Clouds of sence he can make some difference between Good and Evil discern something of fit and just Every man finds a Law within him that checks him if he offends it Noââ ãâã without a legal indictment and a legal Executioner within them God ãâ¦ã was the Author of this as a Soveraign Lord in establishing a Law iâ man at the same time wherein as an Almighty Creator he imparted a being This Law proceeds from God's general power of governing as he is the Author of nature and binds not barely as it is the reason of man but by the Authority of God as it is a Law engraven on his Conscience And no doubt but a Law was given to the Angels God did not Govern those intellectual Creatures as he doth brutes and in a way inferior to his rule of Man Some sinned all might have sinned in regard of the changeableness of their nature Sin cannot be but against some rule Where there is no Law there is no Transgression what that Law was is not reveal'd but certainly it must be the same in part with the Moral Law so far as it agreed with their spiritual natures a love to God a Worship of him and a love to one another in their Societies and Persons 3. The dominion of God is manifest in the reason of some Laws which seem to be nothing else than purely his own Will Some Laws there are for which a reason may be rendered from the nature of the thing enjoyned as to Love Honour and Worship God For others none but this God will have it so such was that positive Law to Adam of not eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil Gen. 2.17 which was meerly an asserting his own dominion and was different from that Law of Nature God had written in his heart No other reason of this seems to us but a resolve to try mans Obedience in away of absolute Soveraignty and to manifest his right over all Creatures to reserve what he pleased to himself and permit the use of what he pleased to man and to signifie to man that he was to depend on him who was his Lord and not on his own will There was no more hurt in it self for Adam to have eaten of that than of any other in the Garden the Fruit was pleasant to the Eye and Good for Food but God would shew the right he had over his own goods and his Authority over man to reserve what he pleases of his own Creation from his touch that since man could not claim a propriety in any thing he was to meddle with nothing but by the leave of his Soveraign either discovered by a special or general License Thus God shewed himself the Lord of Man and that man was but his Steward to act by his Orders If God had forbidden man the use of more Trees in the Garden his command had been just Since as a Soveraign Lord he might dispose of his own Goods and when he had granted him the whole compass of that pleasant Garden and the whole World round about for him and his posterity it was a more tolerable exercise of his dominion to reserve this one Tree as a mark of his Soveraignty when he had left all others to the use of Adam He reserv'd nothing to himself as Lord of the Manour but this and Adam was prohibited nothing else but this one as a sign of his subjection Now for this no reason can be rendered by any man but meerly the Will of God this was meerly a fruit of his Dominion For the moral Laws a reason may be rendred to Love God hath reason to enforce it besides Gods Will viz. The Excellency of his Nature and the greatness and multitudes of his benefits To love our Neighbour hath enforcing reasons viz. the Conjunction in blood and the preservation of humane Society and the need we may stand in of their love our selves But no reason can be assign'd of this positive command about the Tree of knowledge of good and evil but meerly the pleasure of God It was a branch of his pure dominion to try mans Obedience and a mark of his Goodness to try it by so easie and light a precept when he might have extended his Authority further Had not God given this or the like order his absolute dominion had not been so conspicuous 'T is true Adam had a Law of Nature in him whereby he was obliged to perpetual Obedience and though it was a part of God's dominion to implant it in him yet his supream dominion over the Creatures had not been so visible to man but by this or a precept of the same kind What was commanded or prohibited by the Law of Nature did bespeak a comeliness in it self it appear'd Good or Evil to the reason of man but this was neither Good nor Evil in it self it receiv'd its sole Authority from the absolute Will of God and nothing could result from the fruit it self as a reason why man should not tast it but only the sole Will of God And as God's dominion was most conspicuous in this precept so man's obedience had been most eminent in observing it For in his obedience to it nothing but the sole power and Authority of God which is the proper rule of obedience could have been respected not any reason from the thing it self To this we may referre some other Commands as that of appointing the time of solemn and public Worship the seventh day though the Worship of God be a part of the Law of Nature yet the appointing a particular day wherein he would be more formally and solemnly acknowledged than on other days was grounded upon his absolute right of Legislation For there was nothing in the time it self that could render that day more Holy than another though God respected his finishing the work of Creation in his institution of that day Gen. 2.3 Such were the Ceremonial Commands of Sacrifices and Washings under the Law and the Commands of Sacraments under the Gospel The one to last till the first
of Good and Evil in the Consciences of men which is evident by those Laws which are common in all Countries for the preserving human societies the encouragment of Vertue and discouragement of Vice What Standard should they have for those Laws but a common reason The designe of those Laws was to keep men within the bounds of Goodness for mutual commerce whence the Apostle calls the Heathen Magistrate a Minister of God for Good Rom. 13.4 and the Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the Law Rom. 2.14 Man in the first instant of the use of reason finds natural principles within himself directing and choosing them he finds a distinction between good and evil how could this be if there were not some rule in him to try and distinguish good and evil If there were not such a law and rule in man he could not sin for where there is no Law there is no transgression If man were a Law to himself and his own will his Law there could be no such thing as evil whatsoever he willed would be good and agreeable to the Law and no action could be accounted sinful The worst act would be as commendable as the best Every thing at mans appointment would be good or evil If there were no such Law how should men that are naturally inclined to evil disapprove of that which is unlovely and approve of that good which they practise not No man but inwardly thinks well of that which is good while he neglects it and thinks ill of that which is evil while he commits it Those that are vitious do praise those that practise the contrary vertues Those that are evil would seem to be good and those that are blameworthy yet will rebuke evil in others This is really to distinguish between good and evil whence doth this arise by what rule do we measure this but by some innate principle And this is universal the same in one man as in another the same in one Nation as in another they are born with every man and inseparable from his nature Prov. 27.19 As in water face answers to face so the heart of man to man Common reason supposeth that there is some hand which hath fixed this distinction in man How could it else be universally imprest No Law can be without a Law-giver no sparks but must be kindled by some other Whence should this Law then derive its original Not from man he would fain blot it out and cannot alter it when he pleases Natural generation never intended it t is setled therefore by some higher hand which as it imprinted it so it maintains it against the violences of men who were it not for this Law would make the world more than it is an Aceldema and field of blood For had there not been some supream good the measure of all other goodness in the world we could not have had such a thing as good The Scripture gives us an account that this good was distinguisht from evil before man fell they were objecta scibilia good was commanded and evil prohibited and did not depend upon man From this a man may rationally be instructed that there is a God For he may thus argue I find my self naturally obliged to do this thing and avoid that I have therfore a superior that doth oblige me I find something within me that directs me to such actions contrary to my sensitive appetite there must be something above me therefore that put this principle into mans nature If there were no superior I should be the supream Judge of good and evil Were I the Lord of that Law which doth oblige me I should find no contradiction within my self between reason and appetite 2. From the Transgression of this law of nature fears do arise in the Consciences of men Have we not known or heard of men struck by so deep a dart that could not be drawn out by the strength of men or appeased by the pleasure of the world and men crying out with horrour upon a death-bed of their past life when their fear hath come as a desolation and destruction as a whirlewind Prov. 1.27 And often in some sharp affliction the dust hath been blown off from mens Consciences which for a while hath obscured the writing of the law If men stand in awe of punishment there is then some superior to whom they are accountable If there were no God there were no punishment to fear What reason of any fear upon the dissolution of the knot between the Soul and body if there were not a God to punish and the Soul remained not in being to be punished How suddenly will Conscience work upon the appearance of an affliction rouze it self from sleep like an armed man and fly in a mans face before he is aware of it It will surprize the Hipocrites Isa. 38.14 It will bring to mind actions committed long ago and set them in order before the face as Gods deputy acting by his authority and Omniscience As God hath not left himself without a witness among the Creatures Acts 14.17 So he hath not left himself without a witness in a mans own breast 1. This operation of Conscience hath been universal No Nation hath been any more exempt from it than from reason Not a man but hath one time or other more or less smarted under the sting of it All over the world Conscience hath shot its darts It hath torn the hearts of Princes in the midst of their pleasures It hath not flattered them whom most men flatter nor feared to disturb their rest whom no man dares to provoke Judges have trembled on a Tribunal when Innocents have rejoyced in their condemnation The Iron bars upon Pharaohs Conscience were at last broke up and he acknowledged the Justice of God in all that he did Exod. 9.27 I have sinned the Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked Had they been like Childish frights at the apprehension of bug-bears why hath not reason shaken them off But on the contrary the stronger reason grows the smarter those lashes are Groundless fears had been short liv'd Age and Judgement would have worn them off but they grow sharper with the growth of persons The Scripture informs us they have been of as ancient a date as the revolt of the first man Gen. 3.10 I was afraid saith Adam beecause I was naked which was an expectation of the Judgment of God All his posterity inherit his fears when God expresseth himself in any tokens of his Majesty and Providence in the world Every mans Conscience testifies that he is unlike what he ought to be according to that law engraven upon his heart In some indeed Conscience may be feared or dimmer or suppose some men may be devoid of Conscience shall it be denyed to be a thing belonging to the nature of Man Some Men have not their eyes yet the power of seeing the light is natural to Man and belongs to the
the course of their actions so God alters things extra se or without himself but changes nothing of his own purpose within himself It rather notes the action he is about to do than any thing in his own nature or any change in his eternal purpose Gods repenting of his kindness is nothing but an inflicting of punishment which the Creature by the change of his carriage hath merited As his repenting of the evil threatned is the witholding the punishment denounced when the Creature hath humbly submitted to his Authority and acknowledged his crime Or else we may understand those expressions of joy and grief and repentance to signifie thus much * Daille in Sermon on 2 Pet. 3.9 pa. 60. that the things declared to be the objects of joy and grief and repentance are of that nature that if God were capable of our passions he would discover himself in such cases as we do As when the Prophets mention the joys and applaudings of Heaven Earth and the Sea they only signifie that the things they speak of are so good that if the Heavens and the Sea had natures capable of joy they would express it upon that occasion in such a manner as we do So would God have joy at the obedience of men and grief at the unworthy carriage of men and repent of his kindness when men abuse it and repent of his punishment when men reform under his rod were the Majesty of his nature capable of such affections 4. Proposition The not fulfilling of some predictions in Scripture which seem to imply a changeableness of the Divine Will do not argue any change in it As when he reprieved Hezekiah from death after a message sent by the Prophet Isaiah that he should die * 2 Kings 20.1 5. Isa 38.1.5 and when he made an arrest of that Judgment he had threatned by Jonah against Niniveh * Jon. 3.4 10. There is not indeed the same reason of promises and threatnings altogether for in promising the obligation lies upon God and the right to demand is in the party that performs the condition of the promise But in threatnings the obligation lies upon the sinner and God's right to punish is declared thereby So that tho God doth not punish his Will is not changed because his Will was to declare the demerit of sin and his right to punish upon the Commission of it tho he may not punish according to the strict letter of the threatning the person sinning but relax his own law for the honour of his attributes and transfer the punishment from the offender to a person substituted in his room this was the case in the first threatning against man and the substituting a surety in the place of the Malefactor But the answer to these cases is this * Rivet in Genes exerciââ 51. pa. 213. that where we find predictions in Scripture declared and yet not executed we must consider them not as absolute but conditional or as the Civil Law calls it an interlocutory Sentence God declared what would follow by natural causes or by the demerit of man not what he would absolutely himself do And in many of those predictions tho the condition be not exprest yet it is to be understood so the promises of God are to be understood with the condition of perseverance in well doing and threatnings with a clause of revocation annext to them provided that men repent And this God lays down as a general case alway to be remembred as a rule for the interpreting his threatnings against a Nation and the same reason will hold in threatnings against a particular person Jer. 18.7.8 9 10. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and pull down and destroy it If that Nation against whom I have pronounc'd turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them and so when he speaks of planting a Nation if they do evil he will repent of the good c. T is a Vniversal rule by which all particular cases of this nature are to be tried so that when mans repentance arrives God remains firm in his first Will always equal to himself and it is not he that changes but man For since the interposition of the Mediator with an eye to whom God governed the world after the fall the right of punishing was taken off if men repented and mercy was to flow out if by a conversion men returned to their duty Ezek. 18.20 21. This I say is grounded upon Gods entertaining the Mediator for the Covenant of works discovered no such thing as repentance or pardon Now these general rules are to be the interpreters of particular cases So that predictions of good are not to be counted absolute if men return to evil nor predictions of evil if men be thereby reduced to a repentance of their crimes So Niniveh shall be destroyed that is according to the general rule unless the inhabitants repent which they did they manifested a belief of the threatning and gave glory to God by giving credit to the Prophet and they had a notion of this rule God lays down in the other Prophets for they had an apprehension that upon their humbling themselves they might escape the threatned vengeance and stop the shooting those Arrows that were ready in the Bow * Sandersân's Sermon par 2. p. 157 158. Though Jonah proclamed destruction without declaring any hopes of an arrest of Judgment yet their natural Notion of God afforded some natural hopes of relief if they did their duty and spurned not against the Prophet's message and therefore saith one * Sandersân's Sermon par 2. p. 157 158. God did not always express this condition because it was needless his own Rule revealed in Scripture was sufficient to some and the natural Notion all men had of Gods Goodness upon their Repentance made it not absolutely necessary to declare it And besides saith he it is bootless The expressing it can do but little good secure ones will repent never the sooner but rather presume upon their hopes of Gods forbearance and linger out their Repentance till it be too late And to work men to Repentance whom he hath purposed to spare he threatens them with terrible Judgments which by how much the more terrible and peremptory they are are likely to be more effectual for that end God in his purpose designes them viz. to humble them under a sense of their demerit and an acknowledgment of his righteous Justice and therefore though they be absolutely denounced yet they are to be conditionally interpreted with a reservation of Repentance As for that Answer which one gives that by forty days was not meant forty Natural days but forty Prophetical days that is years a day for a year and that the City was destroyed forty years after by the Medes The expression of Gods repenting upon their Humiliation puts a Bar to that
good evil is present with me * Rom. 7.21 Never more present than when we have a mind to do good and never more present than when we have a mind to do the best and greatest good How hard is it to make our thoughts and affections keep their stand place them upon a good Object and they will be frisking from it as a Bird from one bough one fruit to another We vary postures according to the various objects we meet with The course of the World is a very airy thing suted to the uncertain motions of that Prince of the power of the Air which works in it * Eph. 2.2 This ought to be bewail'd by us Tho we may stand fast in the truth tho we may spin our resolutions into a firm web tho the Spirit may triumph over the flesh in our practice yet we ought to bewail it because inconstancy is our nature and what fixedness we have in good is from grace What we find practised by most men is natural to all * Lawrence of Faith p. 262. As face answers to face in a glass so doth heart to heart * Pro. 27.19 a face in the glass is not more like a natural face whose image it is than one mans heart is naturally like another 1. 'T is natural to those out of the Church Nebuchadnezzar is so affected with Daniels prophetick Spirit that he would have none accounted the true God but the God of Daniel * Dan. 2.47 How soon doth this notion slip from him and an image must be set up for all to worship upon pain of almost cruel painful death Daniels God is quite forgotten The miraculous deliverance of the three Children for not worshipping his Image makes him settle a Decree to secure the Honour of God from the reproach of his Subjects * Dan. 3.29 yet a little while after you have him strutting in his Palace as if there were no God but himself 2. 'T is natural to those in the Church The Israelites were the only Church God had in the World and a notable Example of inconstancy After the Miracles of Aegypt they murmured against God when they saw Pharaoh marching with an Army at their Heels They desired food and soon nauseated the Manna they were before fond of when they came into Canaan They sometimes worshipped God and sometimes Idols not only the Idols of one Nation but of all their Neighbours In which regard God calls this his Heritage a Speckled Bird * Jer. 12.9 a Peacock saith Hierom inconstant made up of varieties of Idolatrous colours and Ceremonies This levity of Spirit is the root of all mischeif it scatters our thoughts in the Service of God it is the cause of all revolts and Apostacies from him it makes us unfit to receive the communications of God whatsoever we hear is like words writ in sand ruffled out by the next gale whatsoever is put into us is like precious liquor in a palsie hand soon spilt It breeds distrust of God when we have an uncertain judgment of him we are not like to confide in him an uncertain judgment will be followed with a distrustful heart In fine where it is prevalent it is a certain sign of ungodliness to be driven with the wind like chaffe and to be ungodly is all one in the judgment of the Holy Ghost Psal 1.4 the ungodly are like the chaff which the wind drives away which signifies not their destruction but their disposition for their destruction is inferred from it ver 5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment How contrary is this to the unchangeable God who is alwayes the same and would have us the same in our religious Promises and Resolutions for good 4. If God be immutable 't is sad news to those that are resolved in wickedness or careless of returning to that duty he requires Sinners must not expect that God will alter his will make a breach upon his nature and violate his own Word to gratifie their lusts No 't is not reasonable God should dishonour himself to secure them and cease to be God that they may continue to be wicked by changing his own nature that they may be unchanged in their vanity God is the same goodness is as amiable in his sight and Sin as abominable in his eyes now as it was at the beginning of the world Being the same God he is the same Enemy to the Wicked as the same Friend to the Righteous He is the same in Knowledge and cannot forget sinful acts He is the same in Will and cannot approve of unrighteous Practices Goodness cannot but be alway the Object of his Love and Wickedness cannot but be alway the Object of his Hatred And as his aversion to Sin is alway the same so as he hath been in his Judgments upon Sinners the same he will be still for the same perfection of Immutability belongs to his Justice for the punishment of Sin as to his Holiness for his disaffection to Sin Though the Covenant of Works was changeable by the crime of man violating it yet it was unchangeable in regard of Gods justice vindicating it which is inflexible in the punishment of the breaches of his Law The Law had a preceptive part and a minatory part When man changed the observation of the Precept the righteous nature of God could not null the execution of the threatning He could not upon the account of this perfection neglect his just word and countenance the unrighteous transgression Tho there were no more rational Creatures in being but Adam and Eve yet God subjected them to that death he had assured them of and from this immutability of his Will ariseth the necessity of the suffering of the Son of God for the relief of the apostate Creature His Will in the second Covenant is as uncâaââeable as that in the first only repentance is settled as the condition of the second which was not indulged in the first and without repentance the sinner must iââvoââbly pârish or God must change his nature There must be a change in man there can be nâââe in God his bow is bent his arrows are ready if the wicked do not turn * Psal 7.11 There is not an Atheist an hypocrite a prophane person that ever was upon the Earth but Gods Soul abhorred him as such and the like he will abhor for ever While any therefore continue so they may sooner expect the Heavens should roul as they please the Sun stand still at their order the Stars change their course at their beck than that God should change his nature which is opposite to prophaness and vanity Who hath hardned himself against him and hath prospered * Job 9.4 Use 2. Of comfort The immutability of a good God is a strong ground of consolation Subjects wish a good Prince to live for ever as being loath to change him but care not how soon they are rid of an Oppressor
before it was Immense before it had no bounds and would God make a World that he would be ashamed to be present with and continue it to the diminution and lessening of himself rather than annihilate it to avoid the disparagement This were to impeach the Wisdom of God and cast a blemish upon his infinite Understanding that he knows not the consequences of his Work or is well contented to be impaired in the immensity of his own Essence by it No man thinks it a dishonour to Light a most excellent Creature to be present with a Toad or Serpent and tho' there be an infinite disproportion between Light a Creature and the Father of Lights the Creator Yet * Gassend God being a Spirit knows how to be with Bodies as if they were not Bodies And being jealous of his own Honor would not could not do any thing that might impair it 4. Nor will it follow That because God is Essentially every where that every thing is God God is not every where by any conjunction composition or mixture with any thing on Earth when Light is in every part of a Chrystal Globe and encircles it close on every side do they become one No the Chrystal remains what it is and the Light retains its own nature God is not in us as a part of us but as an efficient and preserving Cause 't is not by his Essential Presence but his efficacious Presence that he brings any person into a likeness to his own Nature God is so in his Essence with things as to be distinct from them as a Cause from the Effect as a Creator different from the Creature preserving their Nature not communicating his own his Essence touches all is in conjunction with none Finite and Infinite cannot be joyn'd he is not far from us therefore near to us so near that we live and move in him * Acts 17.27 Nothing is God because it moves in him any more than a Fish in the Sea is the Sea or a part of the Sea because it moves in it Doth a man that holds a thing in the hollow of his hand Amyrald de Trinit p. 99. 100. transform it by that action and make it like his hand The Soul and Body are more straitly united than the Essence of God is by his Presence with any Creature The Soul is in the Body as a form in matter and from their Union doth arise a man yet in this near conjunction both Body and Soul remain distinct the Soul is not the Body nor the Body the Soul they both have distinct natures and essences the Body can never be changed into a Soul nor the Soul into a Body no more can God into the Creature or the Creature into God Fire is in heated Iron in every part of it so that it seems to be nothing but Fire yet is not Fire and Iron the same thing But such a kind of arguing against Gods Omnipresence that if God were Essentially present every thing would be God would exclude him from Heaven as well as from Earth By the same reason since they acknowledge God essentially in Heaven the Heaven where he is should be chang'd into the nature of God and by arguing against his Presence in Earth upon this ground they run such an inconvenience that they must own him to be no where and that which is no where is nothing Doth the Earth become God because God is Essentially there any more than the Heavens where God is acknowledged by all to be Essentially present Again if where God is Essentially that must be God then if they place God in a Point of the Heavens not only that Point must be God but all the World because if that point be God because God is there then the Point touched by that Point must be God and so consequently as far as there are any Points touched by one another We live and move in God so we live and move in the Air we are no more God by that than we are meer Air because we breathe in it and it enters into all the Pores of our Body Nay where there was a straiter Union of the Divine Nature to the Humane in our Saviour yet the Nature of both was distinct and the Humanity was not chang'd into the Divinity nor the Divinity into the Humanity 5. Nor doth it follow that because God is every where therefore a Creature may be worshipt without Idolatry Some of the Heathens who acknowledged Gods Omnipresence abus'd it to the countenancing Idolatry because God was resident in every thing they thought every thing might be Worshipped and some have usd it as an Argument against this Doctrine the best Doctrines may by mens corruption be drawn out into unreasonable and pernicious conclusions Have you not met with any That from the Doctrine of Gods Free Mercy and our Saviours satisfactory Death have drawn Poyson to feed their Lusts and consume their Souls a Poyson compos'd by their own corruption and not offer'd by those Truths The Apostle intimates to us that some did or at least were ready to be more lavish in sinning because God was abundant in Grace Rom. 6.1 2.15 Shall we Sin because we are not under the Law but under Grace Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound when he prevents an Objection that he thought might be made by some But as to this Case since tho' God be present in every thing yet every thing retains its nature distinct from the Nature of God therefore it is not to have a Worship due to the Excellency of God As long as any thing remains a Creature 't is only to have the respect from us which is due to it in the rank of Creatures When a Prince is present with his Guard or if he should go Arm in Arm with a Peasant is therefore the Veneration and Honor due to the Prince to be paid to the Peasant or any of his Guard would the Presence of the Prince excuse it or would it not rather aggravate it he acknowledged such a person equal to me by giving him my Rights even in my Sight Tho' God dwelt in the Temple would not the Israelites have been accounted guilty of Idolatry had they Worshipped the Images of the Cherubims or the Ark or the Altar as objects of Worship which were erected only as means for his Service Is there not as much reason to think God was as Essentially present in the Temple as in Heaven since the same Expressions are used of the one and the other the Sanctuary is called the Glorious High Throne * Jer. 17.13 and he is said to dwell between the Cherubims â Psal 80.1 i. e. the two Cherubims that were at the two ends of the Mercy Seat appointed by God as the two sides of his Throne in the Sanctuary Exod. 25.18 where he was to dwell ver 8. and meet and commune with his people ver 22. Could this excuse Manasseh's Idolatry
derive all good to us Had he not been Man we had had no share or part in him A Satisfaction by him had not been imputed to us If he were not God he could not communicate to us Divine Graces and Eternal Happiness he could not have had power to convey so great a good to us had he been only Man and he could not have done it according to the Rule of inflexible righteousness had he been only God As Man he is the way of Conveyance as God he is the spring of Conveyance From this Grace of Union and the Grace of Unction we find Rivers of Waters flowing to make glad the City of God Believers are his Branches and draw Sap from him as he is their Root in his Human Nature and have an endless duration of it from his Divine Had he not been Man he had not been in a state to obey the Law Had he not been God as well as Man his Obedience could not have been valuable to be imputed to us How should this Mystery be studied by us which would afford us both Admiration and Content Admiration in the incomprehensibleness of it Contentment in the fitness of the Mediator By this Wisdom of God we receive the props of our Faith and the fruits of Joy and Peace Wisdom consists in chusing fit means and conducting them in such a method as may reach with good success the variety of Marks which are aimed at Thus hath the Wisdom of God set forth a Mediator suted to our wants fitted for our supplies and ordered so the whole Affair by the union of these two Natures in the Person of the Redeemer that there could be no disappointment by all the bustle Hell and hellish Instruments could raise against it 4. The Wisdom of God is seen in this way of Redemption in vindicating the Honour and Righteousness of the Law both as to Precept and Penalty The first and irreversible design of the Law was Obedience The Penalty of the Law had only entrance upon Transgression Obedience was the design and the Penalty was added to enforce the observance of the Precept Gen. 2.17 Thou shalt not eat there is the Precept In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye There is the Penalty Obedience was our Debt to the Law as Creatures Punishment was due from the Law to us as Sinners We were bound to endure the Penalty for our first Transgression but the Penalty did not Cancel the Bond of future Obedience The Penalty had not been incurr'd without transgressing the Precept yet the Precept was not abrogated by enduring the Penalty Since Man so soon revolted and by his Revolt fell under the threatning the Justice of the Law had been honoured by Man's sufferings but the holinesse and equity of the Law had been honoured by mans Obedience The Wisdom of God finds out a Medium to satisfie both The Justice of the Law is preserved in the Execution of the Penalty and the Holiness of the Law is honoured in the observance of the Precept The Life of our Saviour is a Conformity to the Precept and his Death is a Conformity to the Penalty the Precepts are exactly performed and the Curse punctually executed by a voluntary observing the one and a voluntary undergoing the other It is obeyed as if it had not been transgrest and executed as if it had not been obeyed It became the Wisdom Justice and Holiness of God as the Rector of the World to exact it Heb. 2.10 and it became the holiness of the Mediator to fulfill all the righteousness of the Law â Rom. 8.3 Matth. 3.15 And thus the Honour of the Law was vindicated in all the parts of it The Transgression of the Law was Condemned in the Flesh of the Redeemer and the Righteousness of the Law was fulfilled in his Person And both these acts of Obedience being counted as one Righteousness and imputed to the believing sinner render him a subject to the Law both in its preceptive and minatory part By Adams sinful acting we were made sinners and by Christ's righteous acting we are made righteous Rom. 5.10 As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous The Law was obeyed by him that the righteousness of it might be fulfilled in us Rom. 8.4 'T is not fulfilled in us or in our actions by inherency but fulfilled in us by imputation of that righteousness which was exactly fulfilled by another As he died for us and rose again for us so he lived for us The Commands of the Law were as well observed for us as the Threatnings of the Law were endured for us This justification of a sinner with the preservation of the holiness of the Law in truth in the inward parts in sincerity of intention as well as conformity in action is the wisdom of God the Gospel-wisdom which David desires to know Psal 51.6 Thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom or as some render it the hidden things of wisdom Not an inherent wisdom in the acknowledgments of his sin which he had confest before but the wisdom of God in providing a Medicine so as to keep up the holiness of the Law in the observance of it in Truth and the averting the Judgment due to the sinner In and by this way methodiz'd by the wisdom of God all doubs and troubles are discharg'd Naturally if we take a view of the Law to behold its Holiness and Justice and then of our hearts to see the contrariety in them to the command and the pollution repugnant to its holiness and after this cast our eyes upward and behold a flaming Sword edg'd with Curses and Wrath Is there any matter but that of terrour afforded by any of these But when we behold in the life of Christ a conformity to the Mandatory part of the Law and in the Cross of Christ a sustaining the minatory part of the Law this wisdom of God gives a well-grounded and rational dismiss to all the horrours that can seize upon us 5. The wisdom of God in Redemption is visible in manifesting two contrary Affections at the same time and in one act The greatest hatred of Sin and the greatest love to the Sinner In this way he punishes the sin without ruining the sinner and repairs the ruins of the sinner without indulging the sin Here is eternal love and eternal hatred a condemning the sin to what it merited and an advancing the sinner to what he could not expect Herein is the choicest love and the deepest hatred manifested An implacableness against the sin and a placableness to the sinner His hatred of sin hath been discovered in other ways in punishing the Devil without remedy sentencing Man to an expulsion from Paradise though seduced by another in accursing the Serpent an irrational Creature though but a misguided Instrument The whole tenor of his Threatnings declare
no more in mind of the Holiness of God and the Holiness of his Law 't is a troublesom thing for us to hear of it Let him be gone from us since he will not countenance our Vices and indulge our Crimes We would rather hear there is no God than you should tell us of a Holy one We are contrary to the Law when we wish it were not so exact and therefore contrary to the Holiness of God which set the stamp of Exactness and Righteousness upon it We think him Injurious to our Liberty when by his Precept he thwarts our Pleasure we wish it of another frame more mild more sutable to our Minds 'T is the same as if we should openly blame God for consulting with his own Righteousness and not with our Humors before he setled his Law that he should not have drawn it from the depths of his Righteous Nature but squar'd it to accommodate our Corruption This being the language of such Complaints is a reproving God because he would not be Unholy that we might be Unrighteous with Impunity Had the Divine Law been suted to our Corrupt state God must have been Unholy to have complied with his Rebellious Creature To charge the Law with rigidness either in Language or Practice is the highest contempt of Gods Holiness for it is an Implicit Wish that God were as defil'd polluted disorderly as our Corrupted Selves 10 The Holiness of God is injur'd Opinionatively 1. In the Opinion of Venial sins The Romanists divide Sins into Venial and Mortal Mortal are those which deserve Eternal Death Venial the lighter sort of Sins which rather deserve to be pardon'd than punish'd or if punish'd not with an Eternal but Temporal Punishment This Opinion hath no foundation in but is contrary to Scripture How can any Sin be in its own nature Venial when the due Wages of every Sin is death Rom. 6.23 and he who continues not in every thing that the Law commands falls under a Curse Gal. 3.10 'T is a mean thought of the Holiness and Majesty of God to imagine that any Sin which is against an Infinite Majesty and as Infinite a Purity both in the Nature of God and the Law of God should not be considered as infinitely hainous All Sins are Transgressions of the Eternal Law and in every one the Infinite Holiness of God is some way slighted 2. In the Opinion of Works of Supererogation That is such Works as are not commanded by God which yet have such a dignity and worth in their own nature that the Performers of them do not only merit at Gods hands for themselves but fill up a Treasure of Merits for others that come short of fulfilling the Precepts God hath enjoyn'd 'T is such a mean thought of Gods Holiness that the Jews in all the Charges brought against them in Scripture were never guilty of And if you consider what pitiful things they are which are within the compass of such Works you have sufficient reason to bewail the Ignorance of Man and the low esteem he hath of so glorious a Perfection The Whipping themselves often in a Week extraordinary Watchings Fastings Macerating their Bodies wearing a Capuchins Habit c. are pitiful things to give content to an Infinite Purity As if the Precept of God requir'd only the Inferiour degrees of Vertue and the Counsels the more high and excellent as if the Law of God which the Psalmist counts perfect â Psal 19.7 did not command all Good and forbid all Evil as if the Holiness of God had forgotten it self in the framing the Law and made it a scanty and defective Rule and the Righteousness of a Creature were not only able to make an Eternal Righteousness but surmount it As Man would be at first as knowing as God so some of his Posterity would be more holy than God set up a Wisdom against the Wisdom of God and a Purity above the Divine Purity Adam was not so presumptuous he intended no more than an equalling God in Knowledge but those would exceed him in Righteousness and not only presume to render a Satisfaction for themselves to the Holiness they have injur'd but to make a Purse for the supply of others that are Indigent that they may stand before the Tribunal of God with a Confidence in the Imaginary Righteousness of a Creature How horrible is it for those that come short of the Law of God themselves to think that they can have enough for a Loan to their Neighbours An unworthy Opinion 2. Information It may Inform us how great is our Fall from God and how distant we are from him View the Holiness of God and take a prospect of the Nature of Man and be astonished to see a Person created in the Divine Image degenerated into the Image of the Devil We are as far fallen from the Holiness of God which consists in a Hatred of Sin as the lowest Point of the Earth is from the highest Point of the Heavens The Devil is not more fallen from the rectitude of his Nature and likeness to God than we are and that we are not in the same condition with those Apostate Spirits is not from any thing in our Nature but from the Mediation of Christ upon which account God hath indulged in us a continuance of some Remainders of that which Satan is wholly deprived of We are departed from our Original Pattern we were created to live the life of God that is a life of Holiness but now we are alienated from the life of God * Eph. 4.18 and of a beautiful piece we are become deformed daub'd over with the most defiling Mud We work uncleaness with greediness according to our ability as Creatures as God doth work Holiness with affection and ardency according to his Infiniteness as Creator More distant we are from God by reason of Sin than the vilest Creature the most deform'd Toad or poysonous Serpent is from the highest and most glorious Angel By forsaking our Innocence we departed from God as our Original Copy The Apostle might well say Rom. 3.23 that by Sin we are come short of the glory of God Interpreters trouble themselves much about that place Man is come short of the glory of God that is of the Holiness of God which is the glory of the Divine Nature and was pictur'd in the Rational Innocent Creature By the Glory of God is meant the Holiness of God As 1 Cor. 3.18 Beholding as in a glass the Glory of the Lord we are changed into the same Image from glory to glory that is the Glory of God in the Text into the Image of which we are changed but the Scripture speaks of no other Image of God but that of Holiness We are come short of the glory of God of the Holiness of God which is the glory of God and the Image of it which was the glory of Man By Sin which is particular in opposition to the Purity of God Man was left
for the neglect of its Honour 6. Information Hence it will follow There is no justification of a Sinner by any thing in himself After Sin had set foot in the World Man could present nothing to God acceptable to him or bearing any proportion to the Holiness of his Law till God set forth a Person upon whose account the Acceptation of our Persons and Services is founded Ephes 1.6 Who hath made us accepted in the Beloved The Infinite Purity of God is so glorious that it shames the Holiness of Angels as the light of the Sun dims the light of the Fire Much more will the Righteousness of Fallen Man who is Vile and drinks up Iniquity like water vanish into Nothing in his Presence With what Self-abasement and Abhorrence ought he to be possessed that comes as short of the Angels in Purity as a Dunghill doth of a Star The highest Obedience that ever was perform'd by any meer Man since Lapsed Nature cannot challenge any acceptance with God or stand before so exact an Inquisition What Person hath such a clear Innocence and unspotted Obedience in such a Perfection as in any degree to sute the Holiness of the Divine Nature Psal 143.2 Enter not into judgment with thy Servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified If God should debate the case simply with Man in his own Person without respecting the Mediator he were not able to answer one of a thousand Though we are his Servants as David was and perform a sincere Service yet there are many little Motes and Dust of Sin in the best Works that cannot lie undiscover'd from the Eye of his Holiness And if we come short in the least of what the Law requires we are guilty of all * James 2.10 So that in thy sight shall no man living be justified In the sight of thy Infinite Holiness which hates the least spot in the sight of thy Infinite Justice which punishes the least Transgression God would descend below his own Nature and vilifie both his Knowledge and Purity should he accept that for a Righteousness and Holiness which is not so in it self and nothing is so which hath the least stain upon it contrary to the Nature of God The most holy Saints in Scripture upon a prospect of his Purity have cast away all confidence in themselves every flash of the Divine Purity has struck them into a deep sense of their own Impurity and shame for it Job 42.6 Wherefore I abhor my self in dust and ashes What can the language of any Man be that lies under a sense of Infinite Holiness and his own Defilement in the least but that of the Prophet Isai 6.5 Wo is me I am undone And what is there in the World can administer any other thought than this unless God be considered in Christ reconciling the World to himself As a Holy God so righted as that he can dispense with the Condemnation of a Sinner without dispensing with his Hatred of Sin pardoning the Sin in the Criminal because it hath been punished in the Surety That Righteousness which God hath set forth for Justification is not our own but a Righteousness which is of God Phil. 3.9 10. of Gods appointing and of Gods performing appointed by the Father who is God and performed by the Son who is one with the Father A Righteousness surmounting that of all the glorious Angels since it is an Immutable one which can never fail an Everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9.24 A Righteousness wherein the Holiness of God can acquiesce as considered in it self because it is a Righteousness of one equal with God As we therefore dishonour the Divine Majesty when we insist upon our own bemir'd Righteousness for our Justification as if a Mortal Man were as just as God and a Man as pure as his Maker Job 4.17 So we highly honour the Purity of his Nature when we charge our Selves with Folly acknowledge our selves Unclean and accept of that Righteousness which gives a full content to his Infinite Purity There can be no Justification of a Sinner by any thing in himself 7. It Inâorms us If Holiness be a glorious Perfection of the Divine Nature then the Deity of Christ might be argued from hence He is indeed dignified with the Title of the Holy One Acts 3.14 16. a Title often given to God in the Old Testament and he is called the Holy of Holies Dan. 9.24 but because the Angels seemed to be termed holy Ones Dan. 4.13 17. and the most Sacred place in the Temple was also called the Holy of Holies I shall not insist upon that But you find our Saviour particularly applauded by the Angels as Holy when this Perfection of the Divine Nature together with the Incommunicable Name of God are link'd together and ascrib'd to him Isai 6.3 Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts and the whole Earth is full of his glory which the Apostle interprets of Christ John 12.39 41. Isaiah again He hath blinded their Eyes and hardned their Hearts that they should not see with their Eyes nor understand with their Hearts and be converted and I should heal them These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him He that Isaiah saw environ'd with the Seraphims in a Reverential posture before his face and praised as most Holy by them was the True and Eternal God such Acclamations belong to none but the great Jehovah God Blessed for ever But saith John It was the glory of Christ that Isaiah saw in this Vision Christ therefore is God blessed for ever of whom it was said Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts * Placeus de Deitat Chriâti in locum The Evangelist had been speaking of Christ the Miracles which he wrought the obstinacy of the Jews against believing on him his Glory therefore is to be referred to the Subject he had been speaking of The Evangelist was not speaking of the Father but of the Son and cites those words out of Isaiah not to teach any thing of the Father but to shew that the Jews could not believe in Christ He speaks of Him that had wrought so many Miracles but Christ wrought those Miracles He speaks of him whom the Jews refused to believe on but Christ was the Person they would not believe on while they acknowledged God It was the Glory of this Person Isaiah saw and this Person Isaiah spake of if the Words of the Evangelist be of any credit The Angels are too holy to give Acclamations belonging to God to any but Him that is God 8. It Informs us that God is fully fit for the Government of the World The Righteousness of Gods Nature qualifies Him to be Judge of the World If he were not perfectly Righteous and Holy he were uncapable to govern and Judge the World Rom. 3.5 If there be unrighteousness with God how shall he judge the World God will not do wickedly neither will the Almighty pervert judgment Job
His Grace would have Crown'd that which had been so agreeable to him He had been a denier of himself had he numbred Innocent Creatures in the Rank of the Miserable But to be kind to an Enemy To run Counter to the vastness of Demerit in Man was a Superlative Goodness a Goodness triumphing above all the provocations of Men and Pleas of Justice It was an abounding Goodness of Grace * Rom. 5.20 Where Sin abounded Grace did much more abound ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It swell'd above the heights of Sin and triumphed more than all his other Attributes 4. Man was reduced to the lowest Condition Our Crimes had brought us to the lowest Calamity we were brought to the dust and prepar'd for Hell Adam had not the boldness to Request and therefore we may Judge he had not the least hopes of Pardon he was sunk under Wrath and could have expected no better an Entertainment than the Tempter whose sollicitations he submitted to We had cast the Diadem from our heads and lost all our Original Excellency We were lost to our own Happiness and lost to our Creators Service when he was so kind as to send his Son to seek us Matth. 18.11 and so liberal as to expend his Blood for our cure and preservation How great was that Goodness that would not abandon us in our Misery but remit our Crimes and rescue our Persons and ransom our Souls by so great a Price from the Rights of Justice and horrors of Hell we were so fitted for 5. Every Age multiplied Provocations Every Age of the World proved more degenerate The Traditions which were purer and more lively among Adams immediate Posterity were more dark among his further Descendants Idolatry whereof we have no Marks in the old World before the Deluge was frequent afterwards in every Nation Not only the knowledge of the true God was lost but the Natural Reverential thoughts of a Deity were expelled Hence Gods were dubb'd according to Mens humors and not only Human Passions but Brutish Vices ascrib'd to them As by the Fall we were become less than Men so we would fancy God no better than a Beast since Beasts were Worshipped as Gods * Rom. 1.21 yea fancied God no better than a Devil since that Destroyer was Worshipped instead of the Creator and a Homage paid to the Powers of Hell that had ruin'd them which was due to the Goodness of that Benefactor who had made them and preserved them in the World The vilest Creatures were Deifi'd Reason was debas'd below Common Sense And Men ador'd one end of a Log while they warmed themselves with the other â Isai 44.14.16 17. as if that which was Ordain'd for the Kitchin were a fit Representation for God in the Temple Thus were the Natural Notions of a Deity deprav'd the whole World drencht in Idolatry And though the Jews were free from that gross abuse of God yet they were sunk also into loathsom Superstitions when the Goodness of God brought in his design'd Redeemer and Redemption into the World 6. The impotence of Man enhanceth this Goodness Our own Eye did scarce pity us and it was impossible for our own hands to relieve us we were insensible of our Misery in love with our Death we courted our Chains and the noise of our fettering Lusts were our Musick * Tit. 3.3 serving diverse Lusts and Pleasures Our Lusts were our Pleasures Satans Yoke was as del ghtful to us to bear as to him to impose Instead of being his Opposers in his attempts against us we were his voluntary Seconds and every whit as willing to embrace as he was to propose his Ruining Temptations As no Man can recover himself from Death so no Man can recover himself from Wrath he is as unable to Redeem as to Create himself he might as soon have stript himself of his being as put an end to his Misery his Captivity would have been endless and his Chains remediless for any thing he could do to knock them off and deliver himself he was too much in love with the Sink of Sin to leave wallowing in it and under too powerful a hand to cease frying in the Flames of Wrath. As the Law could not be obeyed by Man after a corrupt Principle had enter'd into him so neither could Justice be satisfied by him after his Transgression The Sinner was indebted but Bankrupt As he was unable to pay a Mite of that Obedience he owed to the Precept because of his enmity so he was unable to satisfie what he owed to the Penalty because of his Feebleness He was as much without love to observe the one as without strength to bear the other â Rom. 8.7 He could not because of his Enmity be subject to the Law or compensate for his Sin because he was * Rom. 5.6 without strength His strength to offend was great but to deliver himself a meer nothing Repentance was not a thing known by Man after the fall till he had hopes of Redemption and if he had known and exercised it what compensation are the Tears of a Malefactor for an injury done to the Crown and attempting the life of his Prince How great was Divine Goodness not only to pity Men in this State but to provide a strong Redeemer for them Oh Lord my Strength and my Redeemer said the Psalmist â Psal 19 1â When he found out a Redeemer for our Misery he found out a Strength for our Impotency To conclude this Behold the Goodness of God when we had thus unhandsomely dealt with him had nothing to allure his Goodness Multitudes of Provocations to incense him were reduced to a conditon as low as could be fit to be the Matter of his Scoffs and the Sport of Divine Justice and so weak that we could not repair our own Ruines then did he open a Fountain of fresh Goodness in the Death of his Son and sent forth such delightful Streams as in our Original Creation we could never have tasted Not only overcame the Resentments of a Provoked Justice but magnified it self by our lowness and strengthned it self by our weakness His Goodness had before Created an Innocent but here it saves a Malefactor and sends his Son to die for us as if the Holy of Holies were the Criminal and the Rebel the Innocent It had been a pompous Goodness to have given him as a King but a Goodness of greater grandeur to expose him as a Sacrifice for Slaves and Enemies Had Adam remain'd Innocent and proved thankful for what he had received it had been great Goodness to have brought him to glory But to bring filthy and rebellious Adam to it surmounts by unexpressible degrees that sort of Goodness he had experimented before Since it was not from a light Evil a tolerable Curse unawares brought upon us but from the Yoke we had willingly submitted to from the power of darkness we had courted and the furnace of wrath we had kindled
to King Redeemer He hath revok'd the Law of works as a Covenant releas'd the penalty of it from the beleiving sinner by transferring it upon the surety who interpos'd himself by his own will and divine designation He hath establish'd another Covenant upon other promises in a higher root with greater Priviledges and easier terms Had not God had this right of Soveraignty not a man of Adam's posterity could have been blessed he and they must have lain groaning under the misery of the fall which had render'd both himself and all in his Loyns unable to observe the Terms of the first Covenant He hath as some speak dispens'd with his own Moral Law in some cases in commanding Abraham to Sacrifice his Son his only Son a Righteous Son a Son whereof he had the promise that in Isaac should his Seed be call'd yet he was commanded to Sacrifice him by the right of his absolute Soveraignty as the supream Lord of the Lives of his Creatures from the highest Angel to the lowest Worm whereby he bound his Subjects to this Law not himself Our Lives are due to him when he calls for them and they are a just forââit to him at the very moment we sin at the very moment we come into the World by reason of the venom of our nature against him and the disturbance the first sin of man whereof we are inheritors gave to his Glory Had Abraham sacrificed his Son of his own head he had sinned yea in attempting it but being Authoriz'd from Heaven his act was Obedience to the Soveraign of the World who had a power to dispense with his own Law and with this Law he had before dispens'd in the case of Cains Murder of Abel as to the immediate punishment of it with death which indeed was setled afterwards by his Authority but then omitted because of the paucity of men and for the peopling the World but setled afterwards when there was almost though not altogether the like occasion of omitting it for a time 3. His Soveraignty appears in punishing the Transgression of his Law 1. This is a branch of Gods Dominion as Lawgiver So was the vengeance God would take upon the Amalekites Exod. 17.16 The Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have War The Hebrew is the hand upon the Throne of the Lord as in the margent As a Lawgiver he saves or destroyes James 4.12 He acts according to his own Law in a congruity to the sanction of his own precepts though he be an Arbitrary Lawgiver appointing what Laws he pleases yet he is not an Arbitrary Judge As he commands nothing but what he hath a right to command so he punisheth none but whom he hath a right to punish and with such punishment as the Law hath denounced All his acts of Justice and inflictions of Curses are the effects of this Soveraign Dominion Psal 29.10 He sits King upon the Flouds Upon the deluge of Waters wherewith he drown'd the World say some 'T is a right belonging to the Authority of Magistrates to pull up the infectious weeds that corrupt a Common-Wealth 'T is no less the right of God as the Lawgiver and Judge of all the Earth to subject Criminals to his vengeance after they have rendered themselves abominable in his Eyes and carried themselves unworthy Subjects of so great and glorious a King The first name whereby God is made known in Scripture is Elohim Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God Created the Heaven and Earth A name which signifies his power of judging in the opinion of some Criticks from him it is deriv'd to earthly Magistrates their Judgment is said therefore to be the Judgement of God Deut. 1.17 When Christ came he propos'd this great motive of Repentance from the Kingdom of Heaven being at hand the Kingdom of his Grace whereby to invite men the Kingdom of his Justice in the punishment of the neglecters of it whereby to terrifie men Punishments as well as Rewards belong to Royalty it issued accordingly those that believ'd and repented came under his gracious Scepter those that neglected and rejected it fell under his Iron Rod. Jerusalem was destroy'd the Temple demolish'd the Inhabitants lost their lives by the edge of the Sword or linger'ed them out in the chains of a miserable Captivity This term of Judge which signifies a Soveraign right to govern and punish Delinquents Abraham gives him when ãâã came to root out the People of Sodom and make them the examples of his veâgeance Gen. 18.25 2. Punishing the Transgressions of his Law This is necessary branch of Dominion His Soveraignty in making Laws would be a trifle if there were not also an Authority to vindicate those Laws from Contempt and Injury he would be a Lord only spurn'd at by Rebels Soveraignty is not preserved without Justice When the Psalmist speaks of the Majesty of God's Kingdom he tells us that Righteousness and Judgment are the Habitation of his Throne Psal 97.1 2. These are the Engines of Divine dignity which render him glorious and majestick A Legislative power would be trampled on without executive by this the reverential apprehensions of God are preserved in the Wârld He is known to be Lord of the World by the Judgements which he executes Psal 9.16 When he seems to have lost his dominion or given it up in the World he recovers it by punishment When he takes some away with a Whirlwind and in his Wrath the natural consequence men make of it is this Surely there is a God that Judgeth the Earth Psal 58.9.11 He reduceth the Creature by the lash of his judgments that would not acknowledge his Authority in his precepts Those sins which disown his Government in the Heart and Conscience as Pride inward blasphemy c. he hath reserved a time hereafter to reckon for He doth not presently shoot his arrows into the marrow of every delinquent but those sins which traduce his Government of the World and tear up the Foundations of humane converse and a publick respect to him he reckons with particularly here as well as hereafter that the Life of his Soveraignty might not always faint in the World 3. This of punishing was the second discovery of his dominion in the World His first act of Soveraignty was the giving a Law the next his appearance in the State of a judge When his orders were violated he rescues the honour of them by an execution of Justice He first judg'd the Angels punishing the evil ones for their crime the first Court he kept among them as a Governour was to give them a Law the second Court he kept was as a Judge trying the Delinquents and adjudging the Offenders to be reserved in Chains of darkness till the final Execution Jude 6. And at the same time probably he confirmed the good ones in their obedience by Grace So the first discovery of his dominion to man was the giving him a precept the next was the inflicting a punishment for the
