Infinite from Visible to that which is Invisible from Corporeal to that which is Incorporeal from Temporal to that which is Eternal And by the next words the things that are made in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we may understand the Works of Creation as they were formed out of the first Chaos which was the proper Object of Creation So that we may distinguish in the Text between the Creation of the World and the Things which are made taking the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Creation as expressing the first Matter of all Things and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things made the several Creatures both Animate and Inanimate that were educed out of that first Matter Or A work curiously wrought is either properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we derive it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some do or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so words and syllables set together in meeter are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Poem or the producing of any work secundum praecepta artis according either to the Precepts of Rhetorick Musick Architecture c. as Criticks tell us as the former word doth properly express the producing of all things out of nothing so the latter word the curious frame and order wherein all things were made As when the Apostle speaketh of the New Creation which Believers have in Christ he maketh use of both these words of the Text Eph. 2. 10. We are his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good Works To shew the excellent frame of this spiritual Work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Workmanship of God And to shew the Power of God manifested therein it is said to be Created Quest But why doth the Apostle only mention God's Eternal Power Are not other Attributes of his Being to be seen in the Works of Creation as his Wisdom and Goodness as well as his Eternity and Power Answ The Apostle mentioneth the Power of God because of all God's Attributes that seemeth to be most eminent and conspicuous in the Work of Creation For it was properly an Act of Power to make all things out of Nothing though his Wisdom was seen in the guiding of his Power and his Goodness in making all things good And the Apostle mentions God's Eternity in the Text which is another Attribute when he calls his Power Eternal And by this he shews that as the World had its being in Time so that God who made it was before it or else he could not have made it as the Cause must needs be before the Effect And what is before the Creation of the World and every thing that is made must needs be before all Time which came in with the Creature as the measure of its duration and so be Eternal But yet though only God's Power and Eternity be here mentioned yet as a Learned Expositor Observes Estius in Loc. his other Attributes are included in the Word God-head As if the Apostle should have said In the Creation of the World are seen God's Power and God's Eternity But what need I particularly mention any more Attributes of his Being when his Godhead it self which comprehends them all is manifested therein The last particular to be explained is How the Gentiles are hereupon said to be without excuse A man may be said to be without excuse when he hath no Apology to make for himself as the word in the Text signifies and that either with respect to malum culpae the fault committed by him Or malum poenae the punishment inflicted upon him In both the Gentiles were without excuse 1. As to the malum culpae or the evil of sin they were guilty of For they had such means of knowledg ministred to them by the Light and Law of Nature that might have led them to more venerable thoughts of God and a more honourable worship of him than was practised by them And also to a more righteous and blameless conversation amongst men So that thereupon they were without excuse 2. And then as to the evil of Punishment inflicted for their sin God would be justified therein and they left without excuse when he should proceed to Judgment For God doth and will manage his Judgments in such Righteousness towards all men with respect to their several capacities and conditions in this World that every man may be found without excuse that falls under them How far the Light and Law of Nature may lead a man towards his Salvation I shall not here dispute All that the Apostle asserteth here concerning the Gentiles is That they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or without excuse thereby And the Apostle Paul deals with the Gentiles thus particularly because the Ministry of the Uncircumcision was more peculiarly committed to him than the other Apostles And he doth it rather in this Epistle to the Romans than in any other because Rome was the chief Seat of the Gentiles Empire in the Apostles time and where Idolatry and moral Wickedness also did most abound as it usually doth in such great Cities and as their own Historians do abundantly declare concerning it CHAP. II. The two Doctrines that result from the Text. The two wayes of Demonstration The Being of God three wayes made known Several Arguments to prove God's Being from the Works of Creation THus having explained the parts of the Text I shall raise out of them these two general Doctrines DOCT. I. 1. That the Being of God and several Attributes of his Being may be seen and understood from the Creation of the World and the things that are made DOCT. II. 2. That to fall short in knowledg or practice of what the Light and Law of Nature may lead men up to will render them inexcusable though they have not the written Word I shall first speak of the former and first shew how the Being of God and then the Attributes of his Being may be demonstrated therefrom Now there are two sorts of Demonstrations one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Priori when Effects are demonstrated from their Cause Now the Being of God cannot be thus demonstrated no man can demonstrate the necessity of such a Being from any Antecedent Cause And the other is a posteriori 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where Causes are demonstrated from their Effects And so the Works of Creation do demonstrate God's Being When a Man shall seriously consider this great Fabrick of Heaven and Earth his mind may thence gather the Being of God There is enough written in the Book of God's Creation to declare his Being to us though there was nothing written of it in the Book of the Scriptures The Being of God is three wayes made known to men 1. By the Light of Natural Conscience There are some Characters and Impressions of his Being within all men for Man being made for God he hath put a peculiar impression of his Being upon his
