evidently inconsistent with some other and greater Perfection Some things may seem to be Perfections which in truth are not because they are plainly impossible and involve a Contradiction as that what has once been should by any Power be made not to have been or that a thing which by its Nature is limited and confin'd to one place should at the same time be in another These things in Reason are impossible and therefore not to be supposed to fall under any Power how unlimited soever For if we once ascribe Contradictions to God we destroy his Being because then to be and not to be Power and no Power would be all one And then there are some Perfections which do argue and suppose Imperfections in them as Motion the quickness and swiftness thereof in Creatures is a Perfection but then it supposeth a finite and limited Nature For a boundless and immense Being that is every where present at once hath no need to move from one place to another and therefore though Motion be a Perfection in Creatures there is no Reason to ascribe it to God because it supposeth a greater Imperfection And there are also some imaginable degrees of Perfection which because they are inconsistent with other Perfections are not to be admitted in the Divine Nature For instance such degrees of Goodness and Mercy may be imagined as would quite exclude and shut out Justice and on the other hand such a strictness and a rigour of Justice as would leave no room at all for Patience and Mercy and therefore such degrees are not really to be esteemed Perfections For this is a certain truth that nothing is a Divine Perfection which evidently clasheth with any other necessary and essential Perfection of the Divine Nature We must so consider the Perfections of God that they may accord and consist together and therefore it cannot be a Perfection of God to be so good and gracious as to encourage Sin and to overthrow the Reverence of his own Laws and Government 'T is not Goodness but Easiness and Weakness to be contented to be perpetually injur'd and affronted 'T is not Patience to be willing to be everlastingly trampled upon So likewise on the other hand 't is not a Perfection to be so severe and rigorous as to smite a Sinner in the instant that he offends not to be able to refrain from Punishment and to give time for Repentance But whatever Perfection is conceivable or possible and argues no Imperfection nor is repugnant to any other necessary Perfection is to be ascribed to God for this is the most natural and easie conception that we can have of God that he is the most perfect Being This natural Light doth first suggest and offer to the Minds of Men and we cannot conceive of God as meer Power and Will without Wisdom and Goodness Hence it is that the Greeks call God very often 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the best of Beings and the Latin Optimus Maximus the best and the Greatest beatissima perfectissima natura constans perfecta Ratio the happiest and most perfect Nature immutible and absolute Reason and many other such expressions which we meet with in the Writings of the Heathen Philosophers I readily grant that the first and most obvious thought which men have of God is that of his Greatness and Majesty but this necessarily involves or infers his Goodness as Seneca excellently reasons Primus Deorum cultus est Deos credere dein reddere illis majestatem suam reddere bonitatem sine quâ nulla Majestas The first Worship of the Gods is to believe their Being next to ascribe to them Greatness and Majesty to ascribe to them Goodness without which there can be no Majesty And we shall find all along in Plato Tully and the best and wisest Writers among the Heathen that they every where attribute the highest Excellencies and Perfections to the Divine Nature and do steer and govern all their Discourses of God by this Principle that Perfection is to be ascrbied to him And whenever any thing is said of God they examin whether it be a Perfection or not if it be they give it him as his due if it be not they lay it aside as a thing not fit to be spoken of him And in the Scripture we do every where find Perfection ascribed to the Nature and Works and Laws of God to every thing that belongs to him or proceeds from him Job 37.16 Dost thou know the wondrous works of him that is perfect in knowledge And again Canst thou by searching find out God Can'st thou find out the Almighty to perfection Ps 18.30 As for God his way is perfect Ps 19.7 The Law of the Lord is perfect I shall not need to consider particularly the several Perfections of the Divine Nature I shall only give you a brief Scheme and Draught of them Whatever Perfection can be imagined either in the manner of Being or Acting is to be ascribed to God therefore as to his Nature we say that he is a Spirit that is that he is not meer Body or Matter because that would exclude several other Perfections for meer Matter is incapable both of Knowledge and Liberty being determined by necessary Laws of Motion and yet without Knowledge and Liberty there can be no Wisdom nor Goodness We say of God that he is of himself and without Cause and does not owe his Being to any other and consequently that he is necessarily and that he cannot but be and cannot be otherwise than he is for that which is of its self did not chuse whether it would be or not nor whether it would be thus or otherwise for to suppose any thing to deliberate or consult about it's own Being is to suppose it to be before it is We must say of God likewise that he is immense and every where present because to be limited is an Imperfection and that he is eternal that is ever was and shall be for to cease to be is a greater Imperfection than sometime not to have been And then we are to say of God that he is the Cause of all other Beings that they are made by him and depend upon him that he knows all things and can do all things in the most perfect manner by a glance of his Mind and by the meer beck and nod of his Will without long study or deliberation without laborious pains and endeavours and consequently that nothing is exempted from his Knowledge and Power and Providence and that he administers all things in a way of Goodness and Wisdom of Justice and Truth and therefore all things are to be referred to him as their last end All these Perfections and all other that are possible we are to look upon the Divine Nature as fully and immutably possest of and that in an higher and more excellent degree than our finite Understandings are able to conceive or comprehend 2. As we are to ascribe all imaginable
The most Reverend D r. IOHN TILLOTSON late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Several Discourses UPON The Attributes of GOD Viz. Concerning the Perfection of God Concerning our Imitation of the Divine Perfections The Happiness of God The Unchangeableness of God The Knowledge of God The Wisdom Glory and Soveraignty of God The Wisdom of God in the Creation of the World The Wisdom of God in his Providence The Wisdom of God in the Redemption of Mankind The Justice of God in the distribution of Rewards and Punishments The Truth of God The Holiness of God To which is annexed a Spital Sermon Of doing Good By the Most Reverend Dr. JOHN TILLOTSON Late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Being The SIXTH VOLUME Published from the Originals By Ralph Barker D. D. Chaplain to his Grace LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard 1699. THE CONTENTS OF THE Sixth Volume SERM. I. Concerning the Perfection of God MATTH V. 48 BE ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect SERM. II. Concerning our Imitation of the Divine Perfections MATTH V. 48 Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect p. 27 SERM. III. The Happiness of God 1 TIM I. 11 The Blessed God The whole Verse runs thus According to the glorious Gospel of the Blessed God which was committed to my trust p. 67 SERM. IV. The Unchangeableness of God JAMES I. 17 With whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning The whole Period runs thus Do not err my beloved Brethren every good Gift and every perfect Gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning p. 97 SERM. V VI. The Knowledge of God 1 SAM II. 3 The Lord is a God of Knowledge p. 153 123 SERM. VII The Wisdom Glory and Soveraignty of God JUDE 25. To the only wise God our Saviour be glory and Majesty dominion and Power now and ever p. 187 SERM. VIII The Wisdom of God in the Creation of the World PSAL. CIV 24 O Lord how manifold are thy Works in Wisdom hast thou made them all p. 219 SERM. IX The Wisdom of God in his Providence Preached at Kensington 1 PETER V. 7 Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you p. 243 SERM. X. The Wisdom of God in the Redemption of Mankind 1 COR. I. 24 Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God p. 275 SERM. XI The Justice of God in the distribution of Rewards and Punishments GEN. XVIII 25 Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right p. 305 SERM. XII The Truth of God DEUT. XXXII 4 A God of Truth p. 337 SERM. XIII The Holiness of God 1 PET. I. 16 Be ye holy for I am holy p. 369 ADVERTISEMENT THE Discourses of the Divine Goodness being more than can be contain'd in this Volume are together with those of the remaining Attributes reserv'd for the next But to complete this here follows a single Sermon upon another Subject SERM. XIV Of doing Good Being a Spital Sermon Preach'd at Christ-Church on Easter-Tuesday April 14th 1691. GALA VI. 9 10. Let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not As we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all Men especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith p. 401 SERMON I. Concerning the Perfection of God MATTH V. 48 Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect THESE words are the Conclusion which our Saviour draws from those Precepts which he had given his Disciples of greater perfection than any Laws that were extant in the world before V. 44. I say unto you love your Enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for those that despitefully use you and persecute you And to perswade them hereto he propounds to them the Pattern of the Divine Perfection telling them that being thus affected towards their Enemies they should resemble God v. 45. That ye may be the Children of your heavenly Father for he maketh the Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth Rain on the just and on the unjust And then he tells us that if we be not thus affected towards our Enemies and those that have been injurious to us we are so far from being like God that we are but just level with the worst of Men v. 46 47. For if ye love them which love you what reward have you do not even the Publicans the same And if ye salute your Brethren only what do ye more than others do not even the Publicans so And then concludes that if we would attain that perfection which the Christian Religion designs to advance Men to we must endeavour to be like God in these perfections of Goodness and Mercy and Patience Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect In which words we have First The absolute Perfection of the Divine Nature supposed as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Secondly It is propounded as a Pattern to our imitation Be ye therefore perfect c. In handling of these words I shall do these four things I. Consider how we are to conceive of the Divine Perfection II. I shall lay down some Rules whereby we may govern and rectifie our Opinions concerning the Attributes and Perfections of God III. How far we are to imitate the Perfections of God and particularly what those Divine Qualities are which our Saviour doth here more especially propound to our imitation IV. I shall endeavour to clear the true meaning of this Precept and to shew that the Duty here intended by our Saviour is not impossible to us and then conclude this Discourse with some useful Inferences from the whole I. I shall consider how we are to conceive of the Divine Perfections These two ways 1. By ascribing all imaginable and possible Perfection to God 2. By separating and removing all manner of Imperfection from him 1. By ascribing all imaginable and possible Perfection to God absolute and universal Perfection not limited to a certain kind or to certain particulars but whatever we can conceive and imagin to be a Perfection is to be ascribed to him yea and beyond this whatever possible Perfection there is or possible degree of any Perfection which our short Understandings cannot conceive or comprehend is to be ascribed to him For we are not to confine the Perfection of God to our imagination as if we could find out the Almighty to Perfection But on the contrary to believe the Perfection of the Divine Nature to be boundless and unlimited and infinitely to exceed our highest thoughts and apprehensions More particularly all kinds and all degrees of Perfection are to be ascribed to God which either do not imply a plain Contradiction or do not argue some Imperfection or are not
possible Perfections to God so we are to separate and remove all manner of Imperfection from him We must not obscure or blemish the Divine Nature with the least shadow or blot of Imperfection If we once admit of this to ascribe any thing to God which argues Imperfection we strike at the foundation and destroy one of the clearest and most essential Notions which Men have of God And therefore we find the Scripture very careful to remove all kind of natural or moral Imperfection from God Gen. 18.25 That be far from Thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from thee shall not the Judge of all the world do right Deut. 32.4 A God of truth and without iniquity Rom. 9.14 What shall we say then is there unrighteousness with God God forbid far be it from him Hence it is that in Scripture Holiness is so frequently ascrib'd to God which signifies the purity and freedom of the Divine Nature from that which we call Sin and God is very solicitous to give us such a notion of himself as may remove Sin and unrighteousness at the greatest distance from him because that is the greatest of Imperfections Is it an Imperfection to countenance Sin the Scripture acquits God of it Psal 5.4 5. Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with Thee Is it an Imperfection to go from ones word or to change ones mind this likewise is remov'd from God 1 Sam. 15.29 The strength of Israel will not lie or repent he is not a man that he should repent Is it an Imperfection to want any thing to be liable to any thing to depend upon any thing without one's self for their happiness this also is to be set far from him Job 22.2 3. Can a man be profitable to God or is it a gain to him that thou makest thy way perfect Job 35.6 7. If thou sinnest what dost thou against him or if thy transgressions be multiplied what dost thou unto him If thou art righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art and thy righteousness may profit the Son of man Is it an Imperfection to tempt or to be tempted to Sin this is to be separated from God He cannot be tempted of evil neither tempteth he any man saith St. James Chap. 1.17 And to mention no more is it an Imperfection to be in any respect mutable This is denyed of God with him there is no variableness or shadow of turning Thus you see how we are to conceive of the Perfections of God by ascribing all imaginable and possible Perfection to him and removing all shadow of Imperfection from him I proceed in the II. Place to lay down some Rules by which we may rectifie and govern our Opinions concerning the Attributes and Perfections of God The best I can think of are these following First Let us begin with the most natural and plain and easie Perfections of God and lay them for a foundation and rectifie all our other Apprehensions of God and Reasonings about him by these and these are his Power Wisdom and Goodness to which most of the rest may be reduced Right Apprehensions and a firm Belief of these will make it easily credible to us that all things were made and are governed by him for his Goodness will dispose and incline him to communicate Being to other things and to take care of them when they are made An infinite Power and Wisdom render him able to do all this without any labour or difficulty and without any disturbance of his ease or happiness as Epicurus would seem vainly to fear who in truth did not believe a God but pretended only to deny his Providence and that he either made or govern'd the world because he was loth to lay so much trouble upon him Vain man as if those things which are impossible and difficult to our Weakness and Folly might not be infinitely easie to infinite Power and Wisdom Particularly the Goodness and Justice of God are not so difficult to apprehend as the Disputes and Controversies about them have rendred them to many When we consider infinite Knowledge and Power we may easily lose our selves and go out of our depth by wading too far into them There is something concerning these that is unimaginable and unaccountable to our Reason we may not be able to understand how Something may be produc'd from Nothing because it argues such an excess of Power as we cannot comprehend but yet we are forc'd to acknowledge that either the World must be produc'd from Nothing or that Matter was eternally of it self which is every whit as hard to imagine as that infinite Power should be able to produce it from nothing So likewise we are not able to conceive how God can certainly know future Events which depend upon voluntary and uncertain Causes because we cannot comprehend infinite Knowledge but this we may easily be satisfied in that infinite Power and Knowledge may be able to do and know many things which we cannot conceive how they can be known or done no more than a Child can imagine how a great Mathematician can demonstrate his Propositions Only this we are sure of as we can be of any thing that no Power can do that which is evidently impossible and implies a plain Contradiction We are not able perhaps to reconcile the particular Providences of God with his universal Goodness Justice and Wisdom because we cannot see to the end of his Ways and Works at one view and see every part with relation to the whole which would appear very wise if we knew the whole series of things and saw the entire design together as God himself does to whom as Solomon tells us all his ways are known from the beginning So that however we may be at a loss in our Conceptions of God's infinite Knowledge and Power yet Goodness and Justice and Truth are Notions easie and familiar and if we could not understand these the whole Bible would be insignificant to us For all Revelation from God supposeth us to know what is meant by Goodness Justice and Truth And therefore no man can entertain any Notion of God which plainly contradicts these And it is foolish for any man to pretend that he cannot know what Goodness and Justice and Truth in God are for if we do not know this 't is all one to us whether God be good or not nor could we imitate his Goodness for he that imitates endeavours to make himself like something that he knows and must of necessity have some Idea of that to which he aims to be like So that if we had no certain and setled Notion of the Goodness and Justice and Truth of God he would be altogether an unintelligible Being and Religion which consists in the imitation of him would
