morally carnal in the practises as the Ceremonies were materially carnal in their substance It was not their disobedience to observe them but it was a disobedience and a contempt of the end of the institution to rest upon them to be warm in them and cold in morals They fed upon the Bone and neglected the Marrow pleased themselves with the Shell and sought not for the Kernel They joyned not with them the internal Worship of God Fear of him with Faith in the promised Seed which lay vail'd under those Coverings Hos 6.6 I desired Mercy and not Sacrifice and the Knowledge of God more than burnt Offerings And therefore he seems sometimes weary of his own institutions and calls them not his own but their Sacrifices their Feasts Isa 1.11 14. They were his by appointment theirs by abuse The Institution was from his goodness and condescension therefore his the corruption of them was from the vice of their Nature therefore theirs He often blamed them for their carnality in them shew'd his dislike of placing all their Religion in them gives the Sacrificers upon that account no better a title than that of the Princes of Sodom and Gomorrah * Isa 1.10 And compares the Sacrifices themselves to the cutting off a Dog's Neck Swines Blood and the Murder of a Man * Isa 66.3 And indeed God never valued them or exprest any delight in them He despised the Feasts of the Wicked Amos 5.21 and had no esteem for the material Offerings of the Godly Psal 50.13 Will I eat the flesh of Bulls or drink the blood of Goats which he speaks to his Saints and People before he comes to reprove the Wicked which he begins v. 16. But to the Wicked God said c. So slightly he esteemed them that he seems to disown them to be any part of his Command when he brought his People out of the Land of Egypt Jer. 7.21 I spake not to your Fathers nor commanded them concerning burnt Offerings and Sacrifices He did not value and regard them in comparison of that inward frame which he had required by the moral Law that being given before the Law of Ceremonies obliged them in the first place to an observance of those Precepts They seemed to be below the Nature of God and could not of themselves please him None could in reason perswade themselves that the death of a Beast was a proportionable Offering for the sin of a Man or ever was intended for the expiation of Transgression In the same rank are all our bodily services under the Gospel A loud voice without Spirit bended bulrushes without inward affections are no more delightful to God than the Sacrifices of Animals 'T is but a change of one Brute for another of a higher species a meer Brute for that part of man which hath an agreement with Brutes Such a service is a meer animal service and not spiritual 5. And therefore God never intended that sort of Worship to be durable and had often mentioned the change of it for one more spiritual It was not good or evil in it self whatsoever goodness it had was solely deriv'd to it by institution and therefore it was mutable It had no conformity with the spiritual nature of God who was to be worshipped nor with the rational nature of man who was to worship And therefore he often speaks of taking away the New-Moons and Feasts and Sacrifices and all the ceremonial Worship as things he took no pleasure in to have a Worship more suted to his excellent Nature But he never speaks of removing the Gospel Administration and the worship prescribed there as being more agreeable to the nature and perfections of God and displaying them more illustriously to the World The Apostle tells us it was to be disannul'd because of its weakness * Heb. 7.18 A determinate time was fixed for its duration till the accomplishment of the truth figured under that Pedagogy * Gal. 4.2 Some of the modes of that worship being only typical must naturally expire and be insignificant in their use upon the finishing of that by the Redeemer which they did prefigure And other parts of it though God suffered them so long because of the weakness of the Worshipper yet because it became not God to be alway worshipped in that manner he would reject them and introduce another more spiritual and elevated Incense and a pure Offering should be offered every where unto his Name * Mal. 1.11 * Pascal Pen. 142. He often told them he would make a new Covenant by the Messiah and the old should be rejected that the former things should not be remembred and the things of old no more considered when he should do a new thing in the Earth * Isa 43.18.19 Even the Ark of the Covenant the Symbol of his presence and the glory of the Lord in that Nation should not any more be remembered and visited * Jer. 3.16 That the Temple and Sacrifices should be rejected and others established That the Order of the Aaronical Priest-hood should be abolisht and that of Melchisedeck set up in the stead of it in the Person of the Messiah to endure for ever * Psal 110. That Jerusalem should be changed a new Heaven and Earth created a Worship more conformable to Heaven more advantagious to Earth God had proceeded in the removal of some parts of it before the time of taking down the whole furniture of this house The Pot of Manna was lost Vrim and Thumim ceased the glory of the Temple was diminish'd and the ignorant people wept at the sight of the one without raising their Faith and Hope in the consideration of the other which was promised to be filled with a spiritual glory And as soon as ever the Gospel was spread in the World God thundred out his judgments upon that place in which he had fixed all those legal Observances so that the Jews in the Letter and Flesh could never practise the main part of their worship since they were expelled from that place where it was only to be celebrated 'T is one thousand six hundred years since they have been deprived of their Altar which was the foundation of all the Levitical-worship and have wandred in the world without a Sacrifice a Prince or Priest an Ephod or Teraphim * Hos 3.4 And God fully put an end to it in the Command he gave to the Apostles and in them to us in the presence of Moses and Elias to hear his Son only Matth. 17.5 Behold a voice out of the Cloud which said this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him And at the death of our Saviour testified it to that whole Nation and the World by the rending in twain the vail of the Temple The whole frame of that service which was carnal and by reason of the corruption of Man weakned is nulled and a spiritual worship is made known to the world
new appearance the grace of God hath appeared * Tit. 1.11 6. Proposition A change of Laws by God argues no change in God when God abrogates some Laws which he had setled in the Church and enacts others I spake of this something the last day I shall only add this God commanded one thing to the Jews when the Church was in an infant state and removed those Laws when the Church came to some growth The Elements of the world were suted to the state of Children * Gal. 4.3 A Mother feeds not the Infant with the same diet as she doth when it is grown up Our Saviour acquainted not his Disciples with some things at one time which he did at another because they were not able to bear them Where was the change in Christs Will or in their growth from a state of weakness to that of strength A Physitian prescribes not the same thing to a person in health as he doth to one conflicting with a distemper nor the same thing in the beginning as he doth in the state or declination of the disease The Physicians Will and Skill are the same but the capacity and necessity of the Patient for this or that Medicine or method of proceeding are not the same VVhen God changed the Ceremonial Law there was no change in the Divine Will but an execution of his Will For when God commanded the observance of the Law he intended not the perpetuity of it nay in the Prophets he declares the cessation of it he decreed to command it but he decreed to command it only for such a time so that the abrogation of it was no less an execution of his Decree than the establishment of it for a season was The commanding of it was pursuant to his Decree for the appointing of it and the nulling of it was pursuant to his Decree of continuing it only for such a season So that in all this there was no change in the Will of God The Counsel of God stands sure what changes soever there are in the World are not in God or his Will but in the events of things and the different relations of things to God 'T is in the Creature not in the Creator The Sun alway remains of the same hue and is not discoloured in it self because it shines green through a green Glass and blew through a blew Glass the different colours come from the Glass not from the Sun The change is alway in the disposition of the Creature not in the Nature of God or his Will 5. Vse 1. For Information 1. If God be unchangeable in his Nature and Immutability be a Property of God Then Christ hath a Divine Nature This in the Psalm is applyed to Christ in the Hebrews Heb. 1.11 where he joyns the citation out of this Psalm with that out of Psalm 45.6 7. Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the Oyl of Gladness above thy Fellows and thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the Foundation of the Earth c. As the first must necessarily be meant of Christ the Mediator and therein he his distinguish'd from God as one anointed by him so the other must be meant of Christ whereby he is made one with God in regard of the Creation and Dissolution of the World in regard of Eternity and Immutability Both the Testimonies are linkt together by the Copulative and and thou Lord declaring thereby that they are both to be understood of the same Person the Son of God The design of the Chapter is to prove Christ to be God and such things are spoken of him as could not belong to any Creature no not to the most excellent of the Angels The same Person that is said to be anointed above his Fellows and is said to lay the Foundation of the Earth and Heavens is said to be the same that is the same in himself The Prerogative of sameness belongs to that Person as well as Creation of Heaven and Earth The Socinians say it is spoken of God and that God shall destroy the Heavens by Christ If so Christ is not a meer Creature not created when he was incarnate for the same Person that shall change the World did create the World If God shall change the world by him God also created the world by him He was then before the world was for how could God create the world by one that was not That was not in Being till after the Creation of the world The Heavens shall be changed but the Person who is to change the Heavens is said to be the same or unchangeable in the Creation as well as the Dissolution of of the world This sameness referrs to the whole Sentence * Placeus de deitate Christi The Psalm wherein the Text is and whence this in the Hebrews is cited is properly meant of Christ and Redemption by him and the compleating of it at the last day and not of the Babylonish captivity That captivity was not so deplorable as the state the Psalmist describes Daniel and his Companions flourished in that Captivity It could not reasonably be said of them that their days were consumed like Smoke their heart withered like Grass that they forgot to eat their Bread * as it is V. 3.4 Besides he complains of shortness of Life * V. 11. But none had any more reason to complain of that in the time of the Captivity than before and after it than at any other time Their Deliverance would contribute nothing to the natural length of their lives Besides when Sion should be built the Heathen should fear the Name of the Lord that is worship God and all the Kings of the Earth his Glory * V. 15. The rearing the second Temple after the deliverance did not proselyte the Nations nor did the Kings of the Earth worship the Glory of God nor did God appear in such Glory at the erecting the second Temple The second Temple was less glorious than the first for it wanted some of the Ornaments which were the Glory of the first But it is said of this state * Ver. 16. that when the Lord should build up Sion he should appear in his Glory his proper Glory and extraordinary Glory Now that God who shall appear in Glory and build up Sion is the Son of God the Redeemer of the World He builds up the Church he causes the Nations to fear the Lord and the Kings of the Earth his Glory He broke down the partition Wall and opened a Door for the entrance of the Gentiles He struck the Chains from off the Prisoners and loosed those that were appointed to death by the Curse of the Law * Ver. 20. And to this Person is ascribed the Creation of the World and he is pronounced to remain the same in the midst of an infinite number of changes in
other things in conjunction with this the nature of God the way to Worship him the manner of the Worlds Existence his own state We may resonably suppose him to have a good stock of knowledge what is become of it It cannot be supposed that the first man should acquaint his posterity with an object of Worship and leave them ignorant of a Mode of Worship and of the end of Worship we find in Scripture his immediate posterity did the first in Sacrifices and without doubt they were not ignorant of the other how come Men to be so uncertain in all other things and so confident of this if it were only a Tradition how did debates and irreconcilable questions start up concerning other things and this remain untouch'd but by a small number whatsoever Tradition the first Man left besides this is lost and no way recoverable but by the Revelation God hath made in his Word How comes it to pass this of a God is longer liv'd than all the rest which we may suppose Man left to his immediate descendents How come men to retain the one and forget the other What was the reason this surviv'd the ruin of the rest and surmounted the uncertainties into which the other sunk Was it likely it should be handed down alone without other attendants on it at first Why did it not expire among the Americans who have lost the account of their own descent and the Stock from whence they sprung and cannot reckon above eight hundred or a thousand years at most Why was not the manner of the worship of a God transmitted as well as that of his Existence How came men to dissent in their Opinions concerning his Nature whether he was corporeal or incorporeal finite or infinite omnipresent or limited Why were not men as negligent to transmit this of his Existence as that of his Nature No reason can be rendred for the security of this above the other but that there is so clear a tincture of a Deity upon the minds of men such traces and shadows of him in the creatures such indelible instincts within and invincible arguments without to keep up this universal consent The Characters are so deep that they cannot possibly be rased out which would have been one time or other in one Nation or other had it depended only upon Tradition since one Age shakes off frequently the Sentiments of the former I cannot think of above one which may be called a Tradition which indeed was kept up among all Nations viz. Sacrifices which could not be natural but instituted What ground could they have in Nature to imagin that the blood of Beasts could expiate and wash off the guilt and stains of a rational Creature Yet they had in all places but among the Jews and some of them only lost the knowledg of the reason and end of the Institution which the Scripture acquaints us was to typifie and signifie the Redemption by the Promised Seed This Tradition hath been superannuated and laid aside in most parts of the World while this Notion of the Existence of a God hath stood firm But suppose it were a Tradition was it likely to be a meer intention and figment of the first Man Had there been no reason for it this Posterity would soon have found out the weakness of its Foundation What advantage had it been to him to transmit so great a falshood to kindle the fears or raise the hopes of his Posterity if there were no God It cannot be supposed he should be so void of that natural affection men in all ages bear to their Descendents as so grosly to deceive them and be so contrary to the simplicity and plainness which appears in all things nearest their Original 2. Neither was it by any mutual Intelligence of Governours among themselves to keep people in subjection to them If it were a political design at first it seems it met with the general nature of Mankind very ready to give it entertainment I. It is unaccountable how this should come to pass It must be either by a joynt Assembly of them or a mutual Correspondence If by an Assembly who were the persons let the name of any one be mentioned When was the time Where was the place of this appearance By what Authority did they meet together Who made the first motion and first started this great Principle of Policy By what means could they assemble from such distant parts of the World humane Histories are utterly silent in it And the Scripture the antientest History gives an account of the attempt of Babel but not a word of any design of this nature What mutual Correspondence could such have whose Interests are for the most part different and their designs contrary to one another How could they who were divided by such vast Seas have this mutual Converse How could those who were different in their Customs and Manners agree so unanimously together in one thing to gull the People If there had been such a Correspondence between the Governours of all Nations what is the reason some Nations should be unknown to the world till of late times How could the business be so secretly managed as not to take Vent and Issue in a discovery to the World Can reason suppose so many in a joynt Conspiracy and no mans Conscience in his life under sharp Afflictions or on his death bed when Conscience is most awakened constrain him to reveal openly the Cheat that beguil'd the World How came they to be so uanimous in this Notion and to differ in their Rites almost in every Country why could they not agree in one Mode of Worship throughout all the World as well as in this universal Notion If there were not a mutual intelligence it can not be conceived how in every Nation such a state-Engineer should rise up with the same trick to keep people in aw What is the reason we cannot find any Law in any one Nation to constrain men to the beleif of the Existence of a God since politick Stratagems have been often fortified by Laws Besides such men make use of Principles received to effect their Contrivances and are not so impolitick as to build designes upon Principles that have no Foundation in nature Some Heathen Law-givers have pretended a converse with their Gods to make their Laws be received by the people with a greater veneration and fix with stronger obligation the observance and perpetuity of them but this was not the introducing of a new Principle but the supposition of an old received Notion that there was a God and an application of that Principle to their present designe The pretence had been vain had not the notion of a God been ingrafted Politicians are so little possessed with a Reverence of God that the first Mighty one in the Scripture which may reasonably gain with the Atheist the credit of the Ancientest History in the World is represented without any fear of God * Gen.