greatest Purity Unity and Actuality And so I might proceed to speak of other properties of his Being but these I only mention to shew the Capacity that is in the Mind of Man to frame a Physical or rather a Metaphysical conception of a Deity and the several properties Essential to it and from hence to draw a rational proof of God's Being 6. Lastly We may Argue from those innate Notions of Good and Evil that are naturally in the Soul of Man whereby that which is morally Good is approved and the contrary is disapproved As we see it among the Indians and other Heathens who have not only Natural Reason to discern but have a moral Judgment to approve the good and to disprove the evil And amongst many of them Injustice Fraud Violence Oppression are severely punisht and the contrary rewarded and commended As the Apostle speaks of the Gentiles that though they were without the Law yet they did by Nature the things contained in the Law Now whence is this why should Justice be rather approved of then Injustice Honesty then Dishonesty but that the Soul did Originally spring from some Fountain of goodness that did derive some resemblance and imprint some Characters of his own Nature upon it The Reliques of which the School-Men call Synteresis which are yet found in Man And by Philosophers are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Common Principles and Anticipations preceding all acquired Habits or Principles by Education Experience or Custom How is it possible to believe a distinction of Good and Evil and a Conscience about them should be naturally inherent in every Man as we find it is unless some Superior Power had fixed such Principles in us by our first constitution and left an indelible Testimony in our own Souls about them So that no Man can if he would in his sober Mind think Evil to be better then Good and in his serious thoughts prefer it before it wherein we have Nature to be our Mistress and Teacher And who was the Teacher of Nature Tertullian will Answer for me Magistra natura anima discipula Quicquid aut illa edocuit aut ista perdidiscit a Deo traditum est Magistro scilicet ipsius Magistrae Nature is the Mistress the Soul the Disciple what ever the one hath Taught and the other hath Learned is derived from God who is the Master of the Mistress her self Test animae adu Gentes And from hence it was that the Barbarous people mention'd Act. 28. when they saw the Viper fasten upon St. Paul's hand said This Man is a Murderer whom though he hath escaped the Sea yet Vengeance suffers not to live Nature it self taught them that Murther was not only in it self an Evil but that Vengeance would pursue the Murtherer And though since sin entred the Nature of Man fleshly lusts do precipitate Men to acts of moral unrighteousness yet it is because they offer Violence to that Light and Law of Nature that is planted in their Hearts And hence it is that we find many of the Heathen loved Justice for its own sake without any respect to profit or praise of Men as seeing a native Pulchritude and goodness in it conform to the inward Rule and Principle that was within themselves Such as Socrates Aristides Fabritius Licurgus Solon and the like It was once argued by an Heathen then Philosopher If there be a God whence is it that we see Evil in the World if there be no God whence is it that Good is in the World He thought the good found therein might be an Argument for the Being of God though he doubted it for want of knowledge how Evil did first arise But to us that know that Evil came not from God but from some other cause the Argument is strong There is a Natural Goodness therefore there is a God CHAP. VIII God's perfect knowledge of Man Evidenced from his making Man The several duties Man owes to God as his Creator Man's destruction whence it ariseth that the Creator destroyes his own Creature THus I have endeavoured to demonstrate the Being of God to Man from the Creation of Man which methinks should be the most cogent Argument upon him being taken from himself Argumentum ad hominem ab homine And because I would still make Natural Theology serve the Interest of true Religion as the Hand-maid doth her Mistress I shall therefore draw several practical Inferences that naturally arise from the Consideration of God as the Creator of Man Infer I. First He that made Man must needs know him He that made a Watch or Clock knows every pin in it and the motion of every wheel So doth God know the Soul in all the faculties of it knows what it can do what it can not do What are the apprehensions volitions and inclinations of it What are the regular and what are the oblique motions of it What principles are in the Mind how resented by the Will how they are entertained in the Affections He knows what it doth what it would do what it will not do So that as it is said of Christ he needed not that any should testifie of Man for he knew what was in Man Joh. 2. 25. The Prophet David in the 139. Psalm speaks of God's exact knowledge of him First in General O God thou hast searched and known me v. 1. And then particularly Thou understandest my thoughts afar off v. 2. Thou compassest my path and art acquainted with all my ways v. 3. There is not a word in my mouth but thou knowest it altogether v. 4. As if he should say Thou knowest what I think what I speak what I do And he giveth a twofold reason of this knowledge God had of him One was because he was every where present with him v. 7. 