God and his nature which would be a bar to much of that wickedness which overflows in the lives of men 5. Nor is it unuseful to those who effectually beleive and love him * Coccei Sum. Theol. c. 8. § 1. for those who have had a converse with God and felt his powerful influences in the secrets of their hearts to take a prospect of those satisfactory accounts which reason gives of that God they adore and love to see every Creature justifie them in their owning of him and affections to him Indeed the Evidences of a God striking upon the Conscience of those who resolve to cleave to sin as their cheifest darling will dash their pleasures with unwelcome mixtures I shall further premise this That the folly of Atheism is evidenced by the light of Reason Men that will not listen to Scripture as having no counterpart of it in their Souls cannot easily deny natural Reason which riseth up on all sides for the justification of this Truth There is a natural as well as a revealed Knowledg and the Book of the Creatures is legible in declaring the Being of a God as well as the Scriptures are in declaring the Nature of a God there are outward objects in the World and common Principles in the Conscience whence it may be inferr'd For 1. God in regard of his Existence is not only the discovery of Faith but of Reason God hath revealed not only his Being but some sparks of his eternal Power and Godhead in his Works as well as in his Word Rom. 1.19 20. God hath shewed it unto them how * Aquin. in his works by the things that are made t is a discovery to our Reason as shining in the Creatures and an object of our Faith as breaking out upon us in the Scriptures 't is an Article of our Faith and an Article of our Reason Faith supposeth natural knowledge as Grace supposeth nature Faith indeed is properly of things above Reason purely depending upon Revelation What can be demonstrated by natural light is not so properly the object of Faith though in regard of the addition of a certainty by Revelation it is so The beleif that God is which the Apostle speaks of * Heb. 11.6 is not so much of the bare Existence of God as what God is in Relation to them that seek to him viz. a Rewarder The Apostle speaks of the Faith of Abel the Faith of Enoch such a Faith that pleases God But the Faith of Abel testified in his sacrifice and the Faith of Enoch testified in his walking with God was not simply a Faith of the Existence of God Cain in the time of Abel other men in the World in the time of Enoch beleived this as well as they But it was a Faith joyned with the Worship of God and desires to please him in the way of his own appointment so that they beleived that God was such as he had declared himself to be in his promise to Adam such an one as would be as good as his word and bruise the Serpents head He that seeks to God according to the mind of God must beleive that he is such a God that will pardon sin and justifie a seeker of him that he is a God of that ability and will to Justifie a sinner in that way he hath appointed for the clearing the Holiness of his Nature and vindicating the Honour of his Law violated by man No man can seek God or love God unless he beleive him to be thus and he cannot seek God without a discovery of his own mind how he would be sought For it is not a seeking God in any way of mans Invention that renders him capable of this desired fruit of a Reward He that beleives God as a Rewarder must beleive the promise of God concerning the Messiah Men under the Conscience of sin cannot tell without a divine discovery whither God will reward or how he will reward the seekers of him and therefore cannot act towards him as an object of Faith Would any man seek God meerly because he is or love him because he is if he did not know that he should be acceptable to him The bare Existence of a thing is not the ground of affection to it but those qualities of it and our interest in it which render it amiable and delightful How can men whose Consciences sly in their faces seek God or love him without this knowledge that he is a Rewarder Nature doth not shew any way to a sinner how to reconcile Gods provoked Justice with his Tenderness The Faith the Apostle speaks of here is a Faith that eyes the reward as an encouragement and the Will of God as the Rule of its acting he doth not speak simply of the Existence of God I have spoken the more of this place because the Socinians * Voet. Theol natural cap. 3. § 1. p. 22. use this to decry any natural knowledge of God and that the Existence of God is only to be known by Revelation so that by that reason any one that lived without the Scripture hath no ground to beleive the being of a God The Scripture ascribes a knowledge of God to all Nations in the world Rom. 1.19 not only a faculty of knowing if they had arguments and demonstrations as an ignorant man in any art hath a faculty to know but it ascribes an actual knowledge ver 19. manifest in them ver 21. They knew God not they might know him they knew him when they did not care for knowing him the notices of God are as intelligible to us by reason as any object in the world is visible he is written in every Letter 2. We are often in the Scripture sent to take a prospect of the Creatures for a discovery of God The Apostles drew arguments from the Topicks of nature when they discoursed with those that owned the Scripture Rom. 1.19 As well as when they treated with those that were ignorant of it as Acts 14.16 17. And among the Philosophers of Athens Acts 17.27 29. such arguments the Holy Ghost in the Apostles thought sufficient to convince men of the Existence Unity Spirituality and Patience of God * Voet Theol. natural cap. 3. § 1. p. 22. Such arguments had not been used by them and the Prophets from the visible things in the world to silence the Gentiles with whom they dealt had not this Truth and much more about God been demonstrable by natural Reason they knew well enough that probable arguments would not satisfie peircing and inquisitive minds In Pauls account the Testimony of the Creatures was without contradiction God himself justifies this way of proceeding by his own example and remits Job to the consideration of the Creatures to spell out something of his Divine Perfections * Job 28.39.40 c. T is but one truth in Philosophy and Divinity That which is false in one cannot be true in another Truth in what appearance
of Man Folly is the disturber of Families Cites Nations The disgrace of human nature First I. T is pernicious to the World 1. It would root out the foundations of Government It demolisheth all order in Nations The being of a God is the guard of the world The sense of a God is the foundation of Civil order without this there is no tye upon the Consciences of men What force would there be in Oaths for the decisions of controversies what right could there be in Appeals made to one that had no being A City of Atheists would be a heap of confusion there could be no ground of any commerce when all the sacred bands of it in the Consciences of men were snapt asunder which are torne to peices and utterly destroyed by denying the Existence of God What Magistrate could be secure in his standing what private person could be secure in his right * Lessius de Provid p. 665. Can that then be a truth that is destructive of all publick good If the Atheists sentiment that there were no God were a truth and the contrary that there were a God were a falsity It would then follow that falsity made men good and serviceable to one another That error were the foundation of all the beauty and order and outward felicity of the world the fountain of all good to man If there were no God to believe there is one would be an error and to beleive there is none would be the greatest wisdom because it would be the greatest truth And then as it is the greatest wisdom to fear God upon the apprehension of his Existence * Psal 111 1â So it would be the greatest error to fear him if there were none It would unquestionably follow that Error is the support of the world the spring of all human advantages and that every part of the world were obliged to a falsity for being a quiet habitation which is the most absur'd thing to imagine T is a thing impossible to be tolerated by any Prince without laying an Axe to the root of the Government 2. It would introduce all evil into the World If you take away God you take away Conscience and thereby all measures and rules of good and evil And how could any Laws be made when the measure and standard of them were removed All good Laws are founded upon the dictates of Conscience and reason upon common sentiments in human nature which spring from a sense of God So that if the foundation be demolisht the whole superstructure must tumble down A man might be a Thief a Murderer an Adulterer and could not in a strict sense be an offender The worst of actions could not be evil if a man were a God to himself a Law to himself Nothing but evil deserves a Censure and nothing would be evil if there were no God the Rector of the world against whom evil is properly committed No man can make that morally evil that is not so in it self As where there is a faint sense of God the heart is more strongly inclin'd to wickedness so where there is no sense of God the bars are removed the flood-gates set open for all wickedness to rush in upon mankind Religion pinions men from abominable practices and restrains them from being Slaves to their own passions An Atheists arms would be loose to do any thing * Lessius de Provid p. 664. Nothing so villanous and unjust but would be Acted if the natural fear of a Deity were extinguisht The first consequence issuing from the apprehension of the Existence of God is his Government of the world If there be no God then the natural consequence is that there is no supream Government of the world Such a Notion would cashiere all sentiments of good and be like a Trojan Horse whence all impurity tyranny and all sorts of mischeifs would break out upon mankind Corruption and abominable works in the text are the fruit of the fools perswasion that there is no God The perverting the ways of men oppression and extortion owe their rise to a forgetfulness of God Jer. 3.21 They have perverted their way and they have forgotten the Lord their God Ezek. 22.12 Thou hast greedily gained by extortion and hast forgotten me saith the Lord. The whole Earth would be filled with violence all flesh would corrupt their way as it was before the deluge when probably Atheism did abound more than Idolatry and if not a disowning the being yet denying the Providence of God by the posterity of Cain Those of the Family of Seth only calling upon the name of the Lord Gen. 6.11.12 compared which Gen. 4.26 The greatest sense of a Deity in any hath been attended with the greatest innocence of life and usefulness to others And a weaker sense hath been attended with a baser impurity * Iessius de Provid p. 665. If there were no God Blasphemy would be praise-worthy As the reproach of Idols is praise-worthy because we testifie that there is no Divinity in them What can be more contemptible than that which hath no being Sin would be only a false opinion of a violated Law and an offended Deity If such appresensions prevail what a wide door is opened to the worst of villanies If there be no God no respect is due to him all the Religion in the world is a trifle and Error and thus the Pillars of all human society and that which hath made Common-wealths to flourish are blown away Secondly 2 T is pernicious to the Atheist himself If he fear no future punishment he can never expect any future reward All his hopes must be confined to a Swinish and despicable manner of life without any imaginations of so much as a dram of reserved hapiness He is in a worse condition than the filliest animal which hath something to please it in its life Whereas an Atheist can have nothing here to give him a full content no more than any other man in the World and can have less satisfaction hereafter He deposeth the noble end of his own being which was to serve a God and have a satisfaction in him to seek a God and be rewarded by him And he that departs from his end recedes from his own nature All the content any Creature finds is in performing its end moveing according to its natural instinct As it is a joy to the Sun to run its race * Psal 19.5 In the same manner it is a satisfaction to every other Creature and its delight to observe the Law of its Creation What content can any man have that runs from his end opposeth his own nature denies a God by whom and for whom he was Created whose Image he bears which is the Glory of his nature and sinks into the very dregs of bruitishness How elegantly is it described by Bildad * Job 18.7.8 c. to the end his own Counsel shall cast him down terrors shall make him afraid on
of God in the Earth as if one heart acted every Man in the world The great Apostle cites the Text to verefie the charge he brought against all mankind * Rom. 3.9 10.11.12 In his interpretation the Jews who owned one God and were dignified with special priviledges as well as the Gentiles that maintained many Gods are within the compass of this Character The Apostle leaves out the first part of the Text the fool hath said in his heart but takes in the latter part and the verses following He charges all because all every man of them was under sin There is none that seeks God and ver 19. He adds what the law saith it speaks to those that are under the Law That none should imagine he included only the Gentiles and exempted the Jews from this description The Leprosie of Atheism had infected the whole Mass of human nature No Man among Jews or Gentiles did naturally seek God and therefore all were void of any spark of the practical sence of the Deity The effects of this Atheism are not in all externally of an equal size Yet in the fundamentals and radicals of it there is not a hairs difference between the best and the worst men that ever traversed the world The distinction is laid either in common Grace bounding and suppressing it or in special Grace killing and crucifying it T is in every one either triumphant or militant reigning or deposed No Man is any more born with sensible acknowledgments of God than he is born with a clear knowledge of the nature of all the Stars in the Heavens or Plants upon the Earth None seeks after God * Coccei None seek God as his rule as his end as his happiness which is a debt the Creature naturally owes to God he desires no communion with God He places his happiness in any thing inferior to God He prefers every thing before him glorifies every thing above him he hath no delight to know him he regards not those paths which lead to him he loves his own filth better than Gods Holiness his actions are tinctured and dyed with self and are void of that respect which is due from him to God The noblest Faculty of Man his Understanding wherein the remaining Lineaments of the Image of God are visible the highest Operation of that Faculty which is Wisdom is in the Judgment of the Spirit of God Devilish whiles it is earthly and sensual * Jam. 3.15 and the Wisdom of the best man is no better by Nature a legion of impure Spirits possess it Devilish as the Devil who though he believe there is a God yet acts as if there were none and wishes he had no Superior to prescribe him a Law and inflict that punishment upon him which his Crimes have merited Hence the Poyson of Man by Nature is said to be like the Poyson of a Serpent alluding to that serpentine temptation which first infected Mankind and changed the nature of Man into the likeness of that of the Devil * Psal 58.4 So that notwithstanding the Harmony of the World that presents men not only with the Notice of the Being of a God but darts into their minds some remarks of his Power and Eternity yet the thoughts and reasonings of Man are so corrupt as may well be called Diabolical and as contrary to the Perfection of God and the original Law of their Nature as the actings of the Devil are For since every natural Man is a Child of the Devil and is acted by the Diabolical Spirit he must needs have that Nature which his Father hath and the Infusion of that Venom which the Spirit that acts him is possessed with though the full Discovery of it may be restrained by various Circumstances Eph. 2.2 To conclude though no man or at least very few arrive to a round and positive Conclusion in their hearts that there is no God yet there is no man that naturally hath in his heart any reverence of God In general before I come to a particular Proof take some Propositions Proposition 1. Actions are a greater discovery of a Principle than Words The Testimony of Works is louder and clearer than that of Words and the Frame of mens hearts must be measured rather by what they do than by what they say There may be a mighty distance between the Tongue and the Heart but a Course of Actions is as little guilty of lying as Interest is according to our common saying All outward Impieties are the branches of an Atheism at the root of our Nature as all pestilential sores are expressions of the Contagion in the Blood Sin is therefore frequently called Ungodliness in our English Dialect Mens Practices are the best Indexes of their Principles The Current of a Mans Life is the counter-part of the Frame of his Heart Who can deny an Error in the Spring or Wheels when he perceives an Error in the hand of the Dial Who can deny an Atheism in the Heart when so much is visible in the Life The Tast of the water discovers what Mineral 't is strained through A practical Denial of God is worse than a verbal because deeds have usually more of deliberation than words words may be the fruit of a Passion but a set of evil actions are the fruit and evidence of a predominant evil Principle in the Heart All slighting words of a Prince do not argue an habitual Treason but a succession of overt treasonable Attempts signifie a setled treasonable disposition in the Mind Those therefore are more deservedly termed Atheists who acknowledge a God and walk as if there were none than those if there can be any such that deny a God and walk as if there were one A Sense of God in the Heart would burst out in the Life Where there is no reverence of God in the Life 't is easily concluded there is less in the Heart What doth not influence a Man when it hath the addition of the Eyes and censures of outward Spectators and the care of a Reputation so much the God of the world to strengthen it and restrain the action must certainly have less power over the Heart when it is single without any other concurrence The Flames breaking out of a house discover the Fire to be much stronger and fiercer within The Apostle judgeth those of the Circumcision who gave heed to Jewish Fables to be Denyers of God though he doth not tax them with any notorious Prophaness Tit. 1.16 They profess that they know God but in works they deny him he gives them Epithites contrary to what they arrogated to themselves * Illyric They boasted themselves to be holy the Apostle calls them abominable They bragged that they fulfilled the Law and observed the Traditions of their Fathers the Apostle calls them disobedient or unperswadable They boasted that they only had the Rule of Righteousness and a sound Judgment concerning it the Apostle said they had a
Reprobate Sense and unfit for any good work and judges against all their vain glorious braggs that they had not a Reverence of God in their Hearts there was more of the Denial of God in their Works than there was Acknowledgement of God in their Words Those that have neither God in their Thoughts nor in their Tongues nor in their Works cannot properly be said to acknwledge him Where the Honour of God is not practically owned in the lives of men the Being of God is not sensibly acknowledged in the hearts of men The Principle must be of the same kind with the Actions if the Actions be Atheistical the Principal of them can be no better Prop. 2. All Sin is founded in a secret Atheism Atheism is the Spirit of every Sin all the Flouds of Impieties in the World break in at the Gate of a secret Atheism And though several sins may disagree with one another yet like Herod and Pilate against Christ they joyn hand in hand against the interest of God Though lusts and pleasures be divers yet they are all united in Disobedience to him * Tit. 3.3 All the wicked inclinations in the heart and strugling motions secret repinings self applauding confidences in our own wisdom strength c. envy ambition revenge are sparks from this latent fire the language of every one of these is I would be a Lord to my self and would not have a God Superior to me The variety of sins against the first and second Table the neglects of God and violences against Man are derived from this in the Text first the Fool hath said in his heart and then follows a legion of Devils As all vertuous actions spring from an acknowledgment of God so all vitious actions rise from a lurking Denial of him All licentiousness goes glib down where there is no sense of God Abraham judged himself not secure from Murder nor his Wife from Defilement in Gerar if there were no Fear of God there * Gen. 20.11 He that makes no Conscience of Sin has no regard to the Honour and consequently none to the Being of God By the Fear of God men depart from Evil Pro. 16.6 By the non-regarding of God men rush into Evil. Pharaoh opprest Israel because he knew not the Lord. If he did not deny the Being of a Deity yet he had such an unworthy Notion of God as was inconsistent with the Nature of a Deity he a poor Creature thought himself a Mate for the Creator In sins of Ommission we own not God in neglecting to perform what he enjoyns In sins of Commission we set up some lust in the place of God and pay to that the Homage which is due to our Maker In both we disown him in the one by not doing what he commands in the other by doing what he forbids We deny his Soveraignty when we violate his Laws we disgrace his Holiness when we cast our filth before his Face we disparage his Wisdom when we set up another Rule as the Guide of our Actions than that Law he hath fixed we slight his Sufficiency when we prefer a satisfaction in sin before a happiness in Him alone and his Goodness when we judge it not strong enough to attract us to him Every sin invades the Rights of God and strips him of one or other of his Perfections 'T is such a vilifying of God as if he were not God as if he were not the supream Creator and Benefactor of the World as if we had not our Being from Him as if the Air we breathed in the Food we lived by were our own by right of Supreamacy not of Donation For a Subject to slight his Soveraign is to slight his Royalty or a Servant his Master is to deny his Superiority Prop. 3. Sin implies that God is unworthy of a Being Every Sin is a kind of cursing God in the Heart * Job 1.5 an aim at the destruction of the Being of God not actually but vertually not in the intention of every Sinner but in the nature of every Sin That Affection which excites a man to break his Law would excite him to annihilate his Being if it were in his power A Man in every sin aims to set up his own will as his rule and his own glory as the end of his actions against the will and glory of God and could a Sinner attain his end God would be destroyed God cannot out live his will and his glory God cannot have another rule but his own will nor another end but his own honour Sin is called a turning the back upon God * Jer. 32.33 Deut. 32.15 a kicking against him * Jer. 32.33 Deut. 32.15 as if he were a slighter person than the meanest beggar What greater contempt can be shew'd to the meanest vilest person than to turn the back lift up the heel and thrust away with indignation All which actions though they signifie that such a one hath a Being yet they testifie also that he is unworthy of a Being that he is an unuseful Being in the world and that it were well the world were rid of him All Sin against Knowledge is called a Reproach of God * Numb 15.30 Ezek. 20.27 Reproach is a vilifying a man as unworthy to be admitted into Company We naturally Judge God unfit to be conversed with God is the term turned from by a sinner Sin is the term turned to which implies a greater excellency in the nature of sin than in the nature of God And as we naturally Judge it more worthy to have a being in our affections so consequently more worthy to have a being in the world than that infinite nature from whom we derive our beings and our all and upon whom with a kind of disdain we turn our backs Whosoever thinks the Notion of a Deity unfit to be cherished in his mind by warm Meditation implies that he cares not whether he hath a being in the world or no. Now tho the light of a Deity shines so clearly in Man and the stings of Conscience are so smart that he cannot absolutely deny the being of a God yet most Men endeavour to smother this knowledge and make the Notion of a God a sapless and useless thing Rom. 1.28 They like not to retain God in their knowledge It is said Cain went out from the presence of the Lord Gen. 4.16 That is from the Worship of God Our refusing or abhorring the presence of a man implies a carelessness whether he continue in the World or no T is a using him as if he had no being or as if we were not concerned in it Hence all men in Adam under the Emblem of the prodigal are said to go into a far Country Not in respect of place because of Gods Omnipresence but in respect of acknowledgment and affection they mind and love any thing but God And the descriptions of the Nations of the world lying in the Ruines of Adams fall
and the dregs of that revolt is that they know not God They forget God as if there were no such being above them and indeed he that doth the works of the Devil owns the Devil to be more worthy of observance and consequently of a being than God whose nature he forgets and whose presence he abhors Proposition 4. Every sin in its own nature would render God a foolish and impure being Many Transgressors esteem their acts which are contrary to the Law of God both Wise and Good If so the Law against which they are committed must be both foolish and impure What a reflection is there then upon the Law-giver The Moral Law is not properly a meer act of Gods Will considered in it self or a Tyrannical Edict like those of whom it may well be said stat pro ratione voluntas But it commands those things which are good in their own nature and prohibits those things which are in their own nature evil and therefore is an act of his Wisdom and Righteousness the result of his wise Council and an extract of his pure nature as all the Laws of just Law-givers are not only the acts of their Will but of a Will governed by Reason and Justice and for the good of the publick whereof they are conservators If the Moral commands of God were only acts of his Will and had not an intrinsick necessity reason and goodness God might have commanded the quite contrary and made a contrary Law whereby that which we now call Vice might have been canonized for Virtue He might then have forbid any Worship of him Love to him fear of his name He might then have commanded Murders Thefts Adulteries In the first he would have untied the link of duty from the Creature and dissolved the obligations of Creatures to him which is impossible to be conceived for from the Relation of a Creature to God obligations to God and duties upon those obligations do necessarily result It had been against the rule of Goodness and Justice to have commanded the Creature not to love him and fear and obey him This had been a command against Righteousness Goodness and intrinsick obligations to Gratitude And should Murder Adulteries Rapines have been commanded instead of the contrary God would have destroyed his own Creation he would have acted against the rule of goodness and order he had been an unjust tyrannical Governor of the world Publick society would have been crackt in peices and the world become a Shambles a Brothel House a place below the common sentiments of a meer man All sin therefore being against the Law of God the Wisdom and holy rectitude of Gods Nature is denyed in every Act of disobedience And what is the consequence of this but that God is both foolish and unrighteous in commanding that which was neither an Act of Wisdom as a Governour nor an Act of goodness as a benefactor to his Creature As was said before presumptuous sins are called reproaches of God Num. 15.30 The Soul that doth ought presumptuously reproacheth the Lord. Reproaches of men are either for natural moral or intellectual defects All reproaches of God must imply a charge either of unrighteousness or ignorance If of unrighteousness t is a denial of his Holiness If of Ignorance t is a blemishing his Wisdom If Gods Laws were not wise and holy God would not enjoyn them And if they are so we deny infinite Wisdom and Holiness in God by not complying with them As when a man believes not God when he promises he makes him a lyar 1 John 5.10 So he that obeys not a wise and holy God commanding makes him guilty either of folly or unrighteousness Now suppose you knew an absolute Atheist who denyed the being of a God yet had a life free from any notorious spot or defilement would you in reason count him so bad as the other that owns a God in being yet lays by his course of action such a black imputation of folly and impurity upon the God he professeth to own an imputation which renders any man a most despicable Creature Proposition 5. Sin in its own nature endeavours to render God the most miserable being T is nothing but an opposition to the will of God The will of no Creature is so much contradicted as the Will of God is by Devils and Men And there is nothing under the Heavens that the affections of human nature stand more point blank against than against God There is a slight of him in all the faculties of Man our Souls are as unwilling to know him as our Wills are averse to follow him Rom. 8.7 The carnal mind is enmity against God t is not subject to the Law of God nor can be subject T is true Gods will cannot be hindered of its effect for then God would not be supremely blessed but unhappy and miserable All misery ariseth from a want of that which a nature would have and ought to have Besides if any thing could frustrate Gods Will it would be superior to him God would not be Omnipotent and so would lose the perfection of the Deity and consequently the Deity it self for that which did wholly defeat Gods Will would be more powerful than he But sin is a contradiction to the Will of Gods Revelation to the Will of his precept and therein doth naturally tend to a superiority over God and would usurp his Omnipotence and deprive him of his blessedness For if God had not an infinite power to turn the designs of it to his own glory but the will of sin could prevail God would be totally deprived of his blessedness Doth not sin endeavour to subject God to the extravagant and contrary wills of men and make him more a slave than any Creature can be For the Will of no Creature not the meanest and most despicable Creature is so much crost as the Will of God is by sin Isa 43.24 Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins Thou hast endeavoured to make a meer slave of me by sin Sin endeavors to subject the blessed God to the humour and lust of every person in the world Proposition 6. Men sometimes in some circumstances do wish the not being of God This some think to be the meaning of the Text the fool hath said in his heart there is no God that is he wishes there were no God Many tamper with their own hearts to bring them to a perswasion that there is no God And when they cannot do that they conjure up wishes that there were none Men naturally have some Conscience of sin and some notices of Justice Rom. 1.32 They know the Judgement of God and they know the demerit of sin they know the Judgment of God and that they which do such things are worthy of death What is the consequent of this but fear of punishment and what is the issue of that fear but a wishing the Judge either unwilling or unable to vindicate the Honour of his
violated Law When God is the object of such a wish t is a vertual undeifying of him Not to be able to punish is to be impotent not to be willing to punish is to be unjust Imperfections inconsistent with the Deity God cannot be supposed without an infinite Power to act and an infinite Righteousness as the Rule of acting Fear of God is natural to all men not a Fear of offending him but a Fear of being punished by him The wishing the Extinction of God has its degree in men according to the degree of their Fears of his just Vengeance And though such a Wish be not in its Meridian but in the Damned in Hell yet it hath its starts and motions in affrighted and awakened Consciences on the Earth Under this Rank of Wishers that there were no God or that God were destroyed do fall 1. Terrified Consciences that are Magor missabib see nothing but matter of fear round about As they have lived without the bounds of the Law they are affraid to fall under the stroak of his Justice Fear wishes the destruction of that which it apprehends hurtful It considers him as a God to whom Vengeance belongs as the Judge of all the Earth * Psal 94.12 The less hopes such a one hath of his Pardon the more joy he would have to hear that his Judge should be stript of his Life He would entertain with delight any reasons that might support him in the conceit that there were no God In his present State such a Doctrine would be his Security from an Account He would as much rejoyce if there were no God to enflame an Hell for him as any guilty Malefactor would if there were no Judge to order a Gibbet for him Shame may bridle mens words but the Heart will be casting about for some Arguments this way to secure it self Such as are at any time in Spira's Case would be willing to cease to be Creatures that God might cease to be Judge The Fool hath said in his heart there is no Elohim no Judge fancying God without any exercise of his judicial Authority And there is not any wicked man under anguish of Spirit but were it within the reach of his power would take away the Life of God and rid himself of his fears by destroying his Avenger 2. Debaucht Persons are not without such wishes sometimes An obstinate Servant wishes his Masters death from whom he expects Correction for his Debaucheries As Man stands in his corrupt Nature 't is impossible but one time or other most debaucht persons at least have so me kind of velleities or imperfect wishes 'T is as natural to men to abhor those things which are unsuteable and troublesome as it is to please themselves in things agreeable to their minds and humours And since Man is so deeply in love with Sin as to count it the most estimable good he cannot but wish the abolition of that Law which checks it and consequently the change of the Law-Giver which Enacted it and in wishing a change in the holy Nature of God he wishes a destruction of God who could not be God if he ceased to be immutably holy They do as certainly wish that God had not a holy Will to command them as desparing Souls wish that God had not a righteous Will to punish them and to wish Conscience extinct for the molestations they receive from it is to wish the power Conscience represents out of the world also Since the State of Sinners is a State of distance from God and the Language of Sinners to God is departed from us * Joh. 21.14 They desire as litle the continuance of his Being as they desire the knowledge of his Ways The same reason which moves them to desire Gods distance from them would move them to desire Gods not Being Since the greatest distance would be most agreeable to them the Destruction of God must be so too Because there is no greater distance from us than in not Being Men would rather have God not to be than themselves under controle that sensuality might range at pleasure He is like a Heifer sliding from the Yoke Hos 4.16 The Cursing of God in the Heart feared by Job of his Chidren intimates a wishing God despoild of his Authority that their pleasure might not be dampt by his Law Besides is there any natural man that sins against actuated knowledge but either thinks or wishes that God might not see him that God might not know his actions And is not this to wish the Destruction of God who could not be God unless he were immense and omniscient 3. Under this rank fall those who perform external Duties only out of a Principle of slavish Fear Many Men perform those Duties that the Law enjoyns with the same Sentiments that Slaves perform their Drudgery and are constrained in their Duties by no other considerations but those of the Whip and the Cudgel Since therefore they do it with reluctancy and secretly murmur while they seem to obey they would be willing that both the Command were recall'd and the Master that commands them were in another world The Spirit of Adoption makes men act towards God as a Father a Spirit of Bondage only eyes him as a Judge Those that look upon their Superiors as tyrannical will not be much concerned in their welfare and would be more glad to have their Nails pared than be under perpetual fear of them Many men regard not the infinite goodness in their service of him but consider him as cruel tyrannical injurious to their Liberty Adam's Posterity are not free from the Sentiments of their common Father till they are regenerate You know what Conceit was the Hammer whereby the Hellish Jael struck the Nail into our first Parents which conveyed Death together with the same Imagination to all their Posterity Gen. 3.5 God knows that in the day you eat thereof your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as Gods knowing Good and Evil Alas poor Souls God knew what he did when he forbad you that Fruit He was jealous you should be too happy It was a cruelty in him to deprive you of a Food so pleasant and delicious The apprehension of the severity of Gods Commands riseth up no less in desires that there were no God over us than Adam's apprehension of Envy in God for the restraint of one Tree mov'd him to attempt to be equal with God Fear is as powerful to produce the one in his Posterity as Pride was to produce the other in the Common-Root When we apprehend a thing hurtful to us we desire so much evil to it as may render it uncapable of doing us the hurt we fear As we wish the preservation of what we love or hope for so we are naturally apt to wish the not being of that whence we fear some hurt or trouble We must not understand this as if any man did formally wish the destruction of God as God God in
from it The meeting of a Divine Truth and the Heart of Man is like the meeting of two Tides the weaker swells and foams We have a natural Antipathy against a Divine Rule and therefore when it is clapt close to our Consciences there is a snuffing at it high reasonings against it corruption breaks out more strongly As Water poured on Lime sets it on Fire by an Antiperistasis and the more Water is cast upon it the more furiously it burns Or as the Sun Beams shining upon a Dung-hill makes the steams the thicker and the stench the noysomer neither being the positive cause of the smoke in the Lime or the stench in the Dung-hill but by accident the causes of the eruption Rom. 7.8 But Sin taking occasion by the Commandment wrought in me all manner of Concupiscence for without the Law Sin was dead Sin was in a languishing posture as if it were dead like a lazy Garrison in a City till upon an Alarm from the Adversary it takes Arms and revives its courage all the sin in the heart gathers together its force to maintain its standing like the vapours of the Night which unite themselves more closely to resist the Beams of the rising Sun Deep Conviction often provokes fierce Opposition sometimes Disputes against a Divine Rule end in Blasphemies Acts 13.45 Contradicting and Blaspheming are coupled together Men naturally desire things that are forbidden and reject things commanded from the corruption of Nature which affects an unbounded Liberty and is impatient of returning under that Yoke it hath shaken off and therefore rageth against the bars of the Law as the Waves roar against the restraint of a bank When the Understanding is dark and the Mind Ignorant Sin lies as dead * Thes Salmur De Spiritu Servitutis Thes 19. a man scarce knows he hath such Motions of Concupiscence in him he finds not the least breath of Wind but a full calm in his Soul but when he is awakened by the Law then the vitiousness of nature being sensible of an Invasion of its Empire arms it self against the Divine Law and the more the Command is urged the more vigorously it bends its strength and more insolently lifts up it self against it he perceives more and more Atheistical Lusts than before all manner of Concupiscence more leprous and contagious than before When there are any motions to turn to God a reluctancy is presently perceived Atheistical thoughts bluster in the mind like the wind they know not whence they come nor whether they go So unapt is the heart to any acknowledgement of God as his Ruler and any re-union with him Hence men are said to resist the Holy Ghost Acts 7.51 to fall against it as the word signifies as a stone or any ponderous body falls against that which lies in its way They would dash to pieces or grind to powder that very motion which is made for their instruction and the Spirit too which makes it and that not from a fit of passion but an habitual repugnance Ye always resist c. 2. External 't is a fruit of Atheism in the fourth verse of this Psalm Who eat up my people as they eat bread How do the revelations of the Mind of God meet with opposition And the Carnal World like dogs bark against the shining of the Moon So much men hate the Light that they spurn at the Lanthorns that bear it And because they cannot endure the Treasure often fling the earthen vessels against the ground wherein it is held If the entrance of Truth render the Market worse for Diana's Shrines the whole City will be in an uproar * Act. 19.24.28.29 When Socrates upon natural Principles confuted the Heathen Idolatry and asserted the unity of God the whole cry of Athens a learned University is against him and because he opposed the publick received Religion though with an undoubted Truth he must end his Life by Violence How hath every Corner of the World steam'd with the blood of those that would maintain the Authority of God in the World The Devils Children will follow the steps of their Father and endeavour to bruise the Heel of Divine Truth that would endeavour to break the Head of corrupt Lust 5. Men often seem desirous to be acquainted with the Will of God not out of any respect to his Will and to make it their Rule but upon some other Consideration Truth is scarce received as truth There is more of Hypocrisie than Sincerity in the pale of the Church and attendance on the Mind of God The outward dowry of a religious Profession makes it often more desirable than the Beauty Judas was a follower of Christ for the Bag not out of any affection to the Divine Revelation Men sometime pretend a desire to be acquainted with the Will of God to satisfie their own passions rather than to conform to Gods Will The Religion of such is not the judgment of the Man but the passion of the Brute Many entertain a Doctrine's for the persons sake rather than a person for the Doctrine sake and believe a thing because it comes from a Man they esteem as if his lips were more Canonical than Scripture The Apostle implies in the Commendation he gives the Thessalonians * 1 Thes 2.13 that some receive the Word for human interest not as it is in truth the Word and Will of God to command and govern their Consciences by its Soveraign Authority Or else they have the Truth of God as St. James speaks of the Faith of Christ with respect of persons * Jam. 2.2 and receive it not for the sake of the Fountain but of the Channel So that many times the same Truth delivered by another is disregarded which when dropping from the fancy and mouth of a Man 's own Idol is cryed up as an Oracle This is to make not God but Man the Rule For though we entertain that which materially is the Truth of God yet not formally as his Truth but as conveyed by one we affect And that we receive a Truth and not an Error we ow the obligation to the honesty of the Instrument and not to the strength and clearness of our own Judgment Wrong considerations may give admittance to an unclean as well as a clean beast into the Ark of the Soul That which is contrary to the Mind of God may be entertained as well as that which is agreeable 'T is all one to such that have no respect to God what they have As it is all one to a Spunge to suck up the foulest water or the sweetest wine when either is applyed to it 6. Many that entertain the Notions of the Will and Mind of God admit them with unsettled and wavering Affections There is a great Levity in the heart of Man The Jews that one day applaud our Saviour with Hosannahs as their King vote his Crucifixion the next and use him as a Murderer We begin in the Spirit and
some might take in beholding the Miracles of our Saviour who could not endure his searching Doctrine The light of speculation may be pleasant but the light of conviction is grievous that which galls their Consciences and would affect them with a sense of their duty to God Is it not easy to perceive that when a man begins to be serious in the concerns of the Honour of God and the duty of his soul he feels a reluctancy within him even against the pleas of Conscience which evidenceth that some unworthy principle has got footing in the hearts of men which fights against the declarations of God without and the impressions of the Law of God within at the same time when a man 's own Conscience takes part with it which is the substance of the Apostles discourse Rom. 7.15 16 c. Close discourses of the Honour of God and our duty to him are irksome when men are upon a merry pin They are like a damp in a Mine that takes away their breath they shuffle them out as soon as they can and are as unwilling to retain the-speech of them in their mouths as the knowledge of them in their hearts Gracious speeches instead of bettering many men distemper them as sometimes sweet perfumes affect a weak head with aches 3. As t is most contrary to self Men are unwilling to acquaint themselves with any truth that leads to God because it leads from self Every part of the Will of God is more or less displeasing as it sounds harsh against some carnal interest men would set above God or as a Mate with him Man cannot desire any intimacy with that Law which he regards as a Bird of prey to pick out his right eye or gnaw off his right hand his lust dearer than himself The reason we have such hard thoughts of Gods Will is because we have such high thoughts of our selves T is a hard matter to Believe or Will that which hath no affinity with some principle in the understanding and no interest in our Will and Passions Our unwillingness to be acquainted with the Will of God ariseth from the disproportion between that and our corrupt hearts We are alienated from the life of God in our minds Eph. 41 18 19. As we live not like God so we neither think or Will as God There is an antipathy in the heart of man against that Doctrine which teaches us to deny our selves and be under the rule of another But whatsoever favours the ambition lusts and profits of men is easily entertainable Many are fond of those Sciences which may enrich their understandings and grate not upon their sensual delights Many have an admirable dexterity in finding out Philosophical reasons Mathematical demonstrations or raising observations upon the Records of History and spend much time and many serious and affectionate thoughts in the study of them In those they have not immediatly to do with God their beloved pleasures are not impaired T is a satisfaction to self without the exercise of any hostility against it But had those Sciences been against self as much as the Law and Will of God they had long since been rooted out of the World Why did the Young-man turn his back upon the Law of Christ because of his worldly self Why did the Pharisees mock at the Doctrine of our Saviour and not at their own traditions because of Covetous self Why did the Jews slight the person of our Saviour and put him to death after the reading so many Credentials of his being sent from Heaven because of ambitious self that the Romans might not come and take away their Kingdom If the Law of God were fitted to the humors of self it would be readily and cordially observed by all men Self is the measure of a world of seeming Religious actions while God seems to be the object and his Law the motive self is the rule and end Zach. 7.5 Did you fast unto me c. 2 As men discover their disowning the Will of God as a rule by unwillingness to be acquainted with it so they discover it by the contempt of it after they cannot avoid the Notions and some impressions of it The rule of God is burthensome to a sinner he flies from it as from a frightful bug-bear and unpleasant Yoke Sin against the knowledge of the Law is therefore called a going back from the Commandment of Gods lips Job 23.12 A casting Gods word behind them * Psal 50.17 as a contemptible thing fitter to be trodden in the durt than lodged in the heart Nay it is a casting it off as an abominable thing for so the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifies Hos 8.3 Israel hath cast off the thing that is good an utter refusal of God Jer. 44.16 As for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not hearken In the slight of his precepts his essential perfections are slighted In disowning his Will as a Rule we disown all those attributes which flow from his Will as Goodness Righteousness and Truth As an Act of the Divine understanding is supposed to precede the Act of the Divine Will so we slight the infinite reason of God Every Law tho it proceeds from the Will of the Law-giver and doth formally consist in an Act of the Will yet it doth presuppose an act of the understanding If the Commandment be holy just and good as it is Rom. 7.12 if it be the image of Gods holiness a transcript of his righteousness and the efflux of his goodness then in every breach of it durt is cast upon those Attributes which shine in it and a slight of all the regards he hath to his own Honour and all the provisions he makes for his Creature This Atheism or contempt of God is more taken notice of by God than the matter of the sin it self As a respect to God in a weak and imperfect obedience is more than the matter of the obedience it self because it is an acknowledgment of God So a contempt of God in an act of disobedience is more than the matter of the disobedience The Creature stands in such an Act not only in a posture of distance from God but defiance of him It was not the bare act of Murder and Adultery which Nathan charged upon David but the Atheistical principle which Spirited those evil acts The despising the Commandment of the Lord was the venom of them * 2 Sam. 12. â 1â T is possible to break a Law without contempt But when men pretend to believe there is a God and that this is the Law of God it shews a contempt of his Majesty * Claud. Men naturally account Gods Laws too strict his Yoak too heavy and his limits too strait And he that liveth in a contempt of this Law curseth God in his life How can they believe there is a God who despise him as a Ruler How can they believe him to
temper under a storm he would submit to God and let Israel go but when the storm is ended he will not be under Gods controul and Israels slavery shall be increased The fear of Divine wrath makes many a sinner turn his back upon his sin and the love of his ruling lust makes him turn his back upon his true Lord. This is from the prevalency of sin that disputes with God for the Soveraignty When God hath sent a sharp disease as a messenger to bind men to their beds and make an interruption of their sinful pleasures their mouths are full of promises of a new life in hope to escape the just vengeance of God The sense of Hell which strikes strongly upon them makes them full of such pretended resolutions when they howl upon their beds But if God be pleased in his Patience to give them a respite to take off the Chains wherewith he seemed to be binding them for destruction and recruit their strength they are more earnest in their sins than they were in their promises of a reformation as if they had got the mastery of God and had outwitted him How often doth God charge them * Amos 4.6 to ver 11. of not returning to him after a succession of Judgments So hard it is not only to allure but to scourge men to an acknowledgement of God as their Ruler Consider then Are we not naturally inclined to disobey the known Will of God Can we say Lord for thy sake we refrain the thing to which our hearts encline Do we not allow our selves to be licentious earthly vain proud revengful tho we know it will offend him Have we not been peevishly cross to his declared Will Run Counter to him and those Laws which express most of the glory of his holiness Is not this to disown him as our Rule Did we never wish there were no Law to bind us no precept to check our Idols What is this but to wish that God would depose himself from being our Governour and leave us to our own conduct or else to wish that he were as unholy as our selves as careless of his own laws as we are that is that he were no more a God then we a God as sinful and unrighteous as our selves He whose heart riseth against the Law of God to unlaw it riseth against the Author of that Law to undeifie him He that casts contempt upon the dearest thing God hath in the world that which is the image of his holiness the delight of his Soul that which he hath given a special charge to maintain and that because it is holy just and good would not stick to rejoyce at the destruction of God himself If Gods Holiness and righteousness in the beam be despised much more will an immense goodness and holiness in the fountain be rejected He that wisheth a beam far from his eyes because it offends and scorcheth him can be no friend to the Sun from whence that beam doth issue How unworthy a Creature is man since he only a rational Creature is the sole being that withdraws it self from the rule of God in this Earth And how miserable a Creature is he also Since departing from the order of Gods goodness he falls into the order of his Justice and while he refuseth God to be the rule of his life he cannot avoid him being the Judge of his punishment T is this is the original of all sin and the fountain of all our misery This is the first thing man disowns the Rule which God sets him Secondly 2. Man naturally owns any other rule rather than that of Gods prescribing The Law of God orders one thing the heart of man desires another There is not the basest thing in the world but man would sooner submit to be guided by it rather than by the holiness of God and when any thing that God commands crosses our own Wills we value it no more than we would the advise of a poor despicable beggar How many are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God * 2 Tim. 3.4 To make something which contributes to the perfection of nature as learning wisdom moral vertues our Rule would be more tolerable But to pay that homage to a swinish pleasure which is the right of God is an inexcusable contempt of him The greatest excellency in the world is infinitely below God much more a bestial delight which is both disgraceful and below the nature of man If we made the vilest Creature on Earth our Idol t is more excusable than to be the slave of a brutish pleasure The viler the thing is that doth possess the throne in our heart the greater contempt it is of him who can only claim a right to it and is worthy of it Sin is the first object of mans election as soon as the faculty whereby he choses comes to exercise its power And it is so dear to man that it is in the estimate of our Saviour counted as the right hand and the right eye dear precious and useful members 1. The rule of Satan is owned before the rule of God The natural man would rather be under the guidance of Satan than the Yoke of his Creator Adam chose him to be his Governour in Paradice No sooner had Satan spoke of God in a way of derision Gen. 3.1 5. Yea hath God said but man follows his Counsel and approves of the scoff and the greatest part of his posterity have not been wiser by his fall but would rather ramble in the Devils Wilderness than to stay in Gods fold T is by the sin of man that the Devil is become the God of the world as if men were the Electors of him to the Government Sin is an Election of him for a Lord and a putting the Soul under his Government Those that live according to the course of the world and are loath to displease it are under the Government of the Prince of it The greatest part of the works done in the world is to enlarge the Kingdom of Satan For how many ages were the laws whereby the greatest part of the world was governed in the affairs of Religion the fruits of his usurpation and policy When Temples were erected to him Priests consecrated to his service The rites used in most of the Worship of the world were either of his own Coyning or the misapplying the Rites God had ordained to himself under the notion of a God Whence the Apostle calls all Idolatrous Feasts the table of Devils the cup of Devils Sacrifice to Devils fellowship with Devils * 1 Cor. 10.20.21 Devils being the real object of the Pagan Worship tho not formally intended by the Worshipper tho in some parts of the Indies the direct and peculiar worship is to the Devil that he might not hurt them And tho the intention of others was to offer to God and not the Devil yet since the action was contrary to the Will of God he regards
