this let us see 1. What this Goodness is 2. Some Propositions concerning the nature of it 3. That God is Good 4. The manifestation of it in Creation Providence and Redemption 5. The Vse 1. What this Goodness is There is a Goodness of Being which is the natural perfection of a thing There is the Goodness of Will which is the Holiness and Righteousness of a Person There is the Goodness of the Hand which we call Liberality or Beneficence a doing good to others 1. We mean not by this The Goodness of his Essence or the Perfection of his Nature God is thus Good because his Nature is infinitely Perfect He hath all things requisite to the compleating of a most Perfect and Soveraign Being All Good meets in his Essence as all Water meets in the Ocean Under this Notion all the Attributes of God which are requisite to so illustrious a Being are comprehended All things that are have a goodness of being in them derived to them by the Power of God as they are Creatures so the Devil is good as he is a Creature of Gods making He hath a natural goodness but not a moral goodness when he fell from God he retained his natural goodness as a Creature because he did not cease to be he was not reduced to that nothing from whence he was drawn but he ceased to be morally good being stript of his Righteousness by his Apostasie as a Creature he was Gods Work as a Creature he remains still Gods Work and therefore as a Creature remains still good in regard of his created Being The more of Being any thing hath the more of this sort of natural goodness it hath and so the Devil hath more of this natural goodness than Men have because he hath more marks of the Excellency of God upon him in regard of the greatness of his knowledge and the extent of his power the largeness of his capacity and the acuteness of his understanding which are natural perfections belonging to the nature of an Angel though he hath lost his moral perfections God is Soveraignly and infinitely Good in this sort of Goodness He is unsearchably perfect * Job 11.7 nothing is wanting to his Essence that is necessary to the Perfection of it yet this is not that which the Scripture expresseth under the term of Goodness but a Perfection of Gods Nature as related to us and which he poureth forth upon all his Creatures as Goodness which flows from this Natural Perfection of the Deity 2. Nor is it the same with the Blessedness of God but something flowing from his Blessedness VVere he not first infinitely Blessed and Full in Himself he could not be infinitely Good and Diffusive to us had he not an infinite abundance in his own Nature he could not be overflowing to his Creatures Had not the Sun a fulness of Light in it self and the Sea a vastness of VVater the one could not enrich the VVorld with its Beams nor the other fill every Creek with its VVaters 3. Nor is it the same with the Holiness of God The Holiness of God is the rectitude of his Nature whereby he is Pure and without Spot in himself The Goodness of God is the efflux of his VVill whereby he is beneficial to his Creatures The Holiness of God is manifest in his rational Creatures but the Goodness of God extends to all the VVorks of his Hands His Holiness beams most in his Law his Goodness reacheth to every thing that had a Being from him * Psal 145.9 The Lord is Good to all And though he be said in the same Psalm v. 17. to be Holy in all his Works 't is to be understood of his Bounty Bountiful in all his VVorks The Hebrew word signifying both Holy and Liberal and the Margent of the Bible reads it Merciful or Bountiful 4. Nor is this Goodness of God the same with the Mercy of God Goodness extends to more Objects than Mercy Goodness stretcheth it self out to all the VVorks of his Hands Mercy extends only to a miserable Object for it is joined with a sentiment of Pity occasioned by the Calamity of another The Mercy of God is exercised about those that Merit Punishment the Goodness of God is exercised upon Objects that have not merited any thing contrary to the acts of his Bounty Creation is an act of Goodness not of Mercy Providence in governing some part of the VVorld is an act of Goodness not of Mercy * Lombard lib. 1. distinct 46. p. 286. The Heavens saith Austin need the Goodness of God to govern them but not the Mercy of God to relieve them The Earth is full of the Misery of Man and the Compassions of God but the Heavens need not the Mercy of God to pity them because they are not miserable though they need the Goodness and Power of God to sustain them because as Creatures they are impotent without him Gods Goodness extends to the Angels that kept their standing and to Man in Innocence who in that state stood not in need of Mercy Goodness and Mercy are distinct though Mercy be a Branch of Goodness There may be a manifestation of Goodness though none of Mercy Some think Christ had been Incarnate had not Man fallen Had it been so there had been a manifestation of Goodness to our Nature but not of Mercy because Sin had not made our Natures miserable The Devils are Monuments of Gods creating Goodness but not of his Pardoning Compassions The Grace of God respects the rational Creature Mercy the miserable Creature Goodness all his Creatures Brutes and the sensless Plants as well as reasonable Man 5. By Goodness is meant the Bounty of God This is the Notion of goodness in the World when we say a good Man we mean either a holy Man in his life or a charitable and liberal Man in the management of his Goods A righteous Man and a good Man are distinguished * Rom. 5.7 For scarcely for a righteous Man will one die yet for a good Man one would even dare to die For an innocent Man one as innocent of the Crime as Himself would scarce venture his Life but for a good Man a liberal tender-hearted Man that had been a common Good in the place where he lived or had done another as great a benefit as life it self amounts to a Man out of gratitude might dare to die The Goodness of God is his inclination to deal well and bountifully with his Creatures * Coccei sum p. 50. 'T is that whereby he wills there should be something besides Himself for his own Glory God is good in Himself and to Himself i. e. highly amiable to Himself and therefore some define it a Perfection of God whereby he loves himself and his own Excellency but as it stands in Relation to his Creatures 't is that Perfection of God whereby he delights in his Works and is beneficial to them God is the highest Goodness
your self take other courses you will smut your Reputation and be despicable you will destroy your Estate and commence a Beggar your Family will be undone and you may rott in a Prison Not laying close to them the Duty they owe to God the Dishonour which accrues to him by their unworthy courses and the ingratitude to the God of their mercies Not that the other motives are to be laid aside and slighted Mint and Cummin may be tithed but the weightier concerns are not to be omitted But this shews that self is the Byas not only of men in their own course but in their dealings with others What should be subordinate to the Honour of God and the Duty we owe to him is made superior 3. 'T is evident In performing Duties meerly for a selfish Interest Making our selves the End of Religious Actions paying a Homage to that while we pretend to render it to God Zach. 7.5 Did you at all fast unto me even unto me Things ordained by God may fall in with carnal ends affected by our selves and then Religion is not kept up by any interest of God in the Conscience but the interest of self in the Heart We then sanctifie not the Name of God in the Duty but gratifie our selves God may be the Object self is the End and a Heavenly Object is made subservient to a Carnal Design Hypocrisie passes a Complement on God and is called Flattery Psal 78.36 They did flatter him with their lips c. They gave him a parcel of good words for their own preservation Flattery in the old Notion among the Heathens is a Vice more peculiar to serve our own turn and purvey for the Belly They knew they could not subsist without God and therefore gave him a parcel of good words that he might spare them and make Provision for them Israel is an empty Vine * Hos 10.1 a Vine say some with large Branches and few Clusters but brings forth Fruit to himself while they professed Love to God with their lips It was that God should promote their covetous designs and preserve their Wealth and Grandeur * Ezek. 33.31 In which respect an Hypocrite may be well termed a Religious Atheist an Atheist maskt with Religion The chief Arguments which prevail with many men to perform some Duties and appear Religious are the same that Hamor and Shechem used to the people of their City to submit to Circumcision viz. the ingrossing of more Wealth Gen. 34.21 22. If every Male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised shall not their Cattel and their Substance and every Beast of theirs be ours This is seen 1. In unweildiness to Religious Duties where self is not concern'd With what lively thoughts will many approach to God when a Revenue may be brought in to support their own ends But when the Concerns of God only are in it the Duty is not the Delight but the Clogg such feeble Devotions that warm not the Soul unless there be somthing of self to give strength and heat to them Jonah was sick of his work and run from God because he thought he should get no honour by his Message Gods Mercy would discredit his Prophecy * Johuah 4.2 Thoughts of disadvantage cut the very sinews of service You may as well perswade a Merchant to venture all his Estate upon the inconstant Waves without hopes of Gain as prevail with a natural man to be serious in Duty without expectation of some warm Advantage What profit should we have if we pray