an holy Life because this is the main end of all Divine Revelation and we know God only in order to the service and imitation of him Let us then look upon all knowledge that contradicts practice as vain and false because it destroys its end There are many things that seem probable enough in Speculation which yet we most pertinaciously deny because they are not practicable and there are many things which seem doubtful in Speculation and would admit of great dispute which yet because they are found true in practice and experience are to be taken for certain and unquestionable The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the idle Reasoning of the Stoicks was a thing contemned by the wiser Philosophers as a vain and useless subtilty Zeno pretends to demonstrate there is no Motion and what is the consequence of this Speculation but that Men must stand still But so long as a man finds he can walk all the Sophistry in the world will not perswade him that Motion is impossible In like manner they that would perswade us that men can do nothing nor contribute any more to their own Sanctification than Stocks or Stones and upon Scripture Metaphors misunderstood as our being dead in trespasses and sins and created to good works graft Notions which are impossible and absurd in practice do not consider that the natural consequence of this is that men must do nothing at all in Religion never think of God nor pray to him nor read his Word nor go to Church but sit still and be wholly passive to the operations of God's grace but however this may seem plausible and men may think they add much to the glory of God's grace while they deny any power in the Creature yet every considerate Man will presently apprehend that this is by no means to be admitted because it contradicts Practice and makes all the Commands and Exhortations of God's Word vain and to no purpose because it destroys Religion and discourages the endeavours of Men makes them sloathful and careless of working out their own Salvation than which nothing can set a man farther from God's grace and assistance and more immediately dispose him for ruine and upon some such false Reasoning as this the sloathful Servant in the Parable hid his talent in a napkin and buried it in the earth but when he was called to account his excuse was not admitted but he was cast into utter darkness The two other Particulars namely how far we are to imitate the Divine Perfections and particularly what those Divine Qualities are which our Saviour doth here more especially propound to our imitation and likewise to clear the true meaning of this Precept and to shew that the Duty here injoyned Be ye perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect is not impossible to us Both these I shall refer to another Opportunity SERMON II. Concerning our imitation of the Divine Perfections MATTH V. 48 Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect IN these words we have First The absolute Perfection of the Divine Nature supposed not only in those before mentioned of Goodness and Mercy and Patience but in all other Excellencies whatsoever Secondly The Perfection of God is propounded as a Pattern for our Imitation In the handling of these two Particulars I propounded to proceed in this method I. To shew how we are to conceive of the Divine Perfection II. To lay down some Rules by which we may rectifie and govern our Opinions concerning the Attributes and Perfections of God III. To shew how far we are to imitate the Perfections of God and particularly what those Divine Qualities are which our Saviour doth here more especially propound to our imitation IV. To clear the true meaning of this Precept and to shew that the Duty here intended by our Saviour is not impossible to us and then to draw some useful Inferences from the whole The two first I have already spoken to I now proceed to the third particular which is to shew how far we are to imitate the Perfections of God and particularly what those Divine Qualities are which our Saviour doth here more especially propound to our imitation For though these words do suppose the absolute Perfection of the Divine Nature yet because there are several Perfections of God which are incommunicable and a Creature as such is utterly incapable of them these cannot be suppos'd to be intended for a Pattern to us As the necessity and independency of the Divine Nature and the Self-sufficiency of it to his own happiness to be the Original Cause of all things and consequently supream Lord and Governour the Immensity and Eternity of his Being these and perhaps several other Perfections are incommunicable to a Creature and it would be an unsufferable pride and a kind of High Treason against the Divine Majesty and a sottish Ignorance of the necessary bounds and limits of our own State as we are Creatures to think to resemble God in these Excellencies of which the condition of a Creature is utterly incapable This was the Sin of Lucifer an ambition to step into the Throne of God and to be like the most high So that in our imitation of the Divine Perfection we are to keep within the station of Creatures not affecting an Independency and Soveraignty like the most high and to be Omnipotent as he is to have an arm like God and to thunder with a voice like him as the expression is in Job But to endeavour to resemble him pro modulo creaturae according to the rate and capacity of a Creature in those Divine Qualities and in such measures and degrees as our finite and dependent Nature is capable of More especially and chiefly in the moral Perfections of the Divine Nature such as are his Goodness and Mercy and Patience his Justice and Truth and Faithfulness these and only these the Scripture seems to comprehend under the name of Holiness not all the Excellencies of the Divine Nature in general but those which we call moral Excellencies and Perfections such as those which I have named for with these and hardly with any other is the Holiness of God joyn'd in Scripture as holy and righteous holy and true c. And therefore when God says be ye holy for I am holy it signifies that we are to imitate God in his Goodness and Mercy and Patience and Righteousness and Faithfulness and Truth for these are the Holiness of the Divine Nature which set him at the greatest distance from that which we call Moral Impurity and Sin For that which our Saviour here in the Text more peculiarly recommends to our imitation is the Goodness of God of which his Mercy and Patience are two eminent Branches The Mercy of God is his Goodness to those that are in Misery or are liable to it The Patience of God is his Mercy in sparing those who have deserved Punishment and are liable to it And the
Goodness of God is then greatest when it is exercised towards the evil and unthankful those who are so far from deserving it that they have given great and just Provocations to the contrary And this affection and temper of Mind which is so remarkable in God towards the unworthy and unthankful Sons of Men our Saviour recommends to our imitation here in the Text. Be ye therefore Perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is Perfect Be ye therefore this Particle of inference therefore hath a plain relation to something spoken before and if we look back to v. 44. we shall find our Saviour there enjoyning his Disciples to love their Enemies to bless them that curse them to do good to them that hate them and to pray for those that despightfully use them and persecute them And by what other argument doth he inforce the Practice of this difficult Duty but by telling us that this is to be like God to be good to the evil and unthankful v. 45. That ye may be the Children of your Heavenly Father who maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and the good and his Rain to fall on the just and on the unjust God is good to all and exerciseth great Mercy and Patitience even towards the evil and unjust And then he concludes that if Perfection it self be fit to be a Pattern we should labour after these Qualities Be ye therefore Perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is Perfect So that though the universal Perfection of the Divine Nature be here supposed yet the Attributes of his Goodness and Mercy and Patience are here particularly pointed at and propounded to us for our Pattern and the Precept of imitating the Divine Perfection is more especially to be understood of those Perfections which our Saviour had been discoursâ—â—â— of before viz. the Goodness and Mercy of God And that this is undoubtedly so is evident from St. Luke's rendring this Precept Ch. 6.36 Be ye therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 benefici ready to do good full of kindness and benignity merciful as your Father which is in Heaven is merciful that is endeavour you to be such as I have described God to be And this St. Matthew calls Perfection because the Goodness of God is his great Perfection and the Glory of the Divine Nature that which reflects a lustre and beauty upon all his other Attributes and takes off the terrour of them From all which it is plain what those Perfections of the Divine Nature are which our Saviour doth here particularly recommend to our imitation I come now in the IV. and last place To clear the true meaning of this Precept and to shew that the Duty here required and intended by our Saviour when he says Be ye perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect is not impossible to us And to this purpose be pleased to consider these three or four things 1. That our imitation of God is certainly restrained to the communicable Perfections of God and such as Creatures are capable of as I have shewn before For it is so far from being a Duty to affect or attempt to be like God in his peculiar Perfections that it was probably the Sin of the Apostate Angels 2. Our imitation of the Divine Perfections which are communicable to Creatures is likewise to be restrain'd to such degrees of these Perfections as Creatures are capable of For no Creature can ever be so perfectly Good as God is nor partake of any other Excellency in that transcendent degree in which the Divine Nature is possest of it 3. But there is no manner of inconvenience in having a Pattern propounded to us of so great Perfection as is above our reach to attain to and there may be great Advantages in it The way to excel in any kind is optima quaeque exempla ad imitandum proponere to propose the highest and most perfect Examples to our imitation No Man can write after too perfect and good a Copy and though he can never reach the Perfection of it yet he is like to learn more than by one less perfect He that aims at the Heavens which yet he is sure to come short of is like to shoot higher than he that aims at a mark within his reach Besides that the excellency of the Pattern as it leaves room for continual improvement so it kindles Ambition and makes Men strain and contend to the utmost to do better And though he can never hope to equal the Example before him yet he will endeavour to come as near it as he can So that a perfect Pattern is no hindrance but an advantage rather to our improvement in any kind 4. If any thing can be supposed to be our Duty which is absolutely beyond our Power a Precept of this nature may with as much reason be supposed to be so as any thing that can be instanc'd in Because in such a case if we do our best and be continnually pressing forward towards the Mark though we can never reach it yet we do very commendably and whatever the law may require to try and raise our Obedience yet in all equitable Interpretation such a Will and Endeavour will be acceptable with God for the Deed. For if the Perfection of the Law do really exceed our Ability and be beyond the possibility of our Performance the assurance we have of God's Goodness will sufficiently secure us from any danger and prejudice upon on that account And we may reasonably presume that to do all we can towards the fulfilling of this Precept will be as acceptable to God and as beneficial to our selves as if our Power had been greater and we had perfectly fulfill'd it If our Heavenly Father to try the readiness and chearfulness of our Obedience bid us do that which he knows we cannot do though we can do something towards it we may be sure that he will be very well pleased when he sees that in obedience to him we have done all that we could And we may in this case reason as our Saviour does If we that are evil would deal thus with our Children how much more shall our Heavenly Father The Goodness of God signifies very little if it does not signifie this that in any instance of real and unquestionable Goodness God is much better than any Father upon Earth However at the worst that wherein we fall short of the Perfection of the Law may be supplyed on our part by an humble acknowledgment of our own Weakness and Imperfection and on God's part by Mercy and Forgiveness for the sake of the perfect Obedience of our blessed Redeemer This is the least benefit we can expect in this case from the Grace and Mercy and Equity of the Gospel 5. And lastly which will fully clear this matter this Precept doth not oblige us to come up to a perfect equality with the Pattern propounded to us but only imports a vigorous imitation
Divine Perfections that these being laid for a foundation we may upon all occasions have recourse to them and govern our Opinions and Reasonings in Religion about all doubtful matters by such Principles as are clear and unquestionable The II. Inference is That the truest and most substantial Practice of Religion consists in the imitation of the Divine Perfections especially the Moral Perfections of the Divine Nature which the Scripture is wont to comprehend under the name of Holiness and such are the Goodness and Mercy and Patience of God his Justice and Truth and Faithfulness To imitate God in these is true Religion or as St. James expresses it pure Religion and undefiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any flaw or blemish alluding to precious Stones the greatest commendation of which is to be clear and without flaw Religio est imitari quem colis this is Religion to imitate him whom we worship This the Heathens by the light of Nature did discover to be the great End of Religion and the best Worship of the Deity to be like God Pythagoras was wont to say that we honour God most when we are most like him in the temper and disposition of our Minds and Plato to the same purpose that the height and Perfection of Goodness is to resemble God as near as is possible and that we resemble God in being just and holy and wise So likewise Hierocles that a good man imitates God in the measures of Love and Friendship who hates no man and extends his benignity to all Mankind Plutarch hath an excellent Discourse about the Patience of God towards Sinners and gives this as one Reason why God doth not presently punish Offenders that he might give an Example to us of Gentleness and Patience and check the fury and violence of men in revenging Injuries upon one another which nothing will do more effectually than to consider that Gentleness and Forbearance are an imitation of the Divine Perfection And then he cites an excellent saying of Plato that God manifested himself and display'd his Perfections in the World for our imitation true Virtue being nothing else but an imitation of the Divine Nature For there is no greater Benefit man can receive from God's hand than to become virtuous by the imitation and pursuit of those Excellencies and Perfections which are in God Seneca likewise hath many passages to this purpose inter viros bonos ac Deum amicitia est imo etiam necessitudo similitudo between God and good men there is a friendship yea and an intimacy and likeness and that a virtuous man is discipulus aemulatorque vera progenies Dei a disciple and imitator and the very genuine off-spring of God So that the light of Nature and the Reason of Mankind have always placed the perfection of Religion in the imitation of the Divine Excellencies and Perfections And this is very agreeable to the language and sense of the holy Scriptures which every where make the Practice of Religion to consist in our Conformity to God and the Laws which he hath given us which are nothing else but a transcript of his Nature The great business of Religion is to do the Will of God and this is the will of God our sanctification and our sanctification is our conformity to the holiness of God and this is the scope of the general Exhortations of Scripture to perswade us to holiness that is to an imitation of the Moral Perfections of the Divine Nature 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfect holiness in the fear of God 1 Pet. 1.15 16. As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written be ye holy for I am holy 2 Pet. 1.3 4. speaking of the Christian Religion which he calls the knowledge of him who hath called us to glory and virtue whereby also says he are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these we might be partakers of a divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust So that the holiness the Gospel designs to bring us to is a participation of the Divine Nature which we can no otherwise partake of but by an imitation of the Divine Perfections This is that which the Scripture expresses to us by the terms of Regeneration the New Man and the New Creature And therefore those who are converted from a wicked and sinful state and reclaimed to goodness are said to put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and the holiness of truth Ephes 4.23 To be renewed after the image of him that created us Coloss 3.10 This is to be the sons and children of God to imitate and resemble God in our dispositions and manners Ephes 5.1 Be ye therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imitators of God as dear children Philip. 2.15 That ye may be blameless and sincere the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation 1 John 3.10 In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God There have been great enquiries concerning the Marks of a Child of God this is the true Character and that which in effect comprehends all others our imitation and resemblance of God in those Perfections wherein he is set forth for a Pattern to us And in this mainly consists the practice both of Natural Religion and of true Christianity But does not Religion consist very much in the Duties of God's Worship in the Exercises of Piety and Devotion in constant and frequent Prayers to God and in the celebration of his Goodness by Praise and Thanksgiving in reading and hearing and meditating upon God's Word in Fasting and Abstinence and keeping our bodies in subjection to our spirits and in frequent receiving of the holy Sacrament To this I answer That Religion doth consist very much in the due performance of these Duties and they are unquestionable and necessary parts of Religion and the Means appointed by God for the begetting and increasing in us such dispositions of mind as render us most like to God and for the production of all the fruits of Goodness and Holiness and Righteousness in our lives But then it is to be considered that these Exercises of Piety and Devotion are but the Means of Religion and not the ultimate End and Design of it All these do but serve to bring us to a nearer resemblance of God and where they fail of this End and are performed for their own sakes only and we rest in them without aiming at any thing farther they lose their nature because they are not used as Means but rested in as if they were the End of Religion And it is to be feared there are many which fall into this fatal mistake about Religion and think that if