party we disaffect So the Will of God may be performed not as his Will but as it may gratifie some selfish consideration when we will please God so far as it may not displease our selves and serve him as our Master so far as his Command may be a Servant to our humor When we consider not who it is that Commands but how short it comes of displeasing that sin which Rules in our heart pick and chuse what is least burdensom to the flesh and distastful to our lusts He that doth the Will of God not out of Conscience of that Will but because it is agreeable to himself casts down the Will of God and sets his own Will in the place of it takes the Crown from the head of God and places it upon the head of self If things are done not because they are Commanded by God but desirable to us t is a disobedient obedience a conformity to Gods Will in regard of the matter a conformity to our own Will in regard of the motive either as the things done are agreeable to natural and moral self or sinful self 1. As they are agreeable to natural or moral self When men will practise some points of Religion and walk in the track of some Divine precepts not because they are Divine but because they are agreeable to their humor or constitution of nature from the sway of a natural bravery the Byas of a secular interest not from an ingenuous sense of Gods Authority or a voluntary submission to his Will As when a man will avoid excess in drinking not because it is dishonourable to God but as it is a blemish to his own reputation or an impair of the health of his body Doth this deserve the name of an observance of the Divine injunction or rather an obedience to our selves Or when a man will be liberal in the distribution of his Charity not with an eye to Gods precept but in compliance with his own natural compassion or to pleasure the generosity of his nature The one is obedience to a mans own preservation the other an obedience to the interest or impulse of a moral Vertue T is not respect to the rule of God but the Authority of self and at the best is but the performance of the material part of the Divine Rule without any concurrence of a Spiritual motive or a Spiritual manner That only is a maintaining the rights of God when we pay an observance to his rule without examining the agreeableness of it to our secular interest or consulting with the humour of flesh and blood when we will not decline his service though we find it cross and hath no affinity with the pleasure of our own nature Such an obedience as Abraham manifested in his readiness to sacrifice his Son Such an obedience as our Saviour demands in cutting off the right hand When we observe any thing of divine order upon the account of its suitableness to our natural Sentiments we shall readily divide from him when the interest of nature turns it's point against the interest of Gods honour we shall fall off from him according to the change we find in our own humours And can that be valued as a setting up the rule of God which must be depos'd upon the mutable interest of an inconstant mind Esau had no regard to God in delaying the execution of his resolution to shorten his brothers dayes though he was awed by the reverence of his Father to delay it he considered perhaps how justly he might lie under the imputation of hastening crazy Isaacs death by depriving him of a beloved Son But had the old mans head been laid neither the contrary command of God nor the nearness of a fraternal relation could have bound his hands from the act no more than they did his heart from the resolution Gen. 27.41 Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him and Esau said in his heart the days of mourning for my father are at hand then will I slay my brother So many Children that expect at the death of their Parents great Inheritances or Portions may be observant of them not in regard of the rule fixed by God but to their own hopes which they would not frustrate by a disobligement Whence is it that many men abstain from gross sins but in love to their reputation Wickedness may be acted privately which a mans one credit puts a bar to the open commission of The preserving his own esteem may divert him from entring into a brothell house to which he hath set his mind before against a known precept of his Creator As Pharaoh parted with the Israelites so do some men with their blemishing sins not out of a sense of Gods rule but the smart of present Judgments or fear of a future wrath Our security then and reputation is set up in the place of God This also may be and is in renewed men who have the law written in their hearts that is an habitual disposition to an agreement with the law of God when what is done is with a respect to this habitual inclination without eying the divine precept which is appointed to be their rule This also is to set up a creature as renewed self is instead of the Creator and that Law of his in his word which ought to be the rule of our actions Thus it is when men chuse a moral life not so much out of respect to the law of nature as it is the law of God but as it is a law become one with their souls and constitutions There is more of self in this than consideration of God For if it were the latter the revealed law of God would upon the same reason be received as well as his natural law From this principle of self morality comes by some to be advanced above Evangelical dictates 2. As they are agreeable to sinful self Not that the commands of God are suited to bolster up the corruptions of men no more than the law can be said to excite or revive sin * Rom. 7.8 9. But it is like a scandal taken not given an occasion taken by the tumultuousness of our depraved nature The Pharisees were devout in long Prayers not from a sense of duty or a care of Gods honour but to satisfie their ambition and rake together fuel for their covetuousness * Math. 23.14 You devour Widdows Houses and for a pretence makes long Prayers that they might have the greater esteem and richer offerings to free by their prayers the souls of deceased persons from Purgatory an opinion that some think the Jewish Synagogue had then entertain'd * Gerrard in loc since some of their Doctors have defended such a notion Men may observe some Precepts of God to have a better conveniency to break others Jehu was ordered to cut off the house of Ahab The service he undertook was in it self acceptable but corrupt nature misacted that which
forsaken my Law and walked after the imaginations of their own heart When an act is known to be a sin and the Law that forbids it acknowledg'd to be the Law of God and after this a we persist in that which is contrary to it we tax his wisdom as if he did not understand what was convenient for us we would teach God knowledge * Job 21â 't is an implicite wish that God had laid aside the holiness of his nature and framed a Law to pleasure our lusts When God calls for weeping and mourning and girding with sackcloth upon approaching Judgments then the corrupt heart is for joy and gladness eating of Flesh and drinking of Wine because to morrow they should die * Isa ãâã 13. As if God had mistaken himself when he ordered them so much sorrow when their lives were so near an end and had lost his understanding when he ordered such a precept Disobedience is therefore called contention Rom. 2.8 Cententious and obey not the truth Contention against God whose truth it is that they disobey a dispute with him which hath more of wisdom in it self and conveniency for them his truth or their imaginations The more the love goodness and holiness of God appears in any command the more are we naturally averse from it and cast an imputation on him as if he were foolish unjust cruel and that we could have advised and directed him better The goodness of God is eminent to us in appointing a day for his own worship wherein we might converse with him and he with us and our souls be refresht with spiritual Communications from him and we rather use it for the ease of our bodies than the advancement of our souls as if God were mistaken and injured his Creature when he urg'd the spiritual part of duty Every disobedience to the Law is an implicite giving Law to him and a charge against him that he might have provided better for his Creature 2. In disapproving the methods of Gods government of the world If the Counsels of Heaven roul not about according to their schemes instead of adoring the unsearchable depths of his judgments they call him to the bar and accuse him because they are not fitted to their narrow Vessels as if a Nut-shell could contain an Ocean As corrupt reason esteems the highest truths foolishness so it counts the most righteous ways unequal Thus we commence a suit against God as though he had not acted righteously and wisely but must give an account of his proceedings at our tribunal This is to make our selves Gods superiors and presume to instruct him better in the government of the world As though God hinder'd himself and the world in not making us of his Privy Counsel and not ordering his affairs according to the contrivances of our dim understandings Is not this manifest in our immoderate complaints of Gods dealings with his Church as though there were a coldness in Gods affections to his Church and a glowing heat towardâ it only in us Hence are those importunate desires for things which are not established by any promise as though we would over-rule and over-perswade God to comply with our humour We have an ambition to be Gods Tutors and direct him in his Counsels Who hath been his Counsellor saith the Apostle * Rom. 11.34 Who ought not to be his Counsellor saith corrupt nature Men will find fault with God in what he suffers to be done according to their own minds when they feel the bitter fruit of it When Cain had kill'd his brother and his Conscience rackt him how sawcily and discontedly doth he answer God Gen. 4.9 Am I my brothers keeper Since thou dost own thy self the Rector of the world thou shouldst have preserved his person from my fury since thou dost accept his Sacrifice before my Offering preservation was due as well as acceptance If this temper be found on earth no wonder it is lodged in hell That deplorable person under the sensible stroke of Gods Soveraign justice would oppose his Nay to Gods will Luke 16.30 And he said nay Father Abraham but if one went to them from the dead they will repent He would presume to prescribe more effectual means than Moses and the Prophets to inform men of the danger they incurr'd by their sensuality David was displeas'd it 's said 2 Sam. 6.8 When the Lord had made a breach upon Vzzah not with Vzzah who was the object of his pity but with God who was the inflicter of that punishment When any of our friends have been struck with a Rod against our Sentiments and wishes have not our hearts been apt to swell in complaints against God as though he disregarded the goodness of such a person did not see with our eyes and measure him by our esteem of him As if he should have ask'd our Counsel before he had resolved and managed himself according to our will rather than his own If he be patient to the wicked we are apt to tax his holiness and accuse him as an enemy to his own Law If he inflict severity upon the righteous we are ready to suspect his goodness and charge him to be an enemy to his affectionate Creature If he spare the Nimrods of the World we are ready to ask where is the God of Judgment * Mal 2.17 If he afflict the Pillars of the Earth we are ready to question where is the God of Mercy 'T is impossible since the depraved nature of man and the various interests and passions in the world that infinite power and wisdome can act righteously for the good of the Universe but he will shake some corrupt interest or other upon the earth so various are the inclinations of men and such a Weather-cock Judgment hath every man in himself that the divine method he applauds this day upon a change of his interest he will cavil at the next 'T is impossible for the just orders of God to please the same person many weeks scarce many minutes together God must cease to be God or to be a holy if he should manage the concerns of the world according to the fancies of men How unreasonable is it thus to impose Laws upon God Must God revoke his own orders Govern according to the dictates of his Creature Must God who hath only power and wisdom to sway the Scepter become the obedient Subject of every mans humour and manage every thing to serve the design of a simple Creature This is not to be God but to set the Creature in his Throne Though this be not formally done yet that it is interpretatively and practically done is every hours experience 3. In impatience in our particular concerns 'T is ordinary with man to charge God in his complaints in the time of affliction Therefore 't is the commendation the Holy Ghost gives to Job Job 1.22 That in all this that is in those many waves that roll'd over him he did not charge
Job 18.4 Joseph had reason to be displeased with his Brothers if they had muttered because he gave Benjamin a double portion and the rest a single It was unfit that they who had deserved no gift at all should prescribe him rules how to dispense his own doles much more unworthy it is to deal so with God yet this is too rife 5. It is evidenced in corrupt matter or ends of Prayer and praise When we are importunate for those things that we know not whither the righteousness holiness and wisdom of God can grant because he hath not discovered his Will in any promise to bestow them we would then impose such conditions on God which he never oblidged himself to grant when we pray for things not so much to glorifie God which ought to be the end of Prayer as to gratifie our selves We acknowledg indeed by the act of petitioning that there is a God but we would have him un-God himself to be at our beck and debase himself to serve our turns When we desire those things which are repugnant to those attributes whereby he doth manage the Government of the world When by some superficial services we think we have gained indulgence to sins Which seems to be the thought of the Strumpet in her paying her vows to wallowmore freely in the mire of her sensual pleasures * Pro. 7.14 I have peace offerings with me this day I have paid my vows I have made my peace with God and have entertainment for thee Or when men desire God to bless them in the Commission of some sin As when Balack and Balaam offered Sacrifices that they might prosper in the Cursing of the Israelites Numb 25.1 c. So for a Man to pray to God to save him while he neglects the means of Salvation appointed by God Or to renew him when he slights the Word the only Instrument to that purpose This is to impose Laws upon God contrary to the declared Will and wisdom of God and to desire him to slight his own institutions When we come into the presence of God with lusts reeking in our hearts and leap from sin to duty we would impose the Law of our corruption on the holiness of God While we pray the Will of God may be done self-love wishes its own will may be performed as tho God should serve our humors when we will not obey his precepts And when we make vows under any affliction what is it often but a secret conontrivance to bend and flatter him to our conditions We will serve him if he will restore us we think thereby to compound the business with him and bring him down to our terms 6. T is evidenced In positive and bold interpretations of the Judgments of God in the world To interpret the Judgments of God to the disadvantage of the sufferer unless it be an unusual Judgment and have a remarkable hand of God in it and the sin be rendred plainly legible in the affliction is a presumption of this nature When men will Judge the Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with the Sacrifices greater sinners than others and themselves righteous because no drops of it were dasht upon them Or when Shimei being of the House of Saul shall Judge according to his own interest and desires Davids flight upon Absoloms rebellion to be a punishment for invading the rights of Sauls Family and depriving him of the succession in the Kingdom 2 Sam. 16.5 as if he had been of Gods Privy Counsel when he decreed such acts of Justice in the world Thus we would fasten our own Wills as a Law or motive upon God and interpret his acts according to the Motions of self Is it not too ordinary when God sends an affliction upon those that bear ill will to us to Judge it to be a righting of our cause to be a fruit of Gods concern for us in revenging our wrongs as if we had heard the secrets of God or as Eliphaz saith had turned over the records of heaven Job 15.8 This is a judgment according to self-love not a divine rule and imposeth Laws upon Heaven implying a secret wish that God would take care only of them make our concerns his own not in ways of kindness and justice but according to our fancies And this is common in the prophane World in those curses they so readily spit out upon any affront as if God were bound to draw his Arrowes and shoot them into the heart of all their offenders at their beck and pleasure 7. It is evidenc'd In mixing rules for the worship of God with those which have been ordered by him Since men are most prone to live by sense 't is no wonder that a sensible worship which affects their outward sence with some kind of amazement is dear to them and spiritual worship most loathsome Pompous rites have been the great Engine wherewith the Devil hath deceived the souls of men and wrought them to a nauseating the simplicity of divine worship as unworthy the Majesty and excellency of God * 2 Cor. 11.3 Thus the Jews would not understand the glory of the second Temple in the presence of the Messiah because it had not the pompous grandeur of that of Solomons erecting Hence in all Ages men have been forward to disfigure Gods models and dress up a brat of their own as though God had been defective in providing for his own honour in his institutions without the assistance of his Creature This hath alwayes been in the world the old World had their imaginations and the new World hath continued them The Israelites in the midst of miracles and under the memory of a famous deliverance would erect a Calf The Pharises that sate in Moses Chair would coyn new Traditions and enjoyn them to be as currant as the Law of God * Mat. 13.6 Papists will be blending the Christian appointments with Pagan Ceremonies to please the carnal fancies of the common people Altars have been multiplied under the knowledge of the Law of God * Hos 8.12 Interest is made the ballance of the conveniency of Gods injunctions Jeroboam fitted a worship to politick ends and posted up Calves to prevent his subjects revolting from his Scepter which might be occasioned by their resort to Hierusalem and converse with the body of the people from whom they were separated * 1 Kings 12.27 Men will be putting in their own dictates with Gods Laws and are unwilling he should be the sole Governour of the World without their Counsel They will not suffer him to be Lord of that which is purely and solely his concern How often hath the practice of the Primitive Church the Custom wherein we are bred the Sentiments of our Ancestors been owned as a more authentick rule in matters of Worship than the mind of God delivered in his word 'T is natural by Creation to worship God and it is as natural by corruption for man to worship him in
a humane way and not in a divine Is not this to impose Laws upon God To esteem our selves wiser than he To think him negligent of his own service and that our feeble brains can find out ways to accommodate his honour better than himself hath done Thus do men for the most part equal their own imaginations to Gods oracles As Solomon built a high place to Moloch and Chemoch upon the Mount of Olives to face on the East part Hierusalem and the Temple * 1 Kings 11.7 This is not only to impose Laws on God but also to make self the Standard of them 8. 'T is evidenc'd in suting interpretations of Scripture to their own minds and humors Like the Lacedemonians that drest the Images of their Gods according to the fashion of their own Countrey We would wring Scripture to sârve our own designs and Judge the Law of God by the law of sin and make the Serpentine seed in us to be the interpreter of Divine Oracles This is like Belshazar to drink healths out of the sacred Vessels As God is the Author of his Law and Word so he is the best interpreter of it the Scripture having an impress of divine Wisdom Holiness and Goodness must be regarded according to that impress with a submission and meekness of Spirit and Reverence of God in it But when in our enquiries into the word we enquire not of God but consult flesh and blood the temper of the times wherein we live or the satisfaction of a party we side withal and impose glosses upon it according to our own fancies it is to put Laws upon God and make self the rule of him He that interprets the law to bolster up some eager appetite against the Will of the law-giver ascribes to himself as great an authority as he that enacted it 9. In falling off from God after some fair compliances when his Will grateth upon us and crosseth ours They will walk with him as far as he pleaseth them and leave him upon the first distast as tho God must observe their humors more than they his Will Amos must be suspended from Prophecying because the Land could not bear his words and his discourses condemned their unworthy practices against God * Amos. 7.10 c. The Young man came not to receive directions from our Saviour but expected a Confirmation of his own rules rather than an imposition of new * Mark 10.17 22. He rather cares for Commendations than instructions and upon the disappointment turns his back He was sad that Christ would not suffer him to be rich and a Christian together and leaves him because his Command was not suitable to the Law of his Covetousness Some truths that are at a further distance from us we can hear gladly But when the Conscience begins to smart under others if God will not observe our Wills we will with Herod be a Law to our selves * Mark 6 2â.27 More instances might be observed Ingratitude is a setting up self and an imposing Laws on God T is as much as to say God did no more than he was obliged to do as if the Mercies we have were an Act of Duty in God and not of bounty Insatiable desires after wealth Hence are those speeches Jam. 4.13 We will go into such a City and buy and sell c. to get gain As tho they had the Command of God and God must Lacquey after their Wills VVhen our hearts are not contented with any supply of our wants but are craving an overplus for our lust When we are unsatisfied in the midst of plenty and still like the Grave cry give give Incorrigibleness under affliction c. Secondly 2. The second main thing As Man would be a Law to himself So he would be his own end and happiness in opposition to God Here four things shall be discoursed on 1. Man would make himself his own End and Happiness 2. He would make any thing his End and Happiness rather than God 3. He would make himself the End of all Creatures 4. He would make himself the End of God First 1. Man would make himself his own End and Happiness As God ought to be esteem'd the first cause in point of our dependance on him so he ought to be our last end in point of our enjoyment of him When we therefore trust in our selves we refuse him as the first cause and when we act for our selves and expect a blessedness from our selves we refuse him as the Chiefest good and last End which is an undeniable piece of Atheism For man is a Creature of a higher rank than others in the world and was not made as Animals Plants and other works of the Divine power materially to glorifie God but a rational Creature intentionally to Honour God by obedience to his Rule dependance on his goodness and zeal for his glory T is therefore as much a slighting of God for man a Creature to set himself up as his own End as to regard himself as his own Law For the discovery of this observe that there is a three-fold self-love 1. Natural which is common to us by the Law of nature with other Creatures Inanimate as well as Animate and so closely twisted with the nature of every Creature that it cannot be dissolved but with the dissolution of nature it self It consisted not with the wisdom and goodness of God to Create an unnatural nature or to Command any thing unnatural Nor doth he for when he Commands us to Sacrifice out Selves and dearest lives for himself t is not without a promise of a more noble state and being in exchange for what we lose This self-love is not only commendable but necessary as a Rule to measure that duty we owe to our Neighbour whom we cannot love as our selves if we do not first love our selvs God having planted this self-love in our nature makes this natural principle the measure of our affection to all Mankind of the same blood with our selves 2. Carnal self-love when a man loves himself above God in opposition to God with a contempt of God when our thoughts affections designs Center only in our own fleshly interest and rifle God of his honour to make a present of it to our selves Thus the natural self-love in it self good becomes Criminal by the excess when it would be superior and not subordinate to God 3. A Gracious self-love VVhen we love our selves for higher ends than the nature of a Creature as a Creature dictates Viz. in subserviency to the Glory of God This is a reduction of the revolted Creature to his true and happy order A Christian is therefore said to be Created in Christ to good works * Eph. 1 10. As all Creatures were Created not only for themselves but for the honour of God so the Grace of the new Creation carries a man to answer this end and to order all his operations to the Honour of God and his
and his own happiness So loth is God to give any just occasion of dissatisfaction to his Creature as well as dishonour himself All those wonders of his mercy are inhanc'd by the hainousness of our Atheism a multitude of gracious thoughts from him above the multitude of contempts from us * Psal 106. â What Rebells in actual Arms against their Prince aiming at his Life ever found that favour from him to have all their necessaries richly afforded them without which they would starve and without which they would be unable to manage their attempts as we have received from God Had not God had riches of goodness forbearance and long suffering and infinite riches too the despight the world hath done him in refusing him as their Rule Happiness and End would have emptied him long agoe * Rom. 2.4 2. It brings in a Justification of the exercise of his Justice If it gives us occasion loudly to praise his Patience it also stops our mouths from accusing any acts of his Vengeance What can be too sharp a recompence for the despising and disgracing so great a Being The highest contempt merits the greatest anger and when we will not own him for our happiness 't is equal we should feel the misery of separation from him If he that is guilty of Treason deserves to lose his Life what punishment can be thought great enough for him that is so disingenious as to prefer himself before a God so infinitely good and so foolish as to invade the rights of one infinitely powerful 'T is no injustice for a Creature to be for ever left to himself to see what advantage he can make of that self he was so busily imployed to set up in the place of his Creator The Soul of Man deserves an infinite punishment for despising an infinite good And it is not unequitable that that self which Man makes his Rule and Happiness above God should become his Torment and Misery by the Righteousness of that God whom he despised 3. Hence ariseth a necessity of a new state and frame of Soul to alter an Atheistical Nature We forget God Think of him with reluctancy Have no respect to God in our course and acts This cannot be our original state God being infinitely good never let man come out of his hands with this actual unwillingness to acknowledge and serve him He never intended to dethrone himself for the work of his hands or that the Creature should have any other end than that of his Creator As the Apostle saith in the Case of the Galatians Error Gal. 5.8 This perswasion came not of him that called you so this frame comes not from him that created you How much therefore do we need a restoring Principle in us Instead of ordering our selves according to the Will of God we are desirous to fulfil the Wills of the Flesh * Ephes 2.3 There is a necessity of some other principle in us to make us fulfil the Will of God since we were created for God not for the Flesh We can no more be voluntarily serviceable to God while our serpentine nature and Devillish habits remain in us than we can suppose the Devil can be willing to glorifie God while the nature he contracted by his fall abides powerfully in him Our Nature and Will must be changed that our actions may regard God as our End that we may delightfully meditate on him and draw the motives of our obedience from him Since this Atheism is seated in Nature the change must be in our Nature Since our first aspirings to the rights of God were the fruits of the Serpents breath which tainted our Nature there must be a removal of this taint whereby our Natures may be on the side of God against Satan as they were before on the side of Satan against God There must be a supernatural Principle before we can live a supernatural Life i. e. live to God since we are naturally alienated from the Life of God The aversion of our Natures from God is as strong as our inclination to evil we are disgusted with one and pressed with the other we have no will no heart to come to God in any service This Nature must be broken in pieces and new moulded before we can make God our Rule and our End While mens deeds are evil they cannot comply with God * Joh. 3.19 20. much less while their natures are evil Till this be done all the service a man performs riseth from some evil imagination of the heart which is evil only evil and that continually * Gen. 6.5 from wrong Notions of God wrong Notions of Duty or corrupt Motives All the pretences of Devotion to God are but the Adoration of some golden Image Prayers to God for the ends of self are like those of the Devil to our Saviour when he askt leave to go into the Herd of Swine The Object was right Christ the end was the destruction of the Swine and the satisfaction of their malice to the Owners There is a necessity then that depraved ends should be removed that that which was Gods end in our framing may be our end in our acting viz. his glory which cannot be without a change of Nature We can never honour him supreamly whom we do not supreamly love Till this be we cannot glorifie God as God though we do things by his Command and Order no more than when God imployed the Devil in afflicting Job * Job 1. His performance cannot be said to be good because his end was not the same with Gods he acted out of Malice what God commanded out of Soveraignity and for gracious designs Had God imployed an Holy Angel in his design upon Job the Action had been good in the Affliction because his Nature was holy and therefore his ends holy but bad in the Devil because his ends were base and unworthy 4. We may gather from hence the difficulty of Conversion and Mortification to follow thereupon What is the reason men receive no more impression from the Voice of God and the Light of his Truth than a dead man in the Grave doth from the roaring Thunder or a blind Mole from the Light of the Sun 'T is because our Atheism is as great as the deadness of the one or the blindness of the other The Principle in the heart is strong to shut the door both of the thoughts and affections against God If a Friend oblige us we shall act for him as for our selves We are won by intreaties soft words overcome us but our hearts are as deaf as the hardest Rock at the call of God Neither the joys of Heaven proposed by him can allure us nor the flasht terrors of Hell affright us to him as if we conceived God unable to bestow the one or execute the other The true reason is God and self contest for the Deity The Law of Sin is God must be at the foot-stool the Law of God is Sin
one as well as the other denies his spiritual nature This is worse for had it been lawful to represent God to the eye it could not have been done but by a bodily figure suted to the sense but since it is necessary to worship him it cannot be by a corporeal attendance without the operation of the Spirit A spiritual frame is more pleasing to God than the highest exterior adornments than the greatest gifts and the highest Prophetical illuminations The glory of the second Temple exceeded the glory of the first * Hag. 2.8 9. As God accounts the spiritual glory of Ordinances most beneficial for us so our spiritual attendance upon Ordinances is most pleasing to him He that offers the greatest services without it offers but flesh Hos 8.13 They sacrifice Flesh for the Sacrifices of my Offerings but the Lord accepts them not Spiritual frames are the Soul of Religious services all other carriages without them are contemptible to this Spirit We can never lay claim to that promise of God none shall seek my face in vain We affect a vain seeking of him when we want a due temper of Spirit for him And vain Spirits shall have vain returns 'T is more contrary to the nature of Gods Holiness to have communion with such than it is contrary to the nature of Light to have communion with Darkness To make use of this Vse 1. First it serves for information 1. If spiritual worship be required by God How sad is it for them that are so far from giving God a spiritual worship that they render him no worship at all I speak not of the neglect of publick but of private when men present not a devotion to God from one years end to the other The speech of our Saviour that we must worship God in Spirit and Truth implies that a worship is due to him from every one That is the common impression upon the Consciences of all men in the world if they have not by some constant course in gross sins hardned their Souls and stifled those natural sentiments There was never a Nation in the world without some kind of Religion and no Religion was ever without some modes to testifie a devotion The Heathens had their Sacrifices and Purifications and the Jews by Gods order had their rites whereby they were to express their Allegiance to God Consider 1. Worship is a duty incumbent upon all men 'T is a homage Mankind ows to God under the relation wherein he stands obliged to him 'T is a prime and immutable justice to own our Allegiance to him 'T is as unchangeable a truth that God is to be worshipped as that God is He is to be worshipped as God as Creator and therefore by all since he is the Creator of all the Lord of all and all are his Creatures and all are his Subjects Worship is founded upon Creation Psal 100.2 3. 'T is due to God for himself and his own essential excellency and therefore due from all 'T is due upon the account of mans nature The human rational nature is the same in all Whatsoever is due to God upon the account of mans nature and the natural obligations he hath laid upon man is due from all men because they all enjoy the benefits which are proper to their nature Man in no state was exempted nor can be exempted from it In Paradise he had his Sabbath and Sacraments Man therefore dissolves the obligation of a reasonable nature by neglecting the worship of God Religion is in the first place to be minded As soon as Noah came out of the Ark he contrived not a Habitation for himself but an Altar for the Lord to acknowledge him the Author of his preservation from the Deluge * Gen. 8.20 And wheresoever Abraham came his first business was to erect an Altar and pay his arrears of gratitude to God before he ran upon the score for new mercies * Gen. 12.7 Gen. 13.4.18 He left a testimony of worship where ever he came 2. Wholly therefore to neglect it is a high degree of Atheism He that calls not upon God saith in his heart there is no God and seems to have the sentiments of natural Conscience as to God stifled in him * Psal 14.1 4 It must arise from a conceit that there is no God or that we are equal to him adoration not being due from persons of an equal state or that God is unable or unwilling to take notice of the adoring acts of his Creatures What is any of these but an undeifying the supream Majesty When we lay aside all thoughts of paying any homage to him we are in a fair way opinionatively to deny him as much as we practically disown him Where there is no knowledge of God that is no acknowledgment of God a gap is opened to all licentiousness * Hos 4.1 2. And that by degrees brawns the Conscience and raseth out the sense of God Those forsake God that forget his holy Mountain * Isa 65.11 They do not practically own him as the Creator of their Souls or bodies 'T is the sin of Cain who turning his back upon worship is said to go out from the presence of the Lord * Gen. 4.16 Not to worship him with our Spirits is against his Law of Creation Not to worship him at all is against his act of Creation Not to worship him in truth is Hypocrisie Not to worship him at all is Atheism whereby we render our selves worse than the worms in the Earth or a toad in a Ditch 3. To perform a worship to a false God or to the true God in a false manner seems to be less a sin than to live in perpetual neglects of it Though it be directed to a false Object instead of God yet it is under the notion of a God and so is an acknowledgement of such a Being as God in the world whereas the total neglect of any worship is a practical denying of the existence of any supream Majesty Whosoever constantly omits a publick and private worship transgresses against an universally received dictate For all Nations have agreed in the common notion of worshipping God though they have disagreed in the several modes and rites whereby they would testifie that adoration By a worship of God though superstitious a veneration and reverence of such a being is maintained in the world whereas by a total neglect of worship he is vertually disowned and discarded if not from his existence yet from his Providence and Government of the world All the mercies we breath in are denied to flow from him A foolish worship owns Religion though it bespatters it As if a stranger coming into a Country mistakes a Subject for the Prince and pays that reverence to the Subject which is due to the Prince though he mistakes the object yet he owns an Authority or if he pays any respect to the true Prince of that Country after the mode of
Zech. 4.1 The Angel that talked with me came again and awaked me as a man is awaked out of sleep He had been rouzed up before but he was ready to drop down again his heart was gone till the Angel jogged him We may complain of such imaginations as Jerem. doth of the Enemies of the Jews * Lam. 4.19 Our Persecutors are swifter than Eagles they light upon us with as much speed as Eagles upon a Carcass they pursue us upon the Mountain of Divine institutions and they lay wait for us in the Wilderness in our retired addresses to God And this will be so while 1. There is natural corruption in us There are in a Godly man two contrary principles Flesh and Spirit which endeavour to hinder one anothers acts and are alway stirring upon the offensive or defensive part * Gal. 5.17 There is a body of death continually exhaling its noysom vapours 'T is a body of death in our worship as well as in our natures it snaps our resolutions asunder * Rom. 7.19 it hinders us in the doing good and contradicts our wills in the stirring up evil This corruption being seated in all the faculties and a constant Domestick in them has the greater opportunity to trouble us since it is by those faculties that we spiritually transact with God and it stirs more in the time of religious exercises though it be in part mortified As a wounded Beast though tired will rage and strive to its utmost when the Enemy is about to fetch a blow at it All duties of worship tend to the wounding of corruption and it is no wonder to feel the striving of sin to defend it self and offend us when we have our Arms in our hands to mortifie it that the blow may be diverted which is directed against it The Apostles had aspiring thoughts and being perswaded of an earthly Kingdom expected a Grandeur in it And though we find some appearance of it at other times as when they were casting out Devils and gave an account of it to their Master he gives them a kind of a check * Luke 10.20 intimating that there was some kind of evil in their rejoycing upon that account Yet this never swelled so high as to break out into a quarrel who should be greatest * Luke 22.24 until they had the most solemn Ordinance the Lords Supper to quell it* Our corruption is like Lime which discovers not its fire by any smoke or heat till you cast water the Enemy of fire upon it Neither doth our natural corruption rage so much as when we are using means to quench and destroy it 2. While there is a Devil and we in his Precinct As he accuseth us to God so he disturbs us in our selves He is a bold Spirit and loves to intrude himself when we are conversing with God We read that when the Angels presented themselves before God Satan comes among them * Job 1.6 Motions from Satan will thrust themselves in with our most raised and Angelical frames He loves to take off the edge of our Spirits from God He acts but after the old rate He from the first envied God an obedience from man and envied man the felicity of communion with God He is unwilling God should have the honour of worship and that we should have the fruit of it He hath himself lost it and therefore is unwilling we should enjoy it and being subtil he knows how to make impressions upon us sutable to our inbred corruptions and assault us in the weakest part He knows all the avenues to get within us as he did in the temptation of Eve and being a Spirit he wants not a power to dart them immediatly upon our fancy And being a Spirit and therefore active and nimble he can shoot those darts faster than our weakness can beat them off He is diligent also and watcheth for his Prey and seeks to devour our services as well as our Souls and snatch our best morsels from us We know he mixed himself with our Saviours retirements in the Wilderness and endeavoured to Fly-blow his holy converse with his Father in the preparation to his mediatory work Satan is Gods Ape and imitates the Spirit in the Office of a Remembrancer As the Spirit brings good thoughts and divine promises to mind to quicken our worship so the Devil brings evil things to mind and endeavours to fasten them in our Souls to disturb us And though all the foolish starts we have in worship are not purely his issue yet being of kin to him he claps his hands and sets them on like so many Mastives to tear the service in pieces And both those distractions which arise from our own corruption and from Satan are most rise in worship when we are under some pressing affliction This seems to be David's Case Psal 86. when in v. 11. He prays God to unite his heart to fear and worship his Name he seems to be under some affliction or fear of his Enemies Oh free me from those distractions of Spirit and those passions which arise in my Soul upon considering the designs of my enemies against me and press upon me in my addresses to thee and attendances on thee Job also in his affliction complains Job 17.11 That his purposes were broken off He could not make an even thread of thoughts and resolutions they were frequently snapt saunder like rotten Yarn when one is winding it up Good Men and spiritual Worshippers have lain under this trouble Though they are a sign of weakness of grace or some obstructions in the acting of strong grace yet they are not alway evidences of a want of grace What ariseth from our own corruption is to be matter of humiliation and resistance what ariseth from Satan should edge our minds to a noble conquest of them If the Apostle did comfort himself with his disapproving of what rose from the natural spring of sin within him with his consent to the Law and dissent from his Lust and charges it not upon himself but upon the sin that dwelt in him with which he had broken off the former League and was resolved never to enter into Amity with it By the same reason we may comfort our selves if such thoughts are undelighted in and alienate not our hearts from the worship of God by all their busie intrusions to interrupt us 2. These distractions not allowed may be occasions by an holy improvement to make our hearts more spiritual after worship though they disturb us in it By answering those ends for which we may suppose God permits them to invade us And that is 1. When they are occasions to humble us 1. For our carriage in the particular worship There is nothing so dangerous as spiritual pride It deprived Devils and Men of the presence of God and will hinder us of the influence of God If we had had raised and uninterrupted motions in worship we should be apt to be lifted
be purged as well as the Temple was by our Saviour of the Thieves that would rob God of his due worship Antiquity had some Temples wherein it was a crime to bring any gold therefore those that came to worship laid their gold aside before they went into the Temple We should lay aside our worldly and trading thoughts before we address to worship Isa 26.9 With my Spirit within me will I seek thee early Let not our minds be gadding abroad and exil'd from God and themselves It will be thus when the desire of our Soul is to his name and the remembrance of him ver 8. When he hath given so great and admirable a gift as that of his Son in whom are all things necessary to Salvation Righteousness Peace and pardon of sin we should manage the remembrance of his name in worship with the closest unitedness of heart and the most Spiritual affections The motion of the Spirit is the first act in Religion to this we are obliged in every act The Devil requires the Spirit of his votaries should God have a less dedication than the Devil Motives to back this exhortation 1. Not to give God our Spirit is a great sin T is a mockery of God not worship contempt not adoration whatever our outward fervency or protestations may be * Nân valet prâtestatio cântra jactum is a rule in the civil law Every alienation of our hearts from him is a real scorn put upon him The acts of the Soul are real and more the acts of the man than the acts of the body because they are the acts of the choicest part of man and of that which is the first spring of all bodily motions 't is the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Inrenal speech whereby we must speak with God To give him therefore only an external form of worship without the life of it is a taking his name in vain We mock him when we mind not what we are speaking to him or what he is speaking to us when the motions of our hearts are contrary to the motions of our tongues when we do any thing before him slovenly impudently or rashly As in a Lutinisi it is absurd to sing one Tune and play another so it is a foul thing to tell God one thing with our lips and think another thing with our hearts 't is a sin like that the Apostle chargeth the Heathens with Rom. 1.28 they like not to retain God in their knowledge their stomachs are sick while they are upon any duty and never leave working till they have thrown up all the spiritual part of Worship and rid themselves of the thoughts of God which are as unwelcome and troublesome Guests to them When men behave themselves in the sight of God as if God were not God they do not only defame him but deny him and violate the unchangeable perfections of the Divine Nature 1. 'T is against the Majesty of God When we have not awful thoughts of that great Majesty to whom we address when our Souls cleave not to him when we petition him in Prayer or when he gives out his Orders to us in his Word 'T is a contempt of the Majesty of a Prince if whiles he is speaking to us we listen not to him with reverence and attention but turn our backs on him to play with one of his Hounds or talk with a Begger or while we speak to him to rake in a Dunghill Solomon adviseth us to keep our foot when we go to the House of God * Eccles 5.1 Our affections should be steady and not slip away again why v. 2. because God is in Heaven c. He is a God of Majesty earthly durty frames are unsutable to the God of Heaven low Spirits are unsutable to the most High We would not bring our mean Servants or durty Dogs into a Princes Presence Chamber yet we bring not only our worldly but our prophane affections into Gods presence We give in this case those services to God which our Governour would think unworthy of him * Mal. 1.8 The more excellent and glorious God is the greater contempt of him it is to suffer such foolish affections to be Competitors with him for our hearts 'T is a scorn put upon him to converse with a Creature while we are dealing with him but a greater to converse in our thoughts and fancies with some sordid lust which is most hateful to him And the more aggravation it attracts in that we are to apprehend him the most glorious Object sitting upon his Throne in time of worship and our selves standing as vile Creatures before him supplicating for our lives and the conveyances of grace and mercy to our Souls As if a grand Mutineer instead of humbly begging the pardon of his offended Prince should present his Petition not only scribled and blotted but besmeared with some loathsome excrement 'T is unbecoming the Majesty both of God and the worship it self to present him with a Picture instead of Substance and bring a world of nasty affections in our hearts and ridiculous toys in our heads before him and worship with indisposed and heedless Souls Malac. 1.14 He is a great King therefore address to him with fear and reverence 2. 'T is against the Life of God Is a dead worship proportioned to a living God The separation of heavenly affections from our Souls before God makes them as much a Carcass in his sight as the divorce of the Soul makes the Body a Carcass When the affections are separated worship is no longer worship but a dead offering a liveless bulk for the essence and spirit of worship is departed Though the Soul be present with the Body in a way of information yet it is not present in a way of affection and this is the worst for it is not the separation of the Soul from informing that doth separate a man from God but the removal of our affections from him If a man pretend an application to God and sleep and snore all the time without question such a one did not worship In a careless worship the heart is morally dead while the eyes are open The heart of the Spouse * Cant. 5.2 waked whiles her eyes slept and our hearts on the contrary sleep while our eyes wake Our blessed Saviour hath died to purge our Consciences from dead works and frames that we may serve the living God * Heb. 9.14 to serve God as a God of Life Davids Soul cried and fainted for God under this consideration * Psal 42.2 But to present our Bodies without our Spirits is such a usage of God that implies he is a dead Image not worthy of any but a dead and heartless service Like one of those Idols the Psalmist speaks of * Psal 115.5 that have eyes and see not ears and hear not no life in it Though it be not an objective Idolatry because the worship is directed to the true
pierce into the lower World as if his Presence and Cares were confin'd to Coelestial things and the Earth were too low a Sphere for his Essence to reach at least with any Credit 'T is forgotten by good men when they fear too much the designs of their Enemies Fear not for I am with thee Isa 43.5 If the Presence of God be enough to strengthen against fear then the prevailing of fear issues from our forgetfulness of it 2. This Attribute of Gods Omnipresence is for the most part contemn'd When men will commit that in the presence of God which they would be afraid or ashamed to do before the eye of man Men do not practice that Modesty before God as before men He that would restrain his tongue out of fear of mens eye will not restrain either tongue or hands out of fear of Gods What is the language of this but that God is not present with us or his presence ought to be of less regard with us and influence upon us than that of a creature Drexel Niceâ lib. 2. cap. 10. Ask the Thief why he dares to steal Will he not answer No eye sees him Ask the Adulterer why he strips himself of his Chastity and invades the Rights of another Will he not answer Job 24.15 No eye sees me He disguiseth himself to be unseen by man but slights the all-seeing eye of God If only a man know them they are in terror of the shadow of death they are Planet-struck but stand unshaken at the presence of God Job 24.17 Is not this to account God as limited as man as ignorant as absenting as if God were something less than those things which restrains us 'T is a debasing God below a creature If we can forbear sin from an awe of the presence of man to whom we are equal in regard of Nature or from the presence of a very mean man to whom we are superior in regard of condition and not forbear it because we are within the ken of God We respect him not only as our inferior but inferior to the meanest man or child of his Creation in whose sight we would not commit the like action 'T is to represent him as a sleepy negligent or careless God as tho any thing might be concealed from him before whom the least fibres of the heart are anatomiz'd and open who sees as plainly midnight as noon-day sins Heb 4.13 Now this is a high aggravation of sin To break a Kings Laws in his sight is more bold than to violate them behind his back as it was Haman's offence when he lay upon Esthers bed to force the Queen before the Kings face The least iniquity receives a high tincture from this And no sin can be little that is an affront in the face of God and casting the filth of the creature before the eyes of his holiness As if a Wife should commit Adultery before her Husbands face or a Slave dishonour his Master and disobey his commands in his presence And hath it not often been thus with us Have we not been disloyal to God in his sight before his eyes those pure eyes that cannot behold iniquity without anger and grief Isa 65.12 Ye did evil before my eyes Nathan chargeth this home upon David 2 Sam. 12. â Thou hast despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight And David in his repentance reflects upon himself for it Psal 51.4 Against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight I observed not thy presence I neglected thee while thy eye was upon me And this consideration should sting our hearts in all our confessions of our Crimes Men will be afraid of the presence of others whatsoever they think in their heart How unworthily do we deal with God in not giving him so much as an eye-service which we do man 8. How terrible should the thoughts of this Attribute be to sinners How foolish is it to imagine any hiding-place from the Incomprehensible God Quo fugis Encelade quas cunque accesseris oras sub Jove semper eris who fills and contains all things and is present in every point of the World When men have shut the door and made all darkness within to meditate or commit a Crime they cannot in the most intricate recesses be sheltred from the presence of God If they could separate themselves from their own shadows they could not avoid his company or be obscured from his sight Psal 139.12 The darkness and light are both alike to him Hypocrites cannot disguise their sentiments from him he is in the most secret nook of their hearts No thought is hid no lust is secret but the eye of God beholds this and that and the other He is present with our heart when we imagine with our hands when we act We may exclude the Sun from peeping into our solitudes but not the eyes of God from beholding our actions The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and good Prov. 15.3 He lies in the depths of our souls and sees afar off our designs before we have conceived them He is in the greatest darkness as well as the clearest light in the closest thought of the mind as well as the openest expressions Nothing can be hid from him no not in the darkest Cells or thickest Walls He compasseth our path wherever we are Psal 139.3 and is acquainted with all our ways He is as much present with wicked men to observe their sins as he is to detest them Where he is present in his Essence he is present in his Attributes His Holiness to hate and his Justice to punish if he please to speak the word 'T is strange men should not be mindful of this when their very sins themselves might put them in mind of his presence Whence haââ thou the power to act who preserves thy being whereby thou art capable of committing that evil Is it not his Essential presence that sustains us and his Arm that supports us And where can any man flye from his presence Not the vast Regions of Heaven could shelter a sinning Angel from his eye How was Adam ferreted out of his hiding-places in Paradice Nor can we find the depths of the Sea a sufficient covering to us If we were with Jonah closeted up in the belly of a Whale if we had the wings of the morning as quick a motion as the light at the dawning of the day that doth in an instant surprise and overpower the regions of darkness and could pass to the utmost parts of the earth or hell there we should find him there his eye would be upon us there would his hand lay hold of us and lead us as a Conqueror triumphing over a captive Psal 139.8 9 10. Nay if we could leap out of the compass of heaven and earth we should find as little reserves from him He is