to him is the natural Question Job 21.15 What profit shall I have if I be cleansed from my Sin Job 35.3 I shall have more good by my sin than by my service 'T is for God that I dance before the Ark saith David therefore I will be more vile 2 Sam. 6.2 T is for self that I pray saith a natural Man therefore I will be more Warm and quick Ordinances of God are observed only as a point of interest and Prayer is often most fervent when it is least Godly and most selfish Carnal Ends and Affections will pour out lively Expressions If there be no delight in the means that lead to God there is no delight in God himself Because Love is appetitus unionis a desire of Union and where the Object is desireable the means that brings us to it would be delightful too 2. In calling upon God only in a time of necessity How officious will men be in affliction to that God whom they neglect in their Prosperity When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and inquired after God and they remembred that God was their Rock Psal 78.34 They remembred him under the Scourge and forgate him under his Smiles They visit the Throne of Grace knock loud at Heavens Gates and give God no rest for their early and importunate Devotions when under Distress But when their desires are answered and the Rod removed they stand aloof from him and rest upon their own bottom as Jer. 2.31 We are Lords we will come no more unto thee When we have need of him he shall find us Clients at his Gate and when we have served our turn he hears no more of us Like Noahs Dove sent out of the Ark that returned to him when she found no rest on the Earth but came not back when she found a footing else where How often do men apply themselves to God when they have some business for him to do for them And then too they are loath to put it solely into his hand to manage it for his own honour but they presume to be his Directors that he may manage it for their glory Self spurrs men on to the Throne of Grace they desire to be furnisht with some Mercy they want or to have the Clouds of some Judgments which they fear blown over This is not affection to God but to our selves As the Romans worshipped a Quartane Ague as a Goddess and Timorem Pallorem Fear and Paleness as Gods not out of any affection they had to the Disease or the Passion but for fear to receive any hurt by them Again when we have gained the Mercy we need how little do we warm our Souls with the consideration of that God that gave it or lay out the Mercy in his service We are importunate to have him our friend in our necessities and are ungratefully careles of him and his injuries he suffers by us or others When he hath discharged us from the Rock where we stuck we leave him as having no more need of him and able to do well enough without him As if we were petty Gods our selves and only wanted a lift from him at first This is not to glorifie God as God but as our Servant not an honouring of God but a self seeking He would hardly begg at Gods door if he could pleasure himself without him 3. In begging his Assistance to our own Projects When we
is no relation one man can stand in to another wherein God doth not more highly appear to man If we abhor the unworthy carriage of a Child to a tender Father a Servant to an indulgent Master a Man to his obliging Friend why do men dayly act that towards God which they cannot speak of without abhorrency if acted by another against man I God a being less to be regarded than man and more worthy of contempt than a Creature * Reynolds It would be strange if a benefactor should live in the same Town in the same house with us and we never exchange a word with him yet this is our case who have the works of God in our eyes the goodness of God in our being the mercy of God in our daily food yet think so little of him converse so little with him serve every thing before him and prefer every thing above him Whence have we our mercies but from his hand Who besides him maintains our breath this moment Would he call for our Spirits this moment they must depart from us to attend his Command There is not a moment wherein our unworthy carriage is not aggravated because there is not a moment wherein he is not our guardian and gives us not tasts of a fresh bounty And it is no light aggravation of our Crime that we injure him without whose bounty in giving us our being we had not been capable of casting contempt upon him That he that hath the greatest stamp of his Image Man should deserve the Character of the worst of his Rebels That he who hath only reason by the gift of God to Judge of the equity of the Laws of God should swel against them as greivous and the Government of the Lawgiver as burdensome Can it lessen the crime to use the principle wherein we excel the beasts to the disadvantage of God who endowed us with that principle above the beasts 1. T is a debasing of God beyond what the Devil doth at present He is more excusable in his present state of acting than man is in his present refusing God for his Rule and End He strives against a God that exerciseth upon him a vindictive Justice We debase a God that loads us with his dayly mercies The despairing Devils are excluded from any mercy or divine patience But we are not only under the long suffering of his patience but the large expressions of his bounty He would not be governed by him when he was only his bountiful Creator We refuse to be guided by him after he hath given us the blessing of Creation from his own hand and the more obliging blessings of Redemption by the hand and blood of his Son It cannot be imagined that the Devils and the damned should ever make God their end since he hath assured them he will not be their happiness and shut up all his perfections from their experimental notice but those of his power to preserve them and his Justice to punish them They have no grant from God of ever having a heart to comply with his Will or ever having the honour to be actively employed for his glory They have some plea for their present contempt of God not in regard of his nature for he is infinitely amiable excellent and lovely but in regard of his administration towards them But what plea can Man have for his Practical Atheism who lives by his power is sustained by his bounty and sollicited by his Spirit What an ungrateful thing is it to put off the nature of Man for that of Devils and dishonour God under mercy as the Devils do under his wrathful anger 2. T is an ungratefull contempt of God who cannot be injurious to us He cannot do us wrong because he cannot be unjust Gen. 18.25 Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right His nature doth as much abhorr unrighteousnes as love a Communicative goodness He never Commanded any thing but what was highly conducible to the happiness of man Infinite goodness can no more injure man than it can dishonour it self It lays out it self in additions of kindness and whiles we debase him he continues to benefit us And is it not an unparalleld ingratitude to turn our backs upon an object so lovely an object so loving in the midst of varieties of allurements from him God did Create intellectual Creatures Angels and Men that he might Communicate more of himself and his own goodness and holiness to man than Creatures of a lower rank were capable of What do we do by rejecting him as our Rule and End but cross as much as in us lies Gods end in our Creation and shut our Souls against the Communications of those perfections he was so willing to bestow We use him as if he intended us the greatest wrong when t is impossible for him to do any to any of his Creatures 3. Consider the misery which will attend such a temper if it continue predominant Those that thrust God away as their happiness and end can expect no other but to be thrust away by him as to any relief and Compassion A distance from God here can look for nothing but a remoteness from God hereafter When the Devil a Creature of vast Endowments would advance himself above God and instruct man to commit the same sin he is Cursed above all Creatures * Gen. 3.14 When we will not acknowledge him a God of all glory we shall be separated from him as a God of all comfort All they that are afar off shall perish Psa 73.27 This is the spring of all woe What the Prodigal suffered was because he would leave his Father and live of himself Whosoever is ambitious to be his own Heaven will it last find his Soul to become its own Hell As it loved all things for it self so it shall be grieved with all things for it self As it would be its own God against the right of God it shall then be its own tormenter by the Justice of God 2. Duty Watch against this Atheism and be dayly employed in the mortification of it In every action we should make the inquiry what is the rule I observe Is it Gods Will or my own Whether do my intentions tend to set up God or self As much as we destroy this we abate the power of sin These two things are the head of the Serpent in us which we must be bruising by the power of the Cross Sin is nothing else but a turning from God and centring in self and most in the inferior part of self If we bend our force against those two self-Will and self-Ends we shall intercept Atheism at the Spring head take away that which doth constitute and animate all sin The sparks must vanish if the fire be quencht which affords them fuel They are but two short things to ask in every undertaking Is God my Rule in regard of his Will Is God my End in regard of his glory All