us supplies all the defects of Power and Wisdom in us For God being our Friend we have an Interest in all his Perfections and a Security that as occasion requires they will all be employ'd for our benefit and advantage so that tho' we are weak in our selves we are strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and are able to do all things through him strengthning us and tho' we want Wisdom we may have free recourse to the Fountain of it and ask it of God who gives to all liberally and upbraideth not And it is next to having these perfections in our selves to know where to have them for asking whenever we stand in need of them so far as is necessary to our happiness So that tho' our happiness depend upon another yet if we be careful to qualifie our selves for it and God is always ready to assist us by his Grace to this purpose it is really and in effect in our own power and we are every whit as safe and happy in God's care and protection of us as if we were sufficient for our selves However this is the highest happiness that the Condition of a Creature is capable of to have all our defects supply'd in so liberal a manner by the Bounty of another and to have a free recourse to the Fountain of Happiness and at last to be admitted to the Blessed sight and enjoyment of Him in whose presence is fulness of Joy and at whose right hand are Pleasures for evermore I have done with the Three Things I proposed to speak to But to what purpose may some say is this long Description and Discourse of happiness How are we the Wiser and the Better for it I Answer very much in several respects 1. This plainly shews us That Atheism is a very melancholy and mischievous thing it would take away the Fountain of happiness and the only perfect Pattern of it it endeavours at once to extinguish the Being of God and all the Life and Comfort of Mankind so that we could neither form any Idea of happiness or be in any possibility of attaining it For it is plain we are not sufficient for it of our selves and if there be not a God there is nothing that can make us so God is the true light of the World and a thousand times more necessary to the comfort and happiness of Mankind than the Sun it self which is but a dark Shadow of that infinitely more bright and glorious Being the happy and only Potentate as the Apostle describes him in the latter end of this Epistle who only hath immortality dwelling in that light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see meaning in this mortal state So that the greatest Enemies and most injurious of all others to Mankind are those who would banish the Belief of a God out of the World because this is to lay the Ax to the root of the Tree and at one blow to cut off all Hopes of happiness from Mankind So that he is a Fool indeed that says in his heart there is no God that is that wisheth there were none because it is not possible for a Man to wish worse to himself and more effectually to destroy his own happiness 2. If the Divine Nature be so infinitely and compleatly happy this is a very great confirmation of our Faith and Hope concerning the happiness of another Life which the Scripture describes to us by the Sight and Enjoyment of God As we are Creatures we are not capable of the happiness that is absolutely and infinitely perfect because our Nature is but finite and limited but the blessed God who is infinitely happy himself can also make us happy according to our finite Measure and Capacity For as he that is the First and Original Being can communicate Being to other things so He that is the Fountain of Happiness can derive and convey happiness to his Creatures And we shall the more easily believe this when we consider that Goodness as it is the prime Perfection so is it likewise the chief felicity of the Divine Nature It is his Glory and Delight to communicate himself and shed abroad his goodness and the highest expression of the Divine Goodness is to communicate happiness to his Creatures and to be willing that they should share and partake with him in it Base and Envious Natures are narrow and contracted and love to confine their Enjoyments and good Things to themselves and are loth that others should take part with them but the most Noble and most Generous Minds are most free and enlarged and cannot be happy themselves unless they find or make others so This is the highest pitch of Goodness and consequently the highest Contentment and the supream delight of the Divine Nature Now it is natural to every Being to be most frequent and abundant in those Acts in which it finds the greatest Pleasure to be good and to do good is the supream Felicity of God himself therefore we may easily believe that he is very ready and forward to make us happy by all the ways that are agreeable to his Wisdom and Righteousness and that He is also willing to make us abundantly so and to advance us to the highest degree of Felicity of which our Nature is capable if we do not render our selves incapable of such a Blessing by an obstinate refusal of it and utter indisposition for it This I say is very credible because the happiness of God himself consists in that propension and disposition of Nature which tends to make others happy And if there can be any accession to that which is infinite God himself finds a new Pleasure and Felicity in the communication of his goodness to his Creatures and therefore is represented in Scripture as glad of the Conversion of a sinner because the sinner hereby becomes capable of the happiness which God design'd for his Creatures and is always ready to confer upon them whenever they are qualified for it and he can with the Honour of his other Perfections bestow it upon them There are Two things which raise our Hopes and expectation of Good from any Person if he be Able and Willing to bestow upon us what we hope for from him Now if any one can confer Happiness upon us it is He who is infinitely possest of it and hath all the Treasures of it in himself and that God only is who as he is able so is willing to make us happy if we be qualified for it and it is no impairing of his happiness to make others happy for even that Goodness which inclines him to communicate happiness to others is a great part of his own Felicity so that as our Saviour argues because I live you shall live also we may reason in like manner that because God is happy we shall be happy also if we do but sincerely desire and endeavour to qualifie our selves for it The Goodness of
God does strongly incline him to desire our happiness and makes him willing and ready to bestow it upon us when ever we are capable to receive it So that the Goodness of God is the great Foundation of all our Hopes and the firmest ground of our assurance of a Blessed Immortality It is the happiness of the Divine Nature to communicate himself and the communications of God's Goodness to us are the cause of our happiness and therefore both for our Example and Encouragement the Goodness of God ought always to be represented to the greatest Advantage and we should endeavour to possess our Minds with a firm Belief and Perswasion of it and to remove from the Divine Nature which we all acknowledge to have infinitely more goodness than is to be found in any of the Sons of Men whatever we would not attribute to a good Man and to vindicate God from all suspicion of Envy and Ill-will of Cruelty and Arbitrary dealing with his Creatures And I cannot apprehend why Men should be averse from these so agreeable and delightful apprehensions of God or how it should be any Man's Interest to lessen the Goodness of God for most certainly the better God is in himself the better and happier it will be for us all if it be not our own fault 3. From what hath been said concerning the happiness of the Divine Nature we may learn wherein our happiness must consist namely in the Image and in the Favour of God in the Favour of God as the Cause of of our happiness and in the Image of God as a necessary inward disposition and qualification for it Unless God love us we cannot be happy for miserable are they whom he hates for God to say of any Man that his Soul hath no pleasure in him imports as great Misery and as dreadful a Curse as can be imagin'd and his Soul can have no pleasure in a bad Man for he loveth Righteousness and hateth Iniquity he is not a God that hath pleasure in Wickedness neither shall Evil dwell with him the Wicked shall not stand in his sight he hateth all the workers of Iniquity Nay if we could suppose that he could love and take pleasure in any Person that is unlike to him which is impossible yet that Person could not be happy because he would want that inward Frame and Disposition of Mind which is necessary to happiness For the very same Causes and Ingredients which make up the happiness of God must in an inferior degree be found in us otherwise we cannot be happy no tho' a Man were in Heaven if he be still a bad Man Coelum non animum mutavit he hath only changed the Climate and is gone into another Countrey but he bears himself still about him and his Mind is not changed which would signifie a thousand times more to his happiness than any Place or outward Circumstance whatsoever A bad Man wheresoever he goes hath a Root of Gall and Bitterness within him and is miserable from himself he hath a Fiend in his own Breast and the Fuel of Hell in a guilty Conscience For there is a certain Temper and Disposition of Mind that is necessary and essential to happiness and that is holiness and goodness which is the Nature of God and so much as any Person departs from this Temper so far he removes himself and runs away from happiness And as Sin is a departure from God so the Punishment of it is likewise exprest by departing from him Depart from me ye Cursed depart from me all ye that work Iniquity I know you not And this is one great part of the Misery of those degenerate and accursed Spirits the Devils who are for ever banish'd from the Presence of God that they are of a Temper quite contrary to God Wicked and Impure Envious and Malicious Mischievous and Cruel and such a Temper is naturally a torment and disquiet to it self And here the Foundation of Hell is laid in the evil disposition of our Minds and 'till this be cur'd and set right it is as impossible for any of us to be happy as it is for a Limb that is out of joint to be at ease And the external presence of God and a local Heaven if we could imagine such a Person to be admitted into it and see all the Glories of that place and the Pleasures and Delights of that state all this I say would signifie no more to make a bad Man happy than heaps of Gold and Diamonds and Consorts of the most delicious Musick and a well-spread Table and a rich and costly Bed would contribute to a Man's Ease in the paroxysme of a Fever or in a violent fit of the Stone because the Man hath that within which torments him and 'till that be removed he cannot possibly be at ease The Man's Spirit is out of order and off the Hinges and tost from its Centre and 'till that be set right and restor'd to its proper place and state by Goodness and Holiness the Maâ— will be perpetually restless and cannot possibly have any Ease or Peace in his Mind For how can there be Peace how can there be happiness to him who is of a Temper directly opposite to it The wicked saith the Prophet Isa 57.20 21. is like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt So long as there is impurity in our Hearts and Guilt upon our Consciences they will be restlesly working there is no peace saith my God to the wicked The Hebrew Word which we translate Peace signifies all kind of happiness there can be no felicity to a bad Man The consideration whereof should put us upon the most serious and earnest endeavours to be like God that we may be capable of his Favour and partakers of his Felicity The Divine Nature is the only perfect Idea of happiness and nothing but our conformity to it can make us happy I have been so long upon this Argument on purpose to convince Men of the Necessity of Holiness and Goodness and all other Virtues to our present and future happiness They understand not the nature of happiness who hope for it or imagin they can attain it in any other way The Author and the Fountain of happiness he that made us and alone can make us happy cannot make us so in any other way than by planting in us such a disposition of Mind as is in Truth a participation of the Divine Nature and by endowing us with such Qualities as are the necessary Materials and Ingredients of happiness There is no way to partake of the Felicity of God blessed for ever but by becoming Holy and Righteous Good and Merciful as he is All Men naturally desire happiness and seek after it and are as they think travelling towards it but generally they mistake their way Many are eager in the pursuit of the Things of this World and greedily catch at Pleasures and Riches and Honour as if
to our selves I. For the Explication of it By the immutability of God we mean that he always is and was and to all Eternity will be the same that he undergoes no changes either of his Essence and Being or of his Properties and Perfections In reference to the unchangeableness of his being he is said to be eternal incorruptible and only to have immortality In reference to his perfections he is always the same infinitely Wise and Good and Powerful and Holy and just Being from whence it follows that he is Constant and Immutable in all his Decrees and Counsels his Purposes and Promises We are uncertain and mutable in in our very Nature and Beings and in all those Qualities and Perfections which belong to us in all our Purposes Resolutions and Actions we are continually growing or decreasing in this or that quality and do frequently change from one extream to another from that which is more perfect to the contrary now knowing and then ignorant somtimes wise and oftner foolish stronger and weaker better or worse as it happens and as we order our selves continually waxing or waining in our Knowledge and Wisdom and Goodness and Power we frequently change our Minds and alter our Purposes and break our Promises and contradict our firmest and most serious Resolutions and speak a thing and do it not say it and do not bring it to pass but God is everlastingly the same in all his Perfections constant to his Intentions steady to his Purpose immutably fixt and persevering in all his Decrees and Resolutions I proceed to the II. Thing I proposed namely To shew that this Perfection is essential to God to be unchangeably what he is And this I shall endeavour to make manifest both from Natural Reason and from the Divine Revelation of the Holy Scriptures 1. From the Dictates of natural Reason which tells us that nothing Argues greater weakness and imperfection than Inconstancy and Change This is the great Vanity of all Creatures that they are uncertain and do not long continue in one state this is the vanity of the World in general that the fashion of it passeth away and of Man in particular that he is liable to so many natural changes by Age and Diseases and Death for which Reason he is said by the Psalmist to be in his best estate altogether vanity and that he is liable to so many moral changes to be deluded and deceived in his Understanding and to alter his Opinion so often to be so fickle in his Will and to change so often his Purposes and Resolutions according to the alteration or appearance of things We attribute Change and Inconstancy to Persons of the weakest Age and Understanding as Children who are liable to be tost to and fro and carried about with every wind as the Apostle speaks Eph. 4.14 Now if the Divine Nature were subject to change this would cast an universal Cloud upon all the Divine Perfections and obscure all other Excellencies and make them like the flower of the field which how gay and glorious soever is fading and perishing and the greater the Divine Perfections are the greater Imperfection would mutability be for as the corruption of the best things is the worst so the better any thing is so much the worse it would be to have it liable to Corruption and Change And as mutability in God would darken all his other Perfections so would it take away the Foundation and comfort of all Religion the ground of our Faith and Hope and Fear of our Love and Esteem of God would be quite taken away We could have no great Honour or Esteem for a Being that is fickle and inconstant if his Power and Justice were uncertain his Threatings would in a great measure lose their awe and force if his Truth and Faithfulness could fail no Promises and Declarations how gracious soever would be any security or firm ground of Trust and Confidence And this Reasoning is not the result of Divine Revelation but clearly founded in the natural Notions and Suggestions of our Minds as will appear by citing one or two Testimonies to this burpose of those who had no other Guide but Natural Light Plato in his Phoedo enquires Whether the most perfect that is God be always the same or sometimes thus and sometimes otherwise that is saith he whether that which is Equality and Goodness and Bounty it self receives any the least Change at any time and be not Constant and Uniform and of it self always the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is never in any wise upon any account subject to any Change or Alteration whatsoever To which he answers That it is necessary that he should be the same and always alike And lib. 2. de Repub. where he lays down the Fundamental Laws and Constitutitions of Religion he mentions these two which one would almost think he borrow'd from St. James but that he lived so long before him viz. First That God is the Cause of all good and and in no wise of any evil answerably to what our Apostle here asserts that God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any Man but that every good and perfect gift is from him Secondly That God doth not deceive us by making various Representations of himself to us sometimes in one form and sometimes in another for he is unchangeable and always the same and cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pass out of his own Idea or be any other than what he is which he further confirms by this excellent Reasoning That which is the best and most perfect Being is not liable to any Alteration but such a Being is God and therefore he cannot be changed by any thing that is weaker and less perfect than himself and he cannot will to change himself for if he should it must either be for the better or for the worse it cannot be for the better for being already possest of all Perfection there can be no accession of any to him by any change and certainly there is no Wise Being as God is that will change for the worse and therefore he concludes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That being the goodliest and best Being that is possible he always continues simply the same Seneca likewise speaking of the immutability of God's Counsels l. 6. de Benef. Statuerunt says he quae non mutarent neque unquam primi consilii Deos poenitet The Gods make unchangeable decrees and never repent them of their first counsel 2. This will yet more clearly appear from the Divine Revelation of the Holy Scriptures which tell us that God is unchangeable in his Nature and in his Perfections in all his Decrees and Purposes and Promises In his essence and being Exod. 3.14 I am that I am this is his Name whereby he made known himself to the comfort of his People and to the terrour of the Egyptians their Oppressors Psal 90.2 From everlasting to everlasting thou art God Psal 102.27 Thou art