which is past And tho' God be said to forget in Scripture and not to know his People and his People pray to him to remember them as if he had forgotten them Psal 119 49. This is improperly ascrib'd to God * Bradward As God is said to repent when he changes things according to his Counsel beyond the expectation of men so he is said to forget when he defers the making good his Promise to the Godly or his Threatnings to the Wicked this is not a defect of Memory belonging to his mind but an act of his Will When he is said to remember his Covenant 't is to Will Grace according to his Covenant when he is said to forget his Covenant 't is to intercept the influences of it whereby to punish the Sin of his People and when he is said not to know his People 't is not an absolute forgetfulness of them but withdrawing from them the Testimonies of his Kindness and clouding the Signs of his favour so God in Pardon is said to forget Sin not that he ceaseth to know it but ceaseth to punish it 'T is not to be meant of a simple forgetfulness or a lapse of his Memory but of a Judicial Forgetfulness so when his People in Scripture Pray Lord Remember thy Word unto thy Servant no more is to be understood but Lord fulfil thy Word and Promise to thy Servant 3. He knows things Present Heb. 4.13 All things are naked and opened unto the Eyes of him with whom we have to do This is grounded upon the Knowledg of himself 't is not so difficult to know all Creatures exactly as to know himself because they are finite but himself is infinite he knows his own Power and therefore every thing through which his Omnipotence is diffus'd all the acts and objects of it not the least thing that is the Birth of his Power can be conceal'd from him he knows his own Goodness and therefore every object upon which the warm beams of his Goodness strike he therefore knows distinctly the properties of every Creature because every Property in them is a Ray of his Goodness he is not only the efficient but the exemplary cause therefore as he knows all that his Power hath wrought as he is the efficient so he knows them in himself as the pattern As a Carpenter can give an account of every part and passage in a House he hath built by consulting the Model in his own mind whereby he built it He looked upon all things after he had made them and pronounc'd them good Gen. 1.3 full of a natural goodness he had endowed them with he did not ignorantly pronounce them so and call them good whether he knew them or not and therefore he knows them in particular as he knew them all in their first Presence Is there any reason he should be ignorant of every thing now present in the World or that any thing that derives an existence from him as a free cause should be concealed from him If he did not know things present in their particularities many things would be known by man yea by Beasts which the infinite God were ignorant of and if he did not know all things present but only some 't is possible for the most Blessed God to be deceived and be miserable Ignorance is a Calamity to the Understanding He could not prescribe Laws to his Creatures unless he knew their Natures to which those Laws were to be suited no not natural Ordinances to the Sun Moon and Heavenly Bodies and inanimate Creatures unless he knew the vigour and vertue in them to execute those Ordinances for to prescribe Laws above the nature of things is inconsistent with the Wisdom of Government he must know how far they were able to obey whether the Laws were suted to their ability And for his rational Creatures Whether the Punishments annext to the Law were proper and suited to the Transgression of the Creature 1. First He knows all Creatures from the highest to the lowest the least as well as the greatest He knows the Ravens and their young ones Job ââ 41. the Drops of Rain and Dew which he hath begotten Job 38. ââ every Bird in the Air as well as any man doth what he hath in a Cage at home Psal 50.11 I know all the Fowls in the Mountains and the wild Beasts in the Field which some read creeping things The Clouds are numbred in his Wisdom Job 38.37 every Worm in the Earth every drop of Rain that falls upon the ground the flakes of Snow and the knots of Hail the Sands upon the Sea-shore the Hairs upon the Head 't is no more absurd to imagine that God knows them than that God made them they are all the effects of his Power as well as the Stars which he calls by their Names as well as the most glorious Angel and blessed Spirit he knows them as well as if there were none but them in particular for him to know the least things were framed by his Art as well as the greatest the least things partake of his goodness as well as the greatest he knows his own Arts and his own Goodness and therefore all the Stamps and Impressions of them upon all his Creatures he knows the immediate causes of the least and therefore the effects of those causes Since his knowledg is infinite it must extend to those things which are at the greatest distance from him to those which approach nearest to not Being since he did not want Power to Create he cannot want Understanding to know every thing he hath Created the dispositions qualities and vertues of the minutest Creature Nor is the Vnderstanding of God embas'd and suffers a diminution by the Knowledg of the vilest and most inconsiderable things Is it not an imperfection to be ignorant of the nature of any thing and can God have such a defect in his most perfect Understanding Is the Understanding of man of an impurer Alloy by knowing the nature of the rankest Poysons by understanding a Fly or a small Insect or by considering the deformity of a Toad Is it not generally counted a note of a Dignified mind to be able to Discourse of the Nature of them Was Solomon who knew all from the Cedar to the Hysop debas'd by so Rich a Present of Wisdom from his Creator Is any Glass defil'd by presenting a Deformed Image Is there any thing more vile than the imaginations which are only evil and continually doth not the mind of man descend to the mud of the Earth play the Adulterer or Idolater with mean objects suck in the most unclean things yet God knows these in all their circumstances in every appearance inside and outside Is there any thing viler than some thoughts of men than some actions of men their unclean Beds and Gluttonous Vomiting and Luciferian Pride yet do not these fall under the Eye of God in all their Nakedness The Second Person 's taking
affection to thy Isaac is extinguish'd by the more powerful flame of affection to my Will and Command I now accept thee and count thee a meet subject of my choicest Benefits or now I know that is I have made known and manifested the Faith of Abraham to himself and to the World Thus Paul uses the word know 1 Cor. 2.2 I have determined to know nothing that is to declare and teach nothing to make known nothing but Christ Crucified or else now I know that is I have an evidence and experiment in this noble fact that thou fearest me God often condescends to our capacity in speaking of himself after the manner of men as if he had as men do known the inward affections of others by their outward actions 4. God knows all the Evils and Sins of Creatures 1. God knows all Sin This follows upon the other If he knows all the actions and thoughts of Creatures he knows also all the Sinfulness in those acts and thoughts This Zophar infers from Gods punishing men Job 11.11 for he knows vain man he sees his wickedness also he knows every man and sees the wickedness of every man He looks down from Heaven and beholds not only the filthy persons but what is filthy in them Psal 14.2 3. all Nations in the World and every man of every Nation none of their iniquity is hid from his eyes He searches Jerusalem with Candles Jer. 16.17 God follows Sinners step by step with his eye and will not leave searching out till he hath taken them a Metaphor taken from one that searches all Chinks with a Candle that nothing can be hid from him He knows it distinctly in all the parts of it how an Adulterer rises out of his Bed to commit Uncleanness what contrivances he had what steps he took every circumstance in the whole progress not only evil in the bulk but every one of the blacker spots upon it which may most aggravate it If he did not know Evil how could he permit it order it punish it or pardon it Doth he permit he knows not what Order to his own holy ends what he is ignorant of Punish or pardon that which he is uncertain whether it be a Crime or no Cleanse me saith David from my secret faults Ps 19.12 secret in regard of others secret in regard of himself how could God cleanse him from that whereof he was ignorant He knows Sins before they are committed much more when they are in act he foreknew the Idolatry and Apostacy of the Jews what Gods they would serve in what measure they would provoke him and violate his Covenant Deut. 31.20 21. he knew Judas his Sin long before Judas his actual existence foretelling it in the Psalms and Christ predicts it before he acted it He sees Sins future in his own permitting Will he sees Sins present in his own supporting act As he knows things possible to himself because he knows his own power so he knows things practicable by the Creature because he knows the Power and Principles of the Creature Fotherby Atheoma p. 132. This Sentiment of God is naturally writ in the fears of Sinners upon Lightning Thunder or some Prodigious operation of God in the World what is the Language of them but that he sees their Deeds hears their words knows the inward sinfulness of their hearts that he doth not only behold them as a meer Spectator but considers them as a just Judg. And the Poets say that the Sins of men leapt into Heaven and were writ in Parchments of Jupiter ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Cross Anthol dec 1. cap. 395 p. 101. scelus in terram geritur in coelo scribitur sin is acted on Earth and recorded in Heaven God indeed doth not behold Evil with the approving eye he knows it not with a practical knowledg to be the Author of it but with a speculative Knovvledg so as to understand the sinfulness of it or a knovvledg simplicis intelligentiae of simple intelligence as he permits them not positively vvills them he knovvs them not vvith a knovvledg of assent to them but dissent from them Evil pertains to a dissenting act of the mind and an aversive act of the Will and vvhat tho' evil formally taken hath no distinct Conception because it is a privation a Defect hath no Being and all knovvledg is by the apprehension of some Being vvould not this lye as strongly against our ovvn knovvledg of Sin Sin is a privation of the rectitude due to an act and vvho doubts mans knovvledg of Sin by his knovving the act he knovvs the deficiency of the act the subject of evil hath a Being and so hath a conception in the mind that vvhich hath no Being cannot be knovvn by it self or in it self but vvill it follovv that it cannot be knovvn by its contrary as vve knovv darkness to be a privation of light and folly to be a privation of vvisdom God knovvs all good by himself because he is the Soveraign good Is it strange then that he should knovv all evil since all evil is in some natural good 2. The manner of Gods knowing Evil is not so easily known And indeed as vve cannot comprehend the Essence of God tho' it is easily intelligible that there is such a Being so vve can as little comprehend the manner of Gods Knovvledg tho' vve cannot but conclude him to be an intelligent Being a pure Understanding knovving all things As God hath a higher manner of Being than his Creatures so he hath another and higher manner of knovving and vve can as little comprehend the manner of his knovving as vve can the manner of his Being But as to the manner Doth not God knovv his ovvn Lavv and shall he not knovv hovv much any action comes short of his Rule he cannot knovv his ovvn Rule vvithout knovving all the deviations from it He knovvs his ovvn Holiness and shall he not see hovv any action is contrary to the Holiness of his ovvn nature Doth not God knovv every thing that is true and is it not true that this or that is evil and shall God be ignorant of any Truth Hovv doth God knovv that he cannot lye but by knovving his ovvn Veracity Hovv doth God knovv that he cannot Dye but by knovving his ovvn Immutability and by knovving those he knovvs vvhat a Lye is he knovvs vvhat Death is so if Sin never had been if no Creature had ever been God vvould have knovvn vvhat Sin vvas because he knovvs his ovvn Holiness because he knevv vvhat Lavv vvas fit to be appointed to his Creatures if he should Create them and that that Lavv might be transgrest by them God knovvs all good all goodness in himself he therefore hath a foundation in himself to knovv all that comes short of that goodness that is opposite to that Holiness As if Light vvere capable of Understanding it vvould knovv Darkness only by knovving it self by knovving it self it vvould
is the object of the Divine Knowledg but not the cause of the act of Divine Knowledg and though the foreknowledg of God doth in Eternity precede the actual presence of a thing which is foreseen as future yet the future thing in regard of its futurity is as Eternal as the foreknowledg of God As the Voice is uttered before it be heard and a thing is visible before it be seen and a thing knowable before it be known But how comes it to be knowable to God it must be answered either in the Power of God as a thing possible or in the Will of God as a thing future he first Willed and then knew what he Willed he knew what he Willed to effect and he knew what he Willed to permit as he Willed the Death of Christ by a determinate Counsel and Willed the Permission of the Jews Sin and the ordering of the malice of their nature to that end Acts 2.22 God decrees to make a rational Creature and to govern him by a Law God Decrees not to hinder this rational Creature from transgressing his Law and God foresees that what he would not hinder would come to pass Man did not Sin because God foresaw him but God foresaw him to Sin because man would Sin If Adam and other men would have acted otherwise God would have foreknown that they would have acted well God foresaw our actions because they would so come to pass by the motion of our Free-Will which he would permit which he would concur with which he would order to his own holy and glorious ends for the manifestation of the Perfection of his nature If I see a man lye in a Sink no necessity is inferred upon him from my sight to lye in that filthy place but there is a necessity inferr'd by him that lies there that I should see him in that condition if I pass by and cast my eye that way 5. God did not only foreknow our actions but the manner of our actions That is he did not only know that we would do such actions but that we would do them freely he foresaw that the Will would freely determine it self to this or that the Knowledg of God takes not away the nature of things though God knows possible things yet they remain in the nature of possibility and tho' God knows contingent things yet they remain in the nature of contingencies and tho' God knows free Agents yet they remain in the nature of liberty God did not foreknow the actions of man as necessary but as free so that liberty is rather established by this foreknowledg than removed God did not foreknow that Adam had not a power to stand or that any man hath not a power to omit such a sinful action but that he would not omit it Man hath a power to do otherwise than that which God foreknows he will do Adam was not determin'd by any inward necessity to Fall nor any man by any inward necessity to commit this or that particular Sin but God foresaw that he would Fall and Fall freely for he saw the whole Circle of means and causes whereby such and such actions should be produced and can be no more ignorant of the motions of our Wills and the manner of them than an Artificer can be ignorant of the motions of his Watch and how far the Spring will let down the String in the space of an hour he sees all causes leading to such events in their whole order and how the Free-Will of man will comply with this or refuse that he changes not the manner of the Creatures operation whatsoever it be 6. But what if the foreknowledg of God and the liberty of the Will cannot be fully reconciled by man shall we therefore deny a Perfection in God to support a liberty in our selves Shall we rather fasten ignorance upon God and accuse him of blindness to maintain our liberty That God doth foreknow every thing and yet that there is liberty in the rational Creature are both certain but how fully to reconcile them may surmount the Understanding of man Some Truths the Disciples were not capable of bearing in the days of Christ and several Truths our understandings cannot reach as long as the World doth last yet in the mean time we must on the one hand take heed of conceiving God ignorant and on the other hand of imagining the Creature necessitated the one will render God imperfect and the other will seem to render him unjust in punishing man for that Sin which he could not avoid but was brought into by a fatal necessity God is sufficient to render a reason of his ovvn Proceedings and clear up all at the day of Judgment 't is a part of mans curiosity since the Fall to be prying into Gods Secrets things too high for him vvhereby he singes his ovvn Wings and confounds his ovvn Understanding 'T is a cursed affectation that runs in the Blood of Adams Posterity to know as God tho' our first Father smarted and ruin'd his Posterity in that attempt the vvays and knovvledg of God are as much above our thoughts and conceptions as the heavens are above the earth Isa 55.9 Daillá Melang part 2. p. 712. 725. and so sublime that vve cannot comprehend them in their true and just greatness his designs are so mysterious and the vvays of his conduct so profound that it is not possible to dive into them The force of our understandings is belovv his infinite Wisdom and therefore vve should adore him vvith an humble astonishment and cry out vvith the Apostle Rom. 11.33 Oh the depth of the Riches of the Wisdom and Knowledg of God! how unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out When ever vve meet vvith depths that vve cannot fathom let us remember that he is God and vve his Creatures and not be guilty of so great extravagance as to think that a Subject can pierce into all the secrets of a Prince or a Work understand all the operations of the Artificer Let us only resolve not to fasten any thing on God that is unvvorthy of the Perfection of his nature and dishonourable to the Glory of his Majesty nor imagine that vve can ever step out of the rank of Creatures to the glory of the Deity to understand fully every thing in his nature So much for the second general What God knovvs III. The third is How God knows all things As it is necessary vve should conceive God to be an Understanding Being else he could not be God so vve must conceive his understanding to be infinitely more pure and perfect than ours in the act of it else vve liken him to our selves and debase him as lovv as his Foot-stool Maxim Tyriuâ Dissert 1. p. 9. 10. As among Creatures there are degrees of Being and Perfection Plants above Earth and Sand because they have a Povver of grovvth Beasts above Plants because to their Povver of grovvth there is an
or by any Creature is Blasphemous it sets the Creature in the place of God and invests it in that which is the peculiar honour of the Divinity for when any swear truly they intend the invocation of an infallible Witness and the bringing an undoubted Testimony for what they do assert While any therefore Swear by a Creature or a false God they profess that that Creature or that which they esteem to be a God is an infallible Witness which to be is only the right of God they attribute to the Creature that which is the Property of God alone to know the Heart and to be a Witness whether they speak true or no and this was accounted by all Nations the true Design of an Oath As to Swear falsely is a plain denyal of the All-Knowledg of God so to Swear by any Creature is to set the Creature upon the Throne of God in ascribing that Perfection to the Creature which Soveraignly belongs to the Creator for it is not in the Power of any to Witness to the truth of the heart but of him that is the searcher of hearts 4. We Sin against this Attribute by censuring the hearts of others An open Crime indeed falls under our Cognizance and therefore under our Judgment for whatsoever falls under the Authority of man to be punished falls under the Judgment of man to be censured as an act contrary to the Law of God yet when a censure is built upon the evil of the act which is obvious to the view if we take a step farther to judg the heart and state we leave the revealed rule of the Law and ambitiously erect a Tribunal equal with Gods and usurp a Judicial Power pertaining only to the Supream Governour of the World and consequently pretend to be possest of this Perfection of Omniscience which is necessary to render him capable of the exercise of that Soveraign Authority For it is in respect of his Dominion that God hath the supream right to Judg and in respect of his Knowledg that he hath an incommunicable capacity to Judg. In an action that is doubtful the good or evil whereof depends only upon Gods determination and wherein much of the Judgment depends upon the discerning the intention of the Agent we cannot Judg any man without a manifest invasion of Gods peculiar right such actions are to be Tryed by Gods knowledg not by our surmises God only is the Master in such cases to whom a person stands or falls Rom. 14.4 Till the true Principle and ends of an action be known by the confession of the party acting it a true Judgment of it is not in our Power Principles and Ends lye deep and hid from us and it is intollerable Pride to pretend to have a joint Key with God to open that Cabinet which he hath reserved to himself Besides the violation of the Rule of Charity in misconstruing actions which may be great and generous in their root and principle we invade Gods Right as if our ungrounded imaginations and conjectures were in joint Commission with this Sovereign Perfection and thereby we become Usurping Judges of evil thoughts James 2.4 'T is therefore a boldness worthy to be punished by the Judge to assume to our selves the Capacity and Authority of him who is the only Judg. For as the Execution of the Divine Law for the inward violation of it belongs only to God so is the right of Judging a Prerogative belonging only to his Omniscience his Right is therefore invaded if we pretend to a knowledg of it This Humor of men the Apostle checks when he saith 1 Cor. 4.5 He that judgeth me is the Lord therefore judg nothing before the time until the Lord come who will manifest the Counsels of all hearts 'T is not the time yet for God to erect the Tribunal for the tryal of mens hearts and the Principles of their Actions He hath reserv'd the glorious discovery of this Attribute for another season We must not therefore presume to Judge of the Counsels of mens hearts till God hath reveal'd them by opening the Treasures of his own Knowledg much less are we to judge any Mans final Condition Manasseh may Sacrifice to Devils and unconverted Paul tear the Church in pieces but God had Mercy on them and called them The Action may be Censur'd not the State for we know not whom God may call In Censuring Men we may doubly imitate the Devil in a false accusation of the Brethren as well as in an ambitious usurpation of the Rights of God 2. This Perfection is injured by presuming upon it or making an ill use of it As in the neglect of Prayer for the supply of Men's wants because God knows them already so that that which is an encouragement to Prayer they make the reason of restraining it before God Prayer is not to administer knowledge to God but to acknowledge this admirable Perfection of the Divine Nature If God did not know there were indeed no use of Prayer it would be as vain a thing to send up our Prayers to Heaven as to implore the senseless Statue or Picture of a Prince for a Protection We Pray because God knows for though he know our wants with a knowledge of Vision yet he will not know them with a knowledge of supply till he be sought unto All the Excellencies of God are ground of Adoration * Mat. 6.32.33 Matth. 7.11 and this Excellency is the ground of that part of Worship we call Prayer If God be to be Worshipped he is to be called upon Invocations of his name in our necessities is a chief act of Worship whence the Temple the place of solemn Worship was not called the House of Sacrifice but the House of Prayer Prayer was not appointed for Gods information as if he were ignorant but for the expression of our desires not to furnish him with a knowledge of what we want but to manifest to him by some Rational Sign convenient to our Nature our sense of that want which he knows by himself So that Prayer is not design'd to acquaint God with our wants but to express the desire of a Remedy of our wants God knows our wants but hath not made promises barely to our wants but to our asking That his Omniscience in hearing as well as his sufficiency in supplying may have a sensible honour in our acknowledgments and receits 'T is therefore an ill use of this Excellency of God to neglect Prayer to him as needless because he knows already 4. This Perfection of God is wrong'd by a practical denial of it 'T is the language of every Sin and so God takes it when he comes to reckon with Men for their Impieties Upon this he charges the greatness of the iniquity of Israel the overflowing of Blood in the Land and the perversness of the City They say the Lord hath forsaken the Earth and the Lord sees not * Ezek. 9.9 They deny his Eyes to see
and his Resolution to punish 1. It will appear in forbearing Sin from a sense of Mans knowledge not of Gods Open Impieties are refrain'd because of the Eye of Man but secret Sins are not checked because of the Eye of God Wickedness is committed in darkness that is restrained in light as if darkness were as great a clog to Gods Eyes as it is to ours as though his Eyes were mufled with the Curtains of the Night * Job 22.14 This it is likely was at the root of Jonah's flight he might have some secret thought that his Masters Eye could not follow him as though the close Hatches of a Ship could secure him from the knowledge of God as well as the Sides of the Ship could from the dashing of the Waves What lies most upon the Conscience when it is graciously wounded is least regarded or contemned when it is basely inclin'd David's heart smote him not only for his Sin in the gross but as particularly circumstantiated by the commission of it in the sight of God Psal 51.4 Against thee thee only have I sinned and done this ev l in thy sight None knew the reason of Vriah's Death but my self and because others knew it not I neglected any regard to this Divine Eye When Jacob's Sons used their Brother Joseph so barbarously they took care to hide it from their Father but cast away all thoughts of God from whom it could not be conceal'd Doth not the presence of a Child bridle a Man from the act of a long'd for Sin when the Eye of God is of no force to restrain him as if Gods knowledge were of less value than the sight of a little Boy or Girle as if a Child only could see and God were blind He that will forbear an unworthy action for fear of an Informer will not forbear it for God as if Gods Omniscience were not as full an Intelligencer to Him as Man can be an Informer to a Magistrate As we acknowledge the power of Men seeing us when we are ashamed to commit a filthy action in their view so we discover the power of God seeing us when we regard not what we do before the light of his Eyes Secret Sins are more against God than open Open Sins are against the Law secret Sins are against the Law and this prime Perfection of his Nature The Majesty of God is not only violated but the Omniscience of God disown'd who is the only Witness We must in all of them either imagine him to be without Eyes to behold us or without an Arm of Justice to punish us And often it is I believe in such cases that if any thoughts of Gods knowledge strike upon Men they quickly damp them lest they should begin to know what they fear and fear that they might not eat their pleasant Sinful Morsels 2. It appears in partial Confessions of Sin before God As by a free full and ingenuous Confession we offer a due glory to this Attribute so by a feigned and curtail'd Confession we deny him the honour of it For though by any Confession we in part own him to be a Soveraign and Judge yet by a half and pared acknowledgment we own him to be no more than a Humane and ignorant one Achans full Confession gave God the glory of his Omniscience * Josh 7.19 manifested in the discovery of his secret Crime And Joshuah said to Achan My Son give glory to the Lord God of Israel and make Confession unto him And so Psal 50.23 Who so offereth praise glorifieth me or confession as the word signifieth in which sense I would rather take it referring to this Attribute which God seems to tax Sinners with the denial of Vers 21. telling them that he would open the Records of their Sins before them and indite them particularly for every one If therefore you would glorifie this Attribute which shall one day break open your Consciences offer to me a sincere Confession When David speaks of the happiness of a pardon'd Man * Ps 2.1 2. Camero p. 89. col 1. he adds in whose Spirit there is no guile not meaning a sincerity in general but an ingenuity in Confessing To excuse or extenuate Sin is to deny God the knowledge of the depths of our deceitful hearts When we will mince it rather than aggravate it lay it upon the inducements of others when it was the free act of our own wills study shifts to deceive our Judge this is to speak lies of him as the expression is Hos 7.13 as though he were a God easie to be cheated and knew no more than we are willing to declare What did Sauls transferring his Sin from himself to the People * 1 Sam. 15.15 but charge God with a defect in this Attribute When Man could not be like God in his knowledge he would fancy a God like to him in his ignorance and imagine a possibility of hiding himself from his knowledge And all Men tread more or less in their Fathers steps and are fruitful to devise distinctions to disguise Errors in Doctrine and excuses to palliate Errors in Practice This Crime Job removes from himself * Job 31.33 when he speaks of several acts of his sincerity If I cover'd my transgression as Adam by hiding my iniquity in my bosom I hid not any of my Sins in my own Conscience but acknowledg'd God a Witness to them and gave him the glory of his knowledge by a free Confession I did not conceal it from God as Adam did or as Men ordinarily do as if God could understand no more of their secret Crimes than they will let him and had no more sense of their faults than they would furnish him with As the first rise of Confession is the owning of this Attribute for the Justice of God would not scare Men nor the Holiness of God awe them without a sense of his knowledge of their iniquities so to drop out some fragments of Confession discover some Sins and conceal others is a plain denial of the extensiveness of the Divine Knowledge 3. It is discover'd by putting God off with an outside Worship Men are often flatterers of God and think to bend him by formal glavering Devotions without the concurrence of their hearts as though he could not pierce into the darkness of the Mind but did as little know us as one Man knows another There are such things as feigned Lips * Psal 17.1 a contradiction between the Heart and the Tongue a clamour in the Voice and scoffing in the Soul a crying to God thou art my Father the guide of my youth and yet speaking and doing evil to the utmost of our power * Jer. 3 4 5. As if God could be impos'd upon by fawning pretences and like old Isaac take Jacob for Esau and be couzend by the smell of his Garments As if he could not discern the Negro heart under an Angels Garb. Thus Ephraim the Ten Tribes
Pet. 1.12 It was publish'd in Paradise but in such words as Adam did not fully understand It was both discover'd and clouded in the Smoke of Sacrifices It was wrapped up in a Vail under the Law but not open'd till the Death of the Redeemer It was then plainly said to the Cities of Judah Behold your God comes The whole Transaction of it between the Father and the Son which is the Spirit of the Gospel was from Eternity the Creation of the World was in order to the manifestation of it Let us not then regard the Gospel as a Novelty the consideration of it as one of Gods Cabinet Rarities should enhance our Estimation of it No Traditions of Men no Inventions of vain Wits that pretend to be wiser than God should have the same Credit with that which bears date from Eternity 8. Observe That Divine Truth is Mysterious According to the revelation of the mystery Christ manifested in the flesh The whole Scheme of Godliness is a Mystery No Man or Angel could imagine how two Natures so distant as the Divine and Human should be united how the same Person should be Criminal and Righteous how a Just God should have a Satisfaction and Sinful Man a Justification how the Sin should be punish'd and the Sinner saved None could imagine such a way of Justification as the Apostle in this Epistle declares It was a Mystery when hid under the Shadows of the Law and a Mystery to the Prophets when it sounded from their Mouths they searched it without being able to comprehend it â 1 Pet. 1.10 11. If it be a Mystery 't is humbly to be submitted to Mysteries surmount Human Reason The study of the Gospel must not be with a yawning and careless frame Trades you call Mysteries are not learned sleeping and nodding Diligence is required we must be Disciples at Gods Feet As it had God for the Author so we must have God for the Teacher of it the Contrivance was his and the Illumination of our Minds must be from him As God only manifested the Gospel so he only can open our Eyes to see the Mysteries of Christ in it In Verse 26. we may observe 1. The Scriptures of the Old Testament verifie the substance of the New and the New doth evidence the Authority of the Old By the Scriptures of the Prophets made known The Old Testament credits the New and the New illustrates the Old The New Testament is a Comment upon the Prophetick part of the Old The Old shews the Promises and Predictions of God and the New shews the Performance What was foretold in the Old is fulfilled in the New the Predictions are cleared by the Events The Predictions of the Old are Divine because they are above the Reason of Man to foreknow None but an Infinite Knowledge could foretell them because none but an Infinite Wisdom could order all things for the accomplishment of them The Christian Religion hath then the surest Foundation since the Scriptures of the Prophets wherein it is foretold are of undoubted Antiquity and owned by the Jews and many Heathens which are and were the great Enemies of Christ The Old Testament is therefore to be read for the strengthning of our Faith Our Blessed Saviour himself draws the Streams of his Doctrine from the Old Testament He clears up the Promise of Eternal Life and the Doctrine of the Resurrection from the words of the Covenant I am the God of Abraham c. Mat. 22.32 And our Apostle clears up the Doctrine of Justification by Faith from Gods Covenant with Abraham Rom. 4. It must be read and it must be read as it is writ It was writ to a Gospel End it must be studied with a Gospel Spirit The Old Testament was writ to give Credit to the New when it should be manifested in the World It must be read by us to give strength to our Faith and establish us in the Doctrine of Christianity How many view it as a bare story an Almanack out of date and regard it as a dry Bone without sucking from it the Evangelical Marrow Christ is in Genesis Abrahams Seed in Davids Psalms and the Prophets the Messiah and Redeemer of the World 2. Observe the Antiquity of the Gospel Is made manifest by the Scriptures of the Prophets It was of as Ancient a date as any Prophesy The first Prophesy was nothing else but a Gospel Charter it was not made at the Incarnation of Christ but made manifest It then rose up to its Meridian lustre and sprung out of the Clouds wherewith it was before obscur'd The Gospel was preached to the Ancients by the Prophets as well as to the Gentiles by the Apostles Heb. 4.2 Vnto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them To them first to us after to them indeed more cloudy to us more clear but they as well as we were Evangeliz'd as the word signifies The Covenant of Grace was the same in the Writings of the Prophets and the Declarations of the Evangelists and Apostles Though by our Saviours Incarnation the Gospel Light was clearer and by his Ascension the Effusions of the Spirit fuller and stronger yet the Believers under the Old Testament saw Christ in the Swadling Bands of Legal Ceremonies and the Lattice of Prophetical Writings they could not else offer one Sacrifice or read one Prophesy with a Faith of the right stamp Abrahams Justifying Faith had Christ for its Object though it was not so Explicit as ours because the Manifestation was not so clear as ours 3. All Truth is to be drawn from Scripture The Apostle refers them here to the Gospel and the Prophets The Scripture is the Source of Divine Knowledge not the Traditions of Men nor Reason separate from Scripture Whosoever brings another Doctrine coyns another Christ nothing is to be added to what is written nothing detracted from it He doth not send us for Truth to the Puddles of Human Inventions to the Enthusiasms of our Brain not to the See of Rome no nor to the Instructions of Angels but the Writings of the Prophets as they clear up the Declarations of the Apostles The Church of Rome is not made here the Standard of Truth but the Scriptures of the Prophets are to be the Touch-stone to the Romans for the Trial of the Truth of the Gospel 4. How great is the Goodness of God The Borders of Grace are enlarged to the Gentiles and not hid under the Skirts of the Jews He that was so long the God of the Jews is now also manifest to be the God of the Gentiles The Gospel is now made known to all Nations according to the Commandment of the Everlasting God Not only in a way of Common Providence but Special Grace in Calling them to the Knowledge of himself and a Justification of them by Faith He hath brought Strangers to him to the Adoption of Children and lodged them under the Wings of the Covenant that were before alienated from
the Earth So Colours are made for the pleasure of the Eye Sounds for the delight of the Ear Light is formed whereby the Eye may see the one and Air to convey the Species of Colours to the Eye and Sound to the Ear all things are like the Wheels of a Watch compacted And though many of the Creatures be endowed with contrary qualities yet they are joyned in a Marriage-knot for the Publick Security and Subserviency to the Preservation and Order of the Universe As the variety of Strings upon an Instrument sending forth various and distinct sounds are temper'd together for the framing excellent and delightful Airs In this universal conspiring of the Creatures together to one end is the wisdom of the Creator apparent in tuning so many Contraries as the Elements are and preserving them in their Order which if once broken the whole Frame of Nature would crack and fall in pieces all are so interwoven and inlaid together by the Divine Workmanship as to make up one intire Beauty in the whole Fabrick As every part in the Body of Man hath a distinct Comliness yet there is besides the Beauty of the whole that results from the union of divers parts exactly fashion'd to one another and linkt together By the way Use How much may we see of the Perfection of God in every thing that presents it self to our eyes And how should we be convinc'd of our unworthy neglect of ascending to him with reverent and admiring thoughts upon the prospect of the Creatures What dull Scholars are we when every Creature is our Teacher every part of the Creature a lively Instruction Those things that we tread under our feet if used by us according to the full design of their Creation would afford rich matter not only for our heads but our hearts As Grace doth not destroy Nature but elevate it so neither should the fresher and fuller discoveries of Divine Wisdom in Redemption deface all our thoughts of his Wisdom in Creation Though the greater Light of the Sun obscures the lesser sparkling of the Stars yet it gives way in the Night to the discovery of them that God may be seen known and considered in all his Works of Wonder and Miracles of Nature No part of Scripture is more spiritual than the Psalms none filled with clearer Discoveries of Christ in the Old Testament yet how often do the Penmen consider the Creation of God and find their Meditations on him to be sweet as consider'd in his Works Psal 104.34 My meditation of him shall be sweet When why after a short History of the Goodness and Wisdom of God in the Frame of the World and the Species of the Creatures 2. The wisdom of God appears in his Government of his Creatures The regular motion of the Creatures speaks for this Perfection as well as the exact Composition of them If the exquisiteness of the Frame conducts us to the skill of the Contriver the exactness of their Order according to his Will and Law speaks no less the wisdom of the Governour It cannot be thought that a rash and irrational Power presides over a World so well disposed The disposition of things hath no less characters of Skill than the Creation of them No man can hear an excellent Lesson upon a Lute but must presently reflect upon the Art of the Person that touches it The Prudence of man appears in wrapping up the Concerns of a Kingdom in his mind for the well-ordering of it and shall not the wisdom of God shine forth as he is the Director of the World I shall omit his Government of Inanimate Creatures and confine the Discourse to his Government of Man as Rational as Sinful as Restor'd 1. In his Government of man as a Rational Creature 1. In the Law he gives to man Wisdom framed it though Will enacted it The will of God is the Rule of Righteousness to us but the wisdom of God is the Foundation of that Rule of Righteousness which he prescribes us * Castellio Dialog l. 4. p. 46. The Composure of a Musician is the Rule of singing to his Scholars yet the Consent and Harmony in that Composure derives not it self from his will but from his understanding he would not be a Musician if his Composures were contrary to the Rules of true Harmony So the Laws of men are compos'd by wisdom though they are enforc'd by will and authority The Moral Law which was the Law of Nature the Law imprinted upon Adam is so framed as to secure the Rights of God as Supream and the Rights of Men in their distinctions of Superiority and Equality 'T is therefore called holy and good Rom. 7.12 holy as it prescribes our duty to God in his worship good as it regulates the offices of human life and preserves the common interest of Mankind 1. 'T is suted to the Nature of Man As God hath given a Law of Nature a fixed Order to Inanimate Creatures so he hath given a Law of Reason to Rational Creatures Other Creatures are not capable of a Law differencing good and evil because they are destitute of Faculties and Capacities to make distinction between them It had not been agreeable to the wisdom of God to propose any Moral Law to them who had neither understanding to discern nor will to chuse 'T is therefore to be observed that whilst Christ exhorted others to the embracing his Doctrine yet he exhorted not little Children though he took them in his Arms because though they had Faculties yet they were not come to such a Maturity as to be capable of a Rational Instruction But there was a necessity for some Command for the government of man since God had made him a Rational Creature it was not agreeable to his wisdom to govern him as a Brute but as a Rational Creature capable of knowing his Precepts and voluntarily walking in them and without a Law he had not been capable of any exercise of his Reason in Services respecting God He therefore gives him a Law with a Covenant annext to it whereby man is obliged to Obedience and secured of a Reward This was enforced with severe Penalties Death with all the Horrours attending it to deterr him from Transgression Gen. 2.17 wherein is implied a Promise of continuance of Life and all its Felicities to allure him to a mindfulness of his Obligation So perfect a Hedge did Divine Wisdom set about him to keep him within the bounds of that Obedience which was both his Debt and Security that wheresoever he looked he saw either something to invite him or something to drive him to the payment of his Duty and perseverance in it Thus the Law was exactly framed to the Nature of man man had twisted in him a desire of Happiness the Promise was suted to cherish this natural Desire He had also the Passion of Fear the proper Object of this was any thing destructive to his Being Nature and Felicity this the threatning met
yet he cannot but approve of that Law as it prohibits every man from doing him the like injury and disgrace The sutableness of the Law to the Consciences of men is further evidenced by those furious reflections and strong alarms of Conscience upon a transgression of it and that in all parts of the World more or less in all men So exactly hath Divine wisdom fitted the Law to the Reason and Consciences of men as one Tally to another Indeed without such an agreement no mans Conscience could have any ground for a Hue and Cry nor need any man be startled with the Records of it This manifests the wisdom of God in framing his Law so that the Reasons and consciences of all men do one time or other subscribe to it What Governour in the World is able to make any Law distinct from this revealed by God that shall reach all places all persons all Hearts We may add to this the extent of his Commands in ordering goodness at the root not only in action but affection not only in the motion of the Members but the disposition of the Soul which suting a Law to the inward frame of man is quite out of the compass of the wisdom of any Creature 4. His Wisdom is seen in the incouragements he gives for the studying and observing his will Psal 19.11 In keeping thy Commandments there is great reward The variety of them there is not any particular Genius in man but may find something sutable to win upon him in the revealed will of God There is a strain of Reason to satisfy the Rational of Eloquence to gratify the the Fanciful of Interest to allure the Selfish of Terror to startle the Obstinate As a skilful Angler stores himself with Baits according to the Appetites of the sorts of fish he intends to catch so in the Word of God there are varieties of Baits according to the varieties of the Inclinations of men Threatnings to work upon Fear Promises to work upon Love Examples of holy men set out for Imitation and those plainly neither his Threatnings nor his Promises are dark as the Heathen Oracles but peremptory as becomes a Soveraign Law giver and plain as was necessary for the understanding of a Creature As he deals graciously with men in exhorting and incouraging them so he deals wisely herein by taking away all Excuse from them if they ruine the interest of their Souls by denying Obedience to their Soveraign Again the Rewards God proposeth are accommodated not to the Brutish parts of man his Carnal Sense and Fleshly Appetite but to the Capacity of a Spiritual Soul which admits only of Spiritual Gratifications and cannot in its own Nature without a sordid subjection to the Humors of the Body be moved by Sensual Proposals God backs his Precepts with that which the Nature of Man longed for and with Spiritual Delights which can only satisfy a rational Appetite And thereby did as well gratifie the noblest Desires in man as Oblige him to the noblest Service and Work * Amytaut Indeed Vertue and Holiness being perfectly amiable ought chiefly to affect our Understandings and by them draw our Wills to the esteem and pursuit of them But since the desire of Happiness is inseparable from the Nature of Man as impossible to be dis-join'd as an Inclination to descend to be severed from heavy Bodies or an instinct to ascend from Light and A ry of Substances God serves himself of the Inclination of our Natures to happiness to engender in us an esteem and affection to the Holiness he doth require He proposeth the enjoyment of a supernatural Good and everlasting Glory as a Bait to that insatiable longing our Natures have for Happiness to receive the impression of Holiness into our Souls And besides he doth proportion Rewards according to the degrees of mens Industry Labour and Zeal for him and weighs out a Recompence not only suted to but above the service He that improves five Talents is to be ruler over five Cities that is a greater proportion of Honour and Glory than another Luke 19.17.18 As a wise Father excites the affection of his Children to things worthy of Praise by varieties of Recompenses according to their several Actions And it was the Wisdom of the Steward in the Judgment of our Saviour to give every one the portion that belonged to him Luke 12.42 There is no part of the Word wherein we meet not with the will and Wisdom of God varieties of Duties and varieties of Encouragement mingled together 5. The Wisdom of God is seen In fitting the Revelations of his will to after-times and for the preventing of the foreseen Corruptions of men The whole Revelation of the mind of God is stored with Wisdom in the words connexion sence It looks backwards to past and forwards to Ages to come A hidden wisdom lies in the bowels of it like Gold in a Mine The Old testament was so composed as to fortify the New when God should bring it to light The Foundations of the Gopel were laid in the Law The Predictions of the Prophets and figures of the Law were so wisely framed and laid down in such clear expressions as to be Proofs of the Authority of the New Testament and Convictions of Jesus his being the Messiah Luke 24.14 Things concerning Christ were written in Moses the Prophets and Psalms and do to this day stare the Jews so in the face that they are fain to invent absurd and Nonsensical Interpretations to excuse their Unbelief and continue themselves in their obstinate Blindness And in pursuance of the efficacy of those Predictions it was a part of the Wisdom of God to bring forth the Translation of the Old Testament by the means Ptolomy King of Egypt some hundreds of years before the coming of Christ into the Greek Language the Tongue then most known in the World And why to prepare the Gentiles by the reading of it for that gracious call he intended them and for the entertainment of the Gospel which some few years after was to be publisht among them that by reading the Predictions so long before made they might more readily receive the accomplishment of them in their due time The Scripture is written in such a manner as to obviate Errors foreseen by God to enter into the Church It may be wondred why the Vniversal Particle should be inserted by Christ in the giving the Cup in the Supper which was not in the distributing the Bread Mat. 26 27. Drink ye all of it Not at the distributing the Bread Eat you all of it And Mark in his Relation tels us They all drank of it Mark 11.23 The Church of Rome hath been the occasion of discovering to us the Wisdom of our Saviour in in s erting that Particle all since they were so bold to exclude the Communicants from the Cup by a trick of Concomitancy Christ foresaw the Error and therefore put in a little word to obviate a
great Invasion And the spirit of God hath particularly left upon record that Particle as we may reasonably suppose to such a purpose And so in the description of the blessed Virgin Luke 1.27 There is nothing of her Holiness mentioned which is with much diligence recorded of Elizabeth Vers 6. Righteous walking in all the commandments of God blameless Probably to prevent the superstition which God foresaw would arise in the World And we do not find more undervaluing speeches uttered by Christ to any of his Disciples in the exercise of his Office than to her except to Peter As when she acquainted him with the want of Wine at the Marriage in Cana she receives a slighting answer Woman what have I to do with thee John 2.4 And when one was admiring the blessedness of her that bare him he turns the Discourse another way to pronounce a blessedness rather belonging to them that hear the Word of God and keep it Luke 11.27 28. in a mighty Wisdom to Antidote his people against any conceit of the prevalency of the Virgin over him in Heaven in the Exercise of his Mediatory Office 2. As his Wisdom appears in his Government by his Laws so it appears in the various inclinations and conditions of Men. As there is a distinction of several Creatures and several qualities in them for the Common good of the World so among men there are several inclinations and several Abilities as Donatives from God for the Common advantage of Human Society As several Chanels cut out from the same River run several waies and refresh several Soils one Man is qualified for one Employment another marked out by God for a different Work yet all of them fruitful to bring in a Revenue of Glory to God and a harvest of Profit to the rest of Mankind How unusefull would the Body be if it had but one Member 1 Cor. 12.19 How unprovided would a House be if it had not Vessels of Dishonour as well as of Honour The Corporation of Mankind would be as much a Chaos as the Matter of the Heavens and the Earth was before it was distinguisht by several forms breathed into it at the Creation Some are inspired with a particular Genius for one Art some for another Every man hath a distinct Talent If all were Husband-men where would be the Instruments to Plow and Reap If all were Artificers where would they have Corn to nourish themselves All men are like Vessels and Parts in the Body design'd for distinct Offices and Functions for the good of the whole and mutually return an advantage to one another As the variety of Gifts in the Church is a fruit of the Wisdom of God for the preservation and increase of the Church so the variety of Inclinations and Employments in the World is a fruit of the Wisdom of God for the preservation and subsistence of the World by mutual Commerce What the Apostle largely discourseth of the former in 1 Cor. 12. may be applied to the other The various Conditions of men is also a fruit of Divine Wisdom Some are Rich and some Poor the Rich have as much need of the Poor as the Poor have of the Rich If the Poor depend upon the Rich for their livelyhood the Rich depend upon the Poor for their Conveniencies Many Arts would not be learn'd by men if Poverty did not oblige them to it and many would faint in the learning of them if they were not thereunto encouraged by the Rich. The Poor labour for the Rich as the Earth sends Vapours into the vaster and fuller Air and the Rich return advantages again to the Poor as the Clouds do the Vapours in Rain upon the Earth As Meat would not afford a nourishing Juyce without Bread and Bread without other Food would immoderately fill the Stomach and not be well digested so the Rich would be unprofitable in the Common-wealth without the Poor and the Poor would be burthensom to a Common-wealth without the Rich The Poor could not be easily govern'd without the Rich nor the Rich sufficiently and conveniently provided for without the Poor If all were Rich there would be no Objects for the exercise of a Noble part of Charity If all were Poor there were no Matter for the exercise of it Thus the Divine Wisdom planted various Inclinations and diversified the Conditions of Men for the publick advantages of the World 2. Gods Wisdom appears in the government of Men as Fallen and Sinful or in the government of Sin After the Law of God was broke and Sin invaded and conquer'd the World Divine Wisdom had another Scene to act in and other Methods of Government were necessary The Wisdom of God is then seen in ordering those Jarring Discords drawing Good out of Evil and Honour to himself out of that which in its own Nature tended to the supplanting of his Glory God being a Soveraign Good would not suffer so great an Evil to enter but to serve himsâlf of it for some greater End for all his Thoughts are full of Goodness and Wisdom Now though the Permission of Sin be an Act of his Soveraignty and the Punishment of Sin be an Act of his Justice yet the Ordination of Sin to good is an Act of his Wisdom whereby he doth dispose the Evil over-rules the Malice and orders the Events of it to his own Purposes Sin in it self is a Disorder and therefore God doth not permit Sin for it self for in its own Nature it hath nothing of Amiableness but he wills it for some Righteous End which belongs to the manifestation of his Glory which is his aim in all the Acts of his Will He wills it not as Sin but as his Wisdom can order it to some greater Good than was before in the World and make it contribute to the beauty of the Order he intends As a dark Shadow is not delightful and pleasant in it self nor is Drawn by a Painter for any Amiableness there is in the Shadow it self but as it serves to set forth that Beauty which is the main design of his Art so the glorious Effects which arise from the Entrance of Sin into the World are not from the Creatures Evil but the Depths of Divine Wisdom Particularly 1. Gods Wisdom is seen in the bounding of Sin As it is said of the Wrath of Man it shall praise him and the remainder of Wrath God doth restrain Psal 76.10 He sets limits to the boyling Corruption of the Heart as he doth to the boisterous Waves of of the Sea Hitherto shalt thou go and no further As God is the Rector of the World he doth so restrain Sin so temper and direct it as that Human Society is preserved which else would be overflown with a Deluge of Wickedness and Ruine would be brought upon all Communities The World would be a Shambles a Brothel-house if God by his Wisdom and Goodness did not set bars to that Wickedness which is in the Hearts of Men The whole Earth
would be as bad as Hell Since the Heart of Man is a Hell of Corruption by that the Souls of all Men would be excited to the acting the worst Villanies since every thought of the heart of Man is only evil and that continually Gen. 6.5 if the Wisdom of God did not stop these Floud-gates of Evil in the Hearts of Men it would overflow the World and frustrate all the Gracious Designs he carries on among the Sons of Men. Were it not for this Wisdom every House would be filled with Violence as well as every Nature is with Sin What harm would not strong and furious Beasts do did nât the Skill of Man tame and bridle them How often hath Divine Wisdom restrain'd the Viciousness of Human Nature and let it run not to that point they âââââ'd but to the end he purposed Labans Fury and Esaus Enmity against ãâ¦ã âere pâât in within bounds for Jacobs safety and their Hearts over-ruled ãâ¦ã intended destruction of the good Man to a perfect Amity * Gen. 31.29 Gen. 32. II. Gods Wisdom is seen in the bringing glory to himself out of Sin 1. Out of Sin it self God erects the Trophies of Honour upon that which is a Natural means to hinder and deface it His glorious Attributes are drawn out to our view upon the occasion of Sin which otherwise had lain hid in his own Being Sin is altogether black and abominable but by the Admirable Wisdom of God he hath drawn out of the dreadful darkness of Sin the saving Beams of his Mercy and displayed his Grace in the Incarnation and Passion of his Son for the Atonement of Sin Thus he permitted Adams Fall and wisely order'd it for a fuller discovery of his own Nature and a higher elevation of Mans good that as Sin reigned to death so might Grace reign through Righteousness to Eternal life by Jesus Christ Rom. 5.21 The unbounded Goodness of God could not have appeared without it His Goodness in rewarding Innocent Obedience would have been manifested but not his Mercy in pardoning Rebellious Crimes An Innocent Creature is the Object of the Rewards of Grace as the standing Angels are under the Beams of Grace but not under the Beams of Mercy because they were never Sinful and consequently never Miserable Without Sin the Creature had not been Miserable Had Man remained Innocent he had not been the Subject of Punishment and without the Creatures Misery Gods Mercy in sending his Son to save his Enemies could not have appeared The abundance of Sin is a Passive occasion for God to manifest the Abundance of his Grace The Power of God in the changing the Heart of a Rebellious Creature had not appeared had not Sin infected our Nature We had not clearly known the Vindictive Justice of God had no Crime been committed for that is the proper Object of Divine Wrath. The Goodness of God could never have permitted Justice to exercise it self upon an Innocent Creature that was not guilty either Personally or by Imputation Psal 11.7 The righteous Lord loveth Righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright Wisdom is illustrious hereby God suffered Man to fall into a Mortal Disease to shew the virtue of his own Restoratives to cure Sin which in it self is Incurable by the Art of any Creature And otherwise this Perfection whereby God draws Good out of Evil had been utterly useless and would have been destitute of an Object wherein to discover it self Again Wisdom in ordering a Rebellious head-strong World to its own ends is greater than the ordering an Innocent World exactly observant of his Precepts and complying with the End of the Creation Now without the entrance of Sin this Wisdom had wanted a Stage to act upon Thus God raised the Honour of his Wisdom while Man ruin'd the Integrity of his Nature and made use of the Creatures breach of his Divine Law to establish the Honour of it in a more signal and stable manner by the Active and Passive Obedience of the Son of his Bosom Nothing serves God so much as an occasion of glorifying himself as the entrance of Sin into the World by this occasion God communicates to us the knowledge of those Perfections of his Nature which had else been folded up from us in an Eternal Night his Justice had lain in the dark as having nothing to punish his Mercy had been obscure as having none to pardon a great part of his Wisdom had been silent as having no such Object to order 2. His Wisdom appears In making use of sinful Instruments He uses the Malice and Enmity of the Devil to bring about his own Purposes and makes the sworn Enemy of his Honour contribute to the Illustrating of it against his will This great Crafts-Master he took in his own Net and defeated the Devil by the Devils Malice by turning the Contrivances he had hatch'd and accomplish'd against Man against himself He used him as a Tempter to grapple with our Saviour in the Wilderness whereby to make him fit to succour us and as the God of this World to inspire the wicked Jews to Crucifie him whereby to render him actually the Redeemer of the World and so made him an Ignorant Instrument of that Divine Glory he design'd to ruine * Moulins Serm. Decad. 10. p. 221 232. 'T is more Skill to make a curious piece of Workmanship with Ill condition'd Tools than with Instruments naturally sitted for the work 'T is no such great wonder for a Limner to draw an exact piece with a fit Pencil and sutable Colours as to begin and perfect a beautiful work with a Straw and Water things improper for such a design This Wisdom of God is more admirable and astonishing than if a Man were able to rear a vast Palace by Fire whose nature is to consume Combustible matter not to erect a Building To make things serviceable contrary to their own Nature is a Wisdom peculiar to the Creator of Nature Gods making use of Devils for the glory of his Name and the good of his People is a more amazing piece of Wisdom than his Goodness in employing the Blessed Angels in his work To promise that the World which includes the God of the World and Death and Things present let them be as Evil as they will should be ours that is for our good and for his glory is an act of Goodness but to make them serviceable to the Honour of Christ and the good of his People is a Wisdom that may well raise our highest Admirations â 1 Cor. 3.22 They are for Believers as they are for the glory of Christ and as Christ is for the glory of God To Chain up Satan wholly and frustrate his Wiles would be an Argument of Divine Goodness but to suffer him to run his risque and then improve all his Contrivances for his own glorious and gracâous Ends and Purposes manifests besides his Power and Goodness his Wisdom also He uses the Sins of Evil