had a body t is impossible to mould an Image of it in the true glory of that body Can the Statue of an excellent Monarch represent the Majesty and air of his Countenance tho made by the skilfullest workman in the world If God had a body in some measure suted to his excellency were it possible for Man to make an exact Image of him who cannot picture the light heat motion magnitude and dazling property of the Sun The excellency of any Corporeal nature of the least Creature the temper instinct artifice are beyond the power of a Carving tool much more is God 2. To make any Corporeal representations of God is unworthy of God 'T is a disgrace to his nature Whosoever thinks a Carnal corruptible Image to be fit for a representation of God renders God no better than a Carnal and Corporeal being 'T is a kind of debasing an Angel who is a Spiritual nature to represent him in a bodily shape who is as far removed from any fleshliness as Heaven from Earth much more to degrade the glory of the Divine nature to the lineaments of a man The whole stock of Images is but a lie of God Jer. 10 8 14. A Doctrin of vanities and falsehood It represents him in a false garb to the world and sinks his glory into that of a corruptible Creature * Rom. 1.25 It impairs the reverence of God in the minds of men and by degrees may debase mens apprehensions of God * Rom. 1.22 and be a means to make them believe he is such a one as themselves and that not being free from the figure he is not also free from the imperfections of their bodies Corporeal Images of God were the fruits of base imaginations of him and as they sprung from them so they contribute to a greater corruption of the notions of the Divine nature The Heathens begun their first representations of him by the Image of a corruptible Man then of birds till they descended not only to four footed beasts but creeping things even Serpents as the Apostle seems to intimate in his enumeration Rom. 1.23 It had been more honourable to have continued in human representations of him than have sunk so low as beasts and Serpents the baser Images tho the first had been infinitely unworthy of him he being more above a man though the noblest Creature than Man is above a Worm a Toad or the most despicable creeping thing upon the Earth To think we can make an Image of God of a piece of Marble or an Ingot of Gold is a greater debasing of him than it would be of a great Prince if you should represent him in the statue of a Frog When the Israelites represented God by a Calf 't is said they sinned a great sin Exod. 32.31 And the sin of Jeroboam who intended only a representation of God by the Calves at Dan and Bethel is called more emphatically * Hosea 10.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wickedness of your wickedness the very skum and dreggs of wickedness As men debased God by this so God debased men for this he degraded the Israelites into Captivity under the worst of their Enemies and punished the Heathens with spiritual Judgments as uncleaness through the lusts of their own hearts Rom. 1.24 which is repeated again in other expressions v. 26 27. as a meet recompence for their disgracing the spiritual nature of God Had God been like to Man they had not offended in it But I mention this to shew a probable reason of those base lusts which are in the midst of us that have scarce been exceeded by any Nation viz. the unworthy and unspiritual conceits of God which are as much a debasing of him as material Images were when they were more rife in the world and may be as well the cause of those spiritual Judgments upon men as the worshipping molten and carved Images were the cause of the same upon the Heathen 3. Yet this is natural to Man Wherein we may see the contrariety of Man to God Though God be a Spirit yet there is nothing Man is more prone to than to represent him under a corporeal form The most famous Guides of the Heathen world have fashioned him not only according to the more honourable Images of men but beastialized him in the form of a Brute The Egyptians whose Country was the School of Learning to Greece were notoriously guilty of this brutishness in worshiping an Ox for an Image of their God and the Philistines their Dagon in a figure composed of the Image of a Woman and a Fish * Daille super Cor. 1.10 Ser. 3. Such representations were ancient in the Oriental parts The Gods of Laban that he accuseth Jacob of stealing from him are supposed to be little figures of men * Gen. 31.30.34 Such was the Israelites Golden-Calf their worship was not terminated on the Image but they worshipped the true God under that representation They could not be so brutish as to call a Calf their Deliverer and give so him great a Title these be thy Gods oh Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt Exod. 32.4 or that which they knew belonged to the true God the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. * Gen. 3.16 17. They knew the Calf to be formed of their Ear-rings but they had consecrated it to God as a representation of him Though they chose the form of the Egyptian Idol yet they knew that Apis Osiris and Isis the Gods the Egyptians adored in that figure had not wrought their Redemption from Bondage but would have used their force had they been possessed of any to have kept them under the Yoke rather than have freed them from it The Feast also which they celebrated before that Image is called by Aaron the Feast of the Lord Exod. 32.5 a Feast to Jehovah the incommunicable name of the Creator of the world 'T is therefore evident that both the Priest and the People pretended to serve the true God not any false Divinity of Egypt That God who had rescued them from Egypt with a mighty hand divided the Red-Sea before them destroyed their Enemies conducted them fed them by miracle spoken to them from Mount Sinai and amazed them by his Thundrings and Lightnings when he instructed them by his Law a God they could not so soon forget And with this representing God by that Image they are charged by the Psalmist Psal 106.19 20. they made a Calf in Horeb and changed their glory into the similitude of an Ox that eateth Grass They changed their glory that is God the glory of Israel so that they took this figure for the Image of the true God of Israel their own God not the God of any other Nation in the world Jeroboam intended no other by his Calves but Symbols of the presence of the true God instead of the Ark and the Propitiatory which remained among the Jews We see the inclination
a good Concoction when there is a greater strength in the vitals of Religion a more eager desire to know God When Moses had been praying to God and prevailed with him he puts up a higher request to behold his Glory * Exod. 33.13 18. When the appetite stands strong to fuller discoveries of God it is a sign there hath been a spiritual converse with him 2. How is it especially as to humility The Pharisees worship was without dispute carnal and we find them not more humble after all their devotions but over-grown with more weeds of spiritual pride they performed them as their righteousness What men dare plead before God in his day they plead before him in their hearts in their day but this men will do at the day of Judgement we have prophesied in thy Name c. Mat. 7.21 They shew what tincture their services left upon their Spirits That which excludes them from any acceptation at the last day excludes them from any estimation of being spiritual in this day The carnal Worshippers charge God with Injustice in not rewarding them and claim an acceptation as a compensation due to them Isa 58.3 Wherefore have we afflicted our Souls and thou takest no knowledge A spiritual Worshipper looks upon his duties with shame as well as he doth upon his sins with confusion and implores the mercy of God for the one as well as the other In the 143 Psalm v. 2. the Prophet David after his supplications begs of God not to enter into Judgment with him and acknowledges any answer that God should give him as a fruit of his faithfulness to his promise and not the merit of his worship * Psal 143.2 In thy Faithfulness answer me c. Whatsoever springs from a gracious Principle and is the breath of the Spirit leaves a man more humble whereas that which proceeds from a stock of nature hath the true blood of nature running in the veins of it viz. that pride which is naturally derived from Acam The breathing of the Divine Spirit is in every thing to conform us to our Redeemer that being the main work of his Office is his work in every particular Christian-act influenced by him Now Jesus Christ in all his actions was an exact Pattern of Humility After the institution and celebration of the Supper a special act of worship in the Church though he had a