the same and thy years fail not Mat. 3.6 I am the Lord and change not Hence it is that the Title of the living God is so frequently attributed to him and he swears by this as denoting not only his eternity but his unchangeableness As I live saith the Lord. Hither likewise we may refer those Texts where he is call'd the incorruptible God Rom. 1.23 The immortal King 1 Tim. 1.17 and is said only to have immortality 1 Tim. 1.16 And he is immutable likewise in his perfections hence it is so often said in the Psalms that his goodness and his mercy endure for ever his righteousness likewise is said to endure for ever Psal 111.3 and Psal 36.6 To be like the great Mountains not only visible and conspicuous but firm and immoveable and the same likewise is said of his truth and faithfulness Psal 117.2 His truth endureth for ever and of his power Esa· 26.4 In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength And so likewise in his Decrees and Purposes and Promises Psal 33.11 The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever and the thoughts of his heart to all generations Esa 14.24 Surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass and as I have purposed so shall it stand Numb 23.19 God is not a Man that he should lie or as the Son of Man that he should repent hath he spoken and shall not he do it hath he said it and shall not he bring it to pass If he hath made any promise or entred into any Covenant with us it is firm and immutable Psal 89.33 He will not suffer his faithfulness to fail his covenant will he not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of his lips His Covenant and his Promise are in themselves immutable but for our further assurance God hath given us his Oath the highest sign of Immutability so the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us chap. 6.18 That by two immutable things viz his Promise and his Oath in which it is impossible for God to lie we might have strong consolation who are fled for refuge to the hope which is set before us I proceed to the III. Thing I proposed which is to answer an Objection which may seem to lie against what hath been said from the mention so often made in Scripture of God's repenting himself as Gen. 6.6 where it is said that it repented God that he had made Man 1 Sam. 15.11 That he repented that he had made Saul King and 2 Sam. 24.16 When the Angel had stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it it is said that the Lord repented him of the evil and Psal 135.14 the Lord saith there that he will repent himself concerning his servants To all which I answer That this expression of God's repenting we are to understand as many others in Scripture after the manner of Men and as spoken by way of Condescention and Accommodation to our Weakness and Capacity and not as casting any imputation of Mutability and Inconstancy upon God as if out of levity or for want of foresight he did alter his Mind but when God is said to repent that he made Man or that he made Saul King the change was not in him but them and it signifies not that God was absolutely deceived in his expectation but that things had fallen out contrary to all reasonable Expectation and therefore the Scripture cloaths God with the Humane Passion of repenting and grieving for what he had done as Men use to do when they are greatly disappointed and fall short of their Expectation And as for the other instances wherein God is said to repent him of evils threatned the expression only signifies thus much that God doth not execute that which seemed to us to have been his peremptory purpose and resolution that is he is pleased to do otherwise than his threatning seemed openly to express because of some tacit Condition implyed in it which he did not think fit to acquaint us with And this doth not at all derogate from the constancy and immutability of God for when God did threaten he spake what he did really purpose and intend if something did not intervene to prevent the Judgment threatned upon which he was resolved at that time when he threatned to be taken off and to stay his Hand and in thus doing God doth not mutare consilium sed sententiam He doth not change his inward Counsel and Purpose but takes off the sentence which was past with reserved conditions and unknown to us on purpose to urge us the more effectually to Repentance And that God usually reserves such Conditions not only in his Threatnings but sometimes also in his Promises appears from that remarkable Text Jer. 18.7 8 9 10. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it if that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from the evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build and to plant it if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them And from this very Consideration the same Prophet encourageth the People to repenpentance Jer. 26.13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings and obey the voice of the Lord your God and the Lord will repent him of the evil he hath pronounced against you And we have a famous instance of this in the case of Niniveh the destruction whereof within forty days after God had openly proclaimed by his Prophet yet he stops the Execution of the Sentence upon their Repentance Jonah 3.10 The Men of Niniveh turned from their evil ways and the Lord repented of the evil he said he would do unto them and he did it not All that now remains is to apply this Doctrine of the immutability of the Divine Nature to our selves and the Consideration of it may serve to several good Purposes both in reference to bad and good Men. First In regard to sinners and wicked Men. And 1 st The unchangeableness of God is matter of great terrour to wicked Men. Let but the sinner consider what God is and the consideration of his unchangeable nature must need terrifie him He is a holy God and of purer eyes than to behold iniquity Hab. 1.12 He is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with him the foolish shall not stand in his sight he hateth all the workers of iniquity Psal 5.4 5. He is likewise a just God and will by no means clear the guilty nor let sin go unpunisht Exod. 34.7 He is also omnipotent and able to execute the vengeance threatned against Sinners Who knoweth the power of thine anger Psal 90.11 Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when once
thou art angry Psal 76.7 Strong is the Lord God who judgeth Rev. 18.8 And which gives a sad accent to all this he that is thus holy and just and powerful continues for ever the same and will never alter or put off any of these Properties will never cease to hate iniquity and to be an implacable Enemy to all impenitent Sinners and is it not a fearful thing to fall into the hands of this holy and just and omnipotent God who lives for ever and can punish for ever Let all obstinate Sinners hear this and tremble you cannot be more obstinately bent to continue in your wicked ways than God is peremptorily resolved to make you miserable If you be determined upon a sinful course God is also determined how he will deal with you that he will not spare but that his anger and jealousie shall smoke against you and that all the curses that are written in his book shall light upon you and that he will blot out your name from under Heaven he hath sworn in his wrath that unbelieving and impenitent Sinners shall not enter into his rest and for the greater assurance of the thing and that we may not think that there is any condition implyed in these Threatnings he hath confirmed them by an Oath that by this immutable sign in which it is impossible for God to lie Sinners might have strong terrours and not be able to fly to any in hopes of refuge 2 ly The consideration of Gods unchangeableness should likewise be a very powerful Argument to urge Sinners to Repententance If they will but leave their sins and turn to him they will find him ready to receive them upon their Repentance and Submission for he is a God gracious and merciful slow to anger and ready to forgive he is unchangeably good and his mercy endureth for ever but if they will not come in and submit to these Terms there is nothing before them but Ruin and Destruction nothing then remains but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation to consume them God hath declared to us the terms of our Pardon and Peace and if we will not come up to them he is at a point he cannot change his Nature nor will he alter the terms of his Covenant there is a perfect and eternal opposition between the Holy Nature of God and an impenitent sinner and 't is impossible such an one should be Happy till this opposition be remov'd and to do that there are but two ways imaginable by changing God or by changing our selves the Nature of God is fixt and unalterable God cannot recede from his own pure Nature therefore we must depart from our sinful and corrupt Nature God cannot quit his Holiness therefore we must leave our Sins we can have no hope to change God therefore we must change our selves Rectifie Sinner thine own corrupt Nature and renounce thy lusts do not venture upon Impossibilities rather think of altering thy sinful nature which may be changed than of altering the Divine Nature which is essentially immutable with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning God hath once condescended so far as to take our nature upon him to make us capable of Happiness but if this will not do he can go no lower he will not he cannot put off his own nature to make us Happy Secondly In reference to Good Men the consideration of Gods unchangeableness is matter of great Consolation to them in all the changes and vicissitudes of the World their main comfort and hope is built upon a Rock the rock of ages as the expression is in the Prophet Isaiah 26.4 it relies upon the unchangeable goodness and faithfulness of God all whose promises are Yea and Amen truth and certainty All other Support and Hopes may fail us but God will not suffer his faithfulness to fail his covenant will he not break nor alter the thing which is gone out of his lips as the Psalmist assures us Psal 89.33 Men may break their Word and be less than their Promises but God is faithful who hath promised to give grace and glory and to withhold no good thing from them that walk uprightly he is not as Man that he should lie or as the Son of Man that he should repent hath he spoken and shall he not do it hath he said it and shall not he bring it to pass If there be any thing that hath the appearance of a change in God it is usually on the merciful side as when he stops the execution of his threatnings upon the repentance of a sinful Nation as in that remarkable Text which I mention'd before Jer. 18.7 8. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it if that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them and so likewise when his faithful People and Servants are in great Distress and there is no visible help and means of relief in this case likewise God is said to repent and to appear for their rescue Deut. 32.36 The Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his servants when he seeth that their power is gone Thus we should comfort our selves in the greatest extremities with the consideration of the immutable goodness and faithfulness of God The things of the World are Mutable and the Men of the World even those things which seem most constant as the Heavens and to be setled upon the surest Foundations as the Earth yet these shall be changed Psal 102.25 26 27. Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of thy hands they shall perish but thou shalt endure all of them shall wax old like a garment as a vesture shall thou change them and they shalt be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall have no end from whence the Psalmist infers this comfort to the Church and People of God v. 28 The Children of thy Servants shall continue and their seed shall be establisht before thee Nothing that is mutable can be a solid Foundation of Comfort and Confidence Men are inconstant and Riches are uncertain and all other things which Men commonly trust to and therefore the Apostle chargeth them that are Rich in this World not to trust in uncertain Riches but in the living God He only that lives for ever is a firm Foundation of Hope and Confidence When God would comfort the Israelites in Egypt under their great Oppression he bids Moses only to declare to them his immutability Exod. 3.14 Say unto them I am that I am hath sent me unto you and this is the great comfort of Christians that he who is the same Saviour and their hope is the same yesterday to day and for ever he that was and that is and that is to come in all durations the same We are
labour after this is but a short-witted Prudence to serve a present turn without any prospect to the future without regard to the next World and the Eternity which we are to live in this is to be wise for a moment and fools for ever 4. If God be only Wise then put your Trust and Confidence in him Whom should we trust rather than Infinite Wisdom which manageth and directs Infinite Goodness and Power In all Cases of difficulty trust him for direction acknowledge him in all thy ways that he may direct thy steps commit thy way unto the Lord and lean not to thine own understanding The race is not to the swift nor the Battel to the strong but the Providence of God disposeth all these things And if we rely upon our own Wisdom that will prove a broken reed And as our own Wisdom is a broken Reed so the Wisdom of other men Isa 31.1 2. God curseth them that go down into Egypt and trust to their strength and Wisdom but look not to the holy one of Israel neither seek the Lord yet he also is wise saith the Prophet 5. Let us adore the Wisdom of God and say with St. Paul 1 Tim. 1.17 To the only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen and with Daniel Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever for wisdom and might are his Veneration is the acknowledgement of an Infinite Excellency and Perfection We reverence any extraordinary degree of Wisdom in Men but the Divine Wisdom which is Perfect and Infinite is matter of our Adoration and Blessing and Praise Thanksgiving respects the Benefits we receive but we bless God when we acknowledge any Excellency for as God's Blessing us is to do us good so our Blessing him is to speak good of him and as all God's Perfections are the Objects of our Blessing so more especially his Wisdom is of our Praise for to praise God is to take notice of the wise Design and Contrivance of his Goodness and Mercy towards us Before I pass on to the other Particulars contained in these words I cannot but take notice that this wise God here spoken of is stiled our Saviour which some understand of our Saviour Jesus Christ and bring this place as an Argument to prove his Divinity and if that were so it were all one to my purpose which is in the next place to shew that Glory and Majesty and Dominion and Power belong to the Divine Being But altho' I would not willingly part with any place that may fairly be brought for the proof of the Divinity of Christ yet seeing there are so many plain Texts in Scripture for the proof of it we have the less reason to stretch doubtful places and that this is so will appear to any one who considers that the Title of Saviour is several times in Scripture attributed to God the Father besides that in a very Ancient and Authentick Copy we find the words read somewhat otherwise and so as to put this out of all Controversie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Having premised thus much for the clearing of these words I shall briefly consider first God's Glory and Majesty and then his Dominion and Soveraignty First God's Glory and Majesty By Majesty we may understand the greatness or eminent excellency of the Divine Nature which results from his Perfections and whereby the Divine Nature is set and placed infinitely above all other Beings I say the eminent excellency of the Divine Nature which results from his Perfections more especially from those great Perfections his Goodness and Wisdom and Power and Holiness And his Glory is a manifestation of this Excellency and a just acknowledgment and due opinion of it Hence it is that in Scripture God is said to be glorious in power and glorious in holiness and his Goodness is call'd his glory and here in the Text Glory and Majesty are ascribed to him upon the account of his Wisdom and Goodness That these belong to God I shall prove 1. From the acknowledgment of Natural Light The Heathens did constantly ascribe Greatness to God and that as resulting chiefly from his Goodness as appears by their frequent conjunction of these two Attributes Goodness and Greatness Opt. Max. were their most familiar Titles of the Deity to which I will add that known place of Seneca primus deorum cultus est deos credere dein reddere illis majestatem suam reddere bonitatem sine quâ nulla majestas 2. From Scripture It were endless to produce all those Texts wherein Greatness and Glory are ascribed to God I shall mention two or three Deut. 10.17 the Lord is a great God Psal 24.10 he 's call'd the King of glory 104 1. he is said to be cloathed with majesty and honour The whole Earth is full of his glory Hither belong all those Doxologies in the Old and New Testament wherein Greatness and Glory and Majesty are ascribed to God From all which we may learn 1. What it is that makes a Person great and glorious and what is the way to Majesty viz. real worth and excellency and particularly that kind of excellency which Creatures are capable of in a very eminent degree and that is goodness this is that which advanceth a Person and gives him a pre-eminency above all others this casts a lustre upon a man and makes his face to shine Aristotle tells us that Honour is nothing else but the signification of the esteem which we have of a Person for his goodness for saith he to be good and to do good is the highest glory God's Goodness is his highest Glory and there is nothing so glorious in any Creature as herein to be like God 2. Let us give God the Glory which is due to his Name Ascribe ye greatness to our God Deut. 32.3 Give unto the Lord O ye mighty give unto the Lord glory and power Psal 29.1 The Glory and Majesty of God calls for our Esteem and Honour our Fear and Reverence of him Thus we should glorifie God in our Spirits by an inward esteem and reverence of his Majesty The thoughts of Earthly Majesty will compose us to reverence how much more should the Apprehensions of the Divine Majesty strike an awe upon our Spirits in all our Addresses to him his excellency should make us afraid and keep us from all saucy boldness and familiarity with him Reverence is an Acknowledgment of the distance which is between the Majesty of God and our meanness And we should glorifie him in our bodies with outward Worship and Adoration that is by all external significations of reverence and respect and we should glorifie him in our Lives and Actions The highest glory a Creature can give to God is to endeavour to be like him satis illos coluit quisquis imitatus est Sen. hereby we manifest and shew forth his Excellency to the World when we endeavour to be conformed to the Divine Perfections And in case of