value and virtue of the Redeemers Merit which God from the beginning intended to magnifie The Value of it in taking off so much successive Guilt and the Virtue of it in washing away so much daily filth Thâ Wisdom of God hereby keeps up the Credit of Imputed Righteousness and manifests the Immense Treasure of the Redeemers Merit to pay such daily Debts Were we perfectly Sanctified we should stand upon our own Bottom and imagine no need of the continual and repeated Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ for our Justification We should confide in Inherent Righteousness and slight Imputed If God should take off all Remainders of Sin as well as the Guilt of it we should be apt to forget that we are Fallen Creatures and that we had a Redeemer But the Reliques of Sin in us mind us of the necessity of some higher strength to set us right They mind us both of our own Misery and the Redeemers perpetual benefit God by this keeps up the Dignity and Honour of our Saviours Blood to the height and therefore sometimes lets us see to our own cost what filth yet remains in us for the employment of that Blood which we should else but little think of and less admire Our Gratitude is so small to God as well as Man that the first Obligations are soon forgot if we stand not in need of fresh ones successively to second them we should lose our Thankful Remembrance of the first virtue of Christs Blood in washing us if our Infirmities did not mind us of fresh Reiterations and Applications of it Ours Saviours Office of Advocacy was erected especially for Sins committed after a Justified and Renewed state * 1 John 2.1 We should scarce remember we had an Advocate and scarce make use of him without some sensible Necessity but our Remainders of Sin discover our Impotency and an impossibility for us either to expiate our Sin or conform to the Law which necessitates us to have recourse to that Person whom God hath appointed to make up the breaches between God and us So the Apostle wraps up himself in the Covenant of Grace and his Interest in Christ after his conflict with Sin Rom. 7. ult I thank God through Jesus Christ Now after such a Body of Death a Principle within me that sends up daily steams yet as long as I serve God with my Mind as long as I keep the main Condition of the Covenant there is no Condemnation â Rom. 8.1 Christ takes my part procures my acceptance and holds the Band of Salvation firm in his hands The brightness of Christs Grace is set off by the darkness of our Sin We should not understand the Soveraignty of his Medicines if there were no Reliques of Sin for him to exercise his Skill upon The Physicians Art is most experimented and therefore most valued in Relapses as dangerous as the former Disease As the Wisdom of God brought our Saviour into Temptation that he might have Compassion to us so it permits us to be overcome by Temptation that we might have due Valuations of him 3. God hereby often engageth the Soul to a greater Industry for his glory The highest Persecutors when they have become Converts have been the greatest Champions for that Cause they both hated and opprest The Apostle Paul is such an Instance of this that it needs no enlargement By how much they have failed of answering the end of their Creation in glorifying God by so much the more they summon up all their Force for such an end after their Conversion to restore as much as they can of that Glory to God which they by their Sin had robb'd him of Their Sins by the order of Divine Wisdom prove Whetstones to sharpen the edge of their Spirits for God Paul never remembred his Persecuting Fury but he doubled his Industry for the Service of God which before he trampled under his feet The further we go back the greater Leap many times we take forward Our Saviour after his Resurrection put Peter upon the exercise of that Love to him which had so lately shrunk his head out of Suffering â Iohn 21.15 16 17. and no doubt but the consideration of his base Denial together with a reflection upon a gracious Pardon engag'd his Ingenuous Soul to stronger and fiercer flames of Affection A Believers Courage for God is more sharpned oftentimes by the shame of his Fall He endeavours to repair the faults of his Ingratitude and Disingenuity by larger and stronger steps of Obedience As a Man in a fight having been foil'd by his Enemy reassumes new Courage by his Fall and is many times oblig'd to his Foil both for his Spirit and his Victory A gracious Heart will upon the very motions to sin double its Vigor as well as by good ones It is usually more quickned both in its motion to God and for God by the Temptations and Motions to Sin which run upon it This is another Good the Wisdom of God brings forth from Sin 4. Again Humility towards God is another Good Divine Wisdom brings forth from the Occasion of Sin By this God beats down all good opinion or our selves Hezekiah was more humbled by his fall into Pride than by all the Distress he had been in by Senacharibs Army 2 Chron. 32.26 Peters Confidence before his Fall gave way to an humble Modesty after it You see his Confidence Mark 14.24 Though all should be offended in thee yet will not I and you have the mark of his Modesty John 21.17 't is not then Lord I will love thee to the death I will not start from thee but Lord thou knowest that I love thee I cannot assure my self of any thing after this Miscarriage but Lord thou knowest there is a Principle of Love in me to thy Name He was asham'd that himself who appeared such a Pillar should bend as meanly as a Shrub to a Temptation The reflection upon Sin lays a Man as low as Hell in his Humiliation as the Commission of Sin did in the Merit When David comes to exercise Repentance for his Sin he begins it from the Well-head of Sin * Psal 51.5 his Original Corruption and draws down the streams of it to the last commission Perhaps he did not so seriously humble himself for the Sin of his Nature all his days so much as at that time at least we have not such Evidences of it And Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart not only for the Pride of his Act â 2 Chron. 32.26 but for the Pride in the Heart which was the Spring of that Pride in Act in shewing his Treasures to the Babylonish Ambassadors God lets Sin continue in the Hearts of the best in this World and sometimes gives the Reins to Satan and a Man 's own Corruption to keep up a sense of the ancient Sale we made of our selves to both II. In regard of our selves Herein is the wonder of Divine
Will as a Natural Faculty concurs in the act or motion God doth not act in this in a way of Absolute Power without an Infinite Wisdom suting himself to the Nature of the things he acts upon He doth not change the Physical Nature though he doth the Moral As in the Government of the World he doth not make heavy things ascend nor light things descend ordinarily but guides their Motions according to their Natural qualities So God doth not strain the Faculties beyond their due pitch He lets the nature of the Faculty remain but changes the Principle in it The Understanding remains Understanding and the Will remains Will. But where there was before Folly in the Understanding he puts in a Spirit of Wisdom and where there was before a stoutness in the Will he forms it to a pliableness to his offers He hath a Key to fit every Ward in the Lock and opens the Will without injuring the Nature of the Will He doth not change the Soul by an alteration of the Faculties but by an alteration of something in them Not by an Inroad upon them or by meer power or a blind Instinct but by proposing to the Understanding something to be known and informing it of the Reasonableness of his Precepts and the Innate goodness and excellency of his Offers and by inclining the Will to love and embrace what is proposed And things are propos'd under those Notions which usually move our Wills and Affections We are moved by things as they are good pleasant profitable we entertain things as they make for us and detest things as they are contrary to us Nothing affects us but under such qualities and God sutes his Encouragements to these Natural Affections which are in us His Power and Wisdom go hand in hand together his Power to act what his Wisdom orders and his Wisdom to conduct what his Power executes He brings Men to him in ways suted to their Natural dispositions The stubborn he tears like a Lion the gentle he wins like a Turtle by sweetness he hath a Hammer to break the stout and a Cord of Love to draw the more pliable Tempers He works upon the more Rational in a way of Gospel Reason upon the more Ingenuous in a way of kindness and draws them by the Cords of Love The Wise-men were led to Christ by a Star and Means suted to the knowledge and study that those Eastern Nations used which was much in Astronomy He worketh upon others by Miracles accommodated to every ones sense and so proportions the Means according to the Nature of the Subjects he works upon 4. The Wisdom of God is apparent in his Discipline and Penal Evils The Wisdom of Human Governments is seen in the matter of their Laws and in the Penalties of their Laws and in the proportion of the Punishment to the Offence and in the good that redounds from the Punishment either to the Offender or to the Community The Wisdom of God is seen in the Penalty of Death upon the Transgression of his Law both in that it was the greatest Evil that Man might fear and so was a convenient means to keep him in his due bound and also in the proportion of it to the Transgression Nothing less could be in a Wise Justice inflicted upon an Offender for a Crime against the highest Being and the Supream Excellency But this hath been spoken of before in the Wisdom of his Laws I shall only mention some few it would be too tedious to run into all 1. His Wisdom appears in Judgments in the suting them to the qualities of Persons and nature of Sins He deviseth evil Jer. 18.11 his Judgments are fruits of Counsel He also is wise and will bring Evil Isai 31.2 Evil sutable to the Person offending and Evil sutable to the Offence committed As the Husbandman doth his Threshing Instruments to the Grain He hath a Rod for the Cummin a tenderer Seed and a Flayl for the harder so hath God greater Judgments for the obdurate Sinner and lighter for those that have something of tenderness in their Wickedness Isai 28.27 29. Because he is wonderful in Counsel and excellent in working so Some understand the place With the froward he will shew himself froward He proportions punishment to the Sin and writes the cause of the Judgment in the Forehead of the Judgment it self Sodom burned in Lust and was consumed by Fire from Heaven The Jews sold Christ for Thirty pence and at the Taking of Jerusalem Thirty of them were sold for a Penny So Adonibezek Cut off the Thumbs and great Toes of others and he is served in the same kind Judg. 1.7 The Babel Builders design'd an indissoluble union and God brings upon them an unintelligible Confusion And in Exod. 9.9 the Ashes of the Furnace where the Israelites burnt the Egyptian Bricks sprinkled towards Heaven brought Boyls upon the Egyptian Bodies that they might feel in their own what Pain they had caused in the Israelites flesh and find by the smart of the inflamed Scab what they had made the Israelites endure The Waters of the River Nilus are turned into Blood wherein they had stifled the breath of the Israelites Infants And at last the Prince and the flower of their Nobility are drowned in the Red Sea 'T is part of the Wisdom of Justice to proportion punishment to the Crime and the degrees of Wrath to the degrees of Malice in the Sin Afflictions also are wisely proportion'd God as a wise Physician considers the nature of the humor and strength of the Patient and sutes his Medicines both to the one and the other 1 Cor. 10.13 2. In the seasons of Punishments and Afflictions He stays till Sin be ripe that his Justice may appear more equitable and the Offender more inexcusable Dan. 9.14 he watches upon the evil to bring it upon Men. To bring it in the just Season and order for his righteous and gracious Purpose his Righteous purpose on the Enemies and his Gracious purpose on his People Jerusalems Calamity came upon them when the City was full of People at the Solemnity of the Passover that he might Mow down his Enemies at once and Time their Destruction to such a moment wherein they had Timed the Crucifixion of his Son He watched over the Clouds of his Judgments and kept them from pouring down till his People the Christians were provided for and had departed out of the City to the Chambers and Retiring places God had provided for them He made not Jerusalem the Shambles of his Enemies till he had made Pella and other places the Arks of his Friends As Pliny tells us The Providence of God holds the Sea in a calm for fifteen days that the Halcyons little Birds that frequent the Shoar may build their Nests and hatch up their Young The Judgment upon Sodom was suspended for some hours till Lot was secured | Daille sur 1 Cor. 10. p. 390. God suffer'd not the Church to be Invaded
the wisdom of God Christ is the wisdom of God principally and the Gospel instrumentally as it is the power of God instrumentally to subdue the heart to himself This is wrapped up in the appointing Christ as Redeemer and open'd to us in the revelation of it by the Gospel 1. It is a hidden wisdom In this regard God is said in the Text to be only wise and it is said to be a hidden wisdom 1 Tim. 1.17 and wisdom in a mystery 1 Cor. 2.7 incomprehensible to the ordinary Capacity of an Angel more than the abstruse qualities of the Creatures are to the understanding of man No wisdom of Men or Angels is able to search all the Veins of this Mine to tell all the threds of this Web or to understand the lustre of it they are as far from an ability fully to comprehend it as they were at first to contrive it That wisdom that invented it can only comprehend it In the uncreated Understanding only there is a clearness of light without any shadow of darkness We come as short of full apprehensions of it as a Child doth of the Counsel of the wisest Prince It is so hidden from us that without Revelation we could not have the least imagination of it and though it be revealed to us yet without the help of an Infiniteness of Understanding we cannot fully fathom it 'T is such a tractate of Divine wisdom that the Angels never before had seen the Edition of it till it was publish'd to the World Eph. 3.10 To the intent that now unto Principalities and Powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God Now made known to them not before and now made known to them in the heavenly places They had not the knowledge of all heavenly Mysteries though they had the possession of heavenly Glory They knew the Prophecies of it in the Word but attained not a clear Interpretation of those Prophecies till the things that were prophecied of came upon the Stage 2. Manifold wisdom So 't is called As manifold as mysterious Variety in the Mystery and Mystery in every part of the Variety It was not one single act but a variety of Counsels met in it a conjunction of excellent ends and excellent means The glory of God the salvation of Man the defeat of the Apostate Angels the discovery of the blessed Trinity in their Nature Operations their combin'd and distinct Acts and Expressions of Goodness The means are the conjunction of two Natures infinitely distant from one another the union of Eternity and Time of Mortality and Immortality Death is made the way to Life and Shame the path to Glory The weakness of the Cross is the reparation of man and the Creature is made wise by the foolishness of preaching fallen man grows rich by the poverty of the Redeemer and man is filled by the emptiness of God The Heir of Hell made a Son of God by God's taking upon him the form of a Servant the Son of Man advanc'd to the highest degree of Honour by the Son of God becoming of no reputation 'T is called Eph. 1.8 abundance of wisdom and prudence Wisdom in the Eternal Counsel contriving a way Prudence in the Temporary Revelation ordering all Affairs and Occurrences in the World for the attaining the end of his Counsel Wisdom refers to the Mystery Prudence to the manifestation of it in fit ways and convenient seasons Wisdom to the contrivance and order Prudence to the execution and accomplishment In all things God acted as became him as a wise and just Governour of the World Heb. 2.10 Whether the wisdom of God might not have found out some other way or whether he were in regard of the necessity and naturalness of his Justice limited to this is not the question But that it is the best and wisest way for the manifestation of his glory is out of question This wisdom will appear in the different Interests reconciled by it In the Subject the second Person in the Trinity wherein they were reconciled In the two Natures wherein he accomplish'd it whereby God is made known to man in his Glory Sin eternally condemned and the repenting and believing sinner eternally rescued The honour and righteousness of the Law vindicated both in the Precept and Penalty The Devil's Empire overthrown by the same Nature he had overturned and the Subtilty of Hell defeated by that Nature he had spoiled The Creature engaged in the very act to the highest Obedience and Humility that as God appears as a God upon his Throne the Creature might appear in the lowest posture of a Creature in the depths of resignation and dependance the publication of this made in the Gospel by ways congruous to the wisdom which appeared in the execution of his Counsel and the Conditions of enjoying the fruit of it most wise and resonable 1. The greatest different Interests are reconcil'd Justice in punishing and Mercy in pardoning For man had broken the Law and plung'd himself into a Gulf of Misery The Sword of Vengeance was unsheathed by Justice for the punishment of the Criminal The Bowels of Compassion were stirred by Mercy for the rescue of the Miserable Justice severely beholds the Sin and Mercy compassionately reflects upon the Misery Two different claims are entred by those concerned Attributes Justice votes for Destruction and Mercy votes for Salvation Justice would draw the Sword and drench it in the blood of the Offender Mercy would stop the Sword and turn it from the breast of the Sinner Justice would edge it and Mercy would blunt it The Arguments are strong on both sides 1. Justice pleads I Arraign before thy Tribunal a Rebel who was the glorious Work of thy Hands the Center of thy rich Goodness and a Counterpart of thy own Image he is indeed miserable whereby to excite thy Compassion but he is not miserable without being Criminal Thou didst create him in a state and with ability to be otherwise The riches of thy Bounty aggravate the blackness of his Crime He is a Rebel not by necessity but will What constraint was there upon him to listen to the Counsels of the Enemy of God What force could there be upon him since it is without the compass of any Creature to work upon or constrain the Will Nothing of Ignorance can excuse him the Law was not ambiguously express'd but in plain words both as to Precept and Penalty it was writ in his Nature in legible Characters Had he received any disgust from thee after his Creation it would not excuse his Apostacy since as a Soveraign thou wert not obliged to thy Creature Thou hadst provided all things richly for him he was crowned with glory and honour Thy infinite power had bestowed upon him an Habitation richly furnished and varieties of Servants to attend him Whatever he viewed without and whatever he viewed within himself were several Marks of thy Divine Bounty to engage him to Obedience Had
Man if he stand thy Bounty will be eminent yet there is no room for Mercy to act unless by the Commission of sin he exposeth himself to Misery and if sin enter into another World I have little hopes to be heard then if I am rejected now Worlds will be perpetually created by Goodness Wisdom and Power Sin entring into these Worlds will be perpetually punished by Justice and Mercy which is a Perfection of thy Nature will for ever be commanded silence and lye wrapt up in an eternal Darkness Take occasion now therefore to expose me to the knowledge of thy Creature since without Misery Mercy can never set foot into the World Mercy pleads if man be ruined the Creation is in vain Justice pleads if man be not sentenced the Law is in vain Truth backs Justice and Grace abets Mercy What shall be done in this seeming Contradiction Mercy is not manifested if man be not pardoned Justice will complain if man be not punished 3. An expedient is found out by the wisdom of God to answer these Demands and adjust the Differences between them The wisdom of God answers I will satisfie your Pleas. The Pleas of Justice shall be satisfied in punishing and the Pleas of Mercy shall be received in pardoning Justice shall not complain for want of Punishment nor Mercy for want of Compassion I will have an infinite Sacrifice to content Justice and the Vertue and Fruit of that Sacrifice shall delight Mercy Here shall Justice have punishment to accept and Mercy shall have Pardon to bestow The Rights of both are preserved and the Demands of both amicably accorded in punishment and pardon by transferring the punishment of our Crimes upon a Surety exacting a Recompence from his Blood by Justice and conferring life and salvation upon us by Mercy without the expence of one drop of our own Thus is Justice satisfied in its Severities and Mercy in its Indulgences The riches of Grace are twisted with the terrors of Wrath. The bowels of Mercy are wound about the flaming Sword of Justice and the Sword of Justice protects and secures the bowels of Mercy Thus is God righteous without being cruel and merciful without being unjust his Righteousness inviolable and the World recoverable Thus is a resplendent Mercy brought forth in the midst of all the Curses Confusions and Wrath threatned to the Offender This is the admirable temperament found out by the wisdom of God His Justice is honoured in the Sufferings of Man's Surety and his Mercy is honoured in the application of the Propitiation to the Offender Rom. 3.24 25. Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God Had we in our Persons been Sacrifices to Justice Mercy had for ever been unknown had we been solely fostered by Mercy Justice had for ever been secluded had we being guilty been absolved Mercy might have rejoyced and Justice might have complained had we been solely punished Justice would have triumphed and Mercy grieved But by this medium of Redemption neither hath ground of Complaint Justice hath nothing to charge when the Punishment is inflicted Mercy hath whereof to boast when the Surety is accepted The Debt of the Sinner is transferred upon the Surety that the Merit of the Surety may be conferred upon the Sinner so that God now deals with our sins in a way of consuming Justice and with our Persons in a way of relieving Mercy 'T is highly better and more glorious than if the Claim of one had been granted with the exclusion of the Demand of the other It had then been either an unrighteous Mercy or a merciless Justice 'T is now a righteous Mercy and a merciful Justice 2. The Wisdom of God appears in the Subject or Person wherein these were accorded The second Person in the blessed Trinity There was a congruity in the Sons undertaking and effecting it rather than any other Person according to the order of the Persons and the several functions of the Persons as represented in Scripture The Father after Creation is the Law-giver and presents man with the Image of his own Holiness and the way to his Creatures happiness But after the Fall man was too impotent to perform the Law and too polluted to enjoy a Felicity Redemption was then necessary not that it was necessary for God to redeem man but it was necessary for man's happiness that he should be recovered To this the second Person is appointed that by Communion with him man might derive a happiness and be brought again to God But since man was blind in his Vnderstanding and an Enemy in his will to God there must be the exerting of a Vertue to enlighten his mind and bend his Will to understand and accept of this Redemption And this work is assigned to the third Person the Holy Ghost 1. It was not congruous that the Father should assume Human Nature and suffer in it for the Redemption of man He was first in order he was the Law-giver and therefore to be the Judge As Lawgiver it was not convenient he should stand in the stead of the Law-breaker and as Judge it was as little convenient he should be reputed a Malefactor That he who had made a Law against sin denounced a Penalty upon the commission of sin and whose part it was actually to punish the sinner should become sin for the wilful Transgressor of his Law He being the Rector how could he be an Advocate and Intercessor to himself How could he be the Judge and the Sacrifice A Judge and yet a Mediator to himself If he had been the Sacrifice there must be some Person to examine the validity of it and pronounce the Sentence of acceptance Was it agreeable that the Son should sit upon a Throne of Judgment and the Father stand at the Bar and be responsible to the Son That the Son should be in the place of a Governour and the Father in the place of the Criminal That the Father should be bruised * Isa 53.10 by the Son as the Son was by the Father â Zach. 13 70. that the Son should awaken a Sword against the Father as the Father did against the Son that the Father should be sent by the Son as the Son was by the Father * Gal. 4.4 The order of the Persons in the blessed Trinity had been inverted and disturbed Had the Father been sent he had not been first in order the Sender is before the Person sent As the Father begets and the Son is begotten Joh. 1.14 so the Father sends and the Son is sent He whose order is to send cannot properly send himself 2. Nor was it congruous that the Spirit should he sent upon this Affair If the Holy Ghost had been sent to redeem us and the Son to apply
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 anvâl 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 mârciful 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 ãâã 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
time to the World And the Wisdom of God in them would be amazing if we could understand the analogy between every Ceremony in the Law and the thing signified by it As it cannot buâ affect a diligent Reader to observe that little account of them we have by the Apostle Paul sprinkled in his Eipstles and more largely in that to the Hebrews As the Political Laws of the Jews flowed from the depth of the Moral Law so their Ceremonial did from the depth of Evangelical Counsels and all of them had a special relation to the honour of God and the debasing the Creature Though God formed the Mass and Matter of the World at the first creation at once yet his Wisdom took six days time for the disposing and adorning it The more illustrious truths of God are not to be comprehended on a suddain by the weakness of men Christ did not declare all Truths to his Disciples in the time of his life because they were not able at that present to bear them John 16.12 Ye cannot bear them now Some were reserved for his Resurrection others for the coming of the Spirit and the full discovery of all kept back for another World This Doctrine God figured out in the Law Oracled by the Prophets and unvail'd by Christ and his Apostles 2. The Wisdom of God appeared in using all proper means to render the belief of it easie 1. The most minute things that were to be transacted were predicted in the ancient foregoing Age long before the comeing of the Redeemer The vinegar and gall offered to him upon the Cross the parting his Garments the not breaking of his Bones the piercing of his Hands and Feet the betraying of him the slighting of him by the multitude all were exactly painted and represented in variety of Figures There was Light enough to good men not to mistake him and yet not so plain as to hinder bad men from being Serviceable to the counsels of God in the crucifying of him when he came 2. The translation of the Old Testament from the private Language of the Jews into the most publick Language of the World That Translation which we call Septuagint from Hebrew into Greeks some years before the coming of Christ that Tongue being most diffused at that time by reason of the Macedonian Empire raised by Alexander and the University of Athens to which other Nations resorted for Learning and Education This was a preparation for the Sons of Japhet to dwell in the Tents of Shem. By this was the entertainment of the Gospel facilitated When they compar'd the Prophecies of the Old Testament with the Declarations of the New and found things so long predicted before they were transacted in the publick view 3. By ordering concurrent Testimonies as to matter of Fact that the matter of Fact was not deniable That there was such a Person as Christ that his Miracles were stupendous that hâs Doctrine did not incline to Sedition that he affected not Worldly Applause that he did suffer at Jerusalem was acknowledged by all Not a man among the greatest Enemies of Christians was found that denied the matter of Fact And this great truth that Christ is the Messiah and Redeemer hath been with universal consent owned by all the Professors of Christianity throughout the World Whatever Bickerings there have been among them about some particular Doctrines they all centred in that Truth of Christ's being the Redeemer The first publication of this Doctrine was sealed by a thousand Miracles and so illustrious that he was an utter Stranger to the World that was ignorant of them 4. In keeping up some Principles and Opinions in the World to facilitate the belief of this or render men inexcusable for rejecting of it The Incarnation of the Son of God could not be so strange to the World if we consider the general belief of the Appearances â ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of their Gods among them that the Epicureans and others that denied any such Appearances were counted Atheists * Dionis Halicar Antiq. l. 2. p. 128. And Pythagoras was esteemed to be one not of the inferiour Genij and Lunar Daemons but one of the higher Gods who appeared in a Human Body for the curing and rectifying mortal Life â Iamblych Vit. Pythag. l. 1. cap. 6. p. 44. lib. 2. c. 19. p. 94. And himself tells Abaris the Scythian that he was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that he took the flesh of man that men might not be astonished at him and in a fright fly from his Instructions It was not therefore accounted an irrational thing among them that God should be Incarnate But indeed the great stumbling block was a crucified God But had they known the holy and righteous Nature of God the Malice of sin the universal Corruption of Human Nature the first threatning and the necessity of vindicating the honour of the Law and clearing the Justice of God the Notion of his crucifixion would not have appeared so incredible since they believed the possibility of an Incarnation Another Principle was that universal One of Sacrifices for Expiation and rendring God propitious to man and was practised among all Nations I remember not any wherein this Custom did not prevail for it did even among those People where the Jews as being no trading Nation had not any Commerce and also in America found out in these latter Ages It was not a Law of Nature no man can find any such thing written in his own heart but a Tradition from Adam Now that among the loss of so many other Doctrines that were handed down from Adam to his immediate Posterity as in particular that of the Seed of the Woman which one would think a necessary Appendix to that of Sacrificing This latter should be preserved as a Fragment of an ancient Tradition seems to be an Act of Divine Wisdom to prepare men for the entertainment of the Doctrine of the great Sacrifice for the Expiation of the sin of the World And as the Apostle forms his Argument from the Jewish Sacrifices in the Epistle to the Hebrews for the convincing them of the end of the death of Christ so did the Ancient Fathers make use of this practise of the Heathen to convince them of the same Doctrine 5. The wisdom of God appeared in the time and circumstances of the first solemn publication of the Gospel by the Apostles at Jerusalem The Relation you may read in Acts 2. from verse 1. to the 12th The Spirit was given to the Apostles on the day of Pentecost a time wherein there were multitudes of Jews from all Nations not only near but remote that heard the great things of God spoken in the several Languages of those Nations where their Habitations were fixed and that by twelve illiterate men that two or three hours before knew no Language but that of their Native Country It was the custom of the Jews that dwelt among other Nations at a
of God and aspired to be a sharer with him in his Infinite Knowledge Would not let him be the only wise God but cherished an ambition to be his Partner Just as if a Beam were able to imagine it might be as bright as the Sun or a Spark fancy it could be as full fraught with Heat as the whole Element of Fire Man would not submit to the Infinite Wisdom of God in the prohibition of one single Fruit in the Garden when by the right of his Soveraign Authority he might have granted him only the use of one All Presumptuous sins are of thâs nature they are therefore called Reproaches of God Numb 15.30 the Soul that doth ought presumptuously reproacheth the Lord. All Reproaches are either for Natural Moral or Intellectual defects All Reproaches of God must imply either a Weakness or Unrighteousness in God If Unrighteousness his Holiness is denied if Weakness his Wisdom is blemished In General All Sin strikes at this Perfection two ways 1. As it defaceth the wise workmanship of God Every Sin is a deforming and blemishing our own Souls which as they are the prime Creatures in the lower World so they have greater Characters of Divine Wisdom in the Fabrick of them But this Image of God is ruin'd and broken by Sin Though the spoiling of it be a scorn of his Holiness 't is also an affront to his Wisdom for though his Power was the cause of the production of so fair a Piece yet his Wisdom was the guide of his Power and his Holiness the Pattern whereby he wrought it His Power effected it and his Holiness was exemplified in it but his Wisdom contrived it If a Man had a curious Clock or Watch which had cost him many years pains and the strength of his Skill to frame it for another after he had seen and considered it to trample upon it and crush it in pieces would argue a contempt of the Artificers Skill God hath shewn infinite Art in the Creation of Man but Sin unbeautifies Man and ravisheth his Excellency It cuts and slasheth the Image of God stampt by Divine Wisdom as though it were an Object only of Scorn and Contempt The Sinner in every Sin acts as if he intended to put himself in a better posture and in a fairer dress than the Wisdom of God hath put him in by Creation 2. In the slighting his Laws The Laws of God are highly Rational they are drawn from the depths of the Divine Understanding wherein there is no unclearness and no defect As his Understanding apprehends all things in their true Reason so his Will enjoyns all things for worthy and wise Ends His Laws are contrived by his Wisdom for the happiness of Man whose Happiness and the Mâthods to it he understands better than Men or Angels can do His Laws being the Orders of the Wisest Understanding every breach of his Law is a flying in the Face of his Wisdom All Human Laws though they are enforced by Soveraign Authority yet they are or ought to be in the composing of them founded upon Reason and should be particular applications of the Law of Nature to this or that particular emergency The Laws of God then who is summa ratio are the birth of the truest Reason though the Reason of every one of them may not be so clear to us Every Law though it consists in an act of the Will yet doth presuppose an act of the Understanding The act of the Divine Vnderstanding in framing the Law must be supposed to precede the act of his Will in commanding the Observance of that Law So every Sin against the Law is not only against the Will of God commanding but the Reason of God contriving and a cleaving to our own Reason rather than the Understanding or Mind of God As if God had mistaken in making his Law and we had more understanding to frame a better and more conducing to our happiness As if God were not Wise enough to govern us and prescribe what we should do and what we should avoid as if he designed not our welfare but our misfortune Whereas the Precepts of God are not tyrannical Edicts or Acts of meer Will but the fruits of Counsel and therefore every breach of them is a real declamation against his Discretion and Judgment and preferring our own Imaginations or the Suggestions of the Devil as our Rule before the Results of Divine Counsel While we acknowledge him Wise in our Opinion we speak him Foolish by our Practise when instead of being guided by him we will guide our selves No Man will question but it is a controuling Divine Wisdom to make Alterations in his Precepts dogmatically either to add some of their own or expunge any of his And is it not a Crime of the like reflection to alter them Practically When we will observe one part of the Law and not another part but pick and choose where we please our selves as our Humors and Carnal Interest prompts us It is to charge that part of the Law with Folly which we refuse to conform unto The more cunning any Man is in Sin the more his sin is against Divine Wisdom as if he thought to out-wit God He that receives the Promises of God and the Testimony of Christ sets to his Seal that God is true John 3.33 By the like strength of Argument it will undeniably follow That he that refuseth Obedience to his Precept sets to his Seal that God is foolish Were they not Rational God would not enjoyn them and if they are Rational we are Enemies to Infinite Wisdom by not complying with them If Infinite Prudence hath made the Law why is not every part of it observed if it were not made with the best Wisdom why is any part of it observed If the defacing his Image be any Sin as being a defaming his Wisdom in Creation the breaking his Law is no less a Sin as being a disgracing his Wisdom in his Administration 'T is upon this account likely that the Scripture so often counts Sinners Fools since it is certainly inexcusable Folly to contradict undeniable and infallible Wisdom yet this is done in the least Sin And as he that breaks one title of the Law is deservedly accounted guilty of the breach of the whole James 2.10 so he that despiseth the least stamp of Wisdom in the minutest part of the Law is deservedly counted as a Contemner of it in the frame of the whole Statute-Book But in Particular the Wisdom of God is affronted and Invaded 1. By introducing new Rules and Modes of Worship different from Divine Institutions Is not this a manifest reflection on this Perfection of God as though he had not been Wise enough to provide for his own Honour and model his own Sârvice but stood in need of our directions and the caprichio's of our Brains Some have observed that it is a greater Sin in Worship to do what we should not than to omit what we should
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 Mâght 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 Creatâon 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 â 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
of a Woman â Gal. 4 4. That part of the Flesh of the Virgin whereof the Humane Nature of Christ was made was refin'd and purifi'd from Corruption by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost as a skilful Workman separates the Dross from the Gold Our Saviour is therefore called that Holy thing * Luke 1.35 though born of the Virgin He was necessarily some way to descend from Adam God indeed might have created his Body out of Nothing or have formed it as he did Adams out of the Dust of the Ground But had he been thus extraordinarily formed and not propagated from Adam though he had been a Man like one of us yet he would not have been of kin to us because it would not have been a Nature deriv'd from Adam the Common Parent of us all â Amyrald in Symbol p. 103 c. It was therefore necessary to an affinity with us not only that he should have the same Humane Nature but that it should slow from the same Principle and be propagated to him But now by this way of producing the Humanity of Christ of the Substance of the Virgin He was in Adam say some Corporally but not Seminally of the Substance of Adam or a Daughter of Adam but not of the Seed of Adam And so he is of the same Nature that had sinned so what he did and suffered may be imputed to us which had he been created as Adam could not be claim'd in a Legal and Judicial way 2. It was not convenient he should be born in the Common order of Nature of Father and Mother For whosoever is so born is polluted A Clean thing cannot be brought out of an unclean â Job 14.4 And our Saviour had been uncapable of being a Redeemer had he been tainted with the least Spot of our Nature but would have stood in need of Redemption himself Besides it had been inconsistent with the Holiness of the Divine Nature to have assumed a tainted and defiled Body He that was the Fountain of Blessedness to all Nations was not to be subject to the Curse of the Law for himself which he would have been had he been conceiv'd in an ordinary way He that was to overturn the Devils Empire was not to be any way captive under the Devils Power as a Creature under the Curse nor could he be able to break the Serpents head had he been tainted with the Serpents breath Again supposing that Almighty God by his Divine Power had so order'd the matter and so perfectly sanctified an Earthly Father and Mother from all Original spot that the Humane Nature might have been transmitted Immaculate to him as well as the Holy Ghost did purge that part of the flesh of the Virgin of which the Body of Christ was made yet it was not convenient that that Person that was God blessed for ever as well as Man partaking of our Nature should have a Conception in the same manner as ours but different and in some measure conformable to the Infinite dignity of his Person which could not have been had not a supernatural Power and a Divine Person been concern'd as an active Principle in it Besides such a Birth had not been agreeable to the first Promise Gen. 1.15 which calls him The Seed of the woman not of the Man and so the Veracity of God had suffer'd some detriment The seed of the woman only is set in opposition to the seed of the Serpent 3. By this manner of Conception the Holiness of his Nature is secur'd and his fitness for his Office is assur'd to us 'T is now a pure and unpolluted Humanity that is the Temple and Tabernacle of the Divinity The Fulness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily and dwells in him Holily His Humanity is supernaturaliz'd and elevated by the activity of the Holy Ghost hatching the Flesh of the Virgin into Man as the Chaos into a World Though we read of some sanctified from the Womb it was not a pure and perfect Holiness it was like the Light of Fire mixed with Smoak an infus'd Holiness accompanied with a Natural tâint But the Holiness of the Redeemer by this Conception is like the Light of the Sun pure and without spot The Spirit of Holiness supplying the place of a Father in a way of Creation His Fitness for his Office is also assur'd to us for being born of the Virgin one of our Nature but conceived by the Spirit a Divine Person the guilt of our Sins may be imputed to him because of our Nature without the stain of Sin inherent in him because of his Supernatural Conception he is capable as one of Kin to us to bear our Curse without being toucht by our Taint By this means our sinful Nature is assum'd without Sin in that Nature which was assum'd by him Flesh he hath but not Sinful flesh Rom. 8.3 Real Flesh but not really Sinful only by way of Imputation Nothing but the Power of God is evident in this whole Work By the ordinary Laws and course of Nature a Virgin could not bear a Son nothing but a Supernatural and Almighty Grace could intervene to make so holy and perfect a Conjunction * Amyrant sâr âimole p. 292. The generation of others in an ordinary way is by Male and Female But the Virgin is overshadow'd by the Spirit and Power of the Highest Man only is the product of Natural generation this which is born of the Virgin is the Holy thing the Son of God In other generations a Rational Soul is only united to a Material Body But in this the Divine Nature is united with the Humane in one Person by an indissoluble Union II. The Second Act of Power in the Person Redeeming is the Union of the two Natures the Divine and Humane The designing indeed of this was an act of Wisdom but the accomplishing it was an act of Power 1. There is in this Redeeming Person a Union of two Natures He is God and Man in one Person Heb. 1.8 9. Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever God even thy God hath anointed thee with the Oil of Gladness c. The Son is called God having a Throne for ever and ever and the Unction speaks him Man The Godhead cannot be Anointed nor hath any Fellows Humanity and Divinity are ascrib'd to him Rom. 1.3 4. He was of the Seed of David according to the Flesh and declared to be the Son of God by hiâ Resurrection from the dead The Divinity and Humanity are both Prophetically joyn'd Zach. 12.10 I will pour out my Spirit the pouring forth the Spirit is an Act only of Divine Grace and Power And they shâll look upon me whom they have pierced the same Person pours forth the Spirit as God and is pierced as Man The Word was made Flesh John 1.14 Word from Eternity was made Flesh in time Word and Flesh in one Person a great God and a little Infant 2. The
Understanding could not have been imputed to him as his Crime because it would have been not a voluntary but a necessary effect of his Nature had there been an error in the first Wheel the error of the next could not have been imputed to the Nature of that but to the irregular motion of the first Wheel in the Engine The sin of Men and Angels proceeded not from any natural defect in their Understandings but from Inconsideration He that was the Author of Harmony in his other Creatures could not be the Author of Disorder in the chief of his Works Other Creatures were his Footsteps but man was his Image â Gen. 1.26 27. Let us make man in our image after our likeness Which though it seems to imply no more in that place than an Image of his Dominion over the Creatures yet the Apostle raises it a peg higher and gives us a larger Interpretation of it Col. 3.10 And have put on the New-man which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him making it to consist in a resemblance to his Righteousness Image say some notes the form as Man was a Spirit in regard of his Soul Likeness notes the quality implanted in his Spiritual Nature The Image of God was drawn in him both as he was a Rational and as he was a holy Creature The Creatures manifested the being of a Superiour Power as their Cause but the Righteousness of the first Man evidenced not only a Soveraign Power as the Donor of his being but a holy Power as the Patern of his Work God appeared to be a holy God in the Righteousness of his Creature as well as an Understanding God in the Reason of his Creature while he formed him with all necessary knowledge in his Mind and all necessary uprightness in his Will The Law of Love to God with his whole soul his whole mind his whole heart and strength was originally writ upon his Nature All the parts of his Nature were framed in a Moral Conformity with God to answer this Law and imitate God in his Purity which consists in a love of himself and his own Goodness and Excellency Thus doth the clearness of the Stream point us to the purer Fountain and the brightness of the Beam evidence a greater splendor in the Sun which shot it out 2. His Holiness appears in his Laws as he is a Law-giver and a Judge Since Man was bound to be subject to God as a Creature and had a capacity to be ruled by the Law as an understanding and willing Creature God gave him a Law taken from the depths of his holy Nature and suted to the Original Faculties of Man The Rules which God hath fixed in the World are not the Resolves of bare Will but result particularly from the Goodness of his Nature They are nothing else but the Transcripts of his Infinite detestation of sin as he is the unblemisht Governour of the World This being the most adorable Property of his Nature he hath imprest it upon that Law which he would have inviolably observed as a perpetual Rule for our Actions that we may every moment think of this beautiful Perfection God can command nothing but what hath some similitude with the rectitude of his own Nature All his Laws every Paragraph of them therefore scent of this and glitter with it Deut. 4.8 What Nation hath Statutes and Judgments so righteous as all this Law I set before you this day and therefore they are compar'd to fine Gold that hath no speck or dross * Psal 19.10 This Purity is evident 1. In the Moral Law or Law of Nature 2. In the Ceremonial Law 3. In the Allurements annext to it for keeping it and the Affrightments to restrain from the breaking of it 4. In the Judgments inflicted for the Violation of it 1. In the Moral Law Which is therefore dignified with the title of holy twice in one Verse Rom. 7.12 Wherefore the Law is holy and the Commandment is holy just and good It being the express Image of God's Will as our Saviour was of his Person and bearing a resemblance to the Purity of his Nature The Tables of this Law were put into the Ark that as the Mercy Seat was to represent the Grace of God so the Law was to represent the Holiness of God â Psal 19.1 The Psalmist after he had spoken of the Glory of God in the Heavens wherein the Power of God is exposed to our view introduceth the Law wherein the Purity of God is evidenc'd to our Minds â Vers 7 8. c. perfect pure clean righteous are the titles given to it 'T is clearer in Holiness than the Sun is in brightness and more mighty in it self to command the Conscience than the Sun is to run its Race As the Holiness of the Scripture demonstrates the Divinity of its Author so the Holiness of the Law doth the Purity of the Law-giver 1. The purity of this Law is seen in the Matter of it It prescribes all that becomes a Creature towards God and all that becomes one Creature towards another of his own rank and kind The Image of God is compleat in the Holiness of the first Table and the Righteousness of the second which is intimated by the Apostle Eph. 4.24 the one being the Rule of what we owe to God the other being the Rule of what we owe to man There is no good but it enjoyns and no evil but it disowns 'T is not sickly and lame in any part of it not a good action but it gives it its due praise and not an evil action but it sets a condemning mark upon The Commands of it are frequently in Scripture call'd Judgments because they rightly judge of good and evil and are a clear light to inform the Judgment of Man in the knowledge of both By this was the Understanding of David enlightned to know every false way and to hate it * Psal 119.104 There is no Case can happen but may meet with a determination from it It teaches men the noblest manner of living a life like God himself honourably for the Law-giver and joyfully for the subject It directs us to the highest End sets us at a distance from all base and sordid Practises it proposeth Light to the Understanding and Goodness to the Will It would Tune all the Strings set right all the Orders of Mankind It censures the least Mote countenanceth not any stain in the Life Not a wanton Glance can meet with any justification from it * Mat. 5.28 not a rash Anger but it frowns upon â Mat. 5.22 As the Law-giver wants nothing as an Addition to his Blessedness so his Law wants nothing as a Supplement to its perfection Deut. 4 2. What our Saviour seems to add is not an Addition to mend any defects but a restoration of it from the corrupt Glosses wherewith the Scribes and Pharisees had eclipst the brightness of
it They had curtail'd it and diminish'd part of its Authority cutting off its empire over the least Evil and left its power only to check the grosser Practises But Christ restores it to the due extent of its Soveraignty and shews it in those dimensions in which the Holy Men of God considered it as exceeding broad Psal 119.96 reaching to all Actions all Motions all Circumstances attending them full of inexhaustible Treasures of Righteousness And though this Law since the Fall doth irritate Sin 't is no disparagement but a Testimony to the Righteousness of it which the Apostle manifests by his Wherefore Rom. 7.8 Sin taking occasion by the Commandment wrought in me all manner of Concupiscence and repeating the same sense verse 11. subjoyns a Wherefore verse 12. Wherefore the Law is holy The rising of Mens sinful hearts against the Law of God when it strikes with its Preceptive and Minatory parts upon their Consciences evidenceth the Holiness of the Law and the Law-giver In its own Nature it is a Directing Rule but the malignant Nature of Sin is exasperated by it as an hostile quality in a Creature will awaken it self at the appearance of its Enemy The Purity of this Beam and Transcript of God bears witness to a greater clearness and beauty in the Sun and Original Undefiled Streams manifest an untainted Fountain 2. It is seen in the manner of its Precepts As it prescribes all Good and forbids all Evil so it doth enjoyn the one and banish the other as such The Laws of Men command Vertuous things not as Vertuous in themselves but as useful for Human Society which the Magistrate is the Conservator of and the Guardian of Justice â Ames de Consc lib. 5 cap. 1. queât â The Laws of Men contain not all the Precepts of Vertue but only such as are accommodated to their Customes and are useful to preserve the Ligaments of their Government The design of them is not so much to render the Subjects good Men as good Citizens They order the Practise of those Vertues that may strengthen Civil Society and discountenance those Vices only which weaken the Sinews of it But God beâââ the Guardian of Vniversal Righteousness doth not only enact the Observance of all Righteousness but the observance of it as Righteousness He Commands that which is Just in it self enjoyns Vertues as Vertues and prohibits Vices as Vices as they are profitable or injurious to our selves as well as to Others Men command Temperance and Justice not as Vertues in themselves but as they prevent Disorder and Confusion in a Common Wealth And forbid Adultery and Theft not as Vices in themselves but as they are Intrenchments upon Property Not as hurtful to the Person that commits them but as hurtful to the Person against whose Right they are committed Upon this account perhaps Paul applauds the Holiness of the Law of God in regard of its own Nature as considered in it self more than he doth the Justice of it in regard of Man and the goodness and conveniency of it to the World Rom. 7.12 the Law is Holy twice and Just and Good but once 3. In the Spiritual extent of it The most Righteous Powers of the World do not so much regard in their Laws what the Inward Affections of their Subjects are The External Acts are only the Objects of their Decrees either to encourage them if they be useful or discourage them if they be hurtful to the Community And indeed they can do no other for they have no Power proportioned to Inward Affections since the Inward disposition falls not under their Censure and it would be foolish for any Legislative Power to make such Laws which it is impossible for it to put in Execution They can prohibit the Outward Acts of Theft and Murder but they cannot command the Love of God the Hatred of Sin the Contempt of the World they cannot prohibit Vnclean Thoughts and the Atheism of the Heart But the Law of God surmounts in Righteousness all the Laws of the best regulated Common Wealths in the World It restrains the Licentious Heart as well as the Violent Hand it damps the very first bubblings of Corrupt Nature orders a Purity in the Spring commands a clean Fountain clean Streams clean Vessels It would frame the Heart to an Inward as well as the Life to an Outward Righteousness and make the Inside purer than the Outside It forbids the first Belchings of a Murderous or Adulterous intention It obligeth Man as a Rational Creature and therefore exacts a conformity of every Rational Faculty and of whatsoever is under the Command of them It commands the Private Closet to be free from the least Cobweb as well as the Outward Porch to be clean from Mire and Dirt. It frowns upon all stains and pollutions of the most retired Thoughts Hence the Apostle calls it a Spiritual Law Rom. 7.14 as not Political but extending its force further than the Frontiers of the Man placing its Ensigns in the Metropolis of the Heart and Mind and curbing with its Scepter the Inward motions of the Spirit and commanding over the Secrets of every Mans Breast 4. In regard of the perpetuity of it The Purity and perpetuity of it are link'd together by the Psalmist Psal 19.9 The fear of the Lord is clean enduring for ever the Fear of the Lord that is that Law which commands the Fear and Worship of God and is the Rule of it And indeed God values it at such a rate that rather than part with a tittle or let the honour of it lie in the Dust he would not only let Heaven and Earth pass away but expose his Son to death for the reparation of the wrong it had sustain'd So holy it is that the Holiness and Righteousness of God cannot dispence with it cannot abrogate it without despoiling himself of his own Being 'T is a Copy of the Eternal Law Can he ever abrogate the command of Love to himself without shewing some contempt of his own Excellency and very Being Before he can enjoyn a Creature not to love him he must make himself unworthy of Love and worthy of Hatred this would be the highest Vnrighteousness to order us to hate that which is only worthy of our highest Affections â Suarez So God cannot change the first Command and order us to worship many Gods this would be against the Excellency and Unity of God For God cannot constitute another God or make any thing worthy of an Honour equal with himself Those things that are good only because they are Commanded are alterable by God Those things that are intrinsically and essentially Good and therefore Commanded are unalterable as long as the Holiness and Righteousness of God stand firm The intrinsick Goodness of the Moral Law the concern God hath for it thâ perpetuity of the Precepts of the first Table and the care he hath had to imprint the Precepts of the Second upon the