sense of all the Authority his Father had given him yet he humbles himself to wash his Disciples feet * John 13.2 3 4 And after his sublime Prayer John 17. He humbles himself to the death and offers himself to his Murderers because of his Fathers pleasure John 18.1 When he had spoken those words he wâ—nt over the Brook Kedron into the Garden What is the end of God in appointing worship is the end of a spiritual heart in offering it not his own exaltation but Gods glory Glorifying the name of God is the fruit of that Evangelical-worship the Gentiles were in time to give to God Psal 86.9 All Nations which thou hast made shall come and worship before thee oh Lord and shall glorifie thy Name Let us examin then what debasing our selves there is in a sense of our own vileness and distance from so glorious a Spirit Self-denial is the heart of all Gospel-grace Evangelical Spiritual-worship cannot be without the ingredient of the main Evangelical Principle 3. What delight is there after it What pleasure is there and what is the Object of that pleasure Is it Communion the we have had with God or a Fluency in our selves Is it something which hath touched our hearts or tickled our fancies As the strength of sin is known by the delightful thoughts of it after the commission so is the spirituality of duty by the object of our delightful remembrance after the performance It was a sign David was spiritual in the worship of God in the Tabernacle when he enjoyed it because he longed for the spiritual part of it when he was exil'd from it His desires were not only for Liberty to revisit the Tabernacle but to see the power and glory of God in the Sanctuary as he had seen it before * Psal 63.2 His desires for it could not have been so ardent if his reflection upon what had past had not been delightful nor could his Soul be poured out in him for the want of such opportunities if the remembrance of the converse he had had with God had not been accompanied with a delightful relish * Psal 42.4 Let us examin what delight we find in our spirits after worship Vse 3. Is of comfort And 't is very comfortable to consider that the smallest worship with the Heart and Spirit flowing from a principle of grace is more acceptable than the most pompous veneration yea if the oblation were as precious as the whole Circuit of Heaven and Earth without it That God that values a Cup of Cold water given to any as his Disciple will value a sincere service above a costly Sacrifice God hath his eye upon them that honour his nature He would not seek such to worship him if he did not intend to accept such a worship from them When we therefore invoke him and praise him which are the prime parts of Religion he will receive it as a sweet favour from us and overlook infirmities mixed with the graces The great matter of discomfort and that which makes us question the spirituality of worship is the many starts of our Spirits and rovings to other things For answer to which 1. 'T is to be confest that these starts are natural to us Who is free from them We bear in our own bosoms a nest of turbulent thoughts which like busie Gnatts will be buzzing about us while we are in our most inward and spiritual converses Many wild beasts lurk in a mans heart as in a close and covert wood and scarce discover themselves but at our solemn worship No duty so holy No worship so spiritual that can wholly priviledge us from them They will jogg us in our most weighty employments that as God said to Cain sin lyes at the door and enters in and makes a riot in our Souls As it is said of wicked men they cannot sleep for multitude of thoughts * Eccles 5.12 so it may be of many a good man he cannot worship for multitude of thoughts There will be starts and more in our Religious than natural imployments 't is natural to man Some therefore think the Bells tied to Aarons Garments between the Pomegranates were to warn the People and recall their fugitive minds to the present service when they heard the sound of them upon the least motion of the High priest The Sacrifice of Abraham the Father of the Faithful was not exempt from the Fouls pecking at it * Gen. 15.11 Zechariah himself was drowsie in the midst of his Visions which being more amazing might cause a heavenly intentness*
make them march in the same order to their Confusion as they did in their Creation Who can jumble the whole Frame together and by a Word dissolve the Pillars of the World and make the Fabrick lie in a ruinous heap 2. In effecting his Purposes by small Means In making use of the Meanest Creatures As the Power of God is seen in the creation of the smallest Creatures and assembling so many perfections in the little body of an Insect as an Ant or Spider So his Power is not less magnified in the use he makes of them As he magnifies his Wisdom by using ignorant Instruments so he exalts his Power by employing weak Instruments in his service The Meaness and Imperfection of the matter sets off the Excellency of the Workman so the weakness of the Instrument is a foyl to the Power of the principal Agent When God hath effected things by Means in the Scripture he hath usually brought about his Purposes by weak Instruments Moses a Fugitive from Egypt and Aaron a Captive in it are the Instruments of the Israelites Deliverance By the motion of Moses his Rod he works Wonders in the Court of Pharaoh and summons up his Judgments against him He brought down Pharaohs stomack for a while by a squadron of Lice and Locusts wherein Divine Power was more seen than if Moses had brought him to his own Articles by a multitude of Warlike Troops The fall of the Walls of Jericho by the sound of Rams horns was a more glorious Character of Gods Power than if Joshuah had batter'd it down with an hundred of Warlike Engines Josh 6.20 Thus the great Army of the Midianites which lay as Grasshoppers upon the ground were routed by Gideon in the head of Three hundred Men and Goliah a Giant laid level with the ground by David a Stripling by the force of a Sling A Thousand Philistines dispatcht out of the World by the Jaw Bone of an Ass in the hand of Sampson He can master a stout Nation by an Army of Locusts and render the Teeth of those little Insects as destructive as the Teeth yea the strongest Teeth the Cheek Teeth of a great Lion * Joel 1.6 7. The Thunderbolt which produceth sometimes dreadful effects is compacted of little Atoms which fly in the Air small Vapors drawn up by the Sun and mixt with other Sulphurous matter and petrifying Juice Nothing is so weak but his Strength can make victorious nothing so small but by his Power he can accomplish his great ends by it nothing so vile but his Mâ—ght can conduct to his glory and no Nation so mighty but he can waste and enfeeble by the Meanest Creatures God is great in Power in the greatest things and not little in the smallest his Power in the minutest Creatures which he uses for his service surmounts the force of our Understanding III. The Power of God appears in Redemption As our Saviour is called the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.24 so he is called the Power of God The Arm of Power was lifted up as high as the designs of Wisdom were laid deep As this way of Redemption could not be contriv'd but by an Infinite Wisdom so it could not be accomplish'd but by an Infinite Power None but God could shape such a design and none but God could effect it The Divine Power in Temporal deliverances and freedom from the slavery of humane Oppressors vails to that which glitters in Redemption whereby the Devil is defeated in his designs stript of his spoils and yok'd in his strength The Power of God in Creation requires not those degrees of Admiration as in Redemption In Creation the World was erected from Nothing as there was Nothing to act so there was Nothing to oppose no victorious Devil was in that to be subdued no thundring Law to be silenced no Death to be conquer'd no Transgression to be pardoned and rooted out no Hell to be shut no Ignominious death upon the Cross to be suffered It had been in the nature of the thing an easier thing to Divine Power to have created a new World than repair'd a broken and purified a polluted one This is the most admirable Work that ever God brought forth in the World greater than all the Marks of his Power in the first Creation And this will appear 1. In the Person Redeeming 2. In the publication and propagation of the Doctrine of Redemption 3. In the application of Redemption I. In the Person Redeeming First In his Conception 1. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin Luke 1.35 The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee Which act is exprest to be the effect of the Infinite Power of God and it expresses the supernatural manner of the forming the Humanity of our Saviour and signifies not the Divine Nature of Christ infusing it self into the Womb of the Virgin for the Angel refers it to the manner of the operation of the Holy Ghost in the producing the Humane Nature of Christ and not to the Nature assuming that Humanity into union with it self The Holy Ghost or the Third Person in the Trinity overshadowed the Virgin and by a Creative act fram'd the Humanity of Christ and united it to the Divinity It is therefore exprest by a word of the same import with that used Gen. 1.2 The Spirit moved upon the face of the face of the Waters which signifies as it were a Brooding upon the Chaos shadowing it with his Wings as Hens sit upon their Eggs to form them and hatch them into Animals or else it is an allusion to the Cloud which covered the Tent of the Congregation when the Glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle * Exod. 40 34 It was not such a Creative Act as we call Immediate which is a production out of Nothing but a Mediate Creatâ—on such as Gods bringing things into form out of the first Matter which had nothing but an Obediential or Passive disposition to whatsoever stamp the Powerful Wisdom of God should imprint upon it So the substance of the Virgin had no active but only a passive disposition to this work The Matter of the Body was Earthy the substance of the Virgin the forming of it was Heavenly the Holy Ghost working upon that Matter And therefore when it is said Mat. 1.18 that she was found with Child of the Holy Ghost 't is to be understood of the Efficacy of the Holy Ghost not of the Substance of the Holy Ghost The matter was Natural but the manner of Conceiving was in a Supernatural way above the methods of Nature In reference to the Active Principle the Redeemer is called in the Prophecy †Isai 4.2 The Branch of the Lord in regard of the Divine hand that planted him In respect to the Passive Principle The Fruit of the Earth in regard of the Womb that bare him and therefore said to be made
are the foundation of a solemn Honour to be returned to him by his Creatures If a Man make a curious Engine we honour him for his Skill If another vanquish a vigorous Enemy we admire him for his Strength And shall not the efficacy of Gods Power in Creation Government Redemption enflame us with a sense of the Honour of his Name and Perfections We admire those Princes that have vast Empires numerous Armies that have a Power to conquer their Enemies and preserve their own People in peace How much more ground have we to pay a mighty Reverence to God who without Trouble and Weariness made and manages this vast Empire of the World by a Word and Beck What sensible thoughts have we of the noise of Thunder the power of the Sun the storms of the Sea These things that have no Understanding have struck Men with such a Reverence that many have ador'd them as gods What Reverence and Adoration doth this Mighty Power joyned with an Infinite Wisdom in God demand at our hands All Religion and Worship stands especially upon two Pillars Goodness and Power in God if either of these were defective all Religion would faint away We can expect no entertainment with him without Goodness nor any benefit from him without Power This God Prefaceth to the Command to Worship him the benefit his Goodness had conferr'd upon them and the Powerful manner of conveyance of it to them 2 Kings 17.36 The Lord brought you up from the Land of Egypt with great Power and an Out-stretched Arm him shall you fear and him shall you worship and to him shall you do sacrifice Because this Attribute is a main foundation of Prayer the Lords Prayer is concluded with a doxology of it For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory As he is Rich possessing all Blessings so he is Powerful to confer all Blessings on us and make them efficacious to us * Capel in 1 Tim. 1.17 The Jews repeat many times in their Prayers some say an hundred times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The King of the World 't is both an Awe and an Encouragement We could not without consideration of it pray in Faith of success nay we could not pray at all if his Power were defective to help us and his Mercy too weak to relieve us Who would sollicite a Lifeless or lie a prostrate Suppliant to a feeble Arm Upon this Ability of God Our Saviour built his Petitions Heb. 5.7 He offered up strong Cries unto him that was able to save him from death Abraham's Faith hung upon the same string Rom. 4.21 and the Captiv'd Church supplicates God to act according to the greatness of his Power Psal 79.11 In all our Addresses this is to be ey'd and considered God is able to help to relieve to ease me let my Misery be never so great and my Strength never so weak Matt. 8.2 If thou wilt thou canst make me clean was the Consideration the Leper had when he came to worship Christ he was clear in his Power and therefore worshipped him though he was not equally clear in his Will All Worship is shot wrong that is not directed to and conducted by the thoughts of this Attribute whose assistance we need When we beg the Pardon of our Sins we should eye Mercy and Power when we beg his righting us in any case where we are unjustly opprest we do not eye Righteousness without Power when we plead the performance of his Promise we do not regard his Faithfulness only without the Prop of his Power As Power ushers in all the Attributes of God in their exercise and manifestation in the World so should it be the Butt our eyes should be fixed upon in all our acts of Worship As without his Power his other Attributes would be useless so without due Apprehensions of his Power our Prayers will be Faithless and Comfortless The Title in the Lords Prayer directs us to a prospect both of his Goodness and Power his Goodness in the word Father his Greatness Excellency and Power in the word Heaven The heedless Consideration of the Infiniteness of this Perfection roots up Piety in the midst of us and makes us so careless in Worship Did we more think of that Power that rais'd the World out of nothing that orders all Creatures by an an act of his Will that perform'd so great an Exploit as that of our Redemption when masterless sin had triumphed over the World we should give God the honour and adoration which so great an excellency challengeth and deserves at our hands though we our selves had not been the work of his hands or the monuments of his strength how could any Creature engross to it self that reverence from us which is due to the powerful Creator of whom it comes infinitely short in strength as well as wisdome 7. From this we have a ground for the belief of the Resurrection God aims at the glory of his Power as well as the glory of any other Attribute Moses else would not have cull'd out this as the main Argument in his pleading with God for the sheathing the Sword which he began to draw out against them in the Wilderness Numb 14.16 The Nations will say because the Lord was not able to bring these People into the Land which he sware to them c. As the finding out the particulars of the dust of our Bodies discovers the vastness of his Knowledge so to raise them will manifest the glory of his Power as much as Creation Bodies that have mouldred away into multitudes of Atoms been resolved into the Elements passed through varieties of changes been sometimes the matter to lodge the form of a Plant or been turned into the substance of a Fish or Foul or vapour'd up into a Cloud and been part of that matter which hath compacted a Thunder-bolt dispos'd of in places far distant scatter'd by the Winds swallowed and concocted by Beasts for these to be called out from their different places of abode to meet in one Body and be restored to their former Consistency in a marriage union in the twinkling of an eye 1 Cor. 15.22 't is a Consideration that may justly amaze us and our shallow Understandings are too feeble to comprehend it But is it not credible since all the Disputes against it may be silenced by reflections on Infinite Power which nothing can oppose for which nothing can be esteemed too difficult to effect which doth not imply a Contradiction in it self It was no less amazing to the blessed Virgin to hear a Message that she should Conceive a Son without knowing a Man but she is quickly answered by the Angel with a Nothing is impossible to God Luke 1.34 37. The distinct parts of our Bodies cannot be hid from his All-seeing Eye where-ever they are lodged and in all the Changes they pass through as was discoursed when the Omniscience of God was handled shall then the collection of them