his Seal nor can any raze it out * Turretin's Sermons p. 3â—2 When the Church is either scatter'd like Dust by Persecution or over-grown with Superstition and Idolatry that there is scarce any grain of true Religion appearing as in the time of Elijah who complain'd that he was left alone as if the Church had been rooted out of that corner of the World * 1 Kings 19.14 18. yet God knew that he had a number fed in a Cave and had reserved seven thousand Men that had preserved the purity of his Worship and not bow'd their knee to Baal Christ knew his Sheep as well as he is known of them yea better than they can know him * John 10.14 History acquaints us that Cyrus had so vast a memory that he knew the name of every particular Souldier in his Army which consisted of diverse Nations Shall it be too hard for an infinite Understanding to know every one of that Host that march under his Banners may he not as well know them as know the number qualities influences of those Stars which lie conceal'd from our Eye as well as those that are visible to our Sense Yes he knows them as a General to employ them as a Shepherd to preserve them He knows them in the World to guard them and he knows them when they are out of the World to gather them and cull out their Bodies though wrapped up in a Cloud of the putrified Carcases of the Wicked As he knew them from all Eternity to elect them so he knows them in time to cloth their Persons with Righteousness to protect their Persons in Calamity according to his good pleasure and at last to raise and reward them according to his Promise 4. We may take Comfort from hence That our sincerity cannot be unknown to an infinite Vnderstanding Not a way of the Righteous is conceal'd from him and therefore they shall stand in Judgment before him * Psal 1.6 The Lord knows the way of the Righteous He knows them to observe them and he knows them to Reward them How comfortable is it to appeal to this Attribute of God for our integrity with Hezekiah 2 Kings 20.3 Remember Lord how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart Christ himself is brought in in this Prophetical Psalm drawing out the Comfort of this Attribute Psal 40.9 I have not restrain'd my Lips Oh Lord thou knowest meaning his faithfulness in declaring the Righteousness of God Job follows the same steps Also now behold my Record is in Heaven and my Witness is on high * Job 16 1â— My Innocence hath the Testimony of Men but my greatest support is in the Records of God Also now or besides the Testimony of my own Heart I have another Witness in Heaven that knows the Heart and can only judge of the principles of my actions and clear me from the scorns of my Friends and the accusations of Men with a justification of my Innocence He repeats it twice to take the greater comfort in it God knows that we do that in the simplicity of our Hearts which may be judged by Men to be done for unworthy and sordid ends He knows not only the outward action but the inward affection and praises that which Men often dispraise and writes down that with an Euge Well done good and faithful Servant which Men daube with their severest Censures * Rom. 2.29 How refreshing is it to consider that God never mistakes the appearance for reality nor is lead by the judgment of Man He sits in Heaven and laughs at their follies and Censures If God had no sounder and no more piercing a Judgment than Man woe be to the sincerest Souls that are often judged Hypocrites by some What a happiness is it for Integrity to have a Judge of infinite Understanding who will one day wipe off the durt of Worldly Reproaches Again God knows the least dram of Grace and Righteousness in the Hearts of his People though but as a smoking Flax or the least bruise of a saving conviction * Mat. 12.20 and knows it so as to cherish it he knows that work he hath begun and never hath his Eye off from it to abandon it 5. The consideration of this excellent Perfection in God may comfort us in our secret Prayers sighs and works If God were not of infinite Understanding to pierce into the Heart what comfort hath a poor Creature that hath a scantiness of Expressions but a Heart in a flame If God did not understand the Heart Faith and Prayer which are internal works would be in vain How could he give that Mercy our Hearts plead for if he were ignorant of our inward Affections Hypocrites might scale Heaven by lofty Expressions and a Sincere Soul come short of the happiness he is prepared for for want of flourishing Gifts Prayer is an internal work words are but the Garment of Prayer Meditation is the Body and Affection the Soul and Life of Prayer Give Ear to my words Oh Lord consider my Meditation * Psal 5.1 Prayer is a Rational act an act of the mind not the act of a Parrot Prayer is an act of the Heart though the speaking Prayer is the work of the Tongue Now God gives Ear to the words but he considers the Meditation the frame of the Heart Consideration is a more exact notice than hearing the act only of the Ear. Were not God of an infinite Understanding and Omniscient he might take fine Clothes a heap of Garments for the Man himself and be put off by glittering words without a Spiritual Frame What matter of rejoycing is it that we call not upon a deaf and ignorant Idol but on one that listens to our secret Petitions to give them a dispatch that knows our desires afar off and from the infiniteness of his Mercy joyn'd with his Omniscience stands ready to give us a return Hath he not a Book of Remembrance for them that fear him and for their sighs and ejaculations to him as well as their discourses of him * Mal. 3.16 and not only what Prayers they utter but what gracious and holy thoughts they have of him That thought upon his Name Though millions of supplications be put up at the same time yet they have all a distinct File as I may say in an infinite Understanding which perceives and comprehends them all As he observes millions of Sins committed at the same time by a vast number of Persons to Record them in order to Punishment so he distinctly discerns an infinite number of Cries at the same moment to Register them in order to an Answer A sigh cannot scape an infinite Understanding though crowded among a mighty multitude of Cries from others or cover'd with many unwelcome distractions in our selves no more than a believing touch from the Woman that had the Bloudy Issue could be conceal'd from Christ and be undiscern'd from the press of
incourage our Obedience as to illustrate his Glory We cannot conceive â—hat could be done greater for the salvation of our Souls and consequently what could have been done more to enforce our observance We have a Redeemer as man to copy it to us and as God to perfect us in it It would make the heart of any to tremble to wound him that hath provided such a salve for our Sores and to make Grace a warrant for Rebellion Motives capable to form Rocks into a flexibleness Thus is the Wisdom of God seen in giving us a ground of the surest confidence and furnishing us with incentives to the greatest Obedience by the horrors of wrath death and sufferings of our Saviour 8. The Wisdom of God is apparent in the Condition he hath settled for the enjoying the fruits of Redemption and this is faith a wise and reasonable Condition And the concomitants of it 1. In that it is suted to mans lapsed state and Gods Glory Innocence is not required here that had been a Condition impossible in its own nature after the Fall The rejecting of Mercy is now only condemning where mercy is proposed Had the Condition of Perfection in Works been required it had rather been a condemnation than redemption Works are not demanded whereby the Creature might ascribe any thing to himself but a Condition which continues in man a sense of his Apostacy abates all aspiring Pride and makes the reward of Grace not of Debt A Condition whereby Mercy is owned and the Creature emptied Flesh silenc'd in the Dust and God set upon his Throne of Grace and Authority The Creature brought to the lowest debasement and Divine Glory raised to the highest pitch The Creature is brought to acknowledge Mercy and seal to Justice to own the Holiness of God in the hatred of sin the Justice of God in the Punishment of sin and the Mercy of God in the pardoning of sin A condition that despoils Nature of all its pretended excellency Beats down the glory of man at the foot of God 1 Cor. 1.29.31 It subjects the Reason and Will of man to the Wisdom and Authority of God it brings the Creature to an unreserved submission and intire resignation God is made the Soveraign Cause of all the Creature continued in his emptiness and reduced to a greater dependance upon God than by a Creation depending upon him for a constant influx for an intire happiness A Condition that renders God glorious in the Creature and the fallen creature happy in God God glorious in his Condescension to Man and Man happy in his emptiness before God Faith is made the Condition of mans recovery that the lofty looks of man might be humbled and the haughtiness of man be pulled down Isa 2.11 that every towring imagination might be levelled 2. Cor. 10.5 Man must have all from without doors he must not live upon himself but upon anothers allowance He must stand to the provision of God and be a perpetual Sutor at his Gates 2. A Condition opposite to that which was the cause of the Fall We fell from God an unbelief of the Threatning he recovers us by a belief of the Promise by Unbelief we laid the Foundation of Gods dishonour by Faith therefore God exalts the Glory of his free Grace We lost our selves by a desire of self dependence and our return is ordered by a way of self-emptiness 'T is reasonable we should be restored in a way contrary to that whereby we fell We sinned by a refusal of cleaving to God t is a part of divine Wisdom to restore us in a denial of our own righteousness and strength * Laud against Fisher p. 5. Man having sinned by Pride the Wisdom of God humbles him saith one at the very root of the Tree of