Minds and Consciences of Men as the Author of Nature for the preservation of the World manifests the Holiness of the Law-maker and Governour 2. His Holiness appears in the Ceremonial Law In the variety of Sacrifices for Sin wherein he writ his detestation of Vnrighteousness in bloody Characters His Holiness was more constantly exprest in the continual Sacrifices than in those rarer sprinklings of Judgments now and then upon the World which often reached not the worst but the most moderate Sinners and were the occasions of the questioning of the Righteousness of his Providence both by Jews and Gentiles In Judgments his Purity was only now and then manifest By his long Patience he might be imagin'd by some reconcil'd to their Crimes or not much concern'd in them but by the Morning and Evening Sacrifice he witness'd a perpetual and uninterrupted Abhorrence of whatsoever was Evil. Besides those the occasional Washings and Sprinklings upon Ceremonial Defilements which polluted only the Body gave an evidence that every thing that had a resemblance to Evil was loathsom to him Add also the Prohibitions of eating such and such Creatures that were filthy as the Swine that wallowed in the Mire a fit Emblem for the prophane and brutish Sinner which had a Moral signification both of the loathsomness of Sin to God and the aversion themselves ought to have to every thing that was filthy 3. This Holiness appears in the Allurements annex'd to the Law for keeping it and the Affrightments to restrain from the breaking of it Both Promises and Threatnings have their Fundamental Root in the Holiness of God and are both Branches of this peculiar Perfection As they respect the Nature of God they are Declarations of his hatred of Sin and his love of Righteousness the one belong to his Threatnings the other to his Promises both joyn together to represent this Divine Perfection to the Creature and to excite to an imitation in the Creature In the one God would render Sin odious because dangerous and curb the practice of Evil which would otherwise be Licentious In the other he would commend Righteousness and excite a love of it which would otherwise be cold By these God sutes the two great Affections of Men Fear and Hope both the branches of Self-love in Man The Promises and Threatnings are both the Branches of Holiness in God The end of the Promises is the same with the Exhortation the Apostle concludes from them 2 Cor. 7.1 Having these Promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God As the end of Precepts is to direct the end of Threatnings is to deter from Iniquity so that of the Promises is to allure to Obedience Thus God breaths out his Love to Righteousness in every Promise his Hatred of Sin in every Threatning The Rewards offerd in the one are the Smiles of pleased Holiness and the Curses thundred in the other are the Sparklings of enraged Righteousness 4. His Holiness appears in the Judgments inflicted for the violation of this Law Divine Holiness is the Root of Divine Justice and Divine Justice is the Triumph of Divine Holiness Hence both are expressed in Scripture by one word of Righteousness which sometimes signifies the rectitude of the Divine Nature and sometimes the vindicative stroak of his Arm Psal 103.6 The Lord executeth Righteousness and Judgment for all that are oppressed So Dan. 9.7 Righteousness that is Justice belongs to thee The Vials of his Wrath are filled from his implacable aversion to Iniquity All Penal Evils showred down upon the heads of Wicked men spread their root in and branch out from this Perfection All the dreadful Storms and Tempests in the World are blown up by it Why doth he rain Snares Fire and Brimstone and a horrible Tempest because the righteous Lord loveth Righteousness Psal 11.6 7. And as was observed before when he was going about the dreadfullest Work that ever was in the World the overturning the Jewish State hardening the Hearts of that Unbelieving People and casheiring a Nation once dear to him from the honour of his Protection His Holiness as the Spring of all this is applauded by the Seraphims Isai 6.3 compared with Vers 9 10 11 c. Impunity argues the approbation of a Crime and Punishment the abhorrency of it The greatness of the Crime and the Righteousness of the Judge are the first Natural Sentiments that arise in the Minds of Men upon the appearance of Divine Judgments in the World by those that are near them â Amirant Moral Tom. 5. p. 388. As when Men see Gibbets erected Scaffolds prepared Instruments of Death and Torture provided and grievous Punishments inflicted the first reflection in the Spectators is the malignity of the Crime and the detestation the Governours are possessed with 1. How severely hath he punish'd his most Noble Creatures for it The once glorious Angels upon whom he had been at greater cost than upon other Creatures and drawn more lively Lineaments of his own Excellency upon the Transgression of his Law are thrown into the Furnace of Justice without any Mercy to pity them Jude 6. And though there were but one sort of Creatures upon the Earth that bore his Image and were only fit to publish and keep up his Honour below the Heavens yet upon their Apostacy though upon a Temptation from a subtile and insinuating Spirit the Man with all his Posterity is sentenc'd to Misery in Life and Death at last and the Woman with all her Sex have standing Punishments inflicted on them which as they begun in their Persons were to reach as far as the last Member of their successive Generations So Holy is God that he will not endure a Spot in his choicest Work Men indeed when there is a crack in an excellent piece of Work or a stain upon a rich Garment do not cast it away they value it for the remaining Excellency more than hate it for the contracted Spot But God saw no Excellency in his Creature worthy regarding after the Image of that which he most esteemed in himself was defaced 2. How detestable to him are the very Instruments of Sin For the Ill use the Serpent an Irrational Creature was put to by the Devil as an Instrument in the Fall of Man the whole brood of those Animals are Curst Gen. 3.14 Cursed above all Cattle and above every Beast of the field Not only the Devils Head is threatned to be for ever bruised and as some think render'd irrecoverable upon this further Testimony of his Malice in the Seduction of Man who perhaps without this new Act might have been admitted into the Arms of Mercy notwithstanding his first Sin though the Scripture gives us no account of this only this is the only Sentence we read of pronounc'd against the Devil which puts him into an irrecoverable state by a Mortal bruising of his Head But I say He is not only punish'd but the
Organ whereby he blew in his Temptation is put into a worse condition than it was before Thus God hated the Spunge whereby the Devil deform'd his beautiful Image Thus God to manifest his detestation of Sin ordered the Beast whereby any Man was slain to be slain as well as the Malefactor Levit. 20.15 The Gold and Silver that had been abused to Idolatry and were the Ornaments of Images though good in themselves and uncapable of a Criminal Nature were not to be brought into their Houses but detested and abhorred by them because they were cursed and an abomination to the Lord. See with what loathing Expressions this Law is enjoyn'd to them Deut. 7.25 26. So contrary is the holy Nature of God to every Sin that it curseth every thing that is Instrumental in it 3. How detestable is every thing to him that is in the Sinners possession The very Earth which God had made Adam the Proprietor of was Cursed for his sake Gen. 3.17 18. It lost its Beauty and lies languishing to this day and notwithstanding the Redemption by Christ hath not recovered its health nor is it like to do till the compleating the Fruits of it upon the Children of God Rom. 8.20 21 22. The whole Lower Creation was made subject to Vanity and put into Pangs upon the Sin of Man by the Righteousness of God detesting his Offence How often hath his implacable Aversion from Sin been shewn not only in his Judgments upon the Offenders Person but by wrapping up in the same Judgment those which stood in a near relation to them Achan with his Children and Cattle are overwhelmed with Stones and burned together Josh 7.24 25. In the destruction of Sodom not only the grown Malefactors but the young Spawn the Infants at present uncapable of the same Wickedness and their Cattle were burned up by the same Fire from Heaven and the Place where their Habitations stood is at this day partly a heap of Ashes and partly an Infectious Lake that choaks any Fish that swim into it from Jordan and stifles as is related by its Vapor any Bird that attempts to fly over it Oh how detestable is Sin to God that causes him to turn a pleasant Land as the Garden of the Lord as it is styled Gen. 13.10 into a Lake of Sulphur to make it both in his Word and Works as a lasting Monument of his abhorrence of Evil 4. What design hath God in all these Acts of Severity and Vindictive Justice but to set off the lustre of his Holiness He testifies himself concerned for those Laws which he hath set as Hedges and Limits to the Lusts of Men and therefore when he breaths forth his fiery Indignation against a People he is said to get himself Honour As when he intended the Red Sea should swallow up the Egyptian Army Exod. 14.17 18. which Moses in his Triumphant Song Ecchoes back again Exod. 15.1 Thou hast triumphed gloriously gloriously in his Holiness which is the glory of his Nature as Moses himself interprets it in the Text. When Men will not own the Holiness of God in a way of Duty God will vindicate it in a way of Justice and Punishment In the destruction of Aarons Sons that were Will-worshippers and would take Strange Fire Sanctified and Glorified are coupled Lev. 10.3 He glorified himself in that Act in vindicating his Holiness before all the People declaring that he will not endure Sin and Disobedience He doth therefore in this Life more severely punish the Sins of his People when they presume upon any act of Disobedience for a Testimony that the nearness and dearness of any Person to him shall not make him unconcern'd in his Holiness or be a plea for Impurity The End of all his Judgments is to witness to the World his Abominating of Sin To Punish and Witness against Men are one and the same thing Micah 1.2 The Lord shall witness against you and it is the Witness of Gods Holiness Hos 5.5 And the Pride of Israel doth testifie to his face One renders it the Excellency of Israel and understands it of God the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is here in our Translation Pride is rendred Excellency Amos 8.7 The Lord God hath sworn by his Excellency which is Interpreted Holiness Amos 4.2 The Lord God hath sworn by his Holiness What is the issue or end of this Swearing by Holiness and of his Excellency testifying against them In all those Places you will find them to be sweeping Judgments In one Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their Iniquity in another He will take them away with Hooks and their Posterity with Fish-hooks and in another He would never forget any of their works He that punisheth Wickedness in those he before used with the greatest Tenderness furnisheth the World with an undeniable Evidence of the Detestableness of it to him Were not Judgments sometimes poured out upon the World it would be believed that God were rather an Approver than an Enemy to Sin To Conclude Since God hath made a stricter Law to guide Men annex'd Promises above the merit of Obedience to allure them and Threatnings dreadful enough to affright Men from Disobedience He cannot be the Cause of Sin nor a lover of it How can he be the Author of that which he so severely forbids or love that which he delights to punish or be fondly Indulgent to any Evil when he hates the Ignorant Instruments in the Offences of his Reasonable Creatures III. The Holiness of God appears in Our Restoration 'T is in the Glass of the Gospel we behold the Glory of the Lord * 2 Cor. 3.18 that is the Glory of the Lord into whose Image we are changed but we are changed into nothing as the Image of God but into Holiness We bore not upon us by Creation nor by Regeneration the Image of any other Perfection We cannot be changed into his Omnipotence Omniscience c. but into the Image of his Righteousness This is the pleasing and glorious sight the Gospel Mirror darts in our eyes The whole Scene of Redemption is nothing else but a discovery of Judgment and Righteousness Isai 1.27 Zion shall be redeemed with Judgment and her Converts with Righteousness 1. This Holiness of God appears in the manner of our Restoration viz. by the Death of Christ. Not all the Vials of Judgments that have or shall be poured out upon the wicked World nor the flaming Furnace of a Sinners Conscience nor the Irreversible Sentence pronounc'd against the Rebellious Devils nor the Groans of the Damned Creatures give such a demonstration of Gods Hatred of Sin as the Wrath of God let loose upon his Son Never did Divine Holiness appear more beautiful and lovely than at the time our Saviours Countenance was most marr'd in the midst of his Dying Groans This himself acknowledges in that Prophetical Psalm Psal 22.1 2. when God had turned his Smiling Face from him and thrust his sharp Knife
into his heart which forced that Terrible cry from him My God my God why hast thou forsaken me he adores this Perfection of Holiness v. 3. But thou art holy Thy Holiness is the Spring of all this sharp Agony and for this thou Inhabitest and shalt for ever inhabit the Praises of all thy Israel Holiness drew the Vail between Gods Countenance and our Saviours Soul Justice indeed gave the stroke but Holiness order'd it In this his Purity did sparkle and his Irreversible Justice manifested that all those that commit Sin are worthy of death this was the perfect Index of his Righteousness â Rom 3 2â that is of his Holiness and Truth then it was that God that is Holy was sanctified in Righteousness Isai 5.16 It appears the more if you consider 1. The Dignity of the Redeemers Person One that had been from Eternity had laid the Foundations of the World had been the Object of the Divine Delight He that was God blessed for ever becomes a Curse He who was blessed by Angels and by whom God blessed the World must be seiz'd with Horrour The Son of Eternity must bleed to death Where did ever Sin appear so irreconcileable to God Where did God ever break out so furiously in his detestation of Iniquity The Father would have the most Excellent Person one next in order to himself and Equal to him in all the glorious Perfections of his Nature * Phil 2.6 Die on a Disgraceful Cross and be exposed to the flames of Divine Wrath rather than Sin should live and his Holiness remain for ever disparaged by the Violations of his Law 2. The near Relation he stood in to the Father He was his own Son that he delivered up Rom. 8.32 His Essential Image as dearly beloved by him as himself yet he would abate nothing of his Hatred of those Sins imputed to one so dear to him and who never had done any thing contrary to his Will The strong Cries utter'd by him could not cause him to cut off the least Fringe of this Royal Garment nor part with a Thred the Robe of his Holiness was woven with The Torrent of Wrath is open'd upon him and the Fathers Heart beats not in the least notice of Tenderness to Sin in the midst of his Sons Agonies â Lingend Tom. 3. p. 699 700. God seems to lay aside the Bowels of a Father and put on the garb of an Irreconcileable Enemy Upon which account probably our Saviour in the midst of his Passion gives him the Title of God not of Father the Title he usually before Addrest to him with Math. 27.46 My God my God not My Father my Father why hast thou forsaken me He seems to hang upon the Cross like a disinherited Son while he appear'd in the garb and rank of a Sinner Then was his Head loaded with Curses when he stood under that Sentence of Cursed is every one that hangs upon a Tree Gal. 3.13 and look'd as one forlorn and rejected by the Divine Purity and Tenderness God dealt not with him as if he had been one in so near a Relation to him He left him not to the Will only of the Instruments of his Death he would have the chiefest blow himself of bruising of him Isai 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him the Lord because the power of Creatures could not strike a blow strong enough to satisfie and secure the Rights of Infinite Holiness It was therefore a Cup temper'd and put into his hands by his Father a Cup given him to drink In other Judgments he lets out his Wrath against his Creatures in this he lets out his Wrath as it were against Himself against his Son One as dear to him as himself As in his making Creatures his Power over Nothing to bring it into Being appear'd but in pardoning Sin he hath power over himself so in punishing Creatures his Holiness appears in his Wrath against Creatures against Sinners by inherency But by punishing Sin in his Son his Holiness sharpens his Wrath against him who was his Equal and only a reputed Sinner As if his Affection to his own Holiness surmounted his Affection to his Son For he chose to suspend the breakings out of his Affections to his Son and see him plunged in a sharp and Ignominious Misery without giving him any visible Token of his Love rather than see his Holiness lie groaning under the Injuries of a Transgressing World 3. The Value he puts upon his Holiness appears further in the Advancement of this Redeeming Person after his Death Our Saviour was Advanc'd not barely for his Dying but for the respect he had in his Death to this Attribute of God Heb. 1.9 Thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity therefore God even thy God hath Anointed thee with the Oil of Gladness c. By Righteousness is meant this Perfection because of the opposition of it to Iniquity Some think Therefore to be the final Cause as if this were the sense Thou art anointed with the Oil of Gladness that thou mightest love Righteousness and hate Iniquity But the Holy Ghost seeming to speak in this Chapter not only of the Godhead of Christ but of his Exaltation the Doctrine whereof he had begun in Verse 3. and prosecutes in the following Verses I would rather understand Therefore For this cause or reason hath God anointed thee not to this end Christ indeed had an Unction of Grace whereby he was fitted for his Mediatory Work He had also an Unction of Glory whereby he was rewarded for it In the first regard it was a qualifying him for his Office in the second regard it was a solemn Inaugurating him in his Royal Authority And the Reason of his being setled upon a Throne for ever and ever is because he loved Righteousness He suffered himself to be pierced to Death that Sin the Enemy of Gods Purity might be destroy'd and the Honour of the Law the Image of Gods Holiness might be repair'd and fulfilled in the Fallen Creature He restored the Credit of Divine Holiness in the World in manifesting by his Death God an irreconcileable Enemy to all Sin in abolishing the Empire of Sin so hateful to God and restoring the rectitude of Nature and new framing the Image of God in his chosen Ones And God so valued this Vindication of his Holiness that he confers upon him in his Humane Nature an Eternal Royalty and Empire over Angels and Men. Holiness was the great Attribute respected by Christ in his dying and manifested in his Death and for his Love to this God would bestow an Honour upon his Person in that Nature wherein he did vindicate the Honour of so dear a Perfection In the Death of Christ he shewed his Resolution to preserve its Rights In the Exaltation of Christ he evidenced his mighty pleasure for the Vindication of it In both the Infinite value he had for it as dear to him as his Life and Glory 4. It
such a Property that it was capable of receiving it This Capacity is from the nature of the Metal by God's Creation of it but the carving the Figure of this or that Man is not the Act of God but the Act of Man As Images in Scripture are called the Work of mens hands in regard of the imagery though the Matter Wood or Stone upon which the Image was carv'd was a Work of God's Creative Power When an Artificer frames an excellent Instrument and a Musician exactly tunes it and it comes out of their hands without a blemish but capable to be untun'd by some rude hand or receive a crack by a suddain fall if it meet with a Disaster is either the Workman or Musician to be blam'd The ruin of a House caused by the wastfulness or carelesness of the Tenant is not to be imputed to the Workman that built it strong and left it in a good Posture 2. Proposition God's Holiness is not blemisht by enjoyning Man a Law which he knew he would not observe 1. The Law as not above his strength Had the Law been impossible to be observed no Crime could have been imputed to the Subject the fault had layn wholly upon the Governour the Non-observance of it had been from a want of strength and not from a want of will Had God commanded Adam to fly up to the Sun when he had not given him Wings Adam might have a will to obey it but his Power would be too short to perform it But the Law set him for a Rule had nothing of impossibility in it it was easie to be observed the Command was rather below than above his strength and the sanction of it was more apt to restrain and fear him from the breach of it than encourage any daring Attempts against it He had as much power or rather more to conform to it than to warp from it and greater arguments and interest to be observant of it than to violate it his All was secured by the one and his Ruin ascertained by the other * 1 Joh. 5.3 The Commands of God are not grievous from the first to the last Command there is nothing impossible nothing hard to the original and created Nature of Man which were all summ'd up in a love to God which was the pleasure and delight of Man as well as his Duty if he had not by inconsiderateness neglected the dictates and resolves of his own Understanding The Law was suted to the strength of Man and fitted for the Improvement and Perfection of his Nature In which respect the Apostle calls it good as it refers to Man as well as holy as it refers to God â Rom. 7.12 Now since God Created man a Creature capable to be governed by a Law and as a Rational Creature endued with Understanding and Will not to be govern'd according to his Nature without a Law was it congruous to the Wisdom of God to respect only the future state of Man which from the Depth of his Infinite Knowledge he did infallibly foresee would be miserable by the wilful defection of Man from the Rule Had it been agreeable to the Wisdom of God to respect only this future state and not the present state of the Creature and therefore leave him lawless because he knew he would violate the Law Should God forbear to act like a wise Governour because he foresaw that Man would cease to act like an obedient Subject Shall a righteous Magistrate forbear to make just and good Laws because he foresees either from the dispositions of his Subjects their ill humour or some Circumstances which will intervene that Multitudes of them will incline to break those Laws and fall under the Penalty of them No blame can be upon that Magistrate who minds the Rule of Righteousness and the necessary Duty of his Government since he is not the Cause of those turbulent Affections in Men which he wisely foresees will rise up against his just Edicts 2. Though the Law now be above the strength of man yet is not the holiness of God blemisht by keeping it up 'T is true God hath been graciously pleased to mitigate the severity and rigour of the Law by the entrance of the Gospel yet where men refuse the terms of the Gospel they continue themselves under the Condemnation of the Law and are justly guilty of the breach of it though they have no strength to observe it The Law as I said before was not above mans strength when he was possessed of Original Righteousness though it be above mans strength since he was stript of Original Righteousness The Command was dated before man had contracted his Impotency when he had a power to keep it as well as to break it Had it been enjoyned to man only after the fall and not before he might have had a better pretence to excuse himself because of the impossibility of it yet he would not have had sufficient excuse since the impossibility did not result from the Nature of the Law but from the corrupted Nature of the Creature It was weak through the Flesh Rom. 8.3 but it was promulg'd when man had a strength proportion'd to the Commands of it And now since man hath unhappily made himself uncapable of obeying it must God's Holiness in his Law be blemisht for enjoyning it Must he abrogate those Commands and prohibit what before he enjoyned for the satisfaction of the corrupted Creature would not this be his ceasing to be holy that his Creature might be unblameably unrighteous Must God strip himself of his Holiness because man will not discharge his Iniquity He cannot be the cause of sin by keeping up the Law who would be the cause of all the unrighteousness of men by removing the Authority of it Some things in the Law that are intrinsecally good in their own Nature are indispensable and it is repugnant to the Nature of God not to Command them If he were not the Guardian of his indispensable Law he would be the Cause and Countenancer of the Creatures Iniquity So little reason have men to charge God with being the Cause of their sin by not repealing his Law to gratifie their Impotence that he would be unholy if he did God must not lose his Purity because man hath lost his and cast away the Right of his Soveraignty because man hath cast away his Power of Obedience 3. God's foreknowledge that his Law would not be observ'd lays no blame upon him Though the foreknowledge of God be infallible yet it doth not necessitate the Creature in acting It was certain from Eternity that Adam would fall that men would do such and such Actions that Judas would betray our Saviour God foreknew all those things from Eternity but it is as certain that this foreknowledge did not necessitate the will of Adam or any other Branch of his Posterity in the doing those Actions that were so foreseen by God they voluntarily run into such Courses
cause of the evil actions of men God acts nothing but withholds his Power he doth not enlighten their minds nor encline their wills so powerfully as to expel their darkness and root out those evil Habits which possess them by Nature God could if he would savingly enlighten the minds of all men in the World and quicken their hearts with a new Life by an invincible Grace but in not doing it there is no positive act of God but a cessation of Action We may with as much reason say that God is the Cause of all the sinful Actions that are committed by the Corporation of Devils since their first Rebellion because he leaves them to themselves and bestows not a new Grace upon them As say God is the Cause of the sins of those that he overlooks and leaves in that state of Guilt wherein he found them God did not pass by any without the consideration of sin so that this act of God is not repugnant to his Holiness but conformable to his Justice 4. Proposition The Holiness of God is not blemisht by his secret will to suffer sin to enter into the World God never willed sin by his preceptive Will It was never founded upon or produced by any word of his as the Creation was He never said Let there be sin under the Heaven as he said Let there be Water under the Heaven Nor doth he will it by infusing any Habit of it or stirring up Inclinations to it no God tempts no man James 1.13 Nor doth he will it by his approving Will 't is detestable to him nor ever can be otherwise He cannot approve it either before Commission or after 1. The Will of God is in some sort concurrent with sin He doth not properly will it but he wills not to hinder it to which by his Omnipotence he could put a bar If he did positively will it it might be wrought by himself and so could not be evil If he did in no sort will it it would not be committed by his Creature Sin entred into the World either God willing the permission of it or not willing the permission of it The latter cannot be said for then the Creature is more powerful than God and can do that which God will not permit God can if he be pleased banish all sin in a moment out of the World He could have prevented the Revolt of Angels and the Fall of Man they did not sin whether he would or no He might by his Grace have stept in the first Moment and made a special impression upon them of the Happiness they already possessed and the Misery they would incur by any wicked attempt He could as well have prevented the sin of the fallen Angels and confirmed them in Grace as of those that continued in their happy state He might have appeared to man informed him of the Issue of his Design and made secret impressions upon his heart since he was acquainted with every avenue to his Will God could have kept all sin out of the world as well as all Creatures from breathing in it he was as well able to bar sin for ever out of the World as to let Creatures lye in the Womb of nothing wherein they were first wrapped To say God doth will sin as he doth other things is to deny his Holiness to say it entred without any thing of his Will is to deny his Omnipotence If he did necessitate Adam to fall what shall we think of his Purity If Adam dâd fall without any concern of God's Will in it what shall we say of his Soveraignty The one taints his Holiness and the other clips his Power If it came without any thing of his Will in it and he did not foresee it where is his Omniscience If it entred whether he would or no where is his Omnipotence Rom. 9.19 Who hath resisted his Will There cannot be a lustful Act in Abimelech if God will withhold his Power Gen. 20.6 I withheld thee Nor a cursing word in Balaam's Mouth unless God give power to speak it Numb 22.38 Have I now any power at all to say any thing The Word that God puts in my mouth that shall I speak As no Action could be sinful if God had not forbidden it so no sin could be committed if God did not will to give way to it 2. God doth not will sin directly and by an efficacious Will He doth not directly will it because he hath prohibited it by his Law which is a discovery of his Will So that if he should directly will sin and directly prohibite it he would will good and evil in the same manner and there would be Contradictions in God's Will To will sin absolutely is to work it Psal 115.3 God hath done whatsoever he pleased God cannot absolutely will it because he cannt work it * Rispolis God wills good by a positive decree because he hath decreed to effect it He wills evil by a privative decree because he hath decreed not to give that Grace which would certainly prevent it â Bradward lib. 1 cap. 34. God wills it secundum quid God doth not will sin simply for that were to approve it but he wills it in order to that Good his Wisdom will bring forth from it He wills not sin for it self but for the event To will sin as sin or as purely evil is not in the capacity of a Creature neither of Man nor Devil The Will of a Rational Creature cannot will any thing but under the appearance of good of some good in the sin it self or some good in the issue of it Much more is this far from God â Aquin. cont Gent. l. 1. c. 95. who being infinitely good cannot will evil as evil and being infinitely knowing cannot will that for good which is evil Infinite Wisdom can be under no Errour or Mistake To will sin as sin would be an unanswerable blemish on God but to will to suffer it in order to good is the glory of his Wisdom It could never have peep'd up its head unless there had been some decree of God concerning it And there had been no decree of God concerning it had he not intended to bring good and glory out of it If God did directly will the discovery of his Grace and Mercy to the World he did in some sort will sin as that without which there could not have been any appearance of Mercy in the World For an Innocent Creature is not the Object of Mercy but a Miserable Creature and no Rational Creature but must be sinful before it be miserable 3. God wills the permission of sin He doth not positively will sin but he positively wills to permit it And though he doth not approve of sin yet he approves of that act of his Will whereby he permits it For since that sin could not enter into the World without some concern of God's Will about it that act of his Will that gave way
to it could not be displeasing to him God could never be displeased with his own Act He is not as man that he should repent 1 Sam. 15.29 What God cannot repent of he cannot but approve of 'T is contrary to the blessedness of God to disapprove of and be displeased with any act of his own Will If he hated any act of his own Will he would hate himself he would be under a torture Every one that hates his own acts is under some disturbance and torment for them That which is permitted by him is in it self and in regard of the evil of it hateful to him But as the prospect of that good which he aims at in the permission of it is pleasing to him so that act of his Will whereby he permits it is ushered in by an approving act of his Understanding Either God approved of the permission or not if he did not approve his own act of permission he could not have decreed an act of permission 'T is unconceivable that God should decree such an act which he detested and positively will that which he hated Though God hated sin as being against his Holiness yet he did not hate the permission of sin as being subservient by the Immensity of his Wisdom to his own Glory He could never be displeased with that which was the result of his Eternal Counsel as this decree of permitting sin was as well as any other decree resolved upon in his own Breast For as God acts nothing in Time but what he decreed from Eternity so he permits nothing in time but what he decreed from Eternity to permit To speak properly therefore God doth not will sin but he wills the permission of it and this Will to permit is Active and positive in God 4. This act of permission is not a meer and naked permission but such an one as is attended with a certainty of the event The decrees of God to make use of the sin of Man for the glory of his Grace in the Mission and Passion of his Son hung upon this entrance of sin Would it consist with the Wisdom of God to decree such great and stupendous things the event whereof should depend upon an uncertain Foundation which he might be mistaken in God would have sate in Councel from Eternity to no purpose if he had only permitted those things to be done without any knowledge of the event of this permission God would not have made such provision for Redemption to no purpose or an uncertain purpose which would have been if Man had not fallen or if it had been an uncertainty with God whether he would fall or no. Though the Will of God about sin was permissive yet the Will of God about that Glory he would promote by the defect of the Creature was positive and therefore he would not suffer so many positive acts of his Will to hang upon an uncertain Event and therefore he did wisely and righteously order all things to the accomplishment of his great and gracious Purposes 5. This act of permission doth not taint the holiness of God That there is such an act as permission is clear in Scripture Acts 14.16 Who in times past suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways But that it doth not blemish the Holiness of God will appear 1. From the nature of this permission 1. 'T is not a Moral permission a giving liberty of toleration by any Law to commit sin with impunity when what one Law did forbid another Law doth leave indifferent to be done or not as a Man sees good in himself As when there is a Law made among Men That no man shall go out of such a City or Country without license To go out without license is a Crime by the Law but when that Law is repealed by another that gives liberty for men to go and come at their pleasure It doth not make their going or coming necessary but leaves those which were before bound to do as they see good in themselves Such a permission makes a Fact lawful though not necessary a man is not oblig'd to do it but he is left to his own discretion to do as he pleases without being chargeable with a Crime for doing it Such a permission there was granted by God to Adam of eating of the fruits of the Garden to choose any of them for Food except the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was a Precept to him not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil but the other was a Permission whereby it was lawful for him to feed upon any other that was most agreeable to his Appetite But there is not such a Permission in the case of Sin this had been an Indulgence of it which had freed Man from any Crime and consequently from Punishment because by such a Permission by Law he would have had Authority to Sin if he pleased God did not remove the Law which he had before placed as a Bar against Evil nor ceas'd that Moral Impediment of his Threatning Such a Permission as this to make Sin Lawful or Indifferent had been a blot upon Gods Holiness 2. But this Permission of God in the case of Sin is no more than the not hindering a sinful Action which he could have prevented 'T is not so much an Action of God as a suspension of his Influence which might have hindered an Evil Act and a forbearing to restrain the Faculties of Man from Sin 't is properly the not exerting that Efficacy which might change the Counsels that are taken and prevent the Action intended As when one Man sees another ready to fall and can preserve him from falling by reaching out his hand he permits him to fall that is he hinders him not from falling So God describes his Act about Abimelech Gen 20.6 I withheld thee from sinning against me therefore suffered I thee not to touch her If Abimelech had sinned he had sinned by Gods permission that is by Gods not hindering or not restraining him by making any Impressions upon him So that Permission is only a withholding that Help and Grace which if bestowed would have been an effectual Remedy to prevent a Crime And it is rather a Suspension or Cessation than properly a Permission and Sin may be said to be committed not without Gods permission rather than by his Permission Thus in the Fall of Man God did not hold the Reins strict upon Satan to restrain him from laying the Bait nor restrain Adam from swallowing the Bait He kept to himself that Efficacious Grace which he might have darted out upon Man to prevent his Fall God left Satan to his Malice of Tempting and Adam to his liberty of Resisting and his own strength to use that sufficient Grace he had furnish'd him with whereby he might have resisted and overcome the Temptation As he did not drive Man to it so he did not secretly restrain him from it So in the
Jews Crucifying our Saviour God did not imprint upon their Minds by his Spirit a consideration of the greatness of the Crime and the horrour of his Justice due to it And being without those Impediments they run furiously of their own accord to the Commission of that Evil. As when a Man lets a Wolf or Dog out upon his Prey he takes off the Chain which held them and they presently act according to their Natures â Lawson pag. 64. In the Fall of Angels and Men Gods Act was a leaving them to their own strength In Sins after the Fall 't is Gods giving them up to their own Corruption The first is a pure suspension of Grace the other hath the nature of a Punishment Psal 81.12 So I gave them up to their own hearts lusts The first Object of this Permissive Will of God was to leave Angâls and Men to their own liberty and the use of their Free-will which was Natural to them â Suarez Vol. 4. p. 414. not adding that Supernatural Grace which was necessary not that they should not at all sin but that they should infallibly not sin They had a strength sufficient to avoid Sin but not sufficient infallibly to avoid Sin a Grace sufficient to preserve them but not sufficient to confirm them 3. Now this Permission is not the cause of Sin nor doth blemish the Holiness of God It doth not intrench upon the Freedom of Men but supposeth it establisheth it and leaves Man to it God acted nothing but only ceased to Act and therefore could not be the Efficient cause of Mans Sin As God is not the Author of good but by willing and effecting it so he is not the Author of Evil but by willing ând effecting it But he doth not positively will Evil nor effect it by any Efficacy of his own Permission is no Action nor the cause of that Action which is permitted but the will of that Person who is permitted to do such an Action is the cause * Suarez de Legib. p. 43. God can no more be said to be the cause of Sin by suffering a Creature to act as it will than he can be said to be the cause of the not Being of any Creature by denying it Being and letting it remain Nothing 'T is not from God that it is Nothing 't is Nothing in it self Though God be said to be the Cauâe of Creation yet he is never by any said to be the Cause of that Nothing which was before Creation This Permission of God is not the Cause of Sin but the cause of not hindering Sin Man and Angels had a Physical Power of sinning from God as they were created with Free-will and supported in their Natural strength but the Moral power to sin was not from God He counsell'd them not to it laid no obligation upon them to use their Natural power for such an end He only left them to their freedom and not hinder'd them in their acting what he was resolved to permit 2. The Holiness of God is not tainted by this because he was under no obligation to hinder their Commission of sin Ceasing to act whereby to prevent a Crime or mischief brings not a Person permitting it under guilt unless where he is under an obligation to prevent it But God in regard of his Absolute Dominion cannot be charged with any such Obligation One Man that doth not hinder the Murder of another when it is in his power is guilty of the Murder in part but it is to be considered that he is under a Tye by Nature as being of the same kind and being the others Brother by a communion of Blood also under an obligation of the Law of Charity enacted by the Common Soveraign of the World But what tye was there upon God since the Infinite Transcendency of his Nature and his Soveraign Dominion frees him from any such obligation Job 9.12 If he takes away who shall say What dost thou God might have prevented the Fall of Men and Angels he might have confirm'd them all in a state of perpetual Innocency but where is the Obligation He had made the Creature a Debtor to himself but he ow'd nothing to the Creature Before God can be charged with any guilt in this case it must be proved not only that he could but that he was bound to hinder it No Person can be justly charged with anothers Fault meerly for not preventing it unless he be bound to prevent it else not only the First sin of Angels and Man would be imputed to God as the Author but all the sins of Men. He could not be obliged by any Law because he had no Supeiour to impose any Law upon him and it will be hard to prove that he was obliged from his own Nature to prevent the entrance of Sin which he would use as an occasion to declare his own Holiness so transcendent a Perfection of his Nature more than ever it could have been manifested by a total exclusion of it viz. in the Death of Christ He is no more bound in his own Nature to preserve by Supernatural Grace his Creature from Falling after he had framed him with a sufficient strength to stand than he was obliged in his own Nature to bring his Creature into Being when it was Nothing He is not bound to create a Rational Creature much less bound to create him with Supernatural gifts though since God would make a Rational Creature he could not but make him with a Natural Uprightness and rectitude God did as much for Angels and Men as became a Wise Governour He had publish'd his Law back'd it with severe Penalties and the Creature wanted not a Natural strength to observe and obey it Had not Man a power to obey all the Precepts of the Law as well as one How was God bound to give him more Grace since what he had already was enough to shield him and keep up his Resistance against all the Power of Hell It had been enough to have pointed his Will against the Temptation and he had kept off the force of it Was there any Promise past to Adam of any further Grace which he could plead as a tye upon God No such voluntary Limit upon Gods Supream Dominion appears upon Record Was any thing due to Man which he had not Any thing promis'd him which was not perform'd What Action of Debt then can the Creature bring against God Indeed when Man began to neglect the light of his own Reason and became Inconsiderate of the Precept God might have enlightned his Understanding by a special flash a Supernatural beam and imprinted upoâ him a particular consideration of the Necessity of his Obedience the Misery he was approaching to by his Sin the folly of any such Apprehension of an equality in Knowledge he might have convinc'd him of the falsity of the Serpents Arguments and uncas'd to him the Venom that lay under those Baits But how doth it
immense Holiness Slight approaches and drossy frames speak us to have imaginations of God as of a slight and sottish Being This is worse than the Heathens practis'd who would purge their Flesh before they Sacrific'd and make some preparations in a seeming Purity before they would enter into their Temples God is so holy that were our Services as refin'd as those of Angels we could not present him with a Service meet for his holy Nature * Josh 24.19 We contemn then this Perfection when we come before him without due preparation as if God himself were of an impure Nature and did not deserve our purest thoughts in our applications to him as if any blemâsht and polluted Sacrifice were good enough for him and his Nature deserv'd no better When we excite not those elevated Frames of Spirit which are due to such a Being when we think to put him off with a lame and imperfect Service we worship him not according to the excellency of his Nature but put a slight upon his Majestick Sanctity When we nourish in our Duties those foolish Imaginations which creep upon us when we bring into and continue our worldly carnal debauch'd Fancies in his Presence worse than the nasty Servants or bemired Dogs a man would blush to be attended with in his Visits to a neat Person To be conversing with sordid Sensualities when we are at the feet of an Infinite God sitting upon the Throne of his Holiness is as much a contempt of him as it would be of a Prince to bring a Vessel full of nasty Dung with us when we come to present a Petition to him clothed in his Royal Robes Or as it would have been to God if the High Priest should have swept all the Blood and Excrements of the Sacrifices from the Foot of the Altar into the Holy of Holies and heapt it up before the Mercy Seat where the Presence of God dwelt between the Cherubims and afterwards shovel'd it up into the Ark to be lodged with Aarons Rod and the Pot of Manna 8. God's Holiness is slighted in depending upon our imperfect Services to bear us out before the Tribunal of God This is too ordinary The Jews were often infected with it â Rom. 3.10 who not well understanding the enormity of their Transgressions the interweaving of Sin with their Services and the unspottedness of the Divine Purity mingled an Opinion of Merit with their Sacrifices and thought by the cutting the Throat of a Beast and offering it upon God's Altar they had made a sufficient Compensation to that Holiness they had offended Not to speak of many among the Romanists who have the same notion thinking to make satisfaction to God by erecting an Hospital or endowing a Church as if this injur'd Perfection could be contented with the Dregs of their Purses and the offering of an unjust Mammon more likely to mind God of the Injury they have done him than contribute to the appeasing of him But is it not too ordinary with miserable men whose Consciences accuse them of their Crimes to rely upon the mumbling of a few formal Prayers and in the strength of them to think to stand before the tremendous Tribunal of God and meet with a Discharge upon this account from any Accusation this Divine Perfection can present against them Nay do not the best Christians sometimes find a Principle in them that makes them stumble in their goings forth to Christ and glorifying the Holiness of God in that method which he hath appointed Sometimes casting an eye at their Grace and sticking a while to this or that Duty and gazing at the glory of the Temple-building while they should more admire the glorious Presence that fills it What is all this but a vilifying of the Holiness of the Divine Nature as though it would be well enough contented with our Impurities and Imperfections because they look like a Righteousness in our estimation As though Dross and Dung which are the Titles the Apostle gives to all the Righteousness of a Fallen Creature * Phil. 3.8 were valuable in the sight of God and sufficient to render us comely before him 'T is a Blasphemy against this Attribute to pretend that any thing so imperfect so daub'd as the best of our Services are can answer to that which is Infinitely Perfect and be a ground of demanding Eternal Liâe 'T is at best to set up a guilded Dagon as a fit Companion for the Ark of his Holiness our own Righteousness as a sutable Mate for the Righteousness of God As if he had repented of the Claim he made by the Law to an exact conformity and thrown off the Holiness of his Nature for the fondling of a Corrupted Creature Rude and foolish Notions of the Divine Purity are clearly evidenced by any confidence in any Righteousness of our own though never so splendid 'T is a rendring the Righteousness of God as dull and obscure as that of Men a meer Out-side as their own As blind as the Heathens pictur'd their Fortune that knew as little how to discern the Nature and value of the Offerings made to her as to distribute her gifts as if it were all one to them to have a Dog or a Lamb presented in Sacrifice As if God did not well understand his own Nature when he enacted so Holy a Law and strengthned it with so severe a Threatning which must follow upon our Conceit that he will accept a Righteousness lower than that which bears some sutableness to the Holiness of his own Nature and that of his Law and that he could easily be put off with a pretended and counterfeit Service What are the Services of the generality of Men but Suppositions that they can bribe God to an Indulgence of them in their Sins and by an Oral Sacrifice cause him to devest himself of his Hatred of their former Iniquities and countenance their following Practises As the Harlot that would return fresh to her Uncleanness upon the confidence that her Peace Offerings had contented the Righteousness of God â Prov. 7.14 As though a small Service could make him wink at our Sins and lay aside the Glory of his Nature when alas the best Duties in the most gracious Persons in this life are but as the steams of a Spiced Dunghil a composition of Myrrh and Froth since there are swarms of Corruptions in their Nature and secret Sins that they need a cleansing from 9. 'T is a contemning the Holiness of God when we charge the Law of God with rigidness We cast Durt upon the Holiness of God when we blame the Law of God because it shackles us and prohibits our desired Pleasures and hate the Law of God as they did the Prophets because they did not Prophesy smooth things but called to them to get them out of the way and turn aside out of the path and cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before them Isai 30.10 11. Put us
many Leagues behind any resemblance to God he stript off that which was the glory of his Nature and was the only means of glorifying God as his Creator The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Apostle uses is very significant Postpon'd by Sin an infinite distance from any imitation of Gods Holiness or any appearance before him in a garb of Nature pleasing to him Let us lament our Fall and distance from God 3. Information All Vnholiness is vile and opposite to the Nature of God 'T is such a loathsom thing that the Purity of Gods eye is averse from beholding Hab. 1.3 'T is not said there that he will not but he cannot look on Evil there cannot be any amicableness between God and Sin the Natures of both are so directly and unchangeably contrary to one another Holiness is the Life of God it endures as long as his Life He must be Eternally averse from Sin he can live no longer than he lives in the hatred and loathing of it If he should for one instant cease to hate it he would cease to live To be a Holy God is as Essential to him as to be a Living God and he would not be a living but a dead God if he were in the least point of Time an Unholy God He cannot look on Sin without loathing it he cannot look on Sin but his Heart riseth against it It must needs be most odious to him as that which is against the glory of his Nature and directly opposite to that which is the lustre and varnish of all his other Perfections 'T is the Abominable thing which his Soul hates Jer. 44.4 the vilest terms imaginable are used to signifie it Do you understand the loathsomness of a miry Swine or the nauseousness of the vomit of a Dog These are Emblems of Sin â 2 Pet. 2.22 Can you endure the steams of putrified Carkasses from an open Sepulchre * Rom. 3.23 Is the smell of the stinking sweat or Excrements of a Body delightful the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in James 1.21 signifies as much Or is the sight of a Body overgrown with Scabs and Leprosie grateful to you So vile so odious is Sin in the sight of God 'T is no light thing then to fly in the Face of God to break his Eternal Law to dash both the Tables in pieces to trample the Transcript of Gods own Nature under our feet to cherish that which is inconsistent with his Honour to lift up our heels against the glory of his Nature to joyn Issue with the Devil in stabbing his Heart and depriving him of his life Sin in every part of it is an opposition to the Holiness of God and consequently an envying him a Being and Life as well as a Glory If Sin be such a thing ye that love the Lord hate Evil. 4. Information Sin cannot escape a due Punishment A hatred of Unrighteousness and consequently a will to punish it is as Essential to God as a love of Righteousness Since he is not as an Heathen Idol but hath Eyes to see and Purity to hate every Iniquity he will have an Infinite Justice to punish whatsoever is against Infinite Holiness As he loves every thing that is amiable so he loaths every thing that is filthy and that constantly without any change his whole Nature is set against it he abhors nothing but this 'T is not the Devils knowledge or activity that his Hatred is terminated in but the Malice and Unholiness of his Nature 't is this only is the Object of his Severity 'T is in the recompence of this only that there can be a manifestation of his Justice Sin must be punish'd for 1. This Detestation of Sin must be manifested How should we certainly know his loathing of it if he did not manifest by some act how ungrateful it is to him As his love to Righteousness would not appear without rewarding it so his hatred of Iniquity would be as little evidenc'd without punishing it His Justice is the great Witness to his Purity The Punishment therefore inflicted on the Wicked shall be in some respect as great as the Rewards bestow'd upon the Righteous Since the hatred of Sin is natural to God 't is as natural to him to shew one time or other his hatred of it And since Men have a conceit that God is like them in Impurity there is a necessity of some manifestation of himself to be Infinâtely distant from those Conceits they have of him Psal 50.21 I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes He would else encourage the Injuries done to his Holiness favour the Extravagances of the Creature and condemn or at least slight the Righteousness both of his own Nature and his Soveraign Law What way is there for God to manifest this Hatred but by Threatning the Sinner and what would this be but a vain Affrightment and ridiculous to the Sinner if it were never to be put in execution There is an indissoluble connexion between his Hatred of Sin and Punishment of the Offender Psal 11.5 6. The wicked his Soul hates Vpon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone c. He cannot approve of it without denying himself and a total Impunity would be a degree of Approbation The Displeasure of God is Eternal and Irreconcileable against Sin for Sin being absolutely contrary to his holy Nature He is Eternally contrary to it If there be not therefore a way to separate the Sin from the Sinner the Sinner must lie under the Displeasure of God no displeasure can be manifested without some marks of it upon the Person that lies under that Displeasure The Holiness of God will right it self of the wrongs done to it and scatter the Prophaners of it at the greatest distance from him which is the greatest Punishment that can be inflicted to be removed far from the Fountain of Life is the worst of Deaths God can as soon lay aside his Purity as always forbear his Displeasure against an Impure Person 't is all one not to hate it and not to manifest his Hatred of it 2. As his Holiness is natural and necessary so is the punishment of Vnholiness necessary to him 'T is necessary that he should abominate Sin and therefore necessary he should discountenance it The Severities of God against Sin are not vain Scare-crows they have their foundation in the Righteousness of his Nature 't is because he is a Righteous and Holy God that he will not forgive our Transgressions and Sins Josh 24.19 that is that he will punish them The Throne of his Holiness is a fiery flame Dan. 7.9 there is both a pure light and a scorching heat Whatsoever is contrary to the Nature of God will fall under the Justice of God he would else violate his own Nature deny his own Perfection seem to be out of love with his own Glory and Life He doth not hate it out of choice but from the