Throne * Rev. 4.8 10. a Metaphor taken from the triumphing Generals among the Romans who hung up their victorious Laurels in the Capitol dedicating them to their Gods acknowledging them their Superiors in strength and Authors of their victory This self-emptiness at the consideration of Divine Purity is the note of the true Church represented by the 24 Elders and a note of a true Member of the Church whereas boasting of Perfection Merit is the property of the Antichristian tribe that have mean thoughts of this adorable Perfection think themselves more righteous than the unspotted Angels What a self annihilation is therein a good man when the sense of Divine Purity is most lively in him yea how detestable is he to himsel There is as little proportion between the holiness of the Divine Majesty and that of the most righteous Creature as there is between a nearness of a Person that stands upon a Mountain to the Sun and of him that beholds him in a Vale one is nearer than the other but it is an advantage not to be boasted of in regard of the vast distance that is between the Sun and the elevated Spectator 3. This would make us full of an affectionate Reverence in all our approaches to God By this Perfection God is rendred venerable and fit to be reverenc'd by his Creature and magnificent thoughts of it in the Creature would awaken him to an actual reverence of the Divine Majesty Psal 111.9 Holy and reverend is his name a good opinion of this would engender in us a sincere respect towards him we should then serve the Lord with fear as the Expression is Psal 2.11 that is be afraid to cast any thing before him that may offend the eyes of his Purity Who would venture rashly and garishly into the presence of an eminent Moralist or of a righteous King upon his Throne The fixedness of the Angels arose from the continual prospect of this What if we had been with Isaiah when he saw the Vision and beheld him in the same glory and the heavenly Quire in their reverential Posture in the Service of God would it not have barred our wandrings and stak'd us down to our Duty Would not the fortifying an Idea of it in our Minds produce the same effect 'T is for want of this we carry our selves so loosely and unbecomingly in the Divine Presence with the same or meaner Affections than those wherewith we stand before some vile Creature that is our Superiour in the World as though a piece of filthy Flesh were more valuable than this Perfection of the Divinity How doth the Psalmist double his Exhortation to men to sing Praise to God Psal 47.6 Sing praise to God sing praises sing praise to our King sing praise because of his Majesty and the Purity of his Dominion And verse 8. God reigns over the Heathen God sits upon the Throne of his Holiness How would this elevate us in Praise and prostrate us in Prayer when we praise and pray with an understanding and insight of that Nature we bless or implore as he speaks verse 7. Sing ye praise with understanding The holiness of God in his Government and Dominion the holiness of his Nature and the holiness of his Precepts should beget in us an humble respect in our Approaches The more we grow in a sense of this the more shall we advance in the true performance of all our Duties * Amyrald Moral Tom. 5. p. 462. Those Nations which ador'd the Sun had they at first seen his Brightness wrapped and maskt in a Cloud and paid a veneration to it how would their Adorations have mounted to a greater point after they had seen it in its full brightness shaking off those Vails and chasing away the Mists before it what a profound reverence would they have paid it when they beheld it in its Glory and Meridian Brightness Our reverence to God in all our Addresses to him will arrive to greater degrees if every act of Duty be usher'd in and season'd with the thoughts of God as sitting upon a Throne of Holiness we shall have a more becoming sense of our own Vileness a greater ardor to his Service a deeper respect in his Presence if our Understanding be more clear'd and possessed with Notions of this Perfection Thus take a view of God in this part of his Glory before you fall down before his Throne and assure your selves you will find your hearts and services quickned with a new and lively Spirit 4. A due sense of this Perfection in God would produce in us a fear of God and arm us against Temptations and Sin What made the Heathens so wanton and loose but the representations of their Gods as vitious Who would stick at Adulteries and more prodigious Lusts that can take a Pattern for them from the Person he adores for a Deity Upon which account Plato would have Poets banish'd from his Commonwealth because by dressing up their Gods in wanton garbs in their Poems they encourag'd wickedness in the People But if the thoughts of Gods holiness were imprest upon us we should regard sin with the same eye mark it with the same detestation in our measures as God himself doth So far as we are sensible of the Divine Purity we should account sin vile as it deserves we should hate it intirely without a grain of love to it and hate it perpetually Psal 119.104 Through thy Precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way He looks into God's Statute-Book and thereby arrives to an understanding of the Purity of his Nature whence his hatred of Iniquity commenc'd This would govern our Motion check our Vices it would make us tremble at the hissing of a Temptation When a Corrup ion did but peep out and put forth its head a look to the Divine Purity would be attended with a fresh Conâ—oy of Strength to resist it There is such Fortification as to be wrapped up in the sense of this This would fill us with an awe of God we should be asham'd to admit any filthy thing into us which we know is detestable to his pure Eye As the approach of a grave and serious Man makes Children hasten their Trifles out of tâ—e way so would a Consideration of this Attribute make us cast away our Idols and fling away our ridiculous thoughts and designs 5. A due sense of this Perfection would inflame us with a vehement desire to be conform'd to him All our Desires would be ardent to regulate our selves according to this Pattern of Holiness and Goodness which is not to be equalled the Contemplating it as it shines forth in the Face of Christ will transform us into the same Image †2 Cor. 3.19 Since our lapsed state we cannot behold the holiness of God in it self without affrightment nor is it an Object of Imitation but as tempered in Christ to our view When we cannot without blinding our selves look upon the Sun
the Lord and his goodness or the Lord for his goodness Fear is often in the Old Testament taken for Faith or Trust This Divine Goodness the Object of Faith is that goodness discover'd in David their King the Messiah our Jesus God in this Dispensation recommends his goodness and love and reveals it more clearly than other Attributes that the Soul might have more prevailing and sweeter attractives to confide in him 3. A confidence in him gives him the glory of his goodness Most Nations that had nothing but the light of Nature thought it a great part of the Honour that was due to God to implore his Goodness and cast their Cares upon it To do good is the most honourable thing in the World and to acknowledge a goodness in a way of confidence is as high an honour as we can give to it and a great part of gratitude for what it hath already exprest Therefore we find often that an acknowledgment of one Benefit received was attended with a trust in him for what they should in the future need * Psal 56.13 Thou hast delivered my Soul from Death wilt thou not deliver my Feet from falling So 2 Cor. 1.10 And they who have been most eminent for their trust in him have had the greatest Elogies and Commendations from him As a diffidence doth disparage this Perfection thinking it meaner and shallower than it is so Confidence highly honours it We never please him more than when we trust in him * Psal 147.11 The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear him in them that hope in his Mercy He takes it for an Honour to have this Attribute exalted by such a Carriage of his Creature He is no less offended when we think his heart straitned as if he were a Parcimonious God than when we think his Arm shortned as if he were an impotent and feeble God Let us therefore make this use of his Goodness to hearten our Faith When we are scar'd by the terrours of his Justice when we are dazled by the arts of his Wisdom and confounded by the splendour of his Majesty we may take refuge in the Sanctuary of his Goodness this will encourage us as well as astonish us Whereas the consideration of his other Attributes would only amaze us but can never refresh us but when they are consider'd marching under the Conduct and Banners of this When all the other Perfections of the Divine Nature are lookt upon in conjunction with this Excellency each