Knowledge and makes him deny his own Vnderstanding and submit to Faith or else for ever to lose his desired Felicity 3. It is a Condition suted to the Common Sentiment and custome of the World There is more of belief than reason in the World All Instructers and Masters in Sciences and Arts require first a belief in their Disciples and a resignation of their Understandings and Wills to them And it is the Wisdom of God to require that of man which his own reason makes him submit to another which is his fellow Creature He therefore that quarrels with the Condition of Faith must quarrel with all the World since Belief is the beginning of all Knowledge †Bradward p. 28. yea and most of the Knowledge in the World may rather come under the title of Belief than of Knowledge For what we think we know this day we may find from others such Arguments as may stagger our Knowledge and make us doubt of that we thought our selves certain of before Nay sometimes we change our Opinions our Selves without anâ— Instructor and see a reason to entertain an Opinion quite contrary to what we had before And if we found a general Judgment of others â—o vote against what we think we know it would make us give the less Credit to our selves and our own Sentiments All Knowledge in the World is only a belief depending upon the testimony or arguings of others for indeed it may be said of all men as in Job 8. Job 9. We are but of yesterday and know nothing Since therefore Belief is so universal a thing in the World the Wisdom of God requires that of us which every man must count reasonable or render himself utterly ignorant of any thing It is a Condition that is common to all Religions All Religions are Founded upon a Belief Unless men did believe future things they would not hope nor fear A Belief and Resignation was required in all the Idolatries in the World so that God requires nothing but what a universal custome of the World gives its suffrage to the reasonableness of Indeed justifying Faith is not suted to the Sentiments of men but that Faith which must precede iustifying a beliefe of the Doctrine though not comprehended by Reason is common to the custome of the World * Jâ—neway p. 88. 'T is no less madness not to submit our Reason to Faith than not to regulate our Fancies by Reason 4. This Condition of Faith and Repentances is suted to the Conscience of Men. The Law of Nature teaches us thâ—t we are bound to believe every revelation from God when it is made known to us And not only to assent to it as true but embrace it as good This Nature dictates that we are as much obligeâ— to believe God because of his Truth as to love him because of his Goodness Every mans Reason tells him he cannot obey a Precept nor depend upon a Promise unless he believes both the one and the other No man's Conscience but will inform him upon hearing the revelation of God concerning his excellent contrivance of Redemption and the way to Enjoy it that it is very reasonable he should strip off
that is none can The Text is a lofty declaration of the Divine Power with a particular note of Attention Loe. 1. In the expressions of it in the works of Creation and Providence Loe these are his ways Ways and Works excelling any created strength referring to the little summary of them he had made before 2. In the Insufficiency of these ways to measure his Power but how little a portion is heard of him 3. In the Incomprehensibleness of it The thunder of his Power who can understand Doct. Infinite and Incomprehensible Power pertains to the Nature of God and is exprest in part in his Works or Though there be a mighty expression of Divine Power in his Works yet an Incomprehensible Power pertains to his Nature The thunder of his Power who can understand His Power glitters in all his Works as well as his Wisdom Psal 62.11 Twice have I heard this that Power belongs unto God In the Law and in the Prophets say some But why Power twice and not Mercy which he speaks of in the following Verse He had heard of Power twice from the voice of Creation and from the voice of Government Mercy was heard in Government after Man's Fall not in Creation Innocent man was an object of Gods goodness not of his Mercy till he made himself miserable Power was exprest in both or Twice have I heard that Power belongs to God that is it is a certain and undoubted Truth that Power is essential to the Divine Nature 'T is true Mercy is essential Justice is essential but Power more apparently essential because no acts of Mercy or Justice or Wisdom can be exercised by him without Power The repetition of a thing confirms the certainty of it Some observe that God is called Almighty Seventy times in Scripture * Lessius de perfect Divin lib. 5. cap. 1. Though his Power be evident in all his Works yet he hath a Power beyond the expression of it in his Works which as it is the glory of his Nature so it is the comfort of a Believer To which purpose the Apostle expresseth it by an excellent Periphrasis for the honour of the Divine Nature Eph. 3.20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think unto him be glory in the Churches We have reason to acknowledge him Almighty who hath a Power of acting above our power of understanding Who could have imagin'd such a powerful operation in the propagation of the Gospel and the Conversion of the Gentiles which the Apostle seems to hint at in that place His Power is exprest by Horns in his hands Hab. 3.4 because all the Works of his hands are wrought with Almighty strength Power is also used as a Name of God Mark 14.62 The Son of Man sitting on the right hand of Power that is at the right hand of God God and Power are so inseparable that they are reciprocated As his Essence is Immense not to be confin'd in Place as it is Eternal not to be measur'd by Time so it is Almighty not to be limited in regard of Action 1. 'T is Ingeniously illustrated by some by a Vnit †Fotherby Atheomastic p. 306 307. all Numbers depend upon it it makes Numbers by Addition Multiplies them unexpressibly when one Unit is removed from a Number how vastly doth it diminish it It gives perfection to all other Numbers it receives perfection from none If you add a Unit before 100 how doth it multiply it to 1100 If you set a Unit before twenty Millions it presently makes the Number swell up to an hundred and twenty Millions and so powerful is a Unit by adding it to Numbers that it will infinitely inlarge them to such a vastness that shall transcend the capacity of the best Arithmetician to count them By such a Meditation as this you may have some prospect of the Power of that God who is only Unity the Beginning of all things as a Unit is the beginning of all Numbers and can perform as many things really as a Unit can numerically that is can do as much in the making of Creatutes as a Unit can do in the multiplying of Numbers The Omnipotence of God was scarce denied by any Heathen that did not deny the Being of a God and that was Pliny and that upon weak Arguments 2. Indeed we cannot have a conception of God if we conceive him not most Powerful as well as most Wise He is not a God that cannot do what he will and perform all his pleasure If we imagine him restrain'd in his Power we imagine him limited in his Essence As he hath an infinite Knowledge to know what is possible he cannot be without an infinite Power to do what is possible As he hath a Will to resolve what he sees good so he cannot want a Power to effect what he sees good to decree As the Essence of a Creature cannot be conceiv'd without that activity that belongs to his nature as when you conceive Fire you cannot conceive it without a power of burning and warming and when you conceive Water you cannot conceive it without a power of moistning and cleansing So you cannot conceive an Infinite Essence without an Infinite Power of activity And therefore a Heathen could say If you know God you know he can do all things and therefore saith Austin Give me not only a Christian but a Jew not only a Jew but a Heathen that will deny God to be Almighty A Jew a Heathen may deny Christ to be Omnipotent but no Heathen will deny God to be Omnipotent and no Devil will deny either to be so God cannot be conceiv'd without some Power for then he must be conceiv'd without Action Whos 's then are those products and effects of Power which are visible to us in the World to whom do they belong who is the Father of them God cannot be conceiv'd without a Power suitable to his Nature and Essence if we imagine him to be of an Infinite Essence we must imagine him to be of an Infinite Power and Strength In particular I shall shew 1. The Nature of God's Power 2. Reasons to prove that God must needs be Powerful 3. How his Power appears in Creation in Government in Redemption 4. The Vse I. What this Power is or the Nature of it 1. Power sometimes signifies Authority And a Man is said to be Mighty and Powerful in regard of his Dominion and the right he hath to Command multitudes of other persons to take his part but Power taken for Strength and Power taken for Authority are distinct things and may be separated from one another Power may be without Authority as in successful Invasions that have no just foundation Authority may be without Power as in a Just Prince expell'd by an unjust Rebellion the Authority resides in him though he be over-power'd and is destitute of Strength to support and exercise that Authority The Power