Immutable propension of his Nature 't is not so free an act of his Will as the Creation of Man and Angels which he might have forborn as well as effected As the detestation of Sin results from the universal rectitude of his Nature so the punishment of Sin follows upon that as he is the Righteous Governour of the World 'T is as much against his Nature not to punish it as it is against his Nature not to loath it He would cease to be Holy if he ceas'd to hate it and he would cease to hate it if he ceas'd to punish it Neither the Obedience of our Saviours Life nor the strength of his Cries could put a bar to the Cup of his Passion God so hated Sin that when it was but imputed to his Son without any commission of it he would bring a Hell upon his Soul Certainly if God could have hated Sin without punishing it his Son had never felt the smart of his Wrath His love to his Son had been strong enough to have caused him to forbear had not the Holiness of his Nature been stronger to move him to inflict a Punishment according to the demerit of the Sin God cannot but be Holy and therefore cannot but be Just because Injustice is a part of Unholiness 3. Therefore there can be no Communion between God and Vnholy spirits How is it conceivable that God should hate the Sin and cherish the Sinner with all his filth in his bosom that he should Eternally detest the Crime and Eternally fold the Sânner in his Arms Can less be expected from the Purity of his Nature than to separate an impure Soul as long as it remains so Can there be any delightful Communion between those whose Natures are contrary Darkness and Light may as soon kiss each other and become one Nature God and the Devil may as soon enter into an Eternal League and Covenant together For God to have pleasure in wickedness and to admit Evil to dwell with him are things equally impossible to his Nature * Psal â 4 while he hates Impurity he cannot have Communion with an impure Person It may as soon be expected that God should hate himself offer Violence to his own Nature lay aside his Purity as an Abominable thing and blot his own Glory as love an Impure Person entertain him as his delight and set him in the same Heaven and Happiness with himself and his holy Angels He must needs loath him he must needs banish him from his Presence which is the greatest Punishment Gods Holiness and Hatred of Sin necessarily infer the Punishment of it 5. Information There is therefore a necessity of the satisfaction of the Holiness of God by some sufficient Mediator The Divine Purity could not meet with any acquiescence in all Mankind after the Fall Sin was hated the Sinner would be ruin'd unless some way were found out to repair the Wrongs done to the Holiness of God either the Sinner must be condemned for ever or some Satisfaction must be made that the Holiness of the Divine Nature might Eternally appear in its full lustre That it is Essential to the Nature of God to hate all Unrighteousness as that which is absolutely repugnant to his Nature none do question That the Justice of God is so Essential to him as that Sin could not be pardon'd without Satisfaction some do question though this latter seems rationally to follow upon the former â Turretin de Satiâfac p. 8. That Holiness is Essential to the Nature of God is evident because else God may as much be conceived without Purity as he might be conceived without the creating the Sun or Stars No Man can in his right Wits frame a right Notion of a Deity without Purity It would be a less Blasphemy against the Excellency of God to conceit him not Knowing than to imagine him not Holy And for the Essentialness of his Justice Joshua joyns both his Holiness and his Jealousie as going hand in hand together Josh 24.19 He is a Holy God he is a Jealous God he will not forgive your sin But consider only the Purity of God since it is contrary to Sin and consequently hating the Sinner the guilty Person cannot be reduc'd to God nor can the Holiness of God have any complacency in a filthy Person but as Fire hath in Stubble to consume it How the Holy God should be brought to delight in Man without a Salvo for the Rights of his Holiness is not to be conceiv'd without an impeachment of the Nature of God The Law could not be abolish'd that would reflect indeed upon the Righteousness of the Law-giver to abolish it because of Sin would imply a change of the Rectitude of his Nature Must be change his Holiness for the sake of that which was against his Holiness in a compliance with a prophane and unrighteous Creature This should engage him rather to maintain his Law than to null it And to abrogate his Law as soon as he had enacted it since Sin stept into the World presently after it would be no credit to his Wisdom There must be a reparation made of the Honour of Gods Holiness by our selves it could not be without Condemnation by another it could not be without a sufficiency in the Person No Creature could do it All the Creatures being of a finite Nature could not make a compensation for the disparagements of Infinite Holiness He must have despicable and vile Thoughts of this Excellent Perfection that imagines that a few Tears and the glavering Fawnings at the death of a Creature can be sufficient to repair the Wrongs and restore the Rights of this Attribute It must therefore be such a compensation as might be commensurate to the Holiness of the Divine Nature and the Divine Law which could not be wrought by any but him that was possessed of a Godhead to give efficacy and exact congruity to it The Person design'd and appointed by God for so great an affair was one in the form of God one equal with God Phil. 2.6 who could not be term'd by such a Title of Dignity if he had not been equal to God in the universal rectitude of the Divine Nature and therefore in his Holiness The Punishment due to Sin is translated to that Person for the righting Divine Holiness and the Righteousness of that Person is communicated to the Sinner for the Pardon of the Offending Creature If the Sinner had been Eternally damn'd Gods hatred of Sin had been evidenc'd by the strokes of his Justice but his Mercy to a Sinner had lain in obscurity If the Sinner had been Pardoned and Saved without such a reparation Mercy had been evident but his Holiness had hid its head for ever in his own bosom There was therefore a necessity of such a way to manifest his Purity and yet to bring forth his Mercy That Mercy might not alway sigh for the destruction of the Creature and that Holiness might not mourn
to the Innocent and Culpable Could you account him Good if he did always with pleasure behold Evil and perpetually suffer the Oppressions of the Innocent under unpunisht Wickedness How should we know the Goodness of the Divine Nature and his Affection to the goodness of his Creature if he did not by some acts of severity witness his implacable aversion against Sin and his care to preserve the good Government of the World If corrupted Creatures should always be exempt from the effects of his Indignation he would declare himself not to be Infinitely Good because he would not be really Righteous No Man thinks it a Natural Vice in the Sun by the power of its scorching heat to dry up and consume the unwholsom Vapours of the Air nor are the demonstrations of Divine Justice any blots upon his Goodness since they are both for the defence and glory of his Holiness and for the preservation of the beauty and order of the World 2. Is it not part of the Goodness of God to make Laws and annex Threatn ngs And shall it be an impeachment of his Goodness to support them The more severe Laws are made for deterring Evil the better is that Prince accounted in making such provision for the welfare of the Community The design of Laws and the design of upholding the honour of those Laws by the punishment of Offenders is to promote Goodness and restrain Evil The Execution of those Laws must be therefore pursuant to the same design of Goodness which first setled them Would it not be contrary to Goodness to suffer that which was design'd for the support of Goodness to be scorn'd and slighted It would neither be prudence nor goodness but folly and vice to let Laws which were made to promote Vertue be broken with impunity Would not this be to weaken Vertue and give a new life and vigor to Vice Not only the Righteousness of the Law it self but the Wisdom of the Law-giver would be exposed to contempt if the Violations of it remained uncontroul'd and the Violence offer'd by Men passed unpunished None but will acknowledge the Divine Precepts to be the Image of the Righteousness of God and beneficial for the common good of the World * Rom. 7.12 The Law is holy just and good and so is every Precept of it The Law was for no other end but to keep the Creature in subjection to and dependance on God This dependance could not be preserved without a Law nor that Law be kept in Reputation without a Penalty nor would that Penalty be significant without an Execution Every Law loseth the nature of a Law without a Penalty and the Penalty loseth its vigor without the infliction of it How can those Laws attain their end if the Transgressions of them be not punished Would not the wickedness of Mens hearts be encouraged by such a kind of uncomely Goodness And all the threatnings be to no other end than to engender vain and fruitless fears in the minds of Men Is it good for the Majesty of God to suffer it self to be trampled on by his Vassals To suffer Men by their Rebellion to level his Law with the wickedness of their own hearts and by impunity slight his own Glory and incourage their Disobedience Who would give any Man any Prince any Father that should do so the name of a good Governor If it were a fruit of Divine Goodness to make Laws is it contrary to Goodness to support the honour of them 'T is every whit as rational and as good to vindicate the honour of his Laws by Justice as at first to settle them by Authority As much goodness to vindicate it from Contempt as at first to Enact it As it is as much Wisdom to preserve a Law as at first to frame it Shall his Precepts be thought by him unworthy of a support that were not thought by him unworthy to be made The same reason of Goodness that led him to enjoyn them will lead him to revenge them Did Evil appear odious to him while he Enacted his Law and would not his own Goodness as well as his Wisdom appear odious to him if he did never Execute it Would it not be a denial of his own Goodness to be led by the foolish and corrupt Judgment of his Creatures and slight his own Law because his Rebels spurn at it Since he valued it before they could actually contemn it would he not misjudge his own Law and his own Wisdom discount from the true value of them condemn his own Acts censure his Precepts as Unrighteous and therefore Evil and Injurious Remove the differences between Good and Evil look upon Vice and Virtue and Wickedness as Righteousness if he thought his Commands unworthy of a Vindication How can there be any support to the honour of his Precepts without sometimes Executing the severity of his Threatnings And as to his Threatnings of Punishment for the breach of his Laws are they not designed to discourage Wickedness as the Promises of Reward were designed to encourage Goodness Hath he not multiplied the one to scare Men from Sin as well as the other to allure Men to Obedience Is not the same Truth engaged to support the one as well as the other And how could he be abundant in Goodness if he were not abundant in Truth Both are linkt together * Exod. 34.6 If he neglected his Truth he would be out of love with his own Goodness since it cannot be manifested in performing the Promises to the Obedient if it be not also manifested in executing his Threatnings upon the Rebellious Had not God annext Threatnings to his Laws he would have had no care of his own Goodness The Order between God and the Creature wherein the declaration of his Goodness consisted might have been easily broken by his Creature Man would have freed himself from subjection to God been unaccountable to him Had this consisted with that infinite Goodness whereby he loves himself and loves his Creatures As therefore the annexing Threatnings to his Law was a part of his Goodness the Execution of them is so far from being a blemish that it is the honour of his Goodness The Rewards of Obedience and the Punishment of Disobedience refer to the same end viz. the due manifestation of the valuation of his own Law the glorifying his own Goodness which enjoyned so beneficial a Law for Man and the support of that goodness in the Creatures which by that Law he demands righteously and kindly of them 3. Hence it follows That not to punish Evil would be a want of Goodness to himself The Goodness of God is an indulgent Goodness in a way of Wisdom and Reason not a fond Goodness in a way of weakness and folly Would it not be a weakness always to bear with the Impenitent A want of expressing a goodness to Goodness it self Would not Goodness have more reason to complain for a want of Justice to rescue it
than Men have reason to complain for the exercise of Justice in the vindication of it If God established all things in Order with Infinite Wisdom and Goodness and God silently behold for ever this Order broken would he not either charge himself with a want of Power or a want of Will to preserve the Marks of his own Goodness Would it be a kindness to himself to be careless of the breaches of his own Orders His Throne would shake yea sink from under him if Justice whereby he Sentenceth and Judgment whereby he Executes his Sentence were not the supports of it â Ps 89.14 Justice and Judgment are the habitation of thy Throne ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Stability or Foundation of thy Throne So Psal 92.2 Man would forget his Relation to God God would be unknown to be Soveraign of the World were he careless of the breaches of his own Order * Psal 9.16 The Lord is known by the Judgments which he Executes Is it not a part of his Goodness to preserve the indispensible Order between himself and his Creatures His own Soveraignty which is good and the subjection of the Creature to him as Soveraign which is also good The one would not be maintained in its due place nor the other restrained in due limits without Punishment Would it be a goodness in him to see Goodness it self trampled upon constantly without some time or other appearing for the relief of it Is it not a Goodness to secure his own Honour to prevent further Evil Is it not a Goodness to discourage Men by Judgments sometimes from a contempt and ill use of his Bounty as well as sometimes patiently to bear with them and wait upon them for a Reformation Must God be bad to himself to be kind to his Enemies And shall it be accounted an unkindness and a Mark of Evil in him not to suffer himself to be always outrag'd and defy'd The World is wrong'd by Sin as well as God is injur'd by it How could God be good to himself if he righted not his own Honour Or be a good Governour of the World if he did not sometimes witness against the Injuries it receives sometimes from the works of his hands Would he be good to himself as a God to be careless of his own Honour Or good as the Rector of the World and be regardless of the Worlds Confusion That God should give an Eternal good to that Creature that declines its Duty and despiseth his Soveraignty is not agreeable to the goodness of his Wisdom or that of his Righteousness 'T is a part of Gods Goodness to love himself Would he love his Soveraignty if he saw it dayly slighted without sometimes discovering how much he values the Honour of it Would he have any esteem for his own Goodness if he beheld it trampled upon without any will to vindicate it Doth Mercy deserve the name of Cruelty because it pleads against a Creature that hath so often abused it and hath refused to have any pity exercised towards it in a Righteous and Regular way Is Soveraignty destitute of Goodness because it preserves its Honour against one that would not have it Reign over him Would he not seem by such a regardlesness to renounce his own Essence undervalue and undermine his own Goodness if he had not an implacable aversion to whatsoever is contrary to it If Men turn Grace into Wantonness is it not more reasonable he should turn his Grace into Justice All his Attributes which are parts of his Goodness engage him to punish Sin without it his Authority would be vilified his Purity stain'd his Power derided his Truth disgraced his Justice scorn'd his Wisdom slighted He would be thought to have dissembled in his Laws and be judged according to the Rules of Reason to be void of true Goodness 4. Punishment is not the primary Intention of God 'T is his Goodness that he hath no mind to Punish and therefore he hath put a bar to Evil by his Prohibitions and Threatnings that he might prevent Sin and consequently any occasions of severity against his Creature * Zarnovecius de satisfact Part. 1. cap. 1. p. 3 4. The principal Intention of God in his Law was to encourage Goodness that he might reward it And when by the commission of Evil God is provoked to Punish and takes the Sword into his hand he doth not act against the Nature of his Goodness but against the first intention of his Goodness in his Precepts which was to Reward As a good Judge principally intendeds in the Exercise of his Office to protect good Men from Violence and maintain the honour of the Laws yet consequently to punish bad men without which the Protection of the good would not be secured nor the Honour of the Law be supported And a good Judge in the Exercise of his Office doth principally intend the incouragement of the good and wisheth there were no wickedness that might occasion Punishment and when he doth Sentence a Malefactor in order to the Execution of him he doth not act against the goodness of his Nature but pursuant to the Duty of his Place but wisheth he had no occasion for such severity Thus God seems to speak of himself â Isaiah 28.21 He calls the act of his Wrath his Strange Work his Strange Act A work not against his Nature as the Governor of the World but against his first Intention as Creator which was to manifest his Goodness Therefore he moves with a slow pace in those Acts brings out his Judgments with relentings of heart and seems to cast out his Thunderbolts with a trembling hand He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men * Lam. 3.33 And therefore he delights not in the death of a Sinner â Ezek. 33.11 Not in Death as Death in Punishment as Punishment but as it reduceth the suffering Creature to the Order of his Precept or reduceth him into order under his Power or reforms others who are Spectators of the Punishment upon a Criminal of their own Nature God only hates the Sin not the Sinner He desires only the destruction of the one * Suarez Vol. 1. de Deo lib. 3. cap. 7. p. 146. not the misery of the other The Nature of a Man doth not displease him because it is a work of his own Goodness but the Nature of the Sinner displeaseth him because it is a work of the Sinners own extravagance Divine Goodness pitcheth not its hatred primarily upon the Sinner but upon the Sin But since he cannot punish the Sin without punishing the Subject to which it cleaves the Sinner falls under his lash Who ever regards a good Judge as an Enemy to the Malefactor but as an Enemy to his Crime when he doth Sentence and Execute him 5. Judgments in the World have a goodness in them therefore they are no Impeachments of the Goodness of God 1. A Goodness in their preparations He
sends not Judgments without giving warnings His Justice is so far from extinguishing his Goodness that his Goodness rather shines out in the preparations of his Justice He gives Men time and sends them Messengers to perswade them to another temper of mind that he may change his Hand and exercise his Liberality where he threatned his Severity When the Heathen had Presages of some Evil upon their Persons or Countreys they took them for invitations to Repentance excited themselves to many acts of Devotion implored his Favour and often Experimented it The Ninivites upon the Proclamation of the destruction of their City by Jonah fell to Petitioning him whereby they signified That they thought him good though he were just and more prone to Pity than Severity and their humble Carriage caused the Arrows he had ready against them to drop out of his hands * Jonah 3.9 10. When he brandisheth his Sword he wishes for some to stand in that Gap to mollifie his anger that he might not strike the fatal blow â Ezek 22.30 I sought for a Man among them that should make up the Hedge and stand in the Gap before me in the Land that I should not destroy it He was desirous that his Creatures might be in a capacity to receive the Marks of his Bounty * Cressel Antholog Decad. 2. p. 162. This he signified not obscurely to Moses Exod. 32.10 when he spoke to him to let him alone that his anger might wax hot against the People after they had made a Golden Calf and Worshipped it Let me alone said God Not that Moses restrained him saith Chrysostom who spake nothing to him but stood silent before him and knew nothing of the Peoples Idolatry But God would give him an occasion of praying for them that he might exercise his Mercy towards them yet in such a manner that the People being struck with a sense of their Crime and the horrour of Divine Justice they might be amended for the future when they should understand that their Death was not averted by their own Merit or Intercession but by Moses his Patronage of them and pleading for them As we see sometimes Masters and Fathers angry with their Servants and Children and preparing themselves to punish them but secretly wish some Friend to intercede for them and take them out of their hands There is a Goodness shining in the preparations of his Judgments 2. A Goodness in the Execution of them They are good as they shew God disaffected to Evil and conduce to the glory of his Holiness and deter others from presumptuous Sins â Deut. 10.3 I will be glorified in all that draw near unto me in his Judgment upon Nadab and Abihu the Sons of Aaron for Offering strange Fire By them God preserves the excellent Footsteps of his own Goodness in his Creation and his Law and curbs the Licentiousness of Men and contains them within the bounds of their Duty The Judgments are good saith the Psalmist * Psal 119. Psal 39. i. e. Thy Judicial proceedings upon the Wicked For he desires God there to turn away by some signal act the reproach the Wicked cast upon him Can there be any thing more Miserable than to live in a World full of Wickedness and void of the Marks of Divine Goodness and Justice to repress it Were there not Judgments in the World Men would forget God be insensible of his Government of the World neglect the Exercises of Natural and Christian Duties Religion would be at its last gasp and expire among them and Men would pretend to break Gods Precepts by Gods Authority Are they not good then as they restrain the Creature from further Evils Affright others from the same Crimes which they were inclinable to commit He strikes some to reform others that are Spectators As Apollonius tam'd Pigeons by beating Dogs before them Punishments are Gods gracious warnings to others not to venture upon those Crimes which they see attended with such Judgments The Censers of Corah Dathan and Abiram were to be wrought into Plates for a covering of the Altar to abide there as a Memento to others not to approach to the Exercise of the Priestly Office without an authoritative call from God * Num. 16.38 40. And those Judgments exercised in the former Ages of the World were intended by Divine Goodness for warnings even in Evangelical times Lots Wife was turned into a Pillar of Salt to prevent Men from Apostacy That use Christ himself makes of it in the exhortation against turning back â Luke 17.32 33. And * Psal 58.10 The Righteous shall wash his Feet in the Blood of the Wicked When God shall drench his Sword in the Blood of the Wicked the Righteous shall take occasion from thence to purifie themselves and reform their Ways and look to the Paths of their Feet Would not Impunity be hurtful to the World and Men receive incouragement to Sin if severities sometimes did not bridle them from the practice of their Inclinations Sometimes the Sinner himself is reform'd and sometimes removed from being an example to others Though Thunder be an affrightning noise and Lightning a scaring flash yet they have a liberal goodness in them in shattering and consuming those contagious Vapours which burden and infect the Air and thereby render it more clear and healthful Again There are few acts of Divine Justice upon a People but are in the very Execution of them attended with demonstrations of his Goodness to others He is a Protector of his own while he is a Revenger on his Enemies When he rides upon his Horses in anger against some his Chariots are Chariots of Salvation to others * Hab. 3.8 Terrour makes way for Salvation The overthrow of Pharaoh and the strength of his Nation compleated the deliverance of the Israelites Had not the Aegyptians met with their Destruction the Israelites had unavoidably met with their Ruine against all the Promises God had made to them and to the defamation of his former Justice in the former Plagues upon their Oppressors The death of Herod was the security of Peter and the rest of the Malic'd Christians The gracious deliverance of good Men is often occasion'd by some severe stroak upon some eminent Persecutor The destruction of the Oppressor is the rescue of the Innocent Again Where is there a Judgment but leaves more Criminals behind than it sweeps away that deserved to be involved in the same fate with the rest More Aegyptians were left behind to possess and enjoy the goodness of their fruitful Land than they were that were hurried into another World by the overflowing Waves Is not this a Mark of goodness as well as severity Again Is it not a goodness in him not to pour out Judgments according to the greatness of his Power To go gradually to work with those whom he might in a moment blow to destruction with one breath of his Mouth Again He sometimes exerciseth
Goodness would not have oblig'd the Creature to any thing but what is not only free from damaging him but wholly conducing to his VVelfare and Perfective of his Nature Infinite Wisdom could not order any thing but what was agreeable to Infinite Goodness As his Laws are the most Rational as being the contrivance of Infinite Wisdom so they are the best as being the Fruit of Infinite Goodness His Laws are not only the acts of his Soveraign Authority but the Effluxes of his Loving-Kindness and the Conductors of Man to an enjoyment of a greater Bounty He minds as well the promotion of his Creatures Felicity as the asserting his own Authority As good Princes make Laws for their Subjects benefit as well as their own honour What was said of a more difficult and burdensom Law long after Mans fall may much more be said of the easie Law of Nature in the state of Mans Innocence that it was for our good * Deut. 10.12 13. He never pleaded with the Israelites for the observation of his Commands upon the account of his Authority so much as upon the score of their benefit by them â Deut. 4.40 * Deut. 12.28 And when his Precepts were broken he seems sometimes to be more griev'd for Mens impairing their own felicity by it than for their violating his Authority â Esaiah 48.18 Oh that thou hadst hearken'd to my Commandments then had thy Peace been as a River Goodness cannot prescribe a thing prejudicial whatsoever it enjoyns is beneficial to the Spiritual and Eternal Happiness of the Rational Creature This was both the design of the Law given and the end of the Law Christ in his Answer to the Young mans Question refers him to the Moral Law which was the Law of Nature in Adam as that whereby Eternal Life was to be gained Which evidenceth that when the Law was first given as the Covenant of VVorks it was for the happiness of Man and the end of giving it was that Man might have Eternal Life by it There would else be no strength or truth in that Answer of Christ to that Ruler And therefore Stephen calls the Law given by Moses which was the same with the Law of Nature in Adam * Acts 7.38 The living Oracles He enjoyned Mens Services to them not simply for his own Glory but his Glory in Mens VVelfare As if there were any Being better than himself his Goodness and Righteousness would guide him to love that better than himself because it is Good and Righteous to love that best which is most amiable So if there were any that could do us more good and shour down more happiness upon us than himself â 1 Kings 18.21 he would be content we should obey that as Soveraign and Steer our Course according to his Laws If God be God follow him but if Baal then follow him If the observance of the Precepts of Baal be more beneficial to you If you can advance your Nature by his Service and gain a more mighty Crown of Happiness than by mine follow him with all my heart I never intended to enjoyn you any thing to impair but increase your Happiness The chief design of God in his Law is the Happiness of the Subject and Obedience is intended by him as a means for the attaining of Happiness as well as preserving his own Soveraignty This is the reason why he wished that Israel had walked in his ways that their time might have endured for ever Psal 81.13 15 16. And by the same reason this was his intendment in his Law given to Man and his Covenant made with Man at the Creation that he might be fed with the finest part of his Bounty and be satisfied with Honey out of the Eternal Rock of Ages To Paraphrase his Expression there The Goodness of God appears further 3. In engaging Man to Obedience by Promises and Threatnings A Threatning is only mentioned Gen. 2.17 but a Promise is implied If Eternal Death were fixed for Transgression Eternal Life was thereby design'd for Obedience And that it was so the Answer of Christ to the Ruler evidenceth that the first intendment of the Precept was the Eternal Life of the Subject order'd to obey it 1. God might have acted in settling his Law only as a Soveraign Though he might have dealt with Man upon the score of his absolute Dominion over him as his Creature and signified his pleasure upon the right of his Soveraignty threatning only a Penalty if Man transgressed without the promising a bountiful acknowledgment of his Obedience by a Reward as a Benefactor yet he would treat with Man in gentle Methods and Rule him in a tract of Sweetness as well as Soveraignty He would preserve the rights of his Dominion in the Authority of his Commands and honour the condescensions of his Goodness in the allurements of a Promise He that might have solely demanded a compliance with his Will would kindly Article with him to oblige him to observe him out of love to himself as well as Duty to his Creator that he might have both the interest of avoiding the Threatned Evil to affright him and the interest of attaining the promised Good to allure him to Obedience How doth he value the Title of Benefactor above that of a Lord when he so kindly Sollicites as well as Commands and engageth to Reward that Obedience which he might have absolutely claim'd as his due by enforcing fears of the severest Penalty His Soveraignty seems to stoop below it self for the elevation of his Goodness and he is pleased to have his Kindness more taken notice of than his Authority Nothing imported more condescension than his bringing forth his Law in the Nature of a Covenant whereby he seems to humble himself and vail his Superiority to treat with Man as his equal that the very manner of his Treatment might oblige him in the richest Promises he made to draw him and the startling Threatnings he pronounced to link him to his Obedience And therefore is it observable that when after the Transgression of Adam God comes to deal with him he doth not do it in that thundring Rigor which might have been expected from an enrag'd Soveraign but in a gentle Examination * Gen. 3.11 13. Hast thou eaten of the Tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat To the Woman he said no more than What is this that thou hast done And in the Scripture we find when he cites the Israelites before him for their Sin he Expostulates with them not so much upon the absolute right he had to challenge their Obedience as upon the equity and reasonableness of his Law which they had transgrest That by the same Argument of sweetness wherewith he would attract them to their Duty he might shame them after their Offence â Isaiah 1.2 * Ezek. 18.25 2. By the Threatnings he manifests his Goodness as well as by his Promises He Promises that
Himself By giving his Son he hath given himself and in both Gifts he hath given all things to us The Creator of all things is eminently all things He hath given all things into the hands of his Son * Joh. 3.35 and by consequence given all things into the hands of his Redeem'd Creatures by giving them him to whom he gave all things Whatsoever we were invested in by Creation whatsoever we were depriv'd of by Corruption and more he hath deposited in safe hands for our enjoyment And what can Divine Goodness do more for us What further can it give unto us than what it hath given and in that Gift design'd for us 3. This Goodness is enhanc'd by considering the State of Man in the first Transgression and since 1. Mans first Transgression If we should rip up every Vein of that first Sin should we find any want of Wickedness to excite a just Indignation What was there but ingratitude to Divine Bounty and Rebellion against Divine Soveraignty The Royalty of God was attempted the Supremacy of Divine knowledge above Mans own knowledge envied the Riches of Goodness whereby he lived and breathed slighted There is a discontent with God upon an unreasonable Sentiment that God had denied a knowledge to him which was his right and due when there should have been an humble acknowledgment of that unmerited Goodness which had not only given him a Being above other Creatures but placed him the Governor and Lord of those that were inferior to him What alienation of his understanding was there from knowing God and of his will from loving him A Debauch of all his Faculties A Spiritual Adultery in preferring not only one of Gods Creatures but one of his desperate Enemies before him thinking him a wiser Counsellor than Infinite Wisdom and imagining him possessed with kinder affections to him than that God who had newly Created him Thus he joyns in League with Hell against Heaven with a Fallen Spirit against his Bountiful Benefactor and enters into Society with Rebels that just before commenc'd a War against his and their common Soveraign He did not only falter in but cast off the Obedience due to his Creator endeavoured to purloin his Glory and actually murder'd all those that were vertually in his Loyns * Rom. 5.12 Sin enter'd into the World by him and Death by Sin and passed upon all Men taking them off from their Subjection to God to be Slaves to the damn'd Spirits and Heirs of their Misery And after all this he adds a foul imputation on God taxing him as the Author of his Sin and thereby stains the Beauty of his Holiness But notwithstanding all this God stops not up the Floodgates of his Goodness nor doth he entertain Fiery Resolutions against Man but brings forth a healing Promise and sends not an Angel upon Commission to Reveal it to him but Preaches it himself to this Forlorn and Rebellious Creature â Gen. 3.15 2. Could there be any thing in this Fallen Creature to allure God to the Expression of his Goodness Was there any good action in all his Carriage that could plead for a readmission of him to his former State Was there one good quality left that could be an Orator to perswade Divine Goodness to such a gracious Procedure Was there any Moral Goodness in Man after this Debauch that might be an Object of Divine Love What was there in him that was not rather a provocation than an allurement Could you expect that any Perfection in God should find a Motive in this ungrateful Apostate to open a Mouth for him and be an Advocate to support him and bring him off from a just Tribunal Or after Divine Goodness had begun to pity and plead for Man is it not wonderful that it should not discontinue the Plea after it found Mans Excuse to be as black as his Crime * Gen. 3.12 and his Carriage upon his Examination to be as disobliging as his first Revolt It might well be expected that all the Perfections in the Divine Nature would have entered into an association eternally to treat this Rebel according to his deserts What attractives were there in a silly Worm much less in such compleat Wickedness inexcusable Enmity infamous Rebellion to design a Redeemer for him and such a Person as the Son of God to a Fleshy Body an Eclipse of Glory and an ignominious Cross The meaness of Man was further from alluring God to it than the dignity of Angels 3. Was there not a World of demerit in Man to animate Grace as well as Wrath against him We were so far from deserving the opening any Streams of Goodness that we had merited Floods of devouring Wrath. What were all Men but Enemies to God in a high manner Every offence was infinite as being committed against a Being of Infinite Dignity it was a stroke at the very Being of God A resistance of all his Attributes it would degrade him from the height and Perfection of his Nature it would not by its good will suffer God to be God If he that hates his Brother is a Murderer of his Brother he that hates his Creator is a Murderer of the Deity * Joh. 1.3.15 and every Carnal mind is Enmity to God â Rom. 8.7 Every Sin envies him his Authority by breaking his Precept and envies him his Goodness by defacing the Marks of it Every Sin comprehends in it more than Men or Angels can conceive That God who only hath the clear apprehensions of his own Dignity hath the sole clear apprehensions of Sins Malignity All Men were thus by Nature those that Sinned before the coming of the Redeemer had been in a State of Sin those that were to come after him would be in a State of Sin by their Birth and be Criminals as soon as ever they were Creatures All Men as well the Glorifi'd as those in the Flesh at the coming of the Redeemer and those that were to be born after were consider'd in a State of Sin by God when he bruis'd the Redeemer for them All were filthy and unworthy of the Eye of God All had employ'd the Faculties of their Souls and the Members of their Bodies which they enjoyed by his Goodness against the interest of his Glory Every Rational Creature had made himself a Slave to those Creatures over whom he had been appointed a Lord subjected himself as a Servant to his Inferior and strutted as a Superior against his Liberal Soveraign and by every Sin rendred himself more a Child of Satan and Enemy of God and more worthy of the Curses of the Law and the Torments of Hell Was it not now a mighty Goodness that would surmount those high Mountains of Demerit and elevate such Creatures by the Depression of his Son Had we been possessed of the highest Holiness a Reward had been the natural effect of Goodness It was not possible that God should be unkind to a Righteous and Innocent Creature
his moral Power whereby it is lawful for him to do what he will Among men Strength and Authority are two distinct things A Subject may be a Giant and be stronger than his Prince but he hath not the same Authority as his Prince Worldly Dominion may be seated not in a brawny Arm but a sickly and infirm Body As knowledge and wisdom are distinguisht knowledge respects the matter being and nature of a thing Wisdom respects the harmony order and actual usefulness of a thing Knowledge searcheth the nature of a thing and Wisdom employs that thing to its proper use A man may have much Knowledge and little Wisdom so a man may have much Strength and little or no Authority A greater strength may be setled in the Servant but a greater Authority resides in the Master strength is the natural vigor of a Man God hath an infinite strength he hath a strength to bring to pass whatsoever he decrees he acts without fainting and weakness Isaiah 40.28 and impairs not his strength by the exercise of it As God is Lord he hath a right to Enact as he is Almighty he hath a power to Execute His strength is the executive power belonging to his Dominion In regard of his Soveraignty he hath a right to Command all Creatures In regard of his Almightiness he hath power to make his Commands be obey'd or to punish men for the violation of them His power is that whereby he subdues all Creatures under him his Dominion is that whereby he hath a right to subdue all Creatures under him This Dominion is a right of making what he pleases of possessing what he made of disposing of what he doth possess whereas his power is an ability to make what he hath a right to Create to hold what he doth possess and to execute the manner wherein he resolves to dispose of his Creatures 2. All the other Attributes of God referre to this perfection of Dominion They all bespeak him fit for it and are discovered in the exercise of it which hath been manifested in the discourses of those Attributes we have passed through hitherto His Goodness fits him for it because he can never use his Authority but for the good of the Creatures and conducting them to their true end His Wisdom can never be mistaken in the exercise of it his power can accomplish the Decrees that flow from his absolute Authority What can be more rightful than the placing Authority in such an infinite Goodness that hath Bowels to pity as well as a Scepter to sway his Subjects That hath a mind to contrive and a will to regulate his contrivances for his own Glory and his Creatures good and an arm of power to bring to pass what he Orders Without this Dominion some perfections as Justice and Mercy would lie in obscurity and much of his Wisdom would be shrouded from our sight and knowledge 3. This of Dominion as well as that of Power hath been acknowledged by all The High Priest was to wave the Offering or shake it to and fro Exod. 29.24 which the Jews say was customarily from East to West and from North to South the four quarters of the World to signifie Gods Soveraignty over all the parts of the World And some of the Heathens in their Adorations turned their Bodies to all quarters to signifie the extensive Dominion of God throughout the whole Earth That Dominion did of right pertain to the Deity was confest by the Heathen in the name Baal given to their Idols which signifies Lord and was not a name of one Idol adored for a God but common to all the Eastern Idols God hath interwoven the notion of his Soveraignty in the Nature and Constitution of Man in the noblest and most inward acts of his Soul in that faculty or act which is most necessary for him in his converse in this World either with God or Man 'T is stampt upon the Conscience of Man and flashes in his face in every act of self Judgment Conscience passes upon a Man Every reflection of Conscience implies an obligation of man to some Law written in his Heart Rom. 2.15 This Law cannot be without a Legislator nor this Legislator without a Soveraign Dominion these are but natural and easie consequences in the mind of Man from every act of Conscience The indelible Authority of Conscience in Man in the whole exercise of it bears a respect to the Soveraignty of God clearly proclaims not only a supream being but a supream Governor and points man directly to it that a man may as soon deny his having such a reflecting principle within him as deny Gods Dominion over him and consequently over the whole World of rational Creatures 4. This notion of Soveraingty is inseparable from the notion of a God To acknowledge the Existence of a God and to acknowledge him a Rewarder are linkt together Heb. 11.6 To acknowledge him a Rewarder is to acknowledge him a Governor Rewards being the marks of Dominion The very name of a God includes in it a supremacy and an actual rule He cannot be conceived as God but he must be conceived as the highest Authority in the World 'T is as possible for him not to be God as not to be supream Wherein can the exercise of his excellencies be apparent but in his Soveraign rule To fancy an infinite power without a supream Dominion is to fancy a mighty senseless Statue fit to be beheld but not fit to be obey'd as not being able or having no right to give out Orders or not caring for the exercise of it God cannot be supposed to be the cheif being but he must be supposed to give Laws to all and receive Laws from none And if we suppose him with a perfection of Justice and Righteousness which we must do unless we would make a lame and imperfect God we must suppose him to have an intire Dominion without which he could never be able to manifest his Justice And without a supream Dominion he could not manifest the supremacy and infiniteness of his Righteousness 1. We cannot suppose God a Creator without supposing a Soveraign Dominion in him No Creature can be made without some Law in its Nature if it had not Law it would be Created to no purpose to no regular end it would be utterly unbecoming an infinite Wisdom to create a lawless Creature a Creature wholly vain much less can a rational Creature be made without a Law if it had no Law it were not rational For the very notion of a rational Creature implies reason to be a Law to it and implies an acting by rule * Maccov Colleg. Theolog 10. Disput 18. p. 6 7. or thereabout If you could suppose rational Creatures without a Law you might suppose that they might blaspheme their Creator and Murder their fellow Creatures and commit the most abominable villanies destructive to humane Society without sin for where there is no Law there is no
Coming of Christ and his Passion the other to last till the second Coming of Christ and his Triumph Thus he made natural and unavoidable uncleannesses to be sins and the touching a dead Body to be pollution which in their own nature were not so 4. The Dominion of God appears in the Moral Law and his Majesty in publishing it As the Law of Nature was writ by his own Fingers in the Nature of man so it was Engraven by his own finger in the Tables of Stone Exod. 31.18 Which is very emphatically exprest to be a mark of God's Dominion Exodus 32.16 And the Tables were the work of God and the writing was the writing of God Engraven upon the Tables and when the first Tables were broken though he orders Moses to frame the Tables yet the writing of the Law he reserves to himself Exod. 34.1 'T is not said of any part of the Scripture that it was writ by the finger of God but only of the Decalogue herein he would have his Soveraignty eminently appear it was publish't by God in state with a numerous attendance of his heavenly Militia Deut. 32.2 And the Artillery of Heaven was shot off at the solemnity And therefore it is call'd a fiery Law coming from his right hand i. e. His Soveraign power It was publisht with all the marks of supream Majesty 5. The Dominion of God appears in the Obligation of the Law which reacheth the Conscience The Laws of every Prince are fram'd for the outward conditions of Men they do not by their Authority bind the Conscience and what obligations do result from them upon the Conscience is either from their being the same immediately with divine Laws or as they are according to the just power of the Magistrate founded on the Law of God Conscience hath a protection from the King of Kings and cannot be arrested by any humane power God hath given man but an Authority over half the man and the worst half too that which is of an Earthly original but reserved the Authority over the better and more heavenly half to himself The Dominion of earthly Princes extends only to the bodies of men they have no Authority over the Soul their punishment and rewards cannot reach it And therefore their Laws by their single Authority cannot bind it but as they are co-incident with the Law of God or as the equity of them is subservient to the preservation of humane Society a regular and Righteous thing which is the Divine end in Government and so they bind as they have a relation to God as the supream Magistrate The Conscience is only intelligible to God in its secret motions and therefore only guidable by God God only pierceth into the Conscience by his Eye And therefore only can conduct it by his Rule Man cannot tell whither we embrace this Law in our Heart and Consciences or only in appearance He only can Judge it Luke 12.3 4. And therefore he only can impose Laws upon it 't is out of the reach of humane penal Authority if their Laws be transgress'd inwardly by it Conscience is a Book in some sort as Sacred as the Scripture no addition can be lawfully made to it no substraction from it Men cannot diminish the duty of Conscience or raze out the Law God hath stampt upon it They cannot put a supersedeas to the Writ of Conscience or stop its mouth with a Noli Prosequi They can make no addition by their Authority to bind it 't is a flower in the Crown of Divine Soveraignty only 2. His Soveraignty appears in a power of dispensing with his own Laws 'T is as much a part of his Dominion to dispense with his Laws as to enjoyn them he only hath the power of relaxing his own right no Creature hath power to do it that would be to usurp a superiority over him and order above God himself Repealing or dispensing with the Law is a branch of Royal Authority 'T is true God will never dispense with those Moral Laws which have an eternal reason in themselves and their own nature as for a Creature to Fear Love and Honour God this would be to dispense with his own Holiness and the Righteousness of his Nature to fully the purity of his own Dominion it would write folly upon the first Creation of man after the Image of God by writing mutability upon himself in framing himself after the corrupted Image of man It would null and frustrate the excellency of the Creature wherein the Image of God mostly shines nay it would be to dispense with a Creatures being a Creator and make him independent upon the Soveraign of the World in Moral Obedience But God hath a right to dispense with the ordinary Laws of Nature in the inferior Creatures he hath a power to alter their course by an arrest of Miracles and make them come short or go beyond his Ordinances established for them He hath a right to make the Sun stand still or move backward to bind up the Womb of the Earth and barr the influences of the Clouds bridle in the rage of the fire and the fury of Lions make the liquid waters stand like a Wall or pull up the dam which he hath set to the Sea and command it to overflow the neighbouring Countries He can dispense with the natural Laws of the whole Creation and strain every string beyond its ordinary pitch Positive Laws he hath revers'd as the Ceremonial Law given to the Jews The very nature indeed of that Law requir'd a repeal and fell of Course when that which was intended by it was come it was of no longer significancy as before it was a useful shadow it would afterwards have been an empty one Had not God took away this Christianity had not in all likelyhood been propagated among the Gentiles This was the partition wall beetween Jews and Gentiles Eph. 2.14 Which made them a distinct Family from all the World and was the occasion of the enmity of the Gentiles against the Jews When God had by bringing in what was signified by those Rites declar'd his decree for the ceasing of them and when the Jews fond of those Divine Institutions would not allow him the right of repealing what he had the Authority of enacting he resolved for the asserting his Dominion to bury them in the ruines of the Temple and City and make them for ever uncapable of practising the main and Essential parts of them For the Temple being the pillar of the legal Service by demolishing that God hath taken away their right of sacrificing it being peculiarly annext to that place they have no Altar dignifyed with a fire from Heaven to consume their sacrifices no legal High Priest to offer them God hath by his Providence chang'd his own Law as well as by his precept Yea he hath gone higher by vertue of his Soveraignty and chang'd the whole scene and methods of his Government after the fall from King Creator
according to God's order Ezek. 37.24 25. David my servant shall be King over them and my servant David shall be their Prince for ever He shall be a Prince over them but my servant in that principality in the exercise and duration of it The Soveraignty of God is paramount in all that Christ hath done as a Priest or shall do as a King The VSE 1. For Instruction 1. How great is the contempt of this soveraignty of God Man naturally would be free from Gods Empire to be a slave under the Dominion of his own lust The soveraignty of God as a Law-giver is most abhorr'd by man Levit. 26.43 The Israelites the best people in the World were apt by nature not only to despise but abhorre his Statutes There is not a Law of God but the corrupt heart of man hath an abhorrency of How often do men wish that God had not enacted this or that Law that goes against the grain and in wishing so wish that he were no soveraign or not such a soveraign as he is in his own ââture but one according to their corrupt model This is the great quarrel between God and Man whither he or they shall be the soveraign Ruler He should not by the Will of Man rule in any one Village in the World Gods vote should not be predominant in any one thing There is not a Law of his but is expos'd to contempt by the perverseness of Man Prov. 1.21 Ye have set at nought all my Counsel and would have none of my reproof Septuag Ye have made all my Counsels without Authority The nature of man cannot endure one precept of God nor one rebuke from him And for this cause God is at the expence of Judgements in the World to assert his own Empire to the Teeth and Consciences of men Psal 59.13 Lord consume them in wrath and let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the Earth The Dominion of God is not slighted by any Creature of this World but Man all others observe it by observing his Order whither in their natural motions or preternaral irruptions they punctually act according to their Commission Man only speaks a Dialect against the strain of the whole Creation and hath none to imitate him among all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth but only among those in Hell Man is more impatient of the yoke of God than of the yoke of Man There are not so many rebellions committed by inferiors against their superiors and fellow Creatures as are committed against God A willing and easie sinning is an equalling the Authority of God to that of Man Hos 6.7 They like men have transgrest my Covenant * Munster They have made no more account of breaking my Covenant than if they had broken some league or compact made with a meer man so slightly do they esteem the Authority of God Such a disesteem of the divine Authority is a vertual undeifying of him To slight his soveraignty is to stab his Deity Since the one cannot be preserved without the support of the other his life would expire with his Authority How base and brutish is it for vile dust and mouldring clay to lift up it self against the Majesty of God whose Throne is in the Heavens who sways his Scepter over all parts of the World A Majesty before whom the Devils shake and the highest Cherubims tremble 'T is as if the Thistle that can presently be trod down by the foot of a wild Beast should think it self a match for the Cedar of Lebanon as the phrase is 2 Kings 14.9 Let us consider this in general and also in the ordinary practise of men First In General 1. All sin in its nature is a contempt of the Divine Dominion As every act of Obedience is a confirmation of the Law and consequently a subscription to the Authority of the Lawgiver Deut 27.26 so every breach to it is a conspiracy against the soveraignty of the Law-giver setting up our Will against the Will of God is an Articling against his Authority as setting up our reason against the methods of God is an Articling against his Wisdom the intendment of every act of sin is to wrest the Scepter out of God's hand The Authority of God is the first attribute in the Deity which it directs its edge against 't is called therefore a transgression of his Law 1 John 3.4 And therefore a slight or neglect of the Majesty of God and the not keeping his Commands is call'd a forgetting God Deut. 8.11 i. e. a forgetting him to be our absolute Lord. As the first notion we have of God as a Creator is that of his Soveraignty so the first perfection that sin struck at in the violation of the Law was his soveraignty as a Lawgiver Breaking the Law is a dishonouring God Rom. 2.23 a Snatching off his Crown to obey our own Wills before the Will of God is to preferre our selves as our own Soveraigns before him Sin is a wrong and injury to God not in his Essence that is above the reach of a Creature nor in any thing profitable to him or pertaining to his own intrinsick advantage not an injury to God in himself but in his Authority in those things which pertain to his Glory a disowning his due right and not using his goods according to his will Thus the whole world may be call'd as God calls Chaldea a Land of Rebels Jer. 50.21 Go up against the Land of Merathaim or Rebels Rebels not against the Jews but against God The mighty opposition in the heart of man to the Supremacy of God is discovered Emphatically by the Apostle Rom. 8.7 in that expression The carnal mind is enmity against God i. e. against the Authority of God because it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be It refuseth not subjection to this or that part but to the whole to every mark of Divine Authority in it it will not lay down its arms against it nay it cannot but stand upon its terms against it the Law can no more be fulfill'd by a carnal mind than it can be disowned by a soveraign God God is so Holy that he cannot alter a Righteous Law and man is so averse that he cares not for nay cannot fulfil one Tittle so much doth the Nature of man swell against the Majesty of God Now an enmity to the Law which is in every sin implies a perversity against the Authority of God that enacted it 2. All sin in its nature is the despoyling God of his sole soveraignty which was probably the first thing the Devil aim'd at That pride was the sin of the Devil the Scripture gives us some account of when the Apostle adviseth not a novice or one that hath but lately embraced the Faith to be chosen a Bishop 1 Tim. 3.6 Least being lifted up with Pride he fall into the condemnation of the Devil Least he fall into the same sin for
though Divines take notice of other sins in the fall of Adam yet God in his tryal chargeth him with none but this and doth put upon his question an Emphasis of his own Authority Gen. 3.11 Hast thou eaten of the Tree whereof I commanded ye that thou shoâld'st not eat This I am displeased with that thou shouldest disown my dominion over thy self and this Garden This was the inlet to all the other sins as the acknowledgment of God's soveraignty is the first step to the practice of all the duties of a Creature so the disowning his soveraignty is the first spring of all the extravagancies of a Creature Every sin against the soveraign Law-giver is worthy of Death The Transgression of this positive command desârved death and procured it to spread it self over the face of the World God's dominion cannot be despis'd without meriting the greatest punishment 1. Punishment necessarily follows upon the Doctrine of Soveraignty 'T is a faint and a feeble Soveraignty that cannot preserve it self and vindicate its own wrongs against râbellious subjects The height of God's dominion infers a vengeance on the contemners of it If God be an Eternal King he is an Eternal Judge Since sin unlinks the dependance between God the Soveraign and man the subject if God did not vindicate the rights of his Soveraignty and the Authority of his Law he would seem to despise his own dominion be weary of it and not act the part of a good Governour But God is tender of his prerogative and doth most bestir himself when men exalt themselves proudly against him Exod. 18.11 In the thing wherein they dealt proudly he will be above them When Pharaoh thought himself a mate for God and proudly rejected his commands as if they had been the messages of some petty Arabian Lord God rights his own Authority upon the life of his enemy by the ministry of the Red Sea He turned a great King into a beast to make him know that the most high ruled in the Kingdoms of men Dan. 4.16 17. The demand is by the word of the Holy ones to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdoms of men And that by the Petitions of the Angels who cannot endure that the Empire of God should be obscur'd and diminisht by the pride of man Besides the tender respect he hath to his own glory he is constantly presented with the sollicitations of the Angels to punish the proud ones of the earth that darken the glory of his Majesty 'T is necessary for the rescue of his honour and necessary for the satisfaction of his illustrious attendants who would think it a shame to them to serve a Lord that were always unconcern'd in the rebellions of his creatures and tamely suffer their spurns at his Throne and therefore there is a day wherein the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down the Cedars of Lebanon over-thrown and high Mountains levell'd that God may be exalted in that day Isa 2.11 12. c. Pride is a sin that immediately swells against God's Authority this shall be brought down that God may be exalted not that he should have a real exaltation as if he were actually depos'd from his Government but that he shall be manifested to be the Soveraign of the whole World 'T is necessary there should be a day to chase away those clouds that are upon his Throne that the lustre of his Majesty may break forth to the confusion of all the children of pride that vaunt against him God hath a dominion over us as a Law-giver as we are his creatures and a dominion over us in away of Justice as we are his criminals 2. This punishment is unavoidable 1. None can escape him He hath the sole Authority over Hell and Death the Keyes of both are in his hand The greatest Caesar can no more escape him than the meanest Peasant Who art thou O great Mountain before Zerubbabel Zac. 4.7 The height of Angels is no match for him much less that of the mortal grandees of the World they can no more resist him than the meanest person But are rather as the highest Steeples the fittest marks for his crushing thunder If he speaks the word the principalities of men come down and the Crown of their glory Jer. 13.18 He can take the Mighty away in a moment and that without hands i. e. without instruments Job 34.20 The strongest are like the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's Image Iron and Clay Iron to man but Clay to God to be crumbled to nothing 2. What comfort can be reapt from a creature when the Soveraign of the World arms himself with terrors and begins his visitation Isa 10.3 What will you do in the day of visitation to whom will you flie for help and where will you leave your glory The torments from a Subject may be releived by the Prince but where can there be an appeal from the Soveraign of the World Where is there any above him to controul him if he will overthrow us who is there to call him to account and say to him what dost thou He works by an uncontroulable Authority he needs not ask leave of any Isa 43.13 He works and none can let it As when he will relieve none can afflict so when he will wound none can relieve If a King appoint the punishment of a rebel the greatest Favorite in the Court cannot speak a comfortable word to him The most beloved Angel in Heaven cannot sweeten and ease the spirit of a man that the Soveraign power is set against to make the butt of his wrath The Devils lye under his sentence and wear their chains as marks of their condemnation without hope of ever having them filed off since they are laid upon them by the Authority of an unaccountable Soveraign 3. By his Soveraign Authority God can make any creature the instrument of his vengeance He hath all the creatures at his beck and can Commission any of them to be a dreadful scourge Strong winds and tempests fulfil his word Psal 148.8 The Lightnings answer him at his call and cry aloud here are we Job 38.35 By his Soveraign Authority he can render Locusts as mischievous as Lions forge the meanest creatures into Swords and Arrows and commission the most despicable to be his Executioners He can cut off joy from our spirits and make our own hearts be our tormentors our most confident friends our persecutors our nearest relations to be his avengers They are more his who is their Soveraign than ours who place a vain confidence in them Rather than Abraham shall want children he can raise up stones and adopt them into his Family And rather than not execute his vengeance he can array the stones in the streets and make them his armed subjects against us If he speak the word a hair shall drop from our heads to choak us or a vapour congeal'd into Rheum in our heads shall dropdown and putrifie our