of them send forth ravishing and benign influences upon the applying Creature 'T is more advantageous to depend upon Divine Bounty than our own Cares We may have better assurance upon this account in his Cares for us than in ours for our selves Our goodness for our selves is Finite and besides we are too ignorant His goodness is Infinite and attended with an infinite Wisdom we have reason to distrust our selves not God We have reason to be at rest under that kind influence we have so often experimented He hath so much goodness that he can have no deceit His goodness in making the Promise and his goodness in working the heart to a Reliance on it are grounds of trust in him * Psal 119.49 Remember thy word to thy Servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope If his Promise did not please him why did he make it If Reliance on the Promise doth not please him why did his Goodness work it It would be inconsistent with his Goodness to mock his Creature and it would be the highest Mockery to publish his Word and Create a temper in the heart of his supplicant suited to his Promise which he never intended to satisfie He can as little wrong his Creature as wrong himself and therefore can never disappoint that Faith which in his own methods casts it self into the arms of his Kindness and is his own Workmanship and calls him Author That Goodness that imparted it self so freely in Creation will not neglect those nobler Creatures that put their trust in him This renders God a fit Object for trust and confidence 8. The eighth Instruction This renders God worthy to be obeyed and honour'd There is an Excellency in God to allure as well as Soveraignty to enjoyn Obedience The infinite Excellency of his Nature is so great that if his Goodness had promised us nothing to encourage our Obedience we ought to prefer him before our selves devote our selves to serve him and make his glory our greatest content but much more when he hath given such admirable Expressions of his Liberality and stor'd us with hopes of richer and fuller Streams of it When David consider'd the Absolute Goodness of his Nature and the Relative Goodness of his Benefits he presently expresseth an ardent desire to be acquainted with the Divine Statutes that he might make ingenuous returns in a dutiful observance * Psal 119.68 Thou art good and thou dost good teach me thy Statutes As his Goodness is the Original so the acknowledgment of it is the end of all which cannot be without an observance of his Will His Goodness requires of us an ingenuous not a servile Obedience And this is Establisht upon two Foundations 1. Because the Bounty of God hath laid upon us the strongest Obligations The strength of an Obligation depends upon the greatness and numerousness of the Benefits received The more Excellent the favours are which are conferr'd upon any Person the more right hath the Benefactor to claim an observance from the Person better'd by him Much of the Rule and Empire which hath been in several Ages conferred by Communities upon Princes hath had its first spring from a sense of the advantages they have receiv'd by them either in protecting them from their Enemies or rescuing them from an ignoble Captivity in enlarging their Territories or increasing their Wealth Conquest hath been the Original of a constrain'd but Beneficence always the Original of a voluntary and free Subjection * Amyrald Discert p. 65. Obedience to Parents is founded upon their right because they are instrumental in bestowing upon us Being and Life and because this of life is so great a benefit the Law of Nature never dissolves this Obligation of Obeying and Honouring Parents 'T is as long liv'd as the Law of Nature and hath an universal practice by the strength of that Law in all parts of the World And those rightful Chains are not unlockt but by that which unties the knot between Soul and Body Much more hath God a Right to be obey'd and reverenced who is the principal Benefactor and mov'd all those second Causes to impart to us what conduc'd to our advantage The just Authority of God over us results from the superlativeness of his Blessings he hath pour'd down upon us which cannot be equall'd much less exceeded by any other As therefore upon this account he hath a claim to our choicest Affections so he hath also to most exact Obedience and
and from every Creature to the great Landlord since all are Tenants and hold by him at his Will Every Creature in Heaven and Earth under the Earth and in the Sea were heard by John to ascribe blessing honour glory and power to him that sits on the Throne Rev. 5.13 We are as much bound to the soveraignty of God for his preâ—â—rvation of us as for his Creation of us We are no less oblig'd to him that preservs our beings when exposed to dangers than we are for bestowing a being upon us when we were not capable of danger Thankfulness is due to this Soveraign for publick concerns Hath he not preserved the Ship of his Church in the midst of whistling winds and roaring waves in the midst of the combats of men and Devils and rescued it often when it hath been near ship-wrackt 3. How should we be induc'd from hence to promote the honour of this Soveraign We should advance him as supream and all our actions should concur in his honour We should return to his Glory what we have receiv'd from his Soveraignty and enjoy by his mercy He that is the superior of all ought to be the end of all This is the harmony of the Creation that which is of an inferiour nature is order'd to the service of that which is of a more excellent nature thus water and earth that have a lower being are employ'd for the honour and beauty of the plants of the earth who are more excellent in having a principle of a growing life These plants are again subservient to the beasts and birds which exceed them in a principle of sense which the others want Those beasts and birds are order'd for the good of man who is superior to them in a Principle of reason and is invested with a Dominion over them Man having God for his superior ought as much to serve the glory of God as other things are design'd to be useful to man Other Governments are intended for the good of the Community the chief end is not the good of the Governours themselves But God being every way Soveraign the Soveraign being giving being to all things the Soveraign Ruler giving order and preservation to all things is also the end of all things to whose glory and honour all things all creatures are to be subservient Rom. 11.36 For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Of him as the efficient cause through him as the preserving cause to him as the final cause All our actions and thoughts ought to be addrest to his glory our whole beings ought to be consecrated to his honour though we should have no reward but the honour of having been subservient to the end of our Creation So much doth the excellency and Majesty of God infinitely elevated above us challenge of us Subjects use to value the safety honour and satisfaction of a good Prince above their own David is accounted worth 10000 of the people and some of his Courtiers thought themselves oblig'd to venture their lives for his satisfaction in so mean a thing as a little water from the Well of Bethlehem Doth not so great so good a Soveraign as God deserve the same affection from us Do we swear saith a Heathen * Arrian in Epicter to prefer none before Caesar and have we not greater reason to prefer none before God 'T is a Justice due from us to God to maintain his Glory as it is a Justice to preserve the right and property of another As God would lay aside his Deity if he did deny himself so a creature acts irregularly and out of the rank of a creature if it doth not deny it self for God He that makes himself his own end makes himself his own Soveraign To napkin up a gift he hath bestow'd upon us or to employ what we possess solely to our own Glory to use any thing barely for our selves without respect to God is to apply it to a wrong use and to injure God in his propriety and the end of his donation What we have ought to be us'd for the honour of God He retains the Dominion and Lordship though he grants us the use We are but Stewards not Proprietors in regard of God who expects an account from us how we have employ'd his goods to his honour The Kingdom of God is to be advanced by us we are to pray that his Kingdom may come we are to endeavour that his Kingdom may come that is that God may be known to be the chief Soveraign that his Dominion which was obscur'd by Adam's fall may be more manifested that his Subjects which are supprest in the World may be supported his Laws which are violated by the rebellions of men may be more obeyed and his enemies be fully subdued by