sin and provocation we are to give glory to God by repentance which is an acknowledgment of his Holiness who hates sin and of his Justice which will punish it and of the mercy of God which is ready to pardon it for it is the glory of God to pass by a provocation 3. We should take heed of robbing God of his Glory by giving it to any Creature by ascribing those Titles or that Worship to any Creature which is due to God alone This is the Reason which is given of the Second Commandment I the Lord am a jealous God God is jealous of his Honour and will not give his glory to another nor his Praise to graven Images Isa 42.8 Upon this account we find the Apostle reproves the Idolatry of the Heathens because thereby they debased the esteem of God and did shew they had unworthy thoughts of him Rom. 1.21 23. When they knew God they glorified him not as God but became vain in their imaginations And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things Hereby they denyed the glorious Excellency of the Divine Nature that is that he is a Spirit and so incapable of being represented by any material or sensible Image Secondly I come now to speak of the Soveraignty and Dominion of God In which I shall shew First What we are to understand by the Soveraignty and Dominion of God By these we mean the full and absolute Right and Title and Authority which God hath to and over all his Creatures as his Creatures and made by him And this Right results from the Effects of that Goodness and Power and Wisdom whereby all things are and were made from whence there doth accrew to God a Soveraign Right and Title to all his Creatures and a full and absolute Authority over them that is such a Right and Authority which doth not depend upon any Superior nor is subject and accountable to any for any thing that he does to any of his Creatures And this is that which is call'd summum imperium because there is no power above it to check or control it and therefore there can be none greater than this And it is absolute because all the Creatures have what they have from God and all depend upon his Goodness and therefore they owe all possible Duty and perpetual Subjection so long as they continue in Being because it is solely by his Power and Goodness that they continue and therefore whatever Right or Title any one can pretend to any Person or Thing that God hath to all things in Deo omnes tituli omnia jura concurrunt So that Soveraignty and Dominion signifies a full Right and Title and Propriety in all his Creatures and an absolute Authority over them to govern them and dispose of them and deal with them in any way he pleaseth that is not contrary to his essential Dignity and Perfection or repugnant to the Natural State and Condition of the Creature And for our better understanding of this and the preventing of Mistakes which Men are apt to fall into about the Soveraignty of God I will shew I. Wherein it doth not consist And II. Wherein it doth consist I. Wherein it doth not consist 1. Not in a Right to gratifie and delight himself in the extreme Misery of innocent and undeserving Creatures I say not in a right for the right that God hath in his Creatures is founded in the Benefits he hath conferred upon them and the Obligation they have to him upon that account Now there 's none who because he hath done a Benefit can have by vertue of that a right to do a greater Evil than the Good which he hath done amounts to and I think it next to madness to doubt whether extreme and Eternal Misery be not a greater Evil than simple Being is a Good I know they call it physical goodness but I do not understand how any thing is the better for being call'd by a hard Name For what can there be that is good or desirable in Being when it only serves to be a foundation of the greatest and most lasting Misery and we may safely say that the just God will never challenge more than an equitable right God doth not claim any such soveraignty to himself as to crush and oppress innocent Creatures without a cause and to make them miserable without a provocation And because it seems some have been very apt to entertain such groundless Jealousies and unworthy Thoughts of God he hath given us his Oath to assure us of the contrary As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn and live So far is he from taking Pleasure in the misery and ruin of innocent Creatures that in case of sin and provocation he would be much rather pleased if sinners would by Repentance avoid and escape his Justice than that they should fall under it The good God cannot be glorified or pleased in doing Evil to any where Justice doth not require it nothing is further from infinite Goodness than to rejoice in Evil. We account him a Tyrant and a Monster of Men and of a devilish temper that can do so and we cannot do a greater Injury to the good God than to paint him out after such a horrid and deformed manner 2. The soveraignty of God doth not consist in imposing Laws upon his Creatures which are impossible either to be understood or observed by them For this would not only be contrary to the dignity of the Divine Nature but contradict the nature of a reasonable Creature which in reason cannot be obliged by any Power to impossibilities 3. The soveraignty of God doth not consist in a liberty to tempt Men to Evil or by any inevitable Decree to necessitate them to sin or effectually to procure the sins of Men and to punish them for them For as this would be contrary to the Holiness and Justice and Goodness of God so to the nature of a reasonable Creature who cannot be guilty or deserve Punishment for what it cannot help And men cannot easily have a blacker thought of God than to imagin that he hath from all Eternity carried on a secret Design to circumvent the greatest part of men into destruction and underhand to draw Men into a Plot against Heaven that by this unworthy practice he may raise a Revenue of glory to his Justice There 's no generous and good man but would spit in that man's Face that should charge him with such a Design and if they who are but very drops of goodness in comparison of God the infinite Ocean of Goodness would take it for such a Reproach shall we attribute that to the best Being in the World which we would detest and abominate in our selves II. Wherein the Soveraignty of God doth consist 1. In a right to dispose of and deal
to be so wisely framed must pick holes in the Creation and shew some fault and irregularity in the Frame of Things which no Man ever yet pretended to do Did ever any Anatomist pretend to shew how the Body of Man might have been better contriv'd and fitter for the Uses of a Reasonable Creature than it is or any Astronomer to rectifie the Course of the Sun As for the Extravagant and Blasphemous Speech of Alphonsus That if he had stood at God's Elbow when he made the World he could have told him how to have made it better besides his Pride it shews nothing but his Ignorance that he built his Astronomy upon a false Hypothesis as is generally believed now by the Learned in that Science and no wonder he found fault with the World when he mistook the Frame of it But those who have been most verst in Nature and have most pried into the secrets of it have most admired the workmanship both of the great World and the less But if we must suppose the World to be as well made as Wisdom could contrive it which is generally granted it is a monstrous folly to impute it to Chance A man might better say Archimedes did not make any of his Engines by Skill but by Chance and might more easily maintain that Cardinal Richlieu did not manage Affairs by any Arts or Policies but they fell out by meer Chance What pitiful shifts is Epicurus put to when the best Account he can give of the World is this That Matter always was and the parts of it in motion and after a great many Tryals the parts of Matter at length hamper'd themselves in this fortunate order wherein they now are that men at first grew out of the Earth were nourisht by the Navel-string and when they were strong enough broke loose and weaned themselves that the Nostrils were made by the Waters making themselves a passage out of the Body and the Stomack and Bowels by the Waters forcing a passage downward that the Members of the Body were not made for those Vses for which they serve but chanced to be so and the uses afterwards found out Is it worth the while to advance such senseless Opinions as these to deny the Wisdom of God Is it not much easier and more reasonable to say that the Wisdom of God made all these things than to trouble our selves to imagin how all things should happen thus conveniently by Chance Did you ever know any great work in which there was variety of parts and an orderly disposition of them required done by Chance and without the direction of Wisdom and Counsel How long time might a Man take to jumble a set of four and twenty Letters together before they would fall out to be an exact Poem yea or make a Book of tolerable Sense tho' but in Prose How long might a Man sprinkle Oil and Colours upon Canvas with a careless Hand before this would produce the exact Picture of a Man And is a Man easilier made by Chance than his Picture He that tells me that this great and curious frame of the World was made by Chance I could much more believe him if he should tell me that Henry the VII's Chappel in Westminster was not built by any mortal man but the Stones did grow in those forms into which they seem to us to be cut and graven that the Stones and Timber and Iron and Brass and all the other Materials came thither by Chance and upon a day met all happily together and put themselves into that delicate order in which we see them so close compacted that it must be a great Chance that parts them again Now is it not much easier to imagin how a skilful Workman should raise a Building than how Timber and Stones and how that variety of Materials which is required to a great and stately Building should meet together all of a just bigness and exactly fitted and by chance take their places and range themselves into that order I insist the longer upon this because I am sensible how much Atheism hath gained in this Age. 2. Let us Admire and Adore and Praise the Wisdom of God who hath establisht the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding who hath made all things in number weight and measure that is by exact wisdom The wise Works of God are the proper Object of our praise and this is a day proper for this Work of Praise and Thanks-giving Now under the Gospel since Christ was clearly revealed we have new matter of Praise and Thanksgiving but as God has given us Christ so he hath given us our Beings We are not so to remember our Redeemer as to forget our Creator The Goodness and Power and Wisdom of God which appears in the Creation of the World ought still to be matter of Admiration and Praise to Christians It is a great Fault and Neglect among Christians that they are not more taken up with the Works of God and the Contemplation of the Wisdom which shines forth in them We are apt enough to admire other things little Toys but we overlook this vast curious Engine of the World and the great Artificer of all things It was truly said of one that most men are so stupid and inconsiderate as to admire the Works of a Painter or a Carver more than the Works of God There are many that have bestowed more Eloquence in the Praise of a curious Picture or an exact Building than ever they did upon this noble and exquisite frame of the World or any of the works of God We can admire the wisdom and design and skill of petty Artists and little Engineers but here is wisdom in the Beauty and Order of the Creation Did we love God and take pleasure in the Effects of his Wisdom and Power we should be more in the Contemplation of them Psal 111.2 The works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein Let us then say with the Psalmist O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy riches c. More particularly let us with an humble thankfulness admire the Wisdom which hath made and disposed all things so fitly for our Use and Service and with so merciful a respect to us The Light and Influence of Heaven the Beasts and the Fruits of the Earth We find the Psalmist often praising God upon this Account Psal 136.4 5. c. The Wisdom which hath framed these Bodies of ours Psal 139.14 15 16. Which hath endowed us with Knowledge and Understanding Elihu complains that Men were apt to over-look these great Blessings of God Job 35.10 11 12. But none saith where is God my maker who giveth Songs in the night Who teacheth us more than the Beasts of the earth and maketh us wiser than the Fowls of Heaven There they cry but none giveth answer because of the
in the entrance upon this Argument that the handling of this Question concerning Providence doth suppose the Being of God and that he made the World as Principles already known and granted before we come to dispute of his Providence for it would be in vain to argue about the Providence of God with those who question his Being and whether the World was made by him But supposing these two Principles that God is and that he made the World it is very credible that he should take care of the Government of it and especially of one of the noblest Parts of it the race of Mankind For we cannot believe that he who employed so much Power and Wisdom in the raising of this great and magnificent Pile and furnishing every part of it with such variety of Creatures so exquisitely and so wisely fitted for the use and service of one another should so soon as he had perfected it forsake his own Workmanship and take no farther care of it Especially considering that it is no trouble and disquiet to him either to take notice of what is done here below or to interpose for the regulating of any Disorders that may happen for Infinite Knowledge and Wisdom and Power can do this with all imaginable ease knows all things and can do all things without any disturbance of its own happiness And this hath always been the common Apprehension of Mankind that God knows all things and observes every thing that is done in the World and when he pleaseth interposes in the affairs of it 'T is true indeed the Epicureans did deny that God either made the World or governs it and therefore wise Men always doubted whether they did indeed believe the Being of God or not but being unwilling to incur the danger of so odious an Opinion they were content for fashion sake to own his Being provided they might take away the best and most substantial Arguments for the proof oâ— it The rest of the Philosophers owned a Providence at least a general Providence that took care of great and more important Matters but did not descend to a constant and particular care of every Person and every little Event belonging to them Interdum curiosus singulorum says Tully now and then when he pleases he takes care of particular Persons and their lesser concernments but many of them thought that God did generally neglect the smaller and more inconsiderable affairs of the World Dii minora negligunt neque agelloâ— singulorum viticulas persequuntur The Gods overlook smaller matters and do not mind every Mans little Field and Vine Such imperfect apprehensions had they of the Providence of God And tho' they would seem hereby to consult the Dignity and ease of the Deity by exempting him from the care and trouble of lesser Matters yet in truth and reality they cast a dishonourable reflection upon him as if it were a burthen to Infinite Knowledge and Power and Goodness to take care of every thing But now Divine Revelation hath put this matter out of doubt by assuring us of God's particular care of all Persons and Events Our Saviour tells us that God's Providence extends to the least and most inconsiderable Creatures to the grass of the Field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the Oven Mat. 6.30 To the fowls of the air and that to the least of them even to the Sparrows two of which are sold for a Farthing and yet not one of them falleth to the ground without God Mat. 10.29 Much more doth the Providence of God extend to Men which are Creatures far more considerable and to the very least thing that belongs to us to the very hairs of our head which are all numbered the lowest instance that can be thought on So that the light of Nature owns a more general Providence and Divine Revelation hath rectified those imperfect apprehensions which Men had about it and hath satisfied us that it extends it self to all particulars and even to the least things and most inconsiderable And this is no ways incredible considering the Infinite Perfection of the Divine Nature in respect of which God can with as much and greater ease take care of every thing than we can do of any one thing and the belief of this is the great foundation of Religion Men therefore pray to God for the good they want and to be freed from the evils they fear because they believe that he always regards and hears them Men therefore make Conscience of their Duty because they believe God observes them and will reward and punish their good and evil Deeds So that take away the Providence of God and we pull down one of the main Pillars upon which Religion stands we rob our selves of one of the greatest Comforts and best Refuges in the Afflictions and Calamities of this life and of all our hopes of happiness in the next And tho' there be many disorders in the World especially in the Affairs of Men the most irregular and intractable Piece of God's Creation yet this is far from being a sufficient Objection against the Providence of God if we consider that God made Man a free Creature and capable of abusing his Liberty and intends this present life for a state of trial in order to another where Men shall receive the just recompence of their Actions here And then if we consider that many of the evils and disorders which God permits to happen are capable of being over-ruled by him to a greater good and are made many times to serve wise and excellent purposes and that the Providence of God does sometimes visibly and remarkably interpose for the prevention and remedy of great Disorders and Confusions I say considering all this it is no blemish to the Divine Providence to permit many of those Irregularities which are in the World and suffer the Fates of good and bad Men to be so cross and unequal in this life For supposing another life after this wherein Men shall come to an Account and every Man shall receive the just recompence of his Actions there will then be a proper Season and full Opportunity of seting all things streight and no Man shall have reason then either to glory in his wickedness or to complain of his sufferings in this World This is the first that God's Providence governs the World and interests it self in the affairs of Men and disposeth of all Events that happens to them and this is a very good Reason why we should cast our particular cares upon him who hath undertaken the Government of the whole 2. The Providence of God is more peculiarly concerned for good Men and he takes a more particular and especial care of them The Apostle speaks this to Christians cast all your care on him for he careth for you And this David limits in a more peculiar manner to good Men cast thy burthen upon the Lord and he will sustain thee he shall never suffer the