yet doth not make it so Justice supposeth an object Criminal but doth not constitute it so Mercy supposeth him Miserable to relieve him Justice supposeth him Criminal to punish him but Power supposeth not a thing in real existence but as possible or rather it is from Power that any thing hath a possibility if there be no repugnancy in the nature of the thing Again Power extends further than either Mercy or Justice Mercy hath particular Objects which Justice shall not at last be willing to punish and Justice hath particular Objects which Mercy at last shall not be willing to refresh but Power doth and alway will extend to the Objects of both Mercy and Justice A Creature as a Creature is neither the object of Mercy nor Justice nor of Rewarding Goodness A Creature as Innocent is the Object of Rewarding Goodness a Creature as Miserable is the Object of Compassionate Mercy a Creature as Criminal is the Object of Revenging Justice but all of them the Objects of Power in conjunction with those Attributes of Goodness Mercy and Justice to which they belong All the Objects that Mercy and Justice and Truth and Wisdom exercise themselves about have a possibility and an actual Being from thâ—s perfection of Divine Power 'T is Power first frames a Creature in a capacity of Nature for Mercy or Justice though it doth not give an immediate qualification for the exercise of either Power makes Man a Rational Creature and so confers upon him a Nature mutable which may be Miserable by its own fault and punishable by Gods Justice or pityable by Gods Compassion and relievable by Gods Mercy but it doth not make him Sinful whereby he becomes miserable and punishable Again Power runs through all the degrees of the states of a Creature As a thing is possible or may be made 't is the Object of Absolute Power as it is factibile or ordered to be made 't is the Object of Ordinate Power As a thing is actually made and brought into Being it is the Object of Preserving Power So that Power doth stretch out its Arms to all the Works of God in all their Circumstances and at all Times When Mercy ceaseth to relieve a Creature when Justice ceaseth to punish a Creature Power ceaseth not to preserve a Creature The Blessed in Heaven that are out of the reach of punishing Justice are for ever maintained by Power in that Blessed Condition the Damned in Hell that are cast out of the Bosom of Intreating Mercy are for ever sustain'd in those remediless Torments by the Arm of Power 6. This Power is Originally and Essentially in the Nature of God and not distinct from his Essence 'T is Originally and Essentially in God The strength and power of Great Kings is originally in their People and managed and ordered by the Authority of the Prince for the Common good Though a Prince hath Authority in his Person to Command yet he hath not sufficient Strength in his Person without the Assistance of Others to make his Commands to be obeyed He hath not a single Strength in his own Person to conquer Countries and Kingdoms and increase the Number of his Subjects He must make use of the Arms of his own Subjects to over-run other places and yoke them under his Dominion But the Power of all things that ever were are or shall be is Originally and Essentially in God 'T is not deriv'd from any thing without him as the Power of the greatest Potentates in the World is Therefore Psal 62.11 it is said Power belongs unto God that is solely and to none else He hath a Power to make his Subjects and as many as he pleases to create Worlds to enjoyn Precepts to execute Penalties without calling in the strength of his Creatures to his Aid The Strength that the Subjects of a Mortal Prince have is not deriv'd to them from the Prince though the Exercise of it for this or that end is ordered and directed by the Authority of the Prince But what Strength soever any thing hath to act as a Means it hath from the Power of God as Creator as well as whatsoever Authority it hath to act is from God as a Rector and Governour of the World God hath a Strength to act without Means and no Means can act any thing without his Power and Strength communicated to them As the Clouds in the 8th Verse before the Text are called Gods Clouds his Clouds So all the Strength of Creatures may be called and truly is Gods Strength and Power in them a drop of Power shot down from Heaven originally only in God Creatures have but a little Mite of Power somewhat communicated to them somewhat kept and reserved from them of what they are capable to possess They have limited Natures and therefore a limited Sphere of Activity Clothes can warm us but not feed us Bread can nourish us but not cloath us One Plant hath a Medicinal quality against one Disease another against another but God is the possessor of Universal Power the Common Exchequer of this Mighty Treasure He acts by Creatures as not needing their power but deriving power to them What he acts by them he could act himself without them And what they act as from themselves is derived to them from Him through Invisible Chanels And hence it will follow that because Power is Essentially in God more Operations of God are possible than are exerted And as Power is Essentially in God so it is not distinct from his Essence It belongs to God in regard of the unconceivable Excellency and Activity of his Essence †Ratione summae actualitatis essentiae Suarez vol. 1. p. 150 151. And Omnipotence is nothing but the Divine Essence efficacious ad extra 'T is his Essence as operative and the immediate principle of Operation As the power of Enlightning in the Sun and the power of Heating in the Fire are not things distinct from the Nature of them but the Nature of the Sun bringing forth Light and the Nature of the Fire bringing forth Heat The power of Acting is the same with the Substance of God though the Action from that Power be terminated in the Creature If the Power of God were distinct from his Essence he were then compounded of Substance and Power and would not be the most Simple Being As when the Understanding is inform'd in several parts of Knowledge it is skill'd in the Government of Cities and Countries it knows this or that Art It Learns Mathematicks Philosophy this or that Science The Understanding hath a power to do this but this power whereby it Learns those Excellent things and brings forth Excellent Births is not a thing distinct from the Understanding it self we may rather call it the Understanding powerful than the Power of the Understanding and so we may rather say God powerful than say the Power of God because his Power is not distinct from his Essence From both these it will
in Scripture the strongest Affirmations or Negations 'T is here a strong affirmation of the Incomparableness of God and a strong denial of the worthiness of all Creatures to be partners with him in the degrees of his Excellency 'T is a preference of God before all Creatures in Holiness to which the purity of Creatures is but a shadow in desert of Reverence and Veneration he being Fearful in praises The Angels cover their Faces when they adore him in his particular Perfections Amongst the gods Among the Idols of the Nations say some Others say * River 'T is not to be found that the Heathen Idols are ever dignified with the Title of Strong or Mighty as the word translated Gods doth import and therefore understand it of the Angels or other Potentates of the World or rather inclusively of all that are noted for and can lay claim to the Title of Strength and Might upon the Earth or in Heaven God is so great and Majestick that no Creature can share with him in his Praise Fearful in praises Various are the Interpretations of this passage To be reverenc'd in praises his Praise ought to be celebrated with a Religious Fear Fear is the product of his Mercy as well as his Justice He hath forgiveness that he may be feared Psal 130.4 Or Fearful in praises whom none can praise without Amazement at the considerations of his works †Calvin None can truly praise him without being affected with Astonishment at his Greatness Or Fearful in praises | Munster whom no Mortal can sufficiently praise since he is above all Praise Whatsoever a Human Tongue can speak or an Angelical Understanding think of the Excellency of his Nature and the Greatness of his Works falls short of the vastness of the Divine Perfection A Creatures Praises of God are as much below the transcendent Eminency of God as the meaness of a Creatures Being is below the Eternal Fulness of the Creator Or rather Fearful or Terrible in praises that is in the Matter of thy Praise And the Learned Rivet concurs with me in this sense The Works of God celebrated in this Song were Terrible It was the Miraculous overthrow of the Strength and Flower of a Mighty Nation His Judgments were severe as well as his Mercy was seasonable The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Glorious and Illustrious as well as Terrible and Fearful No Man can hear the Praise of thy Name for those great Judicial Acts without some Astonishment at thy Justice the stream and thy Holiness the Spring of those Mighty Works This seems to be the sense of the following words Doing wonders Fearful in the Matter of thy Praise they being Wonders which thou hast done among us and for us Doing wonders Congealing the Waters by a Wind to make them stand like Walls for the rescue of the Israelites and melting them by a Wind for the overthrow of the Egyptians are Prodigies that challenge the greatest Adorations of that Mercy which delivered the one and that Justice which punished the other and of the Arm of that Power whereby he effected both his Gracious and his Righteous Purposes Doctr. Whence observe That the Judgments of God upon his Enemies as well as his Mercies to his People are matter of Praise The Perfections of God appear in both Justice and Mercy are so linkt together in his acts of Providence that the one cannot be forgotten whiles the other is acknowledged He is never so Terrible as in the Assemblies of his Saints and the Deliverance of them Psal 89.7 As the Creation was erected by him for his