his final judgment the last evidence of his Dominion in this State of the World that the Empire of sin and the Devil may be abolish'd and the Kingdom of God be perfected that none may rule but the great and rightful Soveraign Thus while we endeavour to advance the honour of his Throne we shall not want an honour to our selves He is too gracious a Soveraign to neglect them that are mindful of his Glory those that honour him he will honour 1 Sam. 2.30 4. Fear and reverence of God in himself and in his actions is a duty incumbent on us from this Doctrine Jer. 10.7 Who would not fear thee O King of Nations The ingratitude of the World is taxt in not reverencing God as a great King who had given so many marks of his Royal Government among them The Prophet wonders there was no fear of so great a King in the World Since among all the wise men of the Nations and among all their Kings there is none like unto this No more reverence of him since none ruled so wisely nor any ruled so graciously The dominion of God is one of the first sparks that gives fire to Religion and Worship consider'd with the goodness of this Soveraign Psal 22.27.28 All the Nations shall worship before thee for the Kingdom is the Lord's and he is Governour among the Nations Epicurus who thought God careless of humane affairs leaving thâ—â— at hap-hazard to the conduct of mens wisdom and mutability of fortune yet acknowledged that God ought to be worshipped by man for the excellency of his nature and greatness of his Majesty How should we reverence that God that hath a Throne encompast with such Glorious Creatures as Angels whose faces we are not able to behold though shadow'd in assum'd bodies How should we fear the Lord of Hosts that hath so many Armies at his command in the Heavens above and in the Earth below whom he can dispose to the exact obedience of his will how should men be afraid to censure any of his actions to sit judge of their Judge and call him to an account to their Bar How should such
of the Lord smote him The Judgment here was suted to the sin he that would be a God is eaten up of Worms the vilest Creatures Tully Hostilius a Roman King who counted it the most unroyal thing to be Religious or own any other God but his Sword was consumed himself and his whole House by Lightning from Heaven Many things are unaccountable unless we have recourse to God The strange Revelations of Murderers that have most secretly committed their crimes The making good some dreadful imprecations which some wretches have used to confirme a lie and immediatly have been struck with that Judgement they wished The raising often unexpected persons to be instruments of Vengeance on a sinful and perfidious Nation The overturning the deepest and surest Counsels of men when they have had a succesful progress and came to the very point of execution the whole designe of mens preservation hath been beaten in peices by some unforeseen circumstance so that Judgments have broken in upon them without controul and all their subtilties been out-witted The strange crossing of some in their Estates though the most wise industrious and frugal persons and that by strange and unexpected wayes And it is observable how often every thing contributes to carry on a Judgment intended as if they rationally designed it All those loudly proclaim a God in the world If there were no God there would be no sin if no sin there would be no punishment 2. In Miracles The course of nature is uniforme and when it is put out of its course it must be by some superior power invisible to the world and by whatsoever invisible instruments they are wrought the efficacy of them must depend upon some first cause above nature Psal 72.18 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who only doth wondrous things by himself and his sole power That which cannot be the result of a natural cause must be the result of something supernatural What is beyond the reach of nature is the effect of a power superior to nature For it is quite against the order of nature and is the elevation of something to such a pitch which all nature could not advance it to Nature cannot go beyond its own limits If it be determined by another as hath been formerly proved it cannot lift it self above it self without that power that so determined it Natural agents act necessarily The Sun doth necessarily shine fire doth necessarilly burn That cannot be the result of nature which is above the Ability of nature That cannot be the work of nature which is against the order of nature Nature cannot do any thing against it self or invert its own course We must own that such things have been or we must accuse all the Records of former ages to be a pack of lies which whosoever doth destroys the greatest and best part of human knowledge The Miracles mentioned in the Scripture wrought by our Saviour are acknowledged by the Heathen by the Jews at this day though his greatest enemies There is no dispute whether such things were wrought the dead raised the blind restored to sight The Heathens have acknowledged the Miraculous Eclipse of the Sun at the Passion of Christ quite against the rule of nature the Moon being then in opposition to the Sun The propagation of Christianity contrary to the methods whereby other Religions have been propagated that in a few years the Nations of the world should be sprinkled with this Doctrine and give in a greater Catalogue of Martyrs courting the devouring flames than all the Religions of the world To this might be added the strange hand that was over the Jews the only people in the world professing the true God that should so often be befriended by their Conquerors so as to rebuild their Temple though they were looked upon as a people apt to rebel Dion and Seneca observe that whereever they were transplanted they prospered and gave laws to the Victors So that this proves also the Authority of the Scripture the truth of Christian Religion as well as the being of a God and a superior power over the world To this might be added the bridling the tumultuous passions of men for the preservation of human societies which else would run the world into unconceivable confusions Psal 65.7 Which stilleth the noise of the Sea and the tumults of the people As also the Miraculous deliverance of a person or Nation when upon the very brink of ruin The suddain answer of Prayer when God hath been sought to and the turning away a Judgment which in reason could not be expected to be averted and the raising a sunk people from a ruine which seemed inevitable by unexpected ways 3. Accomplishments of Prophecies Those things which are purely contingent and cannot be known by Natural signs and in their causes as Ecclipses and changes in Nations which may be discerned by an observation of the signs of the times such things that fall not within this compass if they be foretold and come to pass are solely from some higher hand and above the cause of Nature This in Scripture is asserted to be a notice of the true God Isa 41.23 Shâ—w the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that you are God and Isa 46.10 I am God declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying my Counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure And Prophecy was consented to by all the Philosophers to be from Divine illumination That power which discovers things future which all the foresight of men cannot kenn and conjecture is above nature And to foretel them so certainly as if they did already exist or had existed long ago must be the result of a mind infinitely intelligent Because it is the highest way of knowing and a higher cannot be imagined And he that knows things future in such a manner must needs know things present and past Cyrus was Prophesied of by Esay ch 44.28 45.1 long before he was born His Victories Spoils all that should happen in Babylon his bounty to the Jews came to pass according to that Prophecy and the sight of that Prophecy which the Jews shewed him as other Historians report was that which moved him to be favourable to the Jews Alexanders sight of Daniels Prophecy concerning his Victories moved him to spare Jerusalem And are not the four Monarchies plainly deciphered in that Book before the fourth rose up in the world That power which foretells things beyond the reach of the wit of man and orders all causes to bring about those predictions must be an infinite power the same that made the world sustains it and governs all things in it according to his pleasure and to bring about his own ends And this Being is God Vse 1 1. If Atheism be a folly T is then pernicious to the World and to the Atheist himself Wisdom is the band of human societies the glory
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