8 9 10. And the other because he made him and formed him Thou hast possessed my reins thou hast covered me in my Mothers womb v. 13. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret v. 15. In thy Book were all my members written v. 16. God laid the draught of him and made him and therefore must needs have a perfect knowledge of him And from this knowledge of God a Christian may form to himself matter both of Caution and Consolation 1. Caution Ought we not then take heed to our selves when God hath such perfect knowledge of us Our actions are all known to him y ea our words yea our thoughts The very frame and constitution of our most inward man is known to him What neither Men or Angels know of us or can know that God knows The Anatomist that dissects the Body and discerns all its secret Veins and Arteries and the smallest Fibrae's of Nature doth not so exactly know it as God doth know it that made it and he knows also that Spirit that dwels in it it being the work of his own hand Doth the Spirit in Man know the things
Natural Theology OR THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD FROM THE WORKS of CREATION Accommodated and Improved to the Service of CHRISTIANITY By Matthew Barker M. A. Minister of the Gospel Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship him declare I unto you Act. 17. 23. He that cometh to God must believe that he is Heb. 11. 6. LONDON Printed for Nathaniel Ranew at the Kings Armes in St. Paul's Church-yard 1674. THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY To whom I should Dedicate this mean Script I know not unless To this present AGE EVery Man owes something to the Age wherein he lives And as he will give but a bad account of his Life that hath been Instrumental to make it Worse So he will not be able to give a good account of it that hath not been an Instrument in making it better Though Men have their several Sphaeres to move in as the Stars in their several Orbs yet This motion should be Common to all to be doing good in the World And the known saying of that sage Heathen Cato Toti Genitum se credere Mundo should shame Christians out of that private Spirit whereby they live only to themselves and much more out of those unworthy practises whereby they do hurt unto others And I can truly say the design of this Treatise is for General good what success it may find I know not or what Censures it may pass through in this Critical Age through the weak management of it But as to its Subject I cannot but promise my self fair Quarter from every Reader seeing it treats of Principles that are owned by the Light of Nature and such as are approved of in the higher Light of Christianity My thoughts in the course of my Studies have been exercised upon various Subjects and yet I could never obtain of my self to expose any thing to publick View unless that which is not worth the mentioning And why I should make an Essay now and why upon this Subject rather then another I can give little Account but only that after my Conceptions about it had been Communicated in the hearing of some it was suggested to me such a Discourse might be useful in this present Age wherein Atheisme is secretly insinuating it self into the Hearts of Men and getting ground Considerably more then in former Ages Not that we have many that deny his Being but the Conviction of it upon their Hearts doth grow very weak and languid and the imbred Character of it in Mens Consciences are much obscured and sullied through the defilements of sin Now to brighten these Characters and to convince Mens Reasons to awaken their sleepy Souls to a Practical acknowledgment of his Being is the chief design of this small thing And the smaller because it is but the lesser half of what I intended and of what I have lying by me in Papers upon this Subject And which doth better justifie and explicate the Title then what is here presented unto publick view But whether I may have opportunity and leisure to Transcribe them for others use I yet know not I find Writing is tedious and takes up more time then I can well spare from other imployments that daily attend me I have for some time by the help of a Friend had some Meditations upon another Subject transcribed into a legible Hand which to satisfie the desires of some it may be may in time come abroad if they may be of any use but my thoughts having been more lately exercised upon this present Subject I thought method required they should march in the Van seeing they proceed upon the most Fundamental Principles in all Religion And being convinced by mine Observation as well as the Information of others that the present Age is sinking a pace into the dreggs of Atheisme by debauching their Consciences and stifling the very Light and Law of Nature that preach a Deity to all Men I thought no better way to recover it then to set God before Men's view in the Works of his Creation And from thence to demonstrate the necessity of his Being and the several Attributes of his being visible therein And from thence to gather strength to the enforcing of that respect that Men owe to the Great Creator of the World and the Author of their Being And not only in those Duties that are Cognoscible to the Light of Nature but even those that are made known by Supernatural Revelation in the Word Specially considering that the Creation of the World is attributed to him that is the Redeemer of it and who is that Eternal Word whence the whole Written Word derives its Original as well as this visible World So that I pitched upon this Subject not because it is the most Sublime but because it is the most Radical and Fundamental to all Religion and most convincing to the Reason of all Men. And while I have sought to improve Natural Light to the utmost extent of it I have also shewed the Deficiency of it that no Man might rest in it And have considered the Creation not only in its first state under the first Adam but as elevated into an higher state and higher improvement under the second Adam Though considering the