Glory so all the Acts of his Government are design'd for the same end And his Creatures deny him his due if they acknowledge not his Excellency in whatsoever dreadful as well as pleasing Garbs it appears in the World His Terror as well as his Righteousness appears when he is a God of Salvation Psal 65.5 By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us oh God of our Salvation But the Expression I pitch upon in the Text to handle is Glorious in Holiness He is Magnified or Honourable in Holiness so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is translated Isai 42.21 He will magnifie the Law and make it honourable Thy Holiness hath shone forth admirably in this last Exploit against the Enemies and Oppressors of thy People The Holiness of God is his Glory as his Grace is his Riches Holiness is his Crown and his Mercy is his Treasure This is the Blessedness and Nobleness of his Nature it renders him Glorious in himself and Glorious to his Creatures that understand any thing of this lovely Perfection Doctr. Holiness is a glorious Perfection belonging to the Nature of God Hence he is in Scripture styled often the Holy one the Holy one of Jacob the Holy one of Israel and oftner entituled Holy than Almighty and set forth by this part of his Dignity more than by any other This is more affix'd as an Epithete to his Name than any other You never find it exprest his Mighty Name or his Wise Name but his Great Name and most of all his Holy Name This is his greatest Title of Honour in this doth the Majesty and Venerableness of his Name appear When the Sinfulness of Senacherib is aggravated the Holy Ghost takes the rise from this Attribute 2 Kings 19.22 Thou hast lift up thine eyes on high even against the Holy one of Israel not against the Wise Mighty c. but against the Holy one of Israel as that wherein the Majesty of God was most illustrious 'T is upon this account he is called Light as Impurity is called Darkness both in this sense are opposed to one another He is a pure and unmixt Light free from all blemish in his Essence Nature and Operations 1. Heathens have own'd it Proclus calls him the Vndefiled Governour of the World * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Poetical Transformations of their False gods and the Extravagancies committed by them was in the account of the wisest of them an unholy thing to report and hear †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ammon in Plut. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Delphos p. 393. ‖ Gassend Tom. 1. Phys §. 1. lib. 4. cap. 2. p. 289. And some vindicate Epicurus from the Atheism wherewith he was commonly charged that he did not deny the Being of God but those Adulterous and contentious Deities the People worshipped which were Practises unworthy and unbecoming the Nature of God Hence they asserted that Vertue was an Imitation of God and a Vertuous Man bore a resemblance to God If Vertue were a Copy from God a greater Holiness must be owned in the Original And when some of them were at a loss how to free God from being the Author of Sin in the World they ascribe the birth of Sin to Matter and run into an absurd Opinion fancying it to be uncreated that thereby they might exempt God from
God speaking of the opposite to it the Vncleaness and Prophaness of the Gentiles We are only alienated from that which we are bound to imitate but this is the Perfection alway set out as the Pattern of our Actions Be you holy as I am Holy no other is proposed as our Copy Alienated from that Purity of God which is as much as his Life without which he could not live If he were stript of this he would be a dead God more than by the want of any other Perfection His Swearing by it intimates as much He Swears often by his own Life As I live saith the Lord so he Swears by his Holiness as if it were his Life and more his Life than any other Let me not live or Let me not be Holy are all one in his Oath His Deity could not outlive the Life of his Purity II. As it seems to challenge an Excellency above all his other Perfections so 't is the glory of all the rest As it is the glory of the Godhead so 't is the glory of every Perfection in the Godhead As his Power is the Strength of them so his Holiness is the Beauty of them As all would be weak without Almightiness to back them so all would be uncomly without Holiness to adorn them Should this be sullied all the rest would lose their Honour and their comfortable Efficacy As at the same instant that the Sun should lose its Light it would lose its Heat its Strength its generative and quickening virtue As Sincerity is the lustre of every Grace in a Christian so is Purity the splendor of every Attribute in the Godhead His Justice is a holy Justice his Wisdom a holy Wisdom his Arm of Power a Holy Arm Psal 98.1 his Truth or Promise a Holy Promise Psal 105.42 Holy and True go hand in hand Revel 6.10 His Name which signifies all his Attributes in conjunction is Holy Psal 103.1 Yea he is Râ—ghteous in all his waies and Holy in all his works Psal 145 17. 'T is the Rule oâ— all his Acts the Source of all his Punishments If every Attribute of the Deity were a distinct Member Purity would be the Form the Soul the Spirit to animate them Without it his Patience would be an Indulgence to Sin his Mercy a Fondness his Wrath a Madness his Power a Tyranny his Wisdom an unworthy Subtilty 'T is this gives a Decorum to all His Mercy is not exercis'd without it since he pardons none but those that have an Interest by Union in the Obedience of a Mediator which was so delightful to his Infinite Purity His Justice which Guilty man is apt to tax with Cruelty and Violence in the exercise of it is not acted out of the compass of this Rule In Acts of Mans vindictive Justice there is something of Impurity Perturbation Passion some mixture of Cruelty but none of these fall upon God in the severest Acts of Wrath. When God appears to Ezekiel in the resemblance of Fire to signifie his Anger against the House of Judah for their Idolatry from his Loyns downward there was the appearance of Fire but from the Loyns upward the appearance of Brightness as the colour of Amber Ezek. 8.2 His Heart is clear in his most Terrible acts of Vengeance 't is a pure Flame wherewith he scorcheth and burns his Enemies He is Holy in the most fiery appearance This Attribute therefore is never so much applauded as when his Sword hath been drawn and he hath manifested the greatest fierceness against his Enemies The Magnificent and Triumphant expression of it in the Text follows just upon Gods Miraculous defeat and ruine of the Egyptian Army The Sea covered them they sank as Lead in the mighty waters Then it follows Who is like unto thee oh Lord glorious in Holiness And when it was so celebrated by the Seraphims Isai 6.3 it was when the Posts moved and the House was filled with smoke v. 4. which are signs of Anger Psal 18.7 8. And when he was about to send Isaiah upon a Message of Spiritual and Temporal Judgments that he would make the heart of that people fat and their ears heavy and their eyes shut waste their Cities without Inhabitant and their Houses without Man and make the Land desolate Verses 9 10 11 12. and the Angels which here applaud him for his Holiness are the Executioners of his Justice and here called Seraphims from burning or fiery Spirits as being the Ministers of his Wrath. His Justice is part of his Holiness whereby he doth reduce into order those things that are out of order When he is consuming Men by his Fury he doth not diminish but manifest Purity Zephany 3.5 The just Lord is in the midst of her he will do no Iniquity Every Action of his is free from all tincture of Evil. 'T is also celebrated with Praise by the four Beasts about his Throne when he appears in a Covenant garb with a Rain-bow about his Throne and yet with Thundrings and Lightnings shot out against his Enemies Revel 4.8 compared with vers 3.5 to shew that all his Acts of Mercy as well as Justice are clear from any stain This is the Crown of all his Attributes the Life of all his Decrees the Brightness of all his Actions Nothing is Decreed by him nothing is acted by him but what is worthy of the Dignity and becoming the Honour of this Attribute For the better understanding this Attribute observe 1. The Nature of this Holiness 2. The Demonstration of it 3. The Purity of his Nature in all his Acts about Sin 4. The Vse of all to our selves First The Nature of Divine Holiness In General The Holiness of God Negatively is a perfect and unpolluted freedom from all Evil. As we call Gold pure that is not embased by any Dross and that Garment clean that is free from any Spot so the Nature of God is estranged from all shadow of Evil all imaginable contagion Positively 'T is the Rectitude or Integrity of the Divine Nature or that conformity of it in Affection and Action to the Divine Will as to his Eternal Law whereby he works with a becomingness to his own Excellency and whereby he hath a delight and complacency in every thing agreeable to his Will and an abhorrency of every thing contrary thereunto As there is no darkness in his Understanding so there is no spot in his Will As his Mind is possessed with all Truth so there is no deviation in his Will from it He loves all Truth and Goodness He hates all falsity and Evil. In regard of his Righteousness he loves Righteousness Psal 11.7 The righteous Lord loveth righteousness and hath no pleasure in wickedness Psal 5.4 He values Purity in his Creatures and detests all Impurity whether inward or outward ‖ Martin de Deo p. 86. We may indeed distinguish the Holiness of God from his Righteousness in our Conceptions Holiness is a Perfection absolutely considered in the Nature