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
freedom in the exerting them what time he judgeth most convenient in his Wisdom God is necessarily holy and is necessarily angry with sin his nature can never like it and cannot but be displeased with it yet he hath a liberty to restrain the effects of this anger for a time without disgracing his holiness or being interpreted to act unrighteously As well as a Prince or State may suspend the execution of a Law which they will never break only for a time and for a publick benefit If God should presently execute his Justice this perfection of patience which is a part of his goodness would never have an opportunity of discovery Part of his Glory for which he Created the World would lye in obscurity from the knowledge of his creature His Justice would be signal in the destruction of sinners but this stream of his goodness would be stopt up from any motion One perfection must not cloud another God hath his seasons to discover all one after another The times and seasons are in his own power Act. 1.7 The seasons of manifesting his own perfections as well as other things Succession of them in their distinct appearance makes no invasion upon the rights of any If justice should complain of an injury from patience because it is delaid patience hath more reason to complain of an injury from justice that by such a plea it would be wholly obscur'd and unactive For this perfection hath the shortest time to act its part of any it hath no stage but this World to move in Mercy hath a Heaven and Justice a Hell to display it self to Eternity but long suffering hath only a short liv'd earth for the compass of its operation Again Justice is so far from being wrong'd by Patience that it rather is made more illustrious and hath the fuller scope to exercise it self 'T is the more righted for being deferred and will have stronger grounds than before for its activity The equity of it will be more apparent to every reason the objections more fully answered against it when the way of dealing with sinners by patience hath been slighted When this dam of long suffering is remov'd the floods of fiery justice will rush down with more force and violence Justice will be fully recompenc'd for the delay when after Patience is abused it can spread it self over the offender with a more unquestionable Authority it will have more arguments to hit the sinner in the teeth with and silence him There will be a sharper edge for every stroke the sinner must not only pay for the score of his former sins but the score of abus'd patience so that justice hath no reason to commence a suit against God's slowness to anger What it shall want by the fulness of mercy upon the truly penitent it will gain by the contempt of patience on the impenitent abusers When men by such a carriage are ripen'd for the stroke of justice justice may strike without any regret in it self or pull-back from mercy The contempt of long suffering will silence the pleas of the one and spirit the severity of the other To conclude since God hath glorified his justice on Christ as a surety for sinners his patience is so far from interfering with the rights of his justice that it promotes it 'T is dispensed to this end that God might pardon with honour both upon the score of purchased mercy and contented justice that by a penitent sinners return his mercy might be acknowledg'd free and the satisfaction of his Justice by Christ be glorified in believing for he is long suffering from an unwillingness that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance 2 Pet. 3.9 i. e. All to whom the promise is made for to such the Apostle speaks and calls it long suffering to us ward And Repentance being an acknowledgment of the demerit of sin and a breaking off unrighteousness gives a particular glory to the freeness of mercy and the equity of Justice II. The 2d thing How this patience or slowness to anger is manifested 1. To our First Parents His slowness to anger was evidenced in not directing his Artillery against them when they first attempted to rebel He might have struck them dead when they began to bite at the temptation and were inclinable to a surrender for it was a degree of sinning and a breach of Loyalty as well though not so much as the consummating Act. God might have given way to the floods of his wrath at the first spring of man's aspiring thoughts when the monstrous motion of being as God began to be curdled in his heart But he took no notice of any of their Embryo sins till they came to a ripeness and started out of the womb of their minds into the open Air And after he had brought his sin to perfection God did not presently send that death upon him which he had merited but continued his Life to the space of 930 years Gen. 5.5 The Sun and Stars were not arrested from doing their Office for him Creatures were continued for his use the earth did not swallow him up nor a Thunderbolt from Heaven raze out the memory of him Though he had deserved to be treated with such a severity for his ungrateful demeanour to his Creator and Benefactor and affecting an equality with him yet God continued him with a sufficiency for his content after he turned rebel though not with such a liberality as when he remain'd a Loyal Subject And though he foresaw that he would not make an end of sinning but with an end of living he used him not in the same manner as he had used the Devils He added dayes and years to him after he had deserved death and hath for this 5000 years continued the propagation of Mankind and derived from his loyns an innumerable posterity and hath crown'd multitudes of them with hoary heads He might have extinguisht humane race at the first but since he hath preserved it till this day it must be interpreted nothing else but the effect of an admirable Patience 2. His slowness to anger is manifest to the Gentiles What they were we need no other witness than the Apostle Paul who summs up many of their crimes Rom. 1.29.30 31 32. He doth preface the Catalogue with a comprehensive expression being filled with all unrighteousness And concludes it with a dreadful aggravation They not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them They were so soakt and naturaliz'd in wickedness that they had no delight and found no sweetness in any thing else but what was in it self abominable All of them were plung'd in Idolatry and Superstition none of them but either set up their great men or creatures beneficial to the World and some the damned Spirits in his stead and paid an adoration to insensible Creatures or Devils which was due to God Some were so deprav'd in their lives and actions that it seem'd to be the
strong that it had been a wrong to his Justice to have restrain'd it any longer The cry was so loud that he could not be at quiet as it were on his Throne of Glory for the disturbing noise Gen. 18.20 21. Sin transgresseth the Law the Law being violated solicites Justice Justice being urg'd pleads for punishment the cry of their sins did as it were force him from Heaven to come down and examine what cause there was for that clamour Sin cries loud and long before he takes his Sword in hand Four hundred years he kept off deserved destruction from the Amorites and deferr'd making good his promise to Abraham of giving Canaan to his Posterity out of his Long-suffering to the Amorites Gen. 15.16 In the fourth Generation they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full Their measure was filling then but not so full as to put a stop to any further patience till four hundred years after The usual time in succeeding Generations from the denouncing of Judgments to the execution is forty years this some ground upon Ezek. 4.6 thou shalt bear the iniquity of the House of Judah forty days taking each day for a year Though Hosea lived seventy years yet from the beginning of his prophesying Judgments against Israel to the pouring them out upon that Idolatrous People it was forty years Hosea as was mentioned before prophesied against them in the days of Jeroboam the second in whose time God did wonderfully deliver Israel 2 Kings 14.26.27 From that time till the total destruction of the ten Tribes it was forty years as may easily be computed from the Story 2 Kings 15 16 17. chapters by the Reign of the succeeding Kings So forty years after the most horrid villany that ever was committed in the face of the Sun viz. The Crucifying the Son of God was Jerusalem destroyed and the inhabitants captiv'd so long did God delay a visible punishment for such an outrage Sometimes he prolongs sending a threatned judgment upon a meer shadow of humiliation so he did that denounced against Ahab He turn'd it over to his posterity and adjourn'd it to another season 1 Kings 21.29 He doth not issue out an Arrest upon one Transgression you often find him not commencing a suit against men till three and four Transgressions The first of Amos all along that chapter and the second chapter for three and four i. e. seven A certain number for an uncertain He gives not orders to his judgments to march till men be obstinate and refuse any commerce with him He stops them till there be no remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 It must be a great wickedness that gives vent to them Hos 10.15 Heb. your wickedness of wickedness He is so slow to anger and stays the punishment his enemies deserve that he may seem to have forgot his kindness to his Friends Psal 44.24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face and forgettest our affliction and oppression He lets his people groan under the yoke of their Enemies as if he were made up of kindness to his Enemies and anger against his Friends This delaying of punishment to evil men is visible in his suspending the terrifying acts of Conscience and supporting it only in its checking admonishing and controuling acts The patience of a Governour is seen in the patient mildness of his Deputy Davids Conscience did not terrifie him till nine months after his sin of Murder Should God set open the Mouth of this power within us not only the Earth but our own bodies and Spirits would be a burden to us 'T is long before God puts Scorpions into the hands of mens Consciences to scourge them He holds back the rod waiting for the hour of our return as if that would be a recompence for our offences and his forbearance III. His Patience is manifest in his unwillingness to execute his Judgments when he can delay no longer He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men. Lament 3.33 Hebr. He doth not afflict from his Heart He takes no pleasure in it as he is Creator The height of mens provocations and the necessity of the preserving his rights and vindicating his Laws obligeth him to it as he is the Governour of the World As a Judge may willingly condemn a Malefactor to death out of affection to the Laws and desire to preserve the order of Government but unwillingly out of Compassion to the offender himself When he resolved upon the destruction of the old World he spake it as a God grieved with an occasion of punishment Gen. 6.6 7. compared together When he came to reckon with Adam be walked he did not run with his Sword in his hand upon him as a mighty man with an eagerness to destroy him Gen. 3.8 And that in the cool of the day a time when men tired in the day are unwilling to engage in a hard employment His exercising judgment is a coming out of his place Isaiah 26.21 Micah 1.3 He comes out of his station to exercise judgment a Throne is more his place than a tribunal Every prophesie loaded with threatnings is call'd the Burden of the Lord a burden to him to execute it as well as to men to suffer it Though three Angels came to Abraham about the punishment of Sodom whereof one Abraham speaks to as to God yet but two appear'd at the destruction of Sodom as if the Governour of the World were unwilling to be present at such dreadful work Gen. 19.1 And when the Man that had the inkhorn by his side that was appointed to mark those that were to be preserved in the common destruction return'd to give an account of the performing his commission Ezek. 9.10 We read not of the return of those that were to kill as if God delighted only to hear again of his works of Mercy and had no mind to hear again of his severe proceedings * Mercer in Gen. 1.5 The Jews to shew Gods unwillingness to punish imagine that Hell was created the second day Because that days work is not pronounced good by God as all the other days works are Gen. 1.8 1. When God doth punish he doth it with some regret * Cressol Decad. 2. p. 163. When he hurles down his thunders he seems to do it with a backward hand Because with an unwilling heart He created saith Chrysostom the World in six days but was seven days in destroying one City Jericho which he had before devoted to be razed to the ground What is the reason saith he that God is so quick to build up but slow to pull down His Goodness excites his power to the One but is not earnest to perswade him to the Other When he comes to strike he doth it with a sigh or groan Isaiah 1.24 Ah I will ease me of my adversaries and avenge me on my Enemies ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ah a note of grief So Hos 6.4 Oh Ephraim what shall I do unto thee
rushings into his presence in Worship Had they been only sins of Omission and sins of Ignorance it had been enough to have put a stand to any further operations of this perfection towards us But add to those sins of Commission sins against knowledge sins against spiritual motions sins against repeated resolutions and pressing admonitions the neglects of all the opportunities of Repentance put them all together and we can as little recount them as the sands on the sea shore But what do I only speak of particular men view the whole World and if our own iniquities render it an amazing Patience what a mighty supply will be made to it in all the numerous and weighty provocations under which he hath continued the World for so many revolutions of Years and Ages Have not all those pressed into his presence with a loud cry and demanded a sentence from Justice yet hath not the Judge been overcome by the importunity of our sins * Pont. part 1. 42. Were the Devils punished for one sin a proud thought and that not committed against the blood of Christ as we have done numberless times yet hath not God made us partakers in their punishment though we have exceeded them in the quality of their sin Oh admirable patience that would bear with me under so many while he would not bear with the sinning Angels for one 2. Consider how mean things we are who have provoked him What is man but a vile thing that a God abounding with all riches should take care of so abject a thing much more to bear so many affronts from such a drop of matter such a nothing creature That he that hath anger at his command as well as pity should endure such a detestable deformed creature by sin to fly in his face What is man that thou art mindful of him Psal 8. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã miserable incurable man derived from a word that signifies to be incurably sick Man is Adam Earth from his Earthly Original and Enosh incurable from his corruption Is it not worthy to be admired that a God of infinite Glory should wait on such Adams worms of earth and be as it were a servant and attendant to such Enoshes sickly and peevish creatures 3. Consider who it is that is thus patient He it is that with one breath could turn Heaven and Earth and all the inhabitants of both into nothing That could by one Thunderbolt have razed up the Foundations of a cursed World He that wants not instruments without to ruine us that can arm our own Consciences against us and can drown us in our own Phlegm And by taking out one pin from our bodies cause the whole frame to fall asunder Besides 't is a God that while he suffers the sinner hates the sin more than all the Holy men upon Earth or Angels in Heaven can do So that his patience for a minute transcends the patience of all creatures from the Creation to the Dissolution of the World because it is the patience of a God infinitely more sensible of the cursed quality of sin and infinitely more detesting it 4. Consider how long he hath forborn his anger A reprieve for a Week or a Month is accounted a great favour in Civil States The Civil Law enacts * Cod. Lib. 9. Titul 47 6. 20. that if the Emperour commanded a man to be condemned the Execution was to be deferred 30 dayes because in that time the Princes anger might be appeased But how great a favour is it to be reprieved 30 years for many offences every one of which deserves death more at the hands of God than any offence can at the hands of man Paul was according to the common account but about 30 years Old at his Conversion and how much doth he elevate Divine long suffering Certainly there are many who have more reason as having larger quantities of patience cut out to them who have lived to see their own gray hairs in a rebellious posture against God before Grace brought them to a surrender We were all condemn'd in the Womb our Lives were forfeited the first moment of our breath but patience hath stopt the Arrest The merciful Creditor deserves to have acknowledgment from us who hath laid by his Bond so many years without putting it in suit against us Many of your companions in sin have perhaps been surprized long ago and haled to an Eternal Prison Nothing is remaining of them but their dust and the time is not yet come for your Funeral Let it be considered that that God that would not wait upon the fallen Angels one instant after their sin nor give them a moments space of Repentance hath prolonged the Life of many a sinner in the World to innumerable moments to 420000 minutes in the space of a Year to 8 Millions and 400000 Minutes in the space of 20 Years The damned in Hell would think it a great kindness to have but a Year's Month's nay Daye 's respite as a space to Repent in 5. Consider also how many have been taken away under shorter measures of patience Some have been struck into a Hell of misery while thou remainest upon an Earth of forbearance In a Plague the destroying Angel hath hew'd down others and past by us The Arrows have flew about our heads past over us and stuck in the heart of a neighbour How many Rich men How many of our Friends and Familiars have been seiz'd by death since the beginning of the year when they least thought of it and imagin'd it far from them Have you not known some of your acquaintance snatcht away in the height of a crime Was not the same wrath due to you as well as to them And had it not been as dreadful for you to be so surprized by him as it was for them Why should he take a less sturdy sinner out of thy company and let thee remain still upon the Earth If God had dealt so with you how had you been cut off not only from the enjoyment of this Life but the hopes of a better And if God hath made such a Providence beneficial for reclaiming you how much reason have you to acknowledge him He that hath had least patience hath cause to admire but those that have more ought to exceed others in blessing him for it If God had put an end to your natural Life before you had made provision for Eternal how deplorable would your condition have been Consider also who ever have been sinners formerly of a deeper note Might not God have struck a man in the embraces of his Harlots and choaked him in the moment of his excessive and intemperate healths or on the sudden have spurted Fire and Brimstone into a blasphemers mouth What if God had snatcht you away when you had been sleeping in some great iniquity or sent you while burning in lust to the fire it merited Might he not have crackt the string that linkt your souls to your
Pag. 76 A Contempt of Gods Wisdom Pag. 404 405 And of his Goodness Pag. 663 664 And of his Dominion Pag. 760 Impenitence an Abuse of Gods Goodness Pag. 664 665 It will clear the Equity oâ God's Justice Pag. 813 814 An Abuse of Patience Pag. 815 Imperfections in Holy Duties we should be sensible of Pag. 148 Should make us prize Christ's Mediation Pag. 168 Impossible some things are in their own nature Pag. 432 433 Some things so to the Nature and Being of God and his Perfections Pag. 433 434 Some things so because of Gods Ordination Pag. 435 Do not infringe the Almightiness of God's Power Pag. 432 ad 435 Incarnation of Christ the Power of God seen in it Pag. 456 ad 460 Incomprehensible God is so Pag. 263 Inconstancy natural to Man Pag. 231 234 In the knowledge of the Truth Pag. 231 232 In Will and Affections Pag. 232 In Practice Pag. 233 234 'T is the Root of much Evil ibid. Infirmities the Knowledge of God a comfort to his People under them Pag. 332 333 â The Goodness of God in bearing with them Pag. 656 657 His Patience a Comfort under them Pag. 821 Injuries Men highly concern'd for those that are done to themselves little for those that are done to God Pag. 83 Gods Patience under them should make us resent them Pag. 822 Injustice a Contempt of Gods Dominion Pag. 758 Innocent Person whether God may inflict eternal Torments upon him Pag. 712 716 717 Instruments Men are apt to pay a Service to them rather than God Pag. 86 Which is a Contempt of Divine Power Pag. 482 And of his Goodness Pag. 669 670 Deliverances not to be chiefly ascribed to them Pag. 272 273 God makes use of Sinful ones Pag. 358 359 None in Creation Pag. 443 444 The Power of God seen in effecting his Purposes by weak Ones Pag. 455 456 Inventions of Men. Vide Addition and Worship Job when he lived Pag. 439 Jonah how he came to be believed by the Ninivites Pag. 361 Joy a necessary Ingredient in Spiritual Worship Pag. 150 Should accompany all our Duties Pag. 784 Judging the Hearts of others a great Sin Pag. 324 Their Eternal state a greater Pag. 325 Judgment Day a necessity of it Pag. 318 319 398 Judgments Extraordinary prove the Being of God Pag. 37 38 Men are apt to put bold Interpretations on them Pag. 78 79 God is Just in them Pag. 100 Especially after the abuse of his Goodness and Patience Pag. 671 813 814 On God's Enemies matter of Praise Pag. 494. 495 Declare God's Holiness Pag. 511 512 513 Which should be observed in them Pag. 557 Not sent without warning Pag. 602 800 801 802 Mercy mix'd with them Pag. 602 603 604 God sends them on whom he pleases Pag. 746 747 Delay'd a long time where there is no Repentance Pag. 802 803 God unwilling to pour them out when he cannot delay them any longer Pag. 803 Pour'd out with regret Pag. 803 804 By degrees Pag. 804 Moderated Pag. 805 Vide Punishments Justice of God a motive to Worship Pag. 130 Its plea against Man Pag. 375 376 Reconciled with Mercy in Christ Pag. 377 Vindictive natural to God Pag. 547 548 549 Requires Satisfaction Pag. 550 Justification cannot be by the best and strongest works of Nature Pag. 102 320 544 545 550 The Holiness of God appears in that of the Gospel Pag. 515 The expectations of it by the outward observance of the Law cannot satisfie an Inquisitive Conscience Pag. 579 Men naturally look for it by Works Pag. 580 K. KIngdoms are disposed of by God Pag. 742 743 Knowledge in God hath no succession Pag. 185 186 192 307 308 Immutable Pag. 211 212 213 311 312 Arguments to prove it 263 Pag. 312 ad 316 The manner of it Incomprehensible Pag. 214 215 288 295 God is Infinite in it Pag. 274 Own'd by all Pag. 274 275 He hath a Knowledge of Vision and Intelligence speculative and practical Pag. 276 277 Of Apprehension and Approbation Pag. 277 278 Hath a knowledge of himself Pag. 278 279 280 Of all things possible Pag. 280 281 282 Of all things past and present Pag. 282 283 Of all Creatures their Actions and Thoughts Pag. 283 ad 287 Of all Sins and how Pag. 287 288 289 Of all future things he alone and how Pag. 289 ad 296 Of all future Contingences Pag. 296 ad 301 Doth not necessitate the Will of Man Pag. 301 ad 304 'T is by his Essence Pag. 305 306 Intuitive Pag. 306 307 308 Independent Pag. 308 309 Distinct Pag. 309 310 Infallible Pag. 310 311 Arguments to prove it Pag. 263 312 ad 315 No blemish to his Holiness ib. Infinite attributed to Christ Pag. 315 316 317 Infers his Providence Pag. 317 318 And a Day of Judgment Pag. 318 319 And the Resurrection Pag. 319 320 Destroys all hopes of Justification by any thing in our selves Pag. 320 Calls for our adoring Thoughts of him Pag. 320 321 And Humility Pag. 321 322 How injured in the World and wherein Pag. 322 ad 228 Comfortable to the Righteous and wherein Pag. 328 ad 334 â Terrible to Sinners Pag. 334 ad 337 â We should have a sense of it on our hearts and the advantages of it Pag. 337 338 339 â Knowledge of God's Will Men negligent in using the Means to attain it Pag. 55 Enemies to it and have no delight in it Pag. 56 Seek it for by-ends Pag. 57 58 Admit it with wavering Affections Pag. 58 Seek it to improve some Lust by it Pag. 58 59 A sense of Man's hath a greater Influence on us than that of God Pag. 86 87 325 326 Sins against it should be avoided Pag. 107 Distinct from Wisdom Pag. 338 339 Of all Creatures is deriv'd from God Pag. 313 Ours how imperfect Pag. 321 L. LAw of God how opposite Man naturally is to it Vide Man There is one in the Minds of Men which is the Rule of Good and Evil Pag. 33 34 A change of them doth not infer a change in God Pag. 228. 229 Vindicated both as to the Precept and Penalty in the death of Christ Pag. 383 Suted to our Natures Happiness and Conscience Pag. 352 353 354 610 611 We should submit to them Pag. 414 415 The Transgression of them punish'd by God Pag. 511 512 726 727 God's enjoyning one which he knew Man would not observe no blemish to his Holiness Pag. 519 520 To charge them with Rigidness how great a Sin Pag. 545 We should imitate the Holiness of them Pag. 559 The Goodness of God in that of Innocence Pag. 610 ad 615 Cannot but be good Pag. 681 682 He gives Laws to all Pag. 722 723 Positive ones Pag. 723 724 His only reach the Conscience Pag. 724 725 Dispensed with by him but cannot by Man Pag. 725 726 754 755 To make any contrary to God's how great a Sin Pag. 755 Or make Additions to them Pag. 756 757 Or obey those of Men before them Pag.
must be utterly deposed Now it is difficult to leave a Law beloved for a Law long agoe discarded The mind of man will hunt after any thing the will of man embrace any thing upon the proposal of mean Objects the Spirit of man spreads its wings flyes to catch them becomes one with them But attempt to bring it under the Power of God the wings flag the Creature looks liveless as though there were no spring of motion in it 'T is as much crucified to God as the holy Apostle was to the world The sin of the heart discovers its strength the more God discovers the holiness of his Will * Rom. 7.9 10 11 12. The love of Sin hath been predominant in our Nature has quasht a love to God if not extinguisht it Hence also is the difficulty of Mortification This is a work tending to the honour of God the abasing of that inordinatley aspiring humour in our selves If the Nature of Man be inclin'd to Sin as it is it must needs be bent against any thing that opposes it 'T is impossible to strike any true blow at any Lust till the true Sense of God be re-entertained in the Soyl where it ought to grow Who can be naturally willing to crucifie what is incorporated with him his flesh what is dearest to him himself Is it an easie thing for man the Competitor with God to turn his Arms against himself that self should overthrow its own Empire lay aside all its pretensions to and designs for a God-head to hew off its own members and subdue its own affections 'T is the Nature of Man to cover his sin to hide it in his bosom * Job 13.33 If I cover my Transgression as Adam not to destroy it and as unwillingly part with his carnal affections as the Legion of Devils were with the man that had been long possessed And when he is forced and fired from one he will endeavour to espouse some other Lust as those Devils desired to possess Swine when they were chased from their possession of that man 5. Here we see the reason of unbelief That which hath most of God in it meets with most aversion from us That which hath least of God finds better and stronger inclinations in us What is the reason that the heart of Man is more unwilling to embrace the Gospel than acknowledge the equity of the Law Because there is more of Gods Nature and perfection evident in the Gospel than in the Law Besides there is more reliance on God and distance from self commanded in the Gospel The Law puts a man upon his own strength the Gospel takes him off from his own bottom The Law acknowledges him to have a power in himself and to act for his own reward the Gospel strips him of all his proud and towring thoughts * 2 Cor. 10.5 brings him to his due place the foot of God orders him to deny himself as his own Rule Righteousness and End and henceforth not to live to himself * 2 Cor. 5.15 This is the true reason why men are more against the Gospel than against the Law because it doth more deify God and debase Man Hence it is easier to reduce men to some Moral Vertue than to Faith to make men blush at their outward Vices but not at the inward impurity of their Natures Hence it is observed that those that asserted that all happiness did arise from something in a mans self as the Stoicks and Epicureans did and that a wise man was equal with God were greater Enemies to the truths of the Gospel than others Acts 17.18 because it lays the Ax to the root of their principal Opinion Takes the one from their self-sufficiency and the other from their self-gratification It opposeth the brutish principle of the one which placed happiness in the pleasures of the body and the more noble principle of the other which placed happiness in the vertue of the mind The one was for a sensual the other for a moral self both disowned by the Doctrin of the Gospel 6. It informs us consequently who can be the Author of Grace and Conversion and every other good Work No practical Atheist ever yet turned to God but was turned by God and not to acknowledge it to God is a part of this Atheism since it is a robbing God of the honour of one of his most glorious Works If this practical Atheism be natural to man ever since the first taint of Nature in Paradice what can be expected from it but a resisting of the work of God and setting up all the forces of Nature against the operations of Grace till a day of power dawn and clear up upon the Soul * Psal 110.3 Not all the Angels in Heaven or men upon Earth can be imagined to be able to perswade a Man to fall out with himself Nothing can turn the Tide of Nature but a Power above Nature God took away the sanctifying Spirit from man as a Penalty for the first sin Who can regain it but by his Will and Pleasure Who can restore it but he that remov'd it Since every man hath the same fundamental Atheism in him by Nature and would be a Rule to himself and his own End he is so far from dethroning himself that all the strength of his corrupted Nature is alarm'd up to stand to their Arms upon any attempt God makes to regain the Fort. The Will is so strong against God that 't is like many wills twisted together Eph. 2.3 Wills of the Flesh we translate it the desires of the flesh Like many Threds twisted in a Cable never to be snapt asunder by a human Arm a Power and Will above ours can only untwist so many Wills in a knot Man cannot rise to an acknowledgement of God without God Hell may as well become Heaven the Devil be changed into an Angel of Light The Devil cannot but desire happiness he knows the misery into which he is fallen he cannot be desirous of that punishment he knows is reserved for him Why doth he not sanctifie God and glorifie his Creator wherein there is abundantly more pleasure than in his malicious course Why doth he not petition to recover his ancient standing He will not there are Chains of Darkness upon his faculties he will not be otherwise than he is His desire to be God of the World sways him against his own interest and out of love to his malice he will not sin at a less rate to make a diminution of his punishment Man if God utterly refuseth to work upon him is no better and to maintain his Atheism would venture a Hell How is it possible for a man to turn himself to that God against whom he hath a quarrel in his Nature the most rooted and settled habit in him being to set himself in the place of God An Atheist by Nature can no more alter his own temper and engrave in himself the Divine Nature
with In the whole it was accommodated to man as rational Precepts to the Law in his mind Promises to the natural Appetite Threatnings to the most prevailing Affection and to the implanted Desires of preserving both his Being and Happiness in that Being These were rational Motives fitted to the nature of Adam which was above the life God had given Plants and the sense he had given Animals The Command given man in Innocence was suted to his strength and power God gave him not any Command but what he had ability to observe and Since we want not power to forbear an Apple in our corrupted and impotent State he wanted not strength in his state of Integrity The Wisdom of God Commanded nothing but what was very easy to be observed by him and inferior to his natural Ability It had been both unjust and unwise to have commanded him to fly up to the Sun when he had not Wings or stop the Course of the Sea when he had not strength 2. 'T is suted to the happiness and benefit of man God's Laws are not an act of meer Authority respecting his own Glory but of wisdom and goodness respecting mans Benefit They are perfective of mans Nature conferring a Wisdom upon him rejoycing his Heart enlightning his eyes Psal 19.7 8. affording him both a knowledge of God and of himself To be without a Law is for man to be as Beasts without Justice and without Religion Other things are for the good of the Body but the Laws of God for the good of the Soul the more perfect the Law the greater the benefit The Laws given to the Iews were the honour and excellency of that Nation Deut. 1.8 What Nation is there so great that hath statutes and Judgments so righteous They were made States-men in the Judicial Law Ecclesiasticks in the Ceremonial honest men in the Second Table and Divine in the First All his Laws are suted to the true satisfaction of man and the good of Human Society Had God framed a Law only for one Nation there would have been the Characters of a particular Wisdom but now an universal wisdom appears in accommodating his Law not only to this or that particular Society or Corporation of men but to the benefit of all mankind in the variety of Climates and Countries wherein they live Every thing that is disturbing to Human Society is provided agaânst nothing is enjoin'd but what is sweet rational and useful It orders us not to attempt any thing against the life of our Neighbour the honour of his Bed propriety in his Goods and the clearness of his Reputation and if well observed would alter the face of the World and make it look with another hue The World would be alter'd from a brutish to a human World It would chânge Lions and Wolves men of Lion-like and Wolvish disposition into reason and sweetness And because the whole Law is sum'd up in love it obligeth us to endeavour the preservation of one anothers Beings the favouring of one anothers Interests and increasing the Goods as much as Iustice will permit and keeping up one anothers Credits because love which is the Soul of the Law is not shewn by a cessation from action but signifies an ardor upon all occasions in doing good I say were this Law well observed the World would be another thing than it is It would become a Religious Fraternity the Voice of Enmity and the Noise of Groans and Cursings would not be heard in our Streets Peace would be in all Borders plenty of Charity in the midst of Cities and Countries Joy and singing would sound in all habitations Mans advantage was design'd in Gods Laws and doth naturally result from the observance of them God so ordered them by his Wisdom that the obedience of man should draw forth his Goodness and prevent those smarting Judgments which were necessary to reduce the Creature to order that would not voluntarily continue in the order God had appointed The Laws of men are often unjust oppressive cruel sometimes against the Law of nature But an universal wisdom and righteousness glitters in the Divine Law There is nothing in it but what is worthy of God and useful for the Creature so that we may well say with Job Who teaches like God Job 36.22 or as some render it who is a law-giver like God Who can say to him thou hast wrought iniquity or folly among men His Precepts were framed for the preservation of man in that rectitude wherein he was Created in that likeness to God wherein he was first made that there might be a correspondence between the Integrity of the Creature and the Goodness of his Creator by the Obedience of man that man might exercise his Faculties in Operations worthy of him and beneficial to the World 3. The Wisdom of God is seen in suting to Laws to the Consciences as well as the Interest of all Mankind Rom. 2.14 The Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the Law so great an affinity there is between the wise Law and the Reason of man There is a natural Beauty emerging from them and darting upon the Reasons and Consciences of men which dictates to them that this Law is worthy to be observed in it self The two main Principles of the Law the Love and worship of God and doing as we would be done by have an indelible impression in the Consciences of all men in regard of the Principle though they are not sutably exprest in the Practise Were there no Law outwardly publisht yet every mans Conscience would dictate to him that God was to be acknowledged worshipped loved as naturally as his Reason would acquaint him that there was such a Being as God This sutableness of them to the Consciences of men is manifest in that the Laws of the best governed Nations among the Heathen have had an agreement with them Nothing can be more exactly composed according to the Rules of right and exact Reason than this no man but approves of something in it yea of the whole when he exerciseth that dimm Reason which he hath Suppose any man not an absolute Atheist he cannot but acknowledge the reasonableness of worshipping God Grant him to be a Spirit and it will presently appear absurd to represent him by any Corporeal Image and derogate from his Excellency by so mean a resemblance with the same easiness he will grant a reverence due to the Name of God that we must not serve our turn of him by calling him to witness to a lye in a solemn Oath That as Worship is due to him so that some stated time is a circumstance necessary to the performance of that Worship And as to the Second Table will any man in his right reason quarrel with that Command that engageth his Inferiors to honour him that secures his Being from a violent murder and his goods from unjust rapine and though by the fury of his Lusts he break the Laws of Wedlock himself
perform â Strong of the Will The one seems to be out of weakness because of the high exactness of the Law and the other out of impudence accusing the Wisdom of God of Imperfection and controuling it in its Institutions At best it seems to be an Imputation of Human Bashfulness to the Supream Soveraign as if he had been ashamed to prescribe all that was necessary to his own Honour but had left something to the Ingenuity and Gratitude of Men. Man has ever since the foolish Conceit of his old Ancestor Adam presumed he could be as Wise as God and if he who was created upright entertain'd such Conceits much more doth Man now under a mass of Corruption so capable to foment them This hath been the continual practise of Men not so much to reject what once they had received as Divine but add something of their own Inventions to it The Heathens renounced not the Sacrificing of Beasts for the expiation of their Offences which the Old World had received by Tradition from Adam and the New World after the Deluge from Noah But they had blended that Tradition with Rites of their one and offered Creatures unclean in themselves and not fit to be offered to an Infinitely Pure Being for the distinction of Clean and Vnclean was as Ancient as Noah Gen. 8.20 yea before Gen. 7.2 So the Jews did not discard what they had received from God as Circumcision the Passover and Sacrifices but they would mix a heap of Heathenish Rites with the Ceremonies of Divine Ordination and practise things which he had not commanded as well as things which he had enjoyned them And therefore 't is observable that when God taxeth them with this Sin he doth not say They brought in those things which he had forbidden into his Worship but those things which he had not commanded and had given no order for to intimate that they were not to move a step without his Rule Jer. 7.31 They have built the high places of Tophet which I commanded them not nor came it into my heart and Levit. 10.1 Nadabs and Abihu's strange Fire was not commanded so charging them with Impudence and Rashness in adding something of their own after he had revealed to them the manner of his Service as if they were as Wise as God So loth is Man to acknowledge the Supremacy of Divine Understanding and be sensible of his own Ignorance So after the divulging of the Gospel the Corrupters of Religion did not fling off but preserved the Institutions of God but painted and patch'd them up with Pagan Ceremonies imposed their own Dreams with as much force as the Revelations of God Thus hath the Papacy turn'd the Simplicity of the Gospel into Pagan Pomp and Religion into Politicks and revived the Ceremonial Law and raked some Limbs of it out of the Grave after the Wisdom of God had rung her Knell and honourably Interr'd her and shelter'd the Heathenish Superstitions in Christian Temples after the Power of the Gospel had chas'd the Devils with all their Trumpery from their ancient Habitations Whence should this proceed but from a partial Atheisme and a mean conceit of the Divine Wisdom As though God had not Understanding enough to prescribe the Form of his own Worship and not Wisdom enough to support it witâout the Crutches of Human Prudence Human Prudence is too low to parallel Divine Wisdom 't is an incompetent Judge of what is fit for an Infinite Majesty 'T is sufficiently seen in the ridiculous and senseless Rites among the Heathens and the Cruel and Devilish ones fetch'd from them by the Jews What work will Human Wisdom make with Divine Worship when it will presume to be the Director of it as a Mate with the Wisdom of God Whence will it take its measures but from Sense Humor and Fancy As though what is grateful and comly to a depraved Reason were as beautiful to an unspotted and Infinite Mind Do not such tell the World that they were of Gods Cabinet Councel since they will take upon them to judge as well as God what is well pleasing to him Where will it have the humility to stop if it hath the presumption to add any one thing to Revealed Modes of Worsh p How did God tax the Israelites with making Idols according to their own understanding Hos 13.2 imagining their own Understandings to be of a siner make and a perfecter Mould than their Creators and that they had fetched more light from the Chaos of their own Brains than God had from Eternity in his own Nature How slight will the Excuse be God hath not forbidden this or that when God shall silence Men with the Question Where or when did I command this or that There was no Addition to be made under the Law to the meanest Instrument God had appointed in his Service The Sacred Perfume was not to have one Ingredient more put into it than what God had prescribed in the Composition nor was any Man upon pain of Death to imitate it nor would God endure that Sacrifices should be consum'd with any other Fire than that which came down from Heaven So tender is God of any Invasions of his Wisdom and Authority In all things of this Nature whatsoever voluntary humility and respect to God they may be disguised with there is a swelling of the fleshly mind against Infinite Understanding which the Apostle nauseates Coloss 2.18 Such Mixtures have not been blest by God As God never prosper'd the Mixtures of several kinds of Creatures to form and multiply a new Species as being a dissatisfaction with his Wisdom as Creator so he doth not prosper Mixtures in Worship as being a Conspiracy against his Wisdom as a Law-giver * Vaifin The Talmud takes notice that the Court of Bethany was wasted three years before Jerusalem because they preferred their own words before the words of the Law The Destruction of the Jews was judged by some of their Doctors to be for preferring Human Traditions before the Written Word which they ground on Isai 29.33 Their fear of me was taught by the Precepts of Men. The Injunctions of Men were the Rule of their Worship and not the Prescripts of my Law To conclude Such as make Alterations in Religion different from the first Institution are intolerable Busie-bodies that will not let God alone with his own Affairs Vain Man would be wiser than his Maker and be dabbling in that which is his sole Prerogative 2. In neglecting Means Instituted by God When Men have risings of heart against Gods Ordinances They reject the counsel of the Lord against themselves or in themselves Luke 7.30 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They disannull'd the Wisdom of God the Spring of his Ordinances All neglects are disregards of Divine Prescriptions as impertinent and unavailable to that End for which they were appointed as not being suted to the common dictates of Reason sometimes out of a Voluntary humility such as Peters
transgression But those things are accounted sins by all mankind and sins against the supream being So that a Dominion and the exercise of it is so fast linkt to God so intirely in him so intrinsick in his Nature that it cannot be imagined that a rational Creature can be made by him without a stamp and mark of that Dominion in his very nature and frame 't is so inseparable from God in his very act of Creation 2. 'T is such a Dominion as cannot be renounced by God himself 'T is so intrinsick and connatural to him so inlaid in the nature of God that he cannot strip himself of it nor of the exercise of it while any Creature remains ' Tââ preserv'd by him for it could not subsist of its self 't is govern'd by him it could not else answer its end 'T is impossible there can be a Creature which hath not God for its Lord. Christ himself though in regard of his Deity equal with God yet in regard of his created state and assuming our nature was God's servant was govern'd by him in the whole of his office acted according to his command and directions God calls him his servant Isaiah 42.1 And Christ in that Prophetick Psalm of him calls God his Lord. Psal 16.2 Oh my Soul Thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord. It was impossible it should be otherwise Justice had been so far from being satisfi'd that it had been highly incensed if the order of things in the due subjection to God had been broke and his terms had not been complied with It would be a Judgment upon the World if God should give up the Government to any else as it is when he gives Children to be Princes Isaiah 3.4 i. e. Children in understanding 3. 'T is so inseparable that it cannot be communicated to any Creature No Creature is able to exercise it every Creature is unable to perform all the offices that belong to this Dominion No Creature can impose Laws upon the Consciences of men Man knows not the inlets into the Soul his pen cannot reach the inwards of man What Laws he hath power to propose to Conscience he cannot see executed because every Creature wants omniscience he is not able to perceive all those breaches of the Law which may be committed at the same time in so many Cities so many Chambers Or suppose an Angel in regard of the height of his standing and the insufficiency of Walls and darkness and distance to obstruct his view can behold mens actions yet he cannot know the internal acts of mens minds and Wills without some outward eruption and appearance of them And if he be ignorant of them how can he execute his Laws If he only understand the outward fact without the inward thought how can he dispense a Justice proportionable to the crime He must needs be ignorant of that which adds the greatest aggravation sometimes to a sin and inflict a lighter punishment upon that which receives a deeper tincture from the inward posture of the mind than another fact may do which in the outward act may appear more base and unjust and so while he intends Righteousness may act a degree of injustice * Mâââii Colleg. Theoloâ Disp 18. p. 12 13. Besides no Creature can inflict a due punishment for sin that which is due to sin is a loss of the Vision and sight of God but none can deprive any of that but God himself nor can a Creature reward another with Eternal Life which consists in Communion with God which none but God can bestow II. Thing Wherein the Dominion of God is founded 1. On the Excellency of his Nature Indeed a bare excellency of Nature bespeaks a fitness for Government but doth not properly convey a right of Government Excellency speaks aptitude not Title A Subject may have more Wisdom than the Prince and be fitter to hold the Reins of Government but he hath not a Title to Royalty A man of large capacity and strong vertue is fit to serve his Countrey in Parliament but the Election of the People conveys a Title to him Yet a strain of Intellectual and Moral abilities beyond others is a foundation for Dominion And it is commonly seen that such eminences in men though they do not invest them with a Civil Authority or an Authority of Jurisdiction yet they create a veneration in the minds of men their vertue attracts reverence and their advice is regarded as an Oracle Old men by their age when stored with more Wisdom and Knowledge by reason of their long experience acquire a kind of power over the younger in their Dictates and Counsels so that they gain by the strength of that excellency a real Authority in the minds of those men they converse with and possess themselves of a deep respect from them God therefore being an incomprehensible ocean of all perfection and possessing infinitely all those vertues that may lay a claim to Dominion hath the first foundation of it in his own nature His incomparable and unparalell'd excellency as well as the greatness of his work attracts the voluntary Worship of him as a Soveraign Lord. Psal 86.8 Among the Gods there is none like unto thee neither are there any works like unto thy work All Nations shall come and Worship before thee Though his benefits are great engagements to our Obedience and Affection yet his infinite Majesty and perfection requires the first place in our acknowledgements and adorations Upon this account God claims it Isaiah 46.9 I am God and there is none like me I will do all my pleasure And the Prophet Jeremy upon the same account acknowledgeth it Jer. 10.6 7. Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee Oh Lord thou art great and thy name is great in might who would not fear thee O King of Nations For to thee doth it appertain Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee And this is a more noble Title of Dominion It being an uncreated Title and more eminent than that of Creation or Preservation * ãâã Thâolog Nat. pag. 757. This is the natural order God hath plac'd in his Creature 's that the more excellent should rule the inferior He committed not the Government of lower Creatures to Lions and Tygers that have a delight in blood but no knowledge of vertue but to man who had an eminence in his nature above other Creatures and was formed with a perfect rectitude and a height of reason to guide the reins over them In man the Soul being of a more sublime nature is set of right to rule over the Body the Mind the most excellent Faculty of the Soul to rule over the other Powers of it and Wisdom the most excellent habit of the Mind to guide and regulate that in its determinations and when the Body and sensitive Appetite controul the Soul and Mind 't is an Usurpation against Nature not a rule according to Nature the excellency therefore of
Noah the 8th person a Preacher of Righteousness bringing in the Flood upon the World of the ungodly called the 8th in respect of his Preaching not in regard of his preservation He was the 8th Preacher in order from the begining of the World that endeavoured to restore the World to the way of Righteousness Most indeed consider him here as the 8th person saved so do our Translators and therefore add Person which is not in the Greek Some others consider him here as the 8th Preacher of Righteousness reckoning Enoch the Son of Seth the first grounding it upon Gen. 4.26 Then began men to call on the Name of the Lord Hebr. Then it was began to call in the Name of the Lord ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sept. He began to call in the Name of the Lord which others render he began to preach or call upon men in the Name of the Lord. The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifies to Preach or to call upon men by Preaching Prov. 1.21 Wisdom cryeth or preaches And if this be so as it is very probable 't is easie to reckon him the 8th Preacher by numbering the successive heads of the Generations Gen. 5. Beginning at Enosh the first Preacher of Righteousness * Vid. Gells ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So many there were before God choakt the Old World with water and swept them away 'T is clear he often did admonish by his Prophets the Jews of their sin and the wrath which should come upon them One Prophet Hosea Prophesied 70 years for he Prophesied in the dayes of 4 Kings of Judah and one of Israel Jeroboam the Son of Joash Hos 1.1 or Jeroboam the second of that name Vzziah King of Judah in whose Reign Hosea Prophesied lived 38 years after the death of Jeroboam The Second Jotham Vzziah's Successor Reign'd 16 years Ahaz 16 Hezekiah 29 years Now take nothing of Hezekiah's time and Date the beginning of his Prophesie from the last year of Jeroboam's Reign and the time of Hosea's Prophesie will be 70 years compleat Wherein God warned those people and waited the return particularly of Israel * Sanctius Prolegom in Hosea Prolog the 3d. and not less than 5 of those we call the lesser Prophets were sent to foretell the destruction of the Ten Tribes and to call them to Repentance Hosea Joel Amos Micah Jonah And though we have nothing of Jonah's Prophesie in this concern of Israel yet that he lived in the time of the same Jeroboam and Prophesied things which are not upon record in the book of Jonah is clear 2 King 14.25 And besides those Isaiah Prophesied also in the Reign of the same Kings as Hosea did Isa 1.1 And it is God's usual method to send forth his servants and when their admonitions are slighted he Commissions others before he sends out his destroying Armies Mat. 22.3 4 7. 2. He doth often give warning of Judgments that he might not pour out his wrath He summons them to a surrender of themselves and a return from their Rebellion that they might not feel the force of his Armes He offers peace before he shakes off the dust of his feet that his despised peace might not return in vain to him to sollicite a revenge from his anger He hath a right to punish upon the first Commission of a crime but he warns men of what they have deserved of what his Justice moves him to inflict that by having recourse to his mercy he might not exercise the rights of his Justice God sought to kill Moses for not circumcising his Son Exod. 4.24 Could God that sought it miss of a way to do it Could a creature lurch or flie from him God put on the garb of an enemy that Moses might be discouraged from being an instrument of his own ruine God manifested an anger against Moses for his neglect as if he would then have destroyed him that Moses might prevent it by casting off his carelesness and doing his duty He sought to kill him by some evident sign that Moses might escape the judgment by his obedience He threatens Niniveh by the Prophet with destruction that Niniveh's Repentance might make void the Prophesie He fights with men by the Sword of his mouth that he might not pierce them by the Sword of his wrath He threatens that men might prevent the execution of his threatning He terrifies that he might not destroy but that men by humiliation may lie prostrate before him and move the bowels of his mercy to a louder sound than the voice of his Anger He takes time to whet his Sword that men may turn themselves from the edge of it He roars like a Lion that men by hearing his voice may shelter themselves from being torn by his Wrath. There is patience in the sharpest threatning that we may avoid the scourge Who can charge God with an eagerness to revenge that sends so many Heralds and so often before he strikes that he might be prevented from striking His threatnings have not so much of a black flag as of an Olive branch He lifts his up hand before he strikes that men might See and avert the stroke Isaiah 26.11 2. His Patience is manifest in long delaying his threatned Judgements though he finds no Repentance in the Rebels He doth sometimes delay his lighter punishments because he doth not delight in torturing his Creatures but he doth longer delay his destroying punishments such as put an end to mens happiness and remit them to their final and unchangeable state because he doth not delight in the death of a Sinner While he is preparing his arrows he is waiting for an occasion to lay them aside and dull their points that he may with honour march back again and disband his Armies He brings lighter smarts sooner that men might not think him asleep but he suspends the more terrible judgments that men might be led to Repentance He scatters not his consuming fires at the first but brings on ruining vengeance with a slow pace sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed Eccles 8.11 The Jews therefore say that Michael the Minister of Justice flyes with one wing but Gabriel the Minister of Mercy with two An 120 years did God wait upon the old World and delay their punishment all the time the Ark was preparing 1 Pet. 3.20 Wherein that wicked Generation did not enjoy only a bare patience but a striving patience Gen. 6.3 My Spirit shall not always strive with man yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years the days wherein I will strive with him that his Long-suffering might not lose all its fruit and remit the objects of it into the hands of consuming Justice It was the Tenth Generation of the World from Adam when the deluge overflow'd it so long did God bear with them And the Tenth Generation from Noah wherein Sodom was consumed God did not come to keep his Assizes in Sodom till the cry of their sins was very