Minister of God saith he must be without House and Harbour and worldly Accommodations must be armed with such Patience for the greatest sufferings as if he were a Stone and devoid of Sense he must be a spectacle of Misery and Contempt to the World So that by the acknowledgment of these two wise Heathens there was nothing in the sufferings of Christ that was unbecoming the Wisdom of God and improper to the End and Design of Christ's coming into the World besides that they served a further end which they did not dream of the satisfying of Divine Justice Secondly His Exaltation The several parts of which his Resurrection and Ascension and sitting the right hand of God were eminently subservient to the perfecting and carrying on of this Design The Resurrection of Christ is the great confirmation of the truth of all that he deliver'd Rom. 1.4 Declared to be the son of God with power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Resurrection from the Dead This great Miracle of his Resurrection from the Dead did determine the Controversie and put it out of all Doubt and Question that he was the Son of God And then his Ascension and sitting at the right hand of God this gives us the assurance of a Blessed Immortality and is a demonstration of a life to come and a pledge of everlasting Glory and Happiness And can any thing tend more to the encouragement of Obedience and to make us Dead to the Pleasures and Enjoyments of this life than the assurance of Eternal Life and Happiness And then the Consequents of his Exaltation they do eminently conduce to our recovery The sending of the Holy Ghost to lead us into all truth to sanctifie us to assist us and to comfort us under the greatest Troubles and Afflictions and the powerful Intercession of Christ in our behalf and his return to Judgment the expectation whereof is the great Argument to Repentance and Holiness of Life Acts 17.30 31. And the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all Men every where to repent Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the World in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead And thus I have endeavoured to prove that the Redemption of Man by Jesus Christ is a Design of admirable Wisdom The use I shall make of it is to convince us of the Uunreasonableness of unbelief and the Folly and Madness of Impenitency First The unreasonableness of Unbelief The Gospel reveals to us the wise Counsel and Dispensation of God for our Redemption and those who disbelieve the Gospel they reject the counsel of God against themselves as it is said of the unbelieving Pharisees and Lawyers Luke 7.30 The Gospel reveals to us a design so reasonable and full of Wisdom that they who can disbelieve it are desperate Persons devoted to ruin 1 Cor. 1.18 The cross of Christ is to them that perish foolishness 2 Cor. 4.3 4. But if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this World hath blinded the eyes of them that believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them The Gospel carries so much light and evidence in it that it cannot be hid from any but such whose Eyes are blinded by the Devil and their Lusts He that will duly weigh and consider Things and look narrowly into this wise dispensation of God shall find nothing to object against it nay shall discover in it the greatest motives and inducements to believe We are apt to believe any thing that is reasonable especially if it be for our Advantage now this wise dispensation of God is not only reasonable in it self but beneficial to us it does at once highly gratifie our Understandings and satisfie our Interest why should we not then believe and entertain it I. The design of the Gospel is reasonable and gratifies our Understandings And in this respect the Gospel hath incomparable Advantages above any other Religion The end of all Religion is to advance Piety and Holiness and real Goodness among Men and the more any Religion advanceth these the more reasonable it is Now the great Incitements and Arguments to Piety are the Excellency and Perfection of the Divine Nature fear of Punishment and hopes of Pardon and Rewards Now the Gospel represents all these to the greatest advantage 1. It represents the Perfections of God to the greatest advantage especially those which tend most to the promotion of Piety and the love of God in us his Justice and Mercy 1. His Justice The Gospel represents it inflexible in its Rights and inexorable and that will not in any case let Sin go unpunish'd The impartiality of the Divine Justice appears in this Dispensation that when God pardons the Sinner yet he will punish Sin so severely in his own Son who was the Surety Now what could more tend to discountenance Sin and convince us of the great evil of it 2. His Mercy This Dispensation is a great demonstration of the Mercy and Goodness and Love of God in sending his Son to die for Sinners and in saving us by devoting and sacrificing him John 3.16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son Rom. 5.8 But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us 1 John 4.9 10. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Now this representation of God's Mercy and Love which the Gospel makes is of great force and efficacy to melt our Hearts into love to God 2. The Second Argument to Piety is fear of Punishment The Gospel hath revealed to us the misery of those who continue in their Sin it hath made clear and terrible discoveries of those Torments which attend sinners in another World and hath open'd to us the Treasures of God's Wrath so that now under the Gospel hell is naked before us and destruction hath no covering and this is one thing which makes the Gospel so powerful an Engine to destroy sin Rom. 1.16 18. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation for therein is the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men 3. Hopes of Pardon and Reward And this added to the former renders the Gospel the most powerful Instrument to take men off from sin and engage them to Holiness that can be imagin'd The Means to draw Men from sin when they are once awaken'd with the fear of Vengeance is hopes of Pardon and Mercy and the way to encourage Obedience for the future is hope of
promiscuously upon the Righteous and the Wicked it would not be evident that they were designed for the Punishment of such Sins when Men did see that they fell likewise upon those who were not guilty of those Sins and consequently the example could not be so effectual to deter Men from Sin Upon all these accounts you see that Abraham's reasoning was very Strong and well Grounded as to those Judgments which are Miraculous and Extraordinary and immediately inflicted by God for the Punishment of great and hainous Sins which was the Case he was speaking of And accordingly we find that in these Judgments which have been Immediately and Miraculously inflicted by God he hath always made this difference between the Righteous and the Wicked In the Deluge which he brought upon the old World the Spirit of God gives this Reason why the Judgment was so universal because all Flesh had corrupted his way upon the Earth and the Reason why he saved Noah and his Family was because in this general corruption of Mankind he alone was Righteous thee have I seen Righteous before me in this Generation So likewise in that Miraculous Judgment of Korah and his Company when God made a new thing and the Earth opened her mouth to swallow them up none perished but he and his complices the rest had warning given them by God to remove from the tents of those wicked Men. Thus you see that as to the particular Case in the Text Abraham's reasoning concerning the Justice of God is very firm and concluding I proceed to the Second Thing which was that which I principally intended to Discourse upon viz. to consider the Justice of God in general in the distribution of Rewards and Punishments And here I cannot but grant that the best Evidence of this is yet wanting We have clear demonstrations of the Power and Wisdom and Goodness of God in this vast and admirable frame of Things which we see but we must stay till the Day of Judgment for a clear and full Manifestation of the Divine Justice for which Reason the Day of Judgment is in Scripture call'd the Day of the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God But in the mean time we may receive sufficient assurance of this both from Natural Reason and from Divine Revelation 1. From Natural Reason which tells us that God loves Righteousness and hates Iniquity and consequently that it must be agreable to his Nature to countenance and encourage the one and to discountenance the other that is to give some publick Testimony of his liking and Affection to the one and of his Hatred and Dislike of the other which cannot otherwise be done but by Rewards and Punishments But however the Heathen reasoned about this matter whatever premises they laid they firmly believed the conclusion that God is Just Plato lays down this as a certain and undoubted Principle that God is in no wise unjust but as Righteous as is possible and that we cannot resemble God more than in this quality and disposition So likewise Seneca tells us That the Gods are neither capable of receiving an injury nor of doing any thing that is unjust Antoninus the great Emperour and Philosopher speaking doubtfully whether good Men are extinguisht by Death or remain afterwards If it be just says he you may be sure it is so if it be not just you may certainly conclude the contrary for God is just and being so he will do nothing that is unjust or unreasonable And indeed the Heathen Philosophers looked upon this as the great sanction of all moral Precepts that God was the Witness and the Avenger of the breach and violation of them Qui secus faxit deus ipse vindex erit If any Man do contrary to them God himself will punish it which shews that there is a Natural Awe upon the Minds of Men of the Divine Justice which will overtake offenders either in this World or the other But this will more clearly appear in the 2. Place from Scripture or Divine Revelation And those Texts which I shall produce to this purpose may be reduced to these two Heads either such as prove the rectitude of the Divine Nature and his Justice in general or such as speak more particularly of the Justice and Equity of his Providence in the distribution of Rewards and Punishments I begin first with those which declare the rectitude of the Divine Nature and the Justice of God in general and that either by attributing this Perfection to him or by removing the contrary injustice and unrighteousness at the greatest distance from him 1. Those which attribute this Perfection to God I shall mention but a few of many Psal 129.4 The Lord is Righteous Dan. 9.7 O Lord Righteousness belongeth unto thee This good Men have acknowledged when they have lain under the hand of God Ezra 9.15 O Lord God of Israel thou art Righteous And this the worst of Men have been forced to own when they have been in extremity Ex. 9.27 then Pharoah said the Lord is Righteous This hath been likewise acknowledged by those who have layn under the greatest temptation to doubt of it Jer. 12.1 Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper The Prophet notwithstanding he saw the prosperous Condition of wicked Men and the afflicted state of the godly which seemed hard to be reconcile with the Justice of God's Providence yet before he would so much as reason about it he lays down this as a certain conclusion Righteous art thou O Lord. To this Head likewise belong all those Texts which speak of Righteousness as God's dwelling Place and his Throne of his Delight in Justice and of the Duration and Eternity of it which I need not particularly recite 2. There are likewise other Texts which remove the contrary viz. injustice and unrighteousness at the greatest distance from God as being most contrary to his Nature and Perfection Deut. 32.4 A God of truth and without iniquity 2 Chron. 19.7 There is to iniquity with the Lord our God nor accepting of Persons nor taking of Gifts Job 8.3 Doth God pervert Judgment or doth the Almighty pervert Justice which is a vehement negation of the Thing Job 34.10 11 12. Far be it from God that he should do wickedness and from the Almighty that he should commit iniquity For the work of a Man shall he render unto him and cause every Man to find according to his ways Yea surely God will not do wickedly neither will the Almighty pervert Judgment Rom. 9.14 What shall we say then is there unrighteousness with God God forbid Secondly There are other Texts which speak more particularly of the Justice and Righteousness of God in the distribution of Rewards and Punishments 'T is true indeed the Justice of God doth not constantly appear in this World in the dispensations of his Providence because this is a time
some Objections that may be made against it and then make some Vse of it I. What we are to understand by the Truth of God I shall take it as the Scripture useth it in a large Sense so as to include not only the veracity of God but his Faithfulness Hence it is that in Scripture Truth and Faithfulness are so often put together and frequently put one for another Isa 25.1 Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth Rev. 21.5 These words are true and faithful And the Faithfulness of God in performing his Promises is frequently call'd his Truth And because the Scripture useth them promiscuously we need not be very solicitous to find out distinct Notions of them but if you will they may be distinguisht thus the truth or veracity of God hath place in every Declaration of his Mind the Faithfulness of God only in his Promises For the First The veracity or truth of God this hath place in every Declaration of his Mind and signifies an exact Correspondence and Conformity between his Word and his Mind and consequently between his Word and the truth and reality of Things The Correspondence of his Word with his Mind depends upon the rectitude of his Will the conformity of his Word with the reality of Things not only upon the rectitude of his Will but the Perfection of his Knowledge and the infallibility of his Vnderstanding so that when we say God is true or speaks Truth we mean thus that his Words are a plain Declaration of his Mind and a true representation of Things in opposition to False-hood which is speaking otherwise than the thing is and Hypocrisie that is speaking otherwise than we think For instance when God declares any thing to be so or not to be so to have been thus or not to have been thus the thing really is so and he thinks so when he expresseth his desire of any thing he does really desire it when he commands any thing or forbids us any thing it is really his Mind and Will that we should do what he Commands and avoid what he forbids when he declares and foretels any thing future it really shall come to pass and he really intended it should if the Declaration be to be understood absolutely it shall absolutely come to pass if the Declaration be to be understood Conditionally it shall come to pass and he intends it shall if the Condition be performed Secondly The Faithfulness of God This only hath place in his Promises in which there is an Obligation of Justice superadded to his Word for God by his Promise doth not only declare what he intends and what shall be but confers a right upon them to whom the promise is made so as that the breach of his Promise would not only cast an imputation upon his Truth but upon his Justice II. That this Perfection belongs to God And this I shall endeavour to prove First From the Dictates of Natural Light Secondly From Scripture First From the Dictates of Natural Light Natural Light tells us that Truth and Faithfulness are Perfections and consequently belong to the Divine Nature and that False-hood and a Lie are Imperfections and to be removed from God There is nothing that is amongst Men esteemed a greater contumely and reproach than to give a Man the Lie to call him a Lyar because it is an Argument of so much baseness and of a low and mean and servile spirit the usual Temptation to it being fear of losing some Advantage or incurring some danger Hence was that saying that it is the property of a Slave to lie but of a free Man to speak truth Now whatever argues baseness or imperfection our Reason tells us is infinitely to be separated from the most Perfect Being God cannot be tempted with evil the Divine Nature being all-sufficient can have no temptation to be otherwise than Good and Just and True and Faithful Men are tempted to Lie by advantage and out of fear but the Divine Nature hath the security of its fullness and all-sufficiency that it cannot hope for any increase nor fear any impairment of its Estate Men are unfaithful and break their Words either because they are rash and inconsiderate in passing of them or forgetful in minding them or inconstant in keeping of them or impotent and unable to perform them but none of these are incident to God his infinite Wisdom and perfect Knowledge and clear foresight of all Events secure him both from inconsiderateness and inconstancy and forgetfulness and his infinite Power renders him able to perform what he hath spoken and to make good his Word And that these are the Natural Dictates and Suggestions of our Minds appears clearly from the reasonings of the Heathen in this matter who were destitute of Divine Revelation Plato de Repub. l. 2. lays down this as a certain Truth That lying and Falsehood are imperfections and odious to God and Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And afterwards he tells us That the Divine Nature is free from all Temptation hereto either from advantage or fear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Concludes Therefore God is true and deals plainly with us both in his Words and Actions and is neither changed himself nor deceives us Porphyry in the Life of Pythagoras tells us That this was one of his Precepts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and afterwards he adds that Truth is so great a Perfection that if God would render himself visible to Men he would chuse Light for his body and Truth for his Soul Secondly From Scripture The Scripture doth very frequently attribute this to God 2 Sam. 7.28 And now O Lord God thou art that God and thy words be true Psal 25.10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth Psal 31.5 Into thy hand I commit my spirit thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth Rev. 3.7 These things saith he that is holy he that is true Rev. 6.10 How long O Lord holy and true 15.3 Just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints 16.7 True and righteous are thy judgments Hither we may refer those Texts which speak of the Plenty and Abundance of God's truth Ex. 34.6 Abundant in goodness and truth Psal 86.15 Plenteous in mercy and truth and those which speak of the Duration and Eternity of it Psal 100.5 And his truth endureth to all generations 117.2 And the truth of the Lord endureth for ever 146.6 Who keepeth truth for ever As the Scripture doth attribute this Perfection to God so it removes the contrary from him with the greatest abhorrence and detestation Num. 23.19 God is not a Man that he should lie neither the son of Man that he should repent hath he said and shall not he do it hath he spoken and shall he not make it good They are Balaam's Words but God put them into his Mouth 1 Sam. 15.29 The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent for he is not a Man that he should repent Rom.