but because it is good and by a Communicated Goodness fitted for such a Production If God had been the Creating Principle of things only as he was a Living Being or as he was an Understanding Being then all things should have partaken of Life and Understanding because all things were to bear some Characters of the Deity upon them If by Understanding solely God were the Creator of all things all things should have born the Mark of the Deity upon them and should have been more or less Understanding but he Created things as he was Good and by Goodness he renders all things more or less like himself Hence every thing is accounted more noble not in regard of its Being but in regard of the beneficialness of its Nature The Being of things was not the End of God in Creating but the Goodness of their Being God did not rest from his Works because they were his Works i. e. because they had a Being but because they had a Good Being * Gen. 1. because they were naturally useful to the Universe Nothing was more pleasing to him than to behold those Shadows and Copies of his own Goodness in his Works 2. Creation was the first act of Goodness without himself †Petav. Theclog Dogmat. Tom. 1. p. 401. When he was alone from Eternity he contented himself with himself abounding in his own Blessedness delighting in that abundance He was incomprehensively rich in the possession of an unstain'd Felicity * Lessius de Perfect div p. 100. This Creation was the first Efflux of his Goodness without himself For the work of Creation cannot be called a work of Mercy Mercy supposeth a Creature miserable but that which hath no Being is subject to no Misery For to be Miserable supposeth a Nature in Being and deprived of that Good which belongs to the pleasure and felicity of Nature but since there was no Being there could be no Misery The Creation therefore was not an act of Mercy but an act of sole Goodness And therefore it was the Speech of an Heathen That when God first set upon the Creation of the World he transform'd himself into Love and Goodness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †Pherecyâ—es This led forth and animated his Power the first moment it drew the Universe out of the Womb of Nothing And 3. There is not one Creature but hath a Character of his Goodness The whole World is a Map to Represent and a Herald to proclaim this Perfection 'T is as difficult not to see something of it in every Creature with the Eye of our Minds as it is not to see the Beams of the Shining Sun with those of our Bodies * Psal 145.9 He is good to all He is therefore good in all Not a drop of the Creation but is a drop of his Goodness These are the Colours worn upon the Heads of every Creature As in every Spark the light of the Fire is manifested so doth every grain of the Creation wear the visible Badges of this Perfection In all the Lights the Father of Lights hath made the riches of Goodness apparent No Creature is silent in it 't is legible to all Nations in every work of his hands That as it is said of Christ †Psal 40.7 In the Volume of thy Book it is written of me In the Volume of the Book of the Scripture 't is written of me and my Goodness in Redemption So it may be said of God In the Volume of the Book of the Creature 't is written of me and my Goodness in Creation Every Creature is a Page in this Book whose Line is gone through all the Earth and their Words to the end of the World * Psal 19.4 Though indeed the less Goodness in some is obscur'd by the more resplendent Goodness he hath imparted unto others What an admirable piece of Goodness is it to communicate Life to a Fly How should we stand gazing upon it till we turn our Eye inwards and view our own Frame which is much more ravishing But let us see the Goodness of God in the Creation of Man 1. In the Being and Nature of Man God hath with a liberal hand conferr'd upon every Creature the best Being it was capable of in that Station and Order and conducing to that end and use in the World he intended it for But when you have run over all the measures of Goodness God hath poured forth upon other Creatures you will find a greater fulness of it in the Nature of Man whom he hath placed in a more Sublime Condition and endued with choicer Prerogatives than other Creatures He was made but little lower than the Angels and much more loftily crown'd with glory and honour than other Creatures †Psal 8 5. Had it not been for Divine Goodness this Excellent Creature had lain wrapt up in the Abyss of nothing Or if he had call'd it out of nothing there might have been less of Skill and less of Goodness display'd in the forming of it and a lesser kind of Being imparted to it than what he hath conferr'd 1. How much of Goodness is visible in his Body God drew out some part of the Dust of the Ground and Copy'd out this Perfection as well as that of his Power on that mean Matter by erecting it into the form of Man quickning that Earth by the Inspiration of a living Soul * Gen. 2.7 Of this Matter he composed an Excellent Body in regard of the Majesty of the Face Erectness of its Stature and Grace of every Part How neatly hath he wrought this Tabernacle of Clay this Earthly House as the Apostle calls it †2 Cor. 5.1 A curious wrought piece of Needle-work a Comely Artifice * Ps 139.15 an Embroyder'd Case for an Harmonious Lute What variety of Members with a due proportion without confusion beautiful to sight excellent for use powerful for strength It hath Eyes to conduct its Motion to serve in Matter for the Food and and delight of the Understanding Ears to let in the pleasure of Sounds to convey Intelligence of the Affairs of the World and the Counsels of Heaven to a more noble Mind It hath a Tongue to Express and sound forth what the learn'd Inhabitant in it thinks and Hands to act what the inward Counsellor directs and Feet to support the Fabrick 'T is temper'd with a kindly Heat and an Oyly Moisture for Motion and endued with conveyances for Air to qualifie the fury of the Heat and Nourishment to supply the decays of Moisture 'T is a Cabinet fitted by Divine Goodness for the enclosing a rich Jewel a Palace made of Dust to lodge in it the Viceroy of the World An Instrument dispos'd for the operations of the Nobler Soul which he intended to unite to that Refined Matter What is there in the situation of every part in the proportion of every Member in the usefulness of every Limb and String to the Offices
Holy Name And because himself and all men were insufficient to offer up a praise to God answerable to the greatness of his benefits he summons in the end of the Psalm the Angels and all Creatures to joyn in consort with him Observe 1. As man is too shallow a Creature to comprehend the excellency of God so he is too dull and scanty a Creature to offer up a due praise to God both in regard of the excellency of his nature and the multitude and greatness of his benefits 2. We are apt to forget divine benefits our Souls must therefore be often jogg'd and rous'd up All that is within me every power of my Rational and every Affection of my Sensitive part All his Faculties all his Thoughts Our Souls will hang back from God in every duty much more in this if we lay not a strict charge upon them We are so void of a pure and intire love to God that we have no mind to those duties Wants will spurr us on to Prayer but a pure love to God can only spirit us to Praise We are more ready to reach out a hand to receive his Mercies than to lift up our heart to recognize them after the receipt After the Psalmist had summoned his own Soul to this task he enumerates the Divine blessings received by him to awaken his soul by a sence of them to so noble a work He begins at the first and foundation Mercy to himself the pardon of his sin and justification of his Person the renewing of his sickly and languishing nature Verse 3. Who forgives all thy iniquities and heals all thy diseases His Redemption from death or Eternal destruction his expected glorification thereupon which he speaks of with that certainty as if it were present V. 4 Who redeems thy life from destruction who Crowns thee with loving kindness and tender Mercies He makes his progress to the mercy manifested to the Church in the protection of it against or delivery of it from oppressions Verse 6. The Lord executeth Righteousness and Judgment for all that are oppressed In the discovery of his Will and Law and the glory of his merciful Name to it Verse 7 8. He made known his ways unto Moses and his acts unto the Children of Israel The Lord is Merciful and Gracious slow to Anger and plenteous in Mercy Which latter words may refer also to the free and unmerited spring of the benefits he had reckoned up Viz. The Mercy of God which he mentions also verse 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities And then extols the perfection of Divine mercy in the pardoning of sin Ver. 11 12. The Paternal tenderness of God Verse 13. The eternity of his Mercy Verse 17. But restrains it to the proper object Verse 11.17 To them that fear him i. e. To them that beleive in him Fear being the word commonly used for Faith in the Old Testament under the legal dispensation wherein the spirit of bondage was more eminent than the spirit of Adoption and their fear more than their confidence Observe 1. All true blessings grow up from the pardon of sin ver 3. Who forgives all thine iniquities That is the first blessing the top and Crown of all other favours which draws all other blessings after it and sweetens all other blessings with it The principal intent of Christ was Expiation of sin Redemption from iniquity the purchase of other blessings was consequent upon it Pardon of sin is every blessing vertually and in the root and spring it flows from the favor of God and is such a gift as cannot be tainted with a Curse as outward things may 2. Where sin is pardoned the soul is renewed verse 3. Who heals all thy diseases Where guilt is remitted the deformity and sickness of the soul is cur'd Forgiveness is a teeming mercy it never goes single when we have an interest in Christ as bearing the chastisement of our peace we receive also a balsom from his blood to heal the wounds we feel in our nature Isaiah 53.5 The chastisement of our Peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed As there is a guilt in sin which binds us over to punishment so there is a contagion in sin which fills us with pestilent diseases when the one is removed the other is cur'd We should not know how to love the one without the other The renewing the soul is necessary for a delightful relish of the other blessings of God A condemn'd Malefactor infected with a Leprosie or any other loathsome distemper if pardon'd could take little comfort in his freedom from the Gibbet without a Cure of his Plague 3. God is the sole and soveraign author of all spiritual blessings Who forgives all thy iniquities and heals all thy diseases He refers all to God nothing to himself in his own merit and strength All not the pardon of one sin merited by me not the cure of one disease can I owe to my own power and the strength of my free will and the operations of nature He and he alone is the Prince of pardon the Physitian that restores me the Redeemer that delivers me 't is a Sacriledge to divide the praise between God and our selves God only can knock off our fetters expell our distempers and restore a deformed Soul to its decayed beauty 4. Gracious Souls will bless God as much for Sanctification as for Justification The initials of Sanctification and there are no more in this Life are worthy of solemn acknowledgement 'T is a sign of growth in Grace when our Hymns are made up of acknowledgments of Gods sanctifying as well as pardoning Grace In blessing God for the one we rather shew a love to our selves in blessing God for the other we cast out a pure beam of love to God because by purifying Grace we are fitted to the service of our maker prepared to every good work which is delightful to him by the other we are eas'd in our selves Pardon fills us with inward peace but Sanctification fills us with an activity for God Nothing is so capable of setting the soul in a heavenly tune as the consideration of God as a pardoner and as a healer 5. Where sin is pardon'd the punishment is remitted Verse 3 4. Who forgives all thy iniquities and Redeems thy Life from destruction A Malefactors pardon puts an end to his chains frees him from the stench of the Dungeon and fear of the Gibbet Pardon is nothing else but the remitting of guilt and guilt is nothing else but an obligation to punishment as a penal debt for sin A Creditors tearing a Bond frees the Debtor from payment and rigor 6. Growth in Grace is always annext to true Sanctification Verse 3. So that thy youth is renew'd like the Eagles Interpreters trouble themselves much about the manner of the Eagles renewing its youth and regaining its vigor * Amyrald in loc He speaks
subject to God not in regard of the Divine Nature wherein there is an equality and consequently no Dominion of jurisdiction nor only in his humane nature but in the Oeconomy of a Redeemer considered as one design'd and consenting to be incarnate and take our flesh so that after this agreement God had a soveraign right to dispose of him according to the Articles consented to In regard of his undertaking and the advantage he was to bring to the Elect of God upon the Earth he calls God by the solemn Title of his Lord in that prophetick Psalm of him Psal 16.2 Oh my Soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord my Goodness extends not unto thee but unto the Saints that are in the Earth It seems to be the speech of Christ in Heaven mentioning the Saints on Earth as at a distance from him I can add nothing to the glory of thy Majesty but the whole fruit of my Mediation and Sufferings will redound to the Saints on Earth and it may be observed that God is call'd the Lord of Hosts in the Evangelical Prophets Isaiah Haggai Zachary and Malachy more in reference to this affair of Redemption and the deliverance of the Church than for any other works of his Providence in the World 1. This Soveraignty of God appears in requiring satisfaction for the sin of man Had he indulg'd man after his fall and remitted his offence without a just compensation for the injury he had received by his Rebellion his Authority had been vilified man would always have been attempting against his jurisdiction there would have been a continual succession of Rebellions on mans part and if a continual succession of indulgences on Gods part he had quite disown'd his Authority over man and stript himself of the flower of his Crown satisfaction must have been requir'd sometime or other from the person thus rebelling or some other in his stead and to require it after the first act of sin was more preservative to the right of the Divine soveraignty than to do it after a multitude of repeated revolts God must have laid aside his Authority if he had laid aside wholly the exacting punishment for the offence of man 2. This Soveraignty of God appears in appointing Christ to this work of Redemption His soveraignty was before manifest over Angels and Men by the right of Creation there was nothing wanting to declare the highest charge of it but his ordering his own Son to become a mortal Creature the Lord of all things to become lower than those Angels that had as well as all other things receiv'd their being and beauty from him and to be reckon'd in his death among the dust and refuse of the World He by whom God created all things not only became a man but a crucified man by the Will of his Father Gal. 1.4 Who gave himself for our sins according to the Will of God to which may referre that expression Prov. 8.22 of his being possessed by God in the beginning of his way Possession is the Dominion of a thing invested in the possessor he was possessed indeed as a Son by eternal Generation He was possessed also in the beginning of his way or works of Creation as a Mediator by special constitution to this the expression seems to referre if you read on to the end of verse 31. wherein Christ speaks of his rejoycing in the habitable part of his Earth the Earth of the great God who had design'd him to this special work of Redemption He was a Son by Nature but a Mediator by Divine Will in regard of which Christ is often call'd Gods servant which is a relation to God as a Lord. God being the Lord of all things the Dominion of all things inferior to him is inseparable from him and in this regard the whole of what Christ was to do and did actually do was acted by him as the Will of God and is exprest so by himself in the Prophesie Psal 40.7 Lo I come verse 8. I delight to do thy will which are put together Heb. 10.7 Lo I come to do thy Will O God The designing Christ to this work was an act of mercy but founded on his soveraignty His compassionate bowels might have pitied us without his being soveraign but without it could not have releived us It was the Counsell of his own will as well as of his Bowels None was his Counsellor or perswader to that mercy he shew'd Rom. 11.34 Who hath been his Counsellor for it refers to that Mercy in sending the deliverer out of Sion verse 26. as well as to other things the Apostle had been discoursing of As God was at liberty to create or not to create so he was at liberty to Redeem or not to Redeem and at his liberty whither to appoint Christ to this work or not to call him out to it In giving this order to his Son his soveraignty was exercised in a higher manner than in all the orders and instructions he hath given out to Men or Angels and all the employments he ever sent them upon Christ hath names which signifie an Authority over him He is called an Angel and a Messenger Mal. 3.1 An Apostle Heb. 3.1 Declaring thereby that God hath as much Authority over him as over the Angels sent upon his Messages or over the Apostles commission'd by His Authority as he was consider'd in the quality of Mediator 3. This Soveraignty of God appears in transferring our sins upon Christ The Supream Power in a Nation can only appoint or allow of a commutation of punishment 'T is a part of Soveraignty to transferr the penalty due to the crime of one upon an other and substitute a sufferer with the sufferers own consent in the place of a criminal whom he had a mind to deliver from a deserv'd punishment God transferr'd the sins of men upon Christ and inflicted on him a punishment for them He summ'd up the debts of man charg'd them upon the score of Christ imputing to him the guilt and inflicting upon him the penalty Isa 53.6 The Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all He made them all to meet upon his back He hath made him to be sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made so by the Soveraign pleasure of God A punishment for sin as most understand it which could not be Righteously inflicted had not sin been first Righteously imputed by the consent of Christ and the order of the Judge of the World This imputation could be the immediate act of none but God because he was the sole Creditor A Creditor is not bound to accept of another's suretiship but it is at his liberty whither he will or no and when he doth accept of him he may challenge the Debt of him as if he were the Principal Debtor himself Christ made himself sin for us by a voluntary submission and God made him sin for us by a full imputation and treated him penally
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ah a note of grief So Hos 6.4 Oh Ephraim what shall I do unto thee