the Holiness of good Men. And it is a separation from moral imperfection that is from Sin and Impurity And this is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the primary Notion of iâ— is Negative and signifies the absence and remotion of Sin And this appears iâ— those explications which the Scripturâ— gives of it Thus 't is explain'd by opposition to Sin and Impurity 2 Cor 7.1 Let us cleanse our selves from aâ—â— filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness where Holiness is opposed to all filthiness Sometimes by the negation of Sin and Defilement So we find holy and without blame put together Eph. 1.4 Holy and without blemish Eph. 5.27 Holy harmless and undefiled Heb. 7.26 'T is true indeed this Negative Notion doth imply something that is Positive it doth not only signifie the absence of Sin but a contrariety to it we cannot conceive the absence of Sin without the presence of Grace as take away crookedness from a Thing and it immediately becomes straight When ever we are made Holy every Lust and Corruption in us is supplanted by the contrary Grace Now this habitual Holiness of Persons which consists in a separation from Sin is a conformity to the Holiness of God and by this we may come to understand what Holiness in God is and it signifies the peculiar eminency of the Divine Nature whereby it is separated and removed at an infinite distance from moral Imperfection and that which we call Sin that is there is no such thing as Malice or Envy or Hatred or Revenge or Impatience or Cruelty or Tyranny or Injustice or False-hood or Unfaithfulness in God or if there be any other Thing that signifies Sin and Vice and moral Imperfection Holiness signifies that the Divine Nature is at an infinite distance from all these and possest of the contrary Perfections Therefore all those Texts that remove Moral Imperfection from God and declare the repugnancy of it to the Divine Nature do set forth the Holiness of God Jam. 1.13 God cannot be tempted with evil Job 8.3 Doth God pervert Judgment or doth the Almighty pervert Justice Job 34.10 12. Far be it from God that he should do wickedness and from the Almighty that he should commit iniquity Yea surely God will not do wickedly neither will the Almighty pervert judgment Rom. 9.14 Is there then unrighteousness with God God forbid Zeph. 3.5 The just Lord is in the midst thereof he will not do iniquity And so false-hood and unfaithfulness and inconstancy Deut. 32.4 A God of truth and without iniquity 1 Sam. 15.29 The strength of Israel will not lie Tit. 1.2 In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie hath promised Heb. 6.18 That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie Therefore you shall find that Holiness is joyned with all the Moral Perfections of the Divine Nature or put for them Hos 11.9 I am the holy one in the midst of thee that is the merciful one Psal 145.17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works Rom. 7.12 The commandment is holy and just and good Rev. 3.7 These things saith he that is holy he that is true Rev. 6.10 How long O Lord holy and true Psal 105.42 He remembred his holy promise holy that is in respect of the faithfulness of it Isa 55.3 The sure mercies of David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy mercies of David which will not fail So that the Holiness of God is not a particular but an universal Perfection and runs through all the moral Perfections of the Divine Nature 't is the Beauty of the Divine Nature and the Perfection of all his other Perfections Take away this and you bring an universal stain and blemish upon the Divine Nature without Holiness Power would be Oppression and Wisdom Subtilty and Soveraignty Tyranny and Goodness Malice and Envy and Justice Cruelty and Mercy Foolish Pity and Truth False-hood And therefore the Scripture speaks of this as God's highest Excellency and Perfection God is said to be glorious in Holiness Ex. 15.11 Holiness is call'd God's throne Psal 47.8 He sitteth upon the throne of his holiness This is that which makes Heaven Isa 63.15 It is called The habitation of his holiness and of his glory as if this were the very Nature of God and the sum of his Perfections The Knowledge of God is called the Knowledge of the holy one Pro. 9.10 To be made partakers of a Divine Nature and to be made partakers of God's holiness are equivalent Expressions 2 Pet. 3.4 Heb. 12.10 And because there is no Perfection of God greater therefore he is represented as swearing by this Psal 60.6 God hath spoken in his holiness Psal 89.35 Once have I sworn by my holiness The Angels and glorified Spirits they sum up the Perfections of God in this Isa 6.3 And one cryed unto another and said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory Rev. 4.8 And they rest not day and night saying holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come There is no Attribute of God so often repeated as this in some Copies it is nine times II. I shall endeavour to prove that this Perfection belongs to God First From the Light of Nature The Philosophers in all their Discourses of God agree in this that whatever sounds like Vice and Imperfection is to be separated from the Divine Nature which is to acknowledge his Holiness Plato speaking of our likeness to God saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dan. 4.9 King Nebuchadnezzar calls God by this Title I know that the spirit of the holy Gods is in thee In a Word whatever hath been produced to prove any of God's Moral Perfections proves his Holiness Secondly From Scripture There is no Title more frequently given to God in Scripture and so often ingeminated as this of his Holiness He is called Holiness it self Isa 63.15 Where Heaven is call'd the habitation of his Holiness that is of God His Name is said to be Holy Luke 1.49 And holy is his name He is called the holy one Isa 40.25 The holy one of Israel Isa 41.20 The holy one of Jacob. 49.23 He is said to be holy in all his Works and Promises Psal 105.42 In all his ways and works Psal 145.17 This Title is given to each of the three Persons in the Blessed Trinity To God the Father in innumerable Places To God the Son Dan. 9.24 To anoint the most holy The Devil cannot deny him this Title Luke 4.34 I know thee who thou art the holy one of God And the Spirit of God hath this Title constantly given it the holy Ghost or the holy Spirit or the Spirit of Holiness The Scripture attributes this Perfection in a peculiar manner to God 1 Sam. 2.2 There is none holy as the Lord. Rev. 15.4 For thou only art holy Holiness is a communicable Perfection but no Creature can
upon the Account of any one of these simple Qualities then we would another Man destitute of these upon the account of a Hundred Titles of Honour and Ten Thousand Acres of Land A Wicked and Unholy Man he is a vile Person who deserves to be contemned and a holy man he is the right honourable Psal 15.4 In whose Eyes a vile Person is contemned but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. The vile person is opposed to him that fears the Lord. He that is bold to affront God and sin against him is the base and ignoble Person God himself who is possest of all Excellency and Perfection and therefore knows best how to judge of these he tells us how we should value our selves and others Jer. 9.23 24. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might let not the rich man glory in his riches But let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth for in these things I delight saith the Lord. To know these Divine Qualities and Perfections signifies here to understand them so as to imitate them I do not speak this to bring down the value of any that are advanced in this World or to lessen the respect which is due to them I would have nothing undervalued but Wickedness and Vice and I would have those who have store of worldly Advantages to recommend them to add Religion to their Riches and Holiness to their Honour that they may be current for their intrinsick value rather than for the Image and Picture of worth which the World hath stampt upon them 3. If Holiness be the Chief Excellency and Perfection of the Divine Nature then what an absurd and unreasonable thing is it to scorn and despise Holiness to mock and deride men under this very Title The World is much blinded that they do not see the great Evil of Sin and the Beauty and Excellency of Holiness but that Men should be so infatuated as to change the nature of things and to mistake things of so vast difference as sin and Holiness to call Good evil and evil Good that sin which is the vilest thing in the World should be esteemed and cherish'd and accounted a piece of gallantry and reckon'd amongst the excellencies and accomplishments of Humane Nature and Holiness which is so great a Perfection should be a Name of hatred and disgrace to be contemned and persecuted that that which is the Glory of Heaven and the most radiant Perfection of the Divine Nature should be matter of scorn and contempt as the Apostle speaks in another case Behold ye Despisers and wonder and perish Do ye think the Holy and Just God will put up these Affronts and Indignities Ye do not only despise men but ye despise God also You cannot contemn that which God accounts his glory without reviling the Divine Nature and offering despite to God himself The malice reacheth Heaven and is level'd against God whenever ye slight Holiness 4. If God be a Holy God and hath such a repugnancy in his Nature to sin then this is matter of terror to wicked Men. The Holy God cannot but hate sin and be an Enemy to wickedness and the hatred of God is terrible We dread the hatred of a great Man because where hatred is back'd with power the Effects of it are terrible But the Hatred of the Almighty and Eternal God is much more dreadful because the Effects of it are greater and more lasting than of the hatred of a weak mortal man We know the utmost they can do they can but kill the body after that they have no more that they can do they cannot hurt our Souls they cannot follow us beyond the Grave and pursue us into another World But the Effects of God's Hatred and Displeasure are mighty and lasting they extend themselves to all Eternity for who knoweth the Power of his Anger Who can tell the utmost of what Omnipotent Justice can do to sinners It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God because he that lives for ever can punish for ever We are miserable if God do not love us Those words my soul shall have no pleasure in him signifie great misery and express a dreadful Curse but it is a more positive Expression of misery for God to hate us that signifies Ruin and Destruction to the utmost Psal 5.4 5. Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee This is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and expresseth less than is intended God is far from being of an indifferent negative Temper towards sin and wickedness therefore the Psalmist adds thou hatest all the workers of iniquity and then in the next verse to shew what is the effect of God's Hatred thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing Therefore Sinner fear and tremble at the thoughts of God's Holiness 5. Imitate the Holiness of God this is the Inference here in the Text be ye holy for I am holy Holiness in one word contains all the imitable Perfections of God and when it is said be ye holy 't is as much as if he had said be ye Good and Patient and Merciful and True and Faithful for I am so Therefore Religion is call'd the knowledge of the holy one Prov. 9.10 and Chap. 30.3 And our imitation of God is exprest by our putting on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4.24 Seeing then this is the chief Excellency and Perfection of God and the sum of all the Perfections which we are to imitate and wherein we are to endeavour to be like God let us conform our selves to the holy God endeavour to be habitually holy which is our conformity to the Nature of God and actually holy which is our conformity to the Will of God I will not enlarge upon this because I have prest the imitation of these particular Perfections Goodness Patience Justice Truth and Faithfulness upon other Texts I shall only mention two Arguments to excite and quicken our Desires and Endeavour after Holiness 1. Holiness is an imitation of the highest Excellency and Perfection Holiness I told you signifies a separation from Sin and Vice and all moral Imperfection and consequently doth comprehend and take in all the moral Perfections of the Divine Nature the Goodness and Mercy and Patience and Justice and Veracity and Faithfulness of God now these are the very Beauty and Glory of the Divine Nature The first thing that we attribute to God next to his Being is his Goodness and those other Attributes which have a necessary connexion with it for his Greatness and Majesty is nothing else but the Glory which results from his united Perfections especially from his Goodness and those Perfections which are akin to it Separate from God these Perfections which
Holiness includes in it and what would be left but an Omnipotent Evil an Eternal Being infinitely Knowing and infinitely able to do mischief which is as plain and notorious a Contradiction and as impossible a thing as can be-imagin'd so that if we have any sparks of ambition in us we cannot but aspire after Holiness which is so great an Excellency and Perfection of God himself There is a vulgar prejudice against Holiness as if it were a poor mean thing and below a great and generous Spirit whereas Holiness is the only true greatness of Mind the most genuine Nobility and the highest gallantry of Spirit and however it be despised by Men it is of a Heavenly Extraction and Divine Original Holiness is the first part of the Character of the wisdom that is from above Jam. 3.17 The wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie 2. Holiness is an essential and principal ingredient of Happiness Holiness is a state of Peace and Tranquillity and the very frame and temper of Happiness and without it the Divine Nature as it would be imperfect so it would be miserable If the Divine Nature were capapable of envy or malice or hatred or revenge or impatience or cruelty or injustice or unfaithfulness it would be liable to vexation and discontent than which nothing can be a greater disturbance of Happiness so that Holiness is necessary to our Felicity and Contentment not only to the happiness of the next life but to our present Peace and Contentment If reasonable Creatures could be happy as brute Beasts are in their degree by enjoying their depraved Appetites and following the Dictates of Sense and Fancy God would not have bound us up to a Law and Rule but have left us as he hath done unreasonable Creatures to satisfie our Lusts and Appetites without check and control but Angels and Men which are reasonable Creatures have the Notions of Good and Evil of Right and Wrong of Comliness and Filthiness so woven and twisted into their very Natures that they can never be wholly defaced without the ruine of their Beings and therefore it is impossible that such Creatures should be happy otherwise than by complying with these Notions and obeying the natural Dictates and Suggestions of their Minds which if they neglect and go against they will naturally feel remorse and Torment in their own Spirits their Minds will be uneasie and unquiet and they will be inwardly grieved and displeased with themselves for what they have done So the Apostle tells us Rom. 1. That even the most degenerate Heathens had Consciences which did accuse or excuse them according as they obeyed or did contrary to the dictates of Natural Light God therefore who knows our frame hath so adapted his Law to us which is the rule of holiness that if we live up to it we shall avoid the unspeakable torment of a guilty Conscience whereas if we do contrary to it we shall always be at discord with our selves and in a perpetual disquiet of Mind for nothing can do contrary to the Law of its Being that is to its own Nature without displeasure and reluctancy the consequence of which in Moral Actions is Guilt which is nothing else but the Trouble and Disquiet which ariseth in one's Mind from consciousness of having done some thing that contradicts the perfective Principle of his Being that is something which did not become him and which being what he is that is a reasonable Creature he ought not to do So that in all reasonable Creatures there is a certain kind of Temper and Disposition that is necessary and essential to Happiness and that is Holiness which as it is the Perfection so it is the great Felicity of the Divine Nature And on the contrary this is one chief part of the Misery of those wicked and accursed Spirits the Devils and of unholy Men that they are of a temper contrary to God they are Envious and Malicious and Wicked that is of such a temper as is naturally a Torment and Disquiet to it self and here the foundation of Hell is laid in the evil disposition of our Spirits and till that be cured which can only be done by Holiness 't is as impossible for a wicked Man to be happy and contented in himself as it is for a Sick Man to be at ease and the external presence of God and a local Heaven would signifie no more to make a wicked Man happy and contented than heaps of Gold and Consorts of Musick and a well spread Table and a rich Bed would contribute to a Man's ease in the paroxysms of a Feaver or in a violent fit of the Stone If a sensual or covetous or ambitious Man were in Heaven he would be like the rich Man in Hell he would be tormented with a continual Thirst and burnt up in the Flames of his own ardent Desires and would not meet with the least drop of suitable Pleasure and Delight to quench and allay the Heat the reason is because such a Man hath that within him which torments him and he cannot be at ease till that be removed Sin is the violent and unnatural and uneasie State of our Soul every wicked Man's Spirit is out of order and till the Man be put into a right Frame by Holiness he will be perpetually disquieted and can have no rest within himself The Prophet fitly describes the condition of such a Person Isa 57.20 21. But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast forth mire and dirt there is no peace saith my God to the wicked So long as a Man is unholy so long as filthiness and corruption abound in his Heart they will be restlesty working like Wine which is in a perpetual motion and agitation till it have purged it self of its Dregs and Foulness Nothing is more turbulent and unquiet than the Spirit of a wicked Man it is like the Sea when it roars and rages through the strengh of contrary Winds it is the scene of furious Lusts and wild Passions which as they are contrary to Holiness so they maintain perpetual contests and fewds among themselves All Sin separates us from God who is the Foundation of our Happiness Our limited Nature and the narrowness of our Beings will not permit us to be happy in our selves it is peculiar to God to be his own Happiness but Man because he is finite and therefore cannot be self-sufficient is carried forth by an innate desire of Happiness to seek his Felicity in God So that there is in the nature of man a Spring of restless Motion which with great impatience forceth him out of himself and tosses him to and fro till he comes to rest in something that is self-sufficient Our Souls when they are separated from God like the unclean Spirit in the Gospel when it was cast out they
wander up and down in dry and desart places seeking rest but finding none Were the whole World calm about a Man and did it not make the least attempt upon him were he free from the fears of Divine Vengeance yet he could not be satisfied with himself there is something within him that would not let him be at rest but would tear him from his own Foundation and Consistency so that when we are once broken off from God the sense of inward want doth stimulate and force us to seek our contentment else-where So that nothing but Holiness which re-unites us to God and restores our Souls to their primitive and original state can make us happy and give peace and rest to our Souls And this is the constant voice and language of Scripture and the tenour of the Bible Acquaint thy self with God that thou mayest be at Peace Job 22.21 Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Psal 97.11 The work of righteousness is peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Isa 32.17 Seeing then Holiness is so high a Perfection and so great a Happiness let these Arguments prevail with us to aspire after this temper that as he who hath called us is holy so we may be holy in all manner of Conversation because it is written be ye holy for I am holy ADVERTISEMENT THE Discourses of the Divine Goodness being more than can be contain'd in this Volume are together with those of the remaining Attributes reserv'd for the next But to complete this here follows a single Sermon upon another Subject SERMON XIV Of doing Good Being a Spital Sermon Preach'd at Christ-Church on Easter-Tuesday April 14th 1691. GALAT. VI. 9 10. Let us not be weary in well doing forin due season we shall reap if we faint not As we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all Men especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith THE Apostle in these Words recommends unto us a great and comprehensive Duty the doing of good concerning which the Text offers these five particulars to our Consideration I. The Nature of the Duty it self which is called well doing v. 9. and doing good v. 10. II. The extent of this Duty in respect of it's Object which is all Mankind Let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith III. The measure of it as we have opportunity IV. Our unwearied perseverance in it let us not be weary in well doing V. The Argument and Encouragement to it because in due season we shall reap if we faint not Therefore as we have opportunity let us do good c. I. I will consider the Nature of the Duty it self of well doing and doing good And this I shall explain to you as briefly as I can by considering the extent of the Act of doing Good and the Excellency of it And 1. The extent of the Act. It comprehends in it all those ways wherein we may be beneficial and useful to one another It reaches not only to the Bodies of Men but to their Souls that Better and more Excellent part of our selves and is conversant in all those Ways and Kinds whereby we may serve the temporal or spiritual Good of our Neighbour and promote either his present or his future and eternal Happiness To instruct the Ignorant or reduce those that are in Error to turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just and reclaim those that are engaged in any evil Course by good Counsel and seasonable Admonition and by prudent and kind Reproof to resolve and satisfie the doubting Mind to confirm the weak to heal the broken-hearted and to comfort the melancholy and troubled Spirits These are the noblest Ways of Charity because they are conversant about the Souls of Men and tend to procure and promote their eternal Felicity And then to feed the hungry to cloath the naked release the imprisoned to redeem the Captives and to vindicate those who are injur'd and oppress'd in their Persons or Estates or Reputation to repair those who are ruin'd in their Fortunes and in a word to relieve and comfort those who are in any kind of Calamity or Distress All these are but the several Branches and Instances of this great Duty here in the Text of doing good tho' it hath in this place a more particular respect to the Charitable supply of those who are in Want and Necessity and therefore with a more particular regard to that I shall Discourse of it at this time You see the extent of the Duty We will in the 2. Place briefly say something of the Ecellency of it which will appear if we consider That it is the imitation of the highest Excellency and Perfection To do Good is to be like God who is Good and doth good and it is to be like to him in that which he esteems his greatest Glory It is to be like the Son of God who when he was pleased to take our Nature upon him and live here below and to dwell amongst us went about doing good And it is to be like the blessed Angels the highest Rank and Order of God's Creatures whose great Employment it is to be ministring Spirits for the good of Men. So that for a Man to be kind and helpful and beneficial to others is to be a good Angel and a Saviour and a kind of God too It is an Argument of a great and noble and generous Mind to extend our Thoughts and Cares to the concernments of others and to employ our interest and power and endeavours for their benefit and advantage Whereas a low and mean and narrow Spirit is contracted and shrivel'd up within it self and cares only for its own things without any regard to the good and happiness of others It is the most noble work in the World because that inclination of Mind which prompts us to do good is the very temper and disposition of Happiness Solomon after all his Experience of worldly greatness and pleasure at last pitched upon this as the great felicity of humane Life and the only good Use that is to be made of a prosperous and plentiful Fortune Eccles 3.12 I know says he speaking of Riches that there is no good in them but for a Man to rejoice and do good in his life And certainly the best way to take joy in an Estate is to do good with it and a greater and wiser than Solomon has said it even he who is the Power and Wisdom of God has said it that it is a more blessed thing to give than to receive Consider farther That this is one of the great and substantial parts of Religion and next to the love and honour which we pay to Almighty God the most acceptable Service that we can do to him it is one Table of the Law and next the First and great Commandment of loving the Lord our God and very
our affairs and concernments after we have used our best Endeavours let us sit down and be satisfied and refer the rest to God whose Providence governs the World and takes care of all our Interests and of the Interest of his Church and Religion when they seem to be in greatest Danger We cannot but be convinced that this is very reasonable to leave the Management of things to him who made them and therefore understands best how to order them The government of the World is a very curious and complicated Thing and not to be tamper'd with by every unskilful Hand and therefore as an unskilful Man after he hath tampered a great while with a Watch thinking to bring it into better order and is at last convinced that he can do no good upon it carries it to him that made it to mend it and put it into order so must we do after all our Care and Anxiety about our own private Concernments or the publick State of Things we must give over governing the World as a business past our Skill as a Province too hard and a Knowledge too wonderful for us and leave it to him who made the World to Govern it and take care of it And if we be not thus Affected and Disposed we do not believe the Providence of God whatever profession we make of it if we did it would have an influence upon our Minds to free us from Anxious Care and Discontent Were we firmly perswaded of the Wisdom and Goodness of the Divine Providence we should confidently rely upon it and according to the Apostle's advice here in the Text cast all our care upon him because he careth for us SERMON IX The Wisdom of God in the Redemption of Mankind 1 COR. I. 24 Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God I Have in the ordinary course of my Preaching been treating of the Attributes and Perfections of God more particularly those which relate to the Divine Understanding the Knowledge and Wisdom of God The first of these I have finisht and made some progress in the second the Wisdom of God which I have spoken to in general and have propounded more particularly to consider those famous Instances and Arguments of the Divine Wisdom in the Creation of the World the Government of it and the redemption of mankind by Jesus Christ The two first of these I have spoken to namely the Wisdom of God which appears in the Creation and Government of the World I come now to the III. Instance of the Divine Wisdom the redemption of mankind by Jesus Christ which I shall by God's assistance speak to from these words Christ the wisdom of God The Apostle in the beginning of this Epistle upon occasion of his mentioning the Divisions and Parties that were among the Corinthians where one said I am of Paul another I am of Apollos asks them whether Paul was crucified for them or whether they were baptized into the name of Paul To convince them that they could not pretend this that they were Baptized into his Name he tells them at the 14 and 15 th verses that he had not so much as baptized any of them except two or three so far was he from having Baptized them into his own Name and at the 17 th verse he says that his work his principal work was to preach the Gospel which he had done not with Humane Eloquence not in wisdom of words but with great plainness and simplicity lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none effect lest if he should have used any Artifice the Gospel should have been less powerful And indeed his Preaching was unaffectedly plain and therefore the Gospel did seem to very many to be a foolish and ridiculous thing The Story which they told of Christ Crucified was to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness The Jews who expected another kind of Messias that should come in great Pomp and Glory to be a mighty Temporal Prince they were angry at the Story of a crucified Christ The Greeks the Philosophers who expected some curious Theories adorned with Eloquence and delivered and laid down according to the exact Rules of Art they derided this plain and simple Relation of Christ and of the Gospel But tho' this Design of the Gospel appeared silly and foolish to rash and inconsiderate and prejudiced Minds yet to them that are called to them that do believe both Jews and Gentiles Christ the power of God and the Wisdom of God Christ that is the way of our Redemption by Jesus Christ which the Apostle preached the wisdom of God an eminent Instance of it So that the redemption of Man by Jesus Christ is a Design of admirable Wisdom This I shall endeavour to confirm to you I. By general Testimonies of Scripture And II. By a more particular enquiry into the nature of this Design and the Means how it is accomplish'd I. By Testimonies from Scripture You know I have all along in my Discourses of the Attributes of God used this Method of proving them from the Dictates of Natural Light and the Revelation of Scripture But now I must forsake my wonted Method for here the Light of Nature leaves me The Wisdom of Creation is manifest in the things which are made the heavens declare the glory of God's Wisdom and the firmament shews his handy-work The Works of God do preach and set forth the Wisdom of the Creator but the Sun Moon and Stars do not preach the Gospel The Wisdom of redemption is Wisdom in a mystery hidden wisdom which none of the Princes or Philosophers of this World knew The sharpest Wits and the highest and most raised Understandings amongst the Heathens could say nothing of this Here the Wisdom of the Wise and the Vnderstanding of the Prudent is posed and we may make the Apostles challenge v. 20. of this Chapter Where is the Wise where is the Disputer of this World There is no Natural Light discovers Christ the Wise men cannot find him out unless a star be created on purpose to lead and direct to him Therefore in this I shall only depend upon Divine Revelation 1 Cor. 2.7 8. the Gospel is called the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory Which none of the Princes of this world knew Eph. 1.7 8. In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded toward us in all Wisdom and Prudence Eph. 3.10 11. The manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. This work of our redemption by Jesus Christ is so various and admirable that it is not below the Angels to know and understand it To the intent that unto principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known the manifold wisdom of God II. By inquiring more particularly into the nature
of this Design and the Means how it is accomplisht This is Wisdom to fit Means to Ends and the more difficult the End the greater Wisdom is required to find out suitable and sufficient Means for the accomplishment of the End Now the wisdom of redemption will appear if we consider the case of fallen Man and what fit and proper and suitable Means the Wisdom of God hath devised for our Recovery 1. Let us consider the Case of fallen Man which was very sad both in respect of the Misery and the Difficulty of it 1. In respect of the Misery of it Man who was made Holy and Upright by God having by his voluntary Transgression and wilful Disobedience fall'n from him did presently sink into a corrupt and degenerate into a miserable and cursed Condition of which Heaven and Earth and his own Conscience bore him Witness Man being become a Sinner is not only deprived of the Image of God but is liable to his Justice here was his Misery 2. The difficulty of the Case was this Man could not recover himself and raise himself out of his own ruin no Creature was able to do it so that our help is only in God and indeed he is a merciful God and doth not desire our Ruin nor delight in our Destruction But suppose his Mercy never so willing to save us will not his Holiness and Justice and Truth check those forward Inclinations of his Goodness and hinder all the Designs of his Mercy Is not sin contrary to the Holy Nature of God hath not he declared his Infinite hatred of it hath not he threatned it with heavy and dreadful Punishment and said that the sinner shall die that he will not acquit the guilty nor let sin go unpunish'd Should he now without any satisfaction to his offended Justice pardon the Sinner remit his Punishment and receive him to favour would this be agreeable to his Holiness and Justice and Truth would this become the Wise Governour of the World who loves Righteousness and Order who hates sin and is obliged by the essential rectitude of his Nature to discountenance sin So that here is a conflict of the Attributes and Perfections of God The Mercy of God pities our Misery and would recover us would open Paradise to us but there is a flaming Sword that keeps us out the incensed Justice of God that must be satisfied and if he take vengeance of us we are eternally ruin'd if he spare us how shall Mercy and Justice meet together how shall God at once express his Love to the Sinner and his hatred to sin here is the difficulty of our Case II. Let us now enquire what Means the Wisdom of God useth for our recovery The Wisdom of God hath devised this expedient to accommodate all these Difficulties to reconcile the Mercy and Justice of God The Son of God shall undertake this work and satisfie the offended Justice of God and repair the ruin'd Nature of Man He shall bring God and Man together make up this Gulph and renew the Commerce and Correspondence between God and us which was broken off by Sin The work that God designs is the redemption of Man that is his recovery from a state of Sin and Eternal Death to a state of Holiness and Eternal Life The Son of God is to engage in this Design of our Redemption to satisfie the offended Justice of God toward us so as to purchase our deliverance from the Wrath to come and so as to restore us to the Image and Favour of God that we may be sanctified and be made Heirs of Eternal Life For opening of this we will consider 1. The fitness of the Person designed for this Work 2. The fitness of the Means whereby he was to accomplish it 1. The fitness of the Person design'd for this Work and that was the eternal Son of God who in respect of his Infinite Wisdom and Power the Dignity and Credit of his Person his dearness to his Father and Interest in him was very fit to undertake this Work to mediate a Reconciliation between God and Man 2. The fitness of the Means whereby he was to accomplish it and these I shall refer to two Heads his Humiliation and Exaltation All the Parts of these are very subservient to the Design of our Redemption I. The Humiliation of Christ which consists of three principal Parts his Incarnation his Life and his Death 1. His Incarnation which is set forth in Scripture by several Expressions his being made flesh and dwelling among us John 1.14 His being made of the seed of David according to the flesh Rom. 1.3 His being made of a woman Gal. 4.4 The manifestation of God in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 His taking part of flesh and blood Heb. 2.14 His taking on him the seed of Abraham and being made like unto his brethren Heb. 2.16 17. His coming in the flesh 1 John 2.2 All which signifies his taking upon him Humane Nature and being really a Man as well as God The Eternal Son of God in the fulness of time took our Nature that is assumed a real Soul and Body into Union with the Divine Nature Now this Person who was really both God and man was admirably fitted for the Work of our Redemption In general this made him a fit Mediator an equal and middle Person to interpose in this Difference and take up this Quarrel between God and Man Being both God and man he was concerned for both Parties and interested both in the Honour of God and the Happiness of Man and engaged to be tender of both and to procure the one by such ways as might be consistent with the other More particularly his Incarnation did fit him for those two Offices which he was to perform in his Humiliation of Prophet and Priest 1. The Office of Prophet to teach us both by his Doctrine and his Life By his Doctrine His being in the likeness of Man this made him more familiar to us He was a Prophet raised up from among his Brethren as Moses speaks and he makes this an Argument why we should hear him Should God speak to us immediately by himself we could not hear him and live God condescends to us and complies with the weakness of our Nature and raiseth up a Prophet from among our brethren We should hear him And then his being God did add Credit and Authority to what he spake he could confirm the Doctrine which he taught by Miracles Of his teaching us by his Life I shall have occasion to speak presently 2. For the Office of Priest He was fit to be our Priest because he was taken from among Men as the Apostle speaks fit to suffer as being Man having a body prepared as it is Heb. 10.5 and fit to satisfie by his sufferings for the Sins of all Men as being God which put an infinite Dignity and Value upon them the sufferings of an infinite Person being equal to the offences done