smallness of this I had almost said Pamphlet It cannot be expected I should be able to Enlarge upon any particular herein And I was the willinger to Contract because I find few Men can or at least will find Time or Money for larger Volumes Though I have always thought that good Books are the best part of a man's Furniture in his House and the best Ornaments for Ladies Closets Certainly what doth enrich the mind is to be valued far above those things that only please the Sence And if Men object what needs any more Writing the World is full of Books and what can be more Printed then already is Yes verily new Books in every Age excite people to Read when they will not regard the very same things in old Authors And hereby old Truths come to be newly minted as it were in every Age and so they pass off the more currently with Men besides what further improvements are made of them in every Age. And sometimes respect to the Author makes people read Books which else they would not concern themselves about And it is not amiss to please Men to their Edification Aud if some Writings do not match men of the higest Parts and Learning let them not despise them they may match men the better that are a degree or two below them who have also most need of Instruction And though high Speculations may please best the Fancy yet Practical Writings do best tend to make a better World And I would account it no burthen but rather an honour and advantage to the Age to be well furnished with them if they be not slight and trivial It is a mercy to this Nation that the Press is so open for the propagating of Knowledge for it is observed in those Centuries wherein Popery was
in its highest Elevation and widest extent there was the least written and so there is the least account given of those times But to Conclude with respect to this Treatise now presented to this present Age If any say Other Pens have been Employed upon the same Subject with it I would answer It is not easie to pitch upon any Theme that hath never had an exercise upon it or to walk in any path wherein are not found the Traces of any Man's foot But this I can say I have not knowingly followed any Man that went before me And though there are some Learned discourses in the World about Atheisme yet I find them too abstruse for Common understanding and meddle little with the Practical Improvements which are to be made of that which is styled Natural Theology which I chiefly aimed at in this undertaking though I have performed it but in part in what is now Published Having in a Reserve by me in my Papers an account of those several Attributes of God that are Evidenceable from the Works of his Creation with Practical Inferences upon them for the advancement of true Gospel holiness But I cannot reach so far at present I have taken some spare hours to Transcribe these few Meditations for the Press wherein I have Inserted a few Quotations as they did occur to me for my Reading hath been but small Though it may be what I have Inserted may make what I have written not more acceptable to many Readers How ever Printed Books being exposed to the view of all let every one take the benefit as he can I have nothing farther to offer here but to begg of the Reader to pardon the Errata's both of the Author and the Printer and to pray that God would both pardon and amend the great Errata's of the Age That the Supreme Deity of Heaven and Earth and true Religion that is relative to him may find more Cordial and Practical respect from this present Age wherein is wrapt up Mens Eternal Interess and the present Interess of our own Nation And that any Essays to this end may be attended with a Divine Blessing and particularly this that is sincerely intended towards it how ever weakly managed by a poor unworthy Instrument Novemb. 17. 1673. Matthew Barker Natural Theology OR The Knowledge of God from the Works of Creation Accommodated and improved to the Service of Christianity ROM 1. 20. For the Invisible Things of Him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal Power and God-head so that they are without excuse CHAP. I. The Scope of the Text. How the Gentiles though without the written Law yet are under Sin What the Law of Nature is How Adam had the knowledge of his Creator What meant by the Invisible Things of God Though Invisible yet how seen What meant by the Creation of the World What difference betwixt the Creation of the World and things made Why the Apostle only mentions God's eternal Power and God-head How the Gentiles are without excuse by the Light of Nature THe Scope of the Apostle in the first part of this Epistle is to assert and prove the great Doctrine of Justification by Faith and not by the Works of the Law And to make his way to it He first proveth all men to be under sin And all Man-kind being divided into Jew and Gentile he first proves the Gentile to be under sin in this first Chapter and the Jew in the Second And those that are under Sin cannot be justified by the Works of the Law and therefore must of necessity have recourse to the Righteousness of Faith being convicted of Sin by the Law Now lest it might be argued How could the Gentile be under sin not having the Written Law made known unto them Vnderstand it of Gentiles without the Church for it was the Jew to whom were committed the Oracles of God and where there is no Law there is no transgression The Apostle therefore in this Chapter tells us they had the Law of Nature which was God's Law which though it is not written in Ink and Paper yet it is written in the Hearts of all Men and in the visible Works of God's Creation and the Gentiles thereupon are convicted to be under Sin not following the Light and Conduct of that Universal Law For as a Law is Directive and Preceptive it ministreth Knowledge and commandeth Practice So was the Law of Nature to the Gentiles it had a Light in it whereby they might attain some knowledge of God and it had a force in it to urge them upon the performance of Duty and Service to Him answerable to that knowledg But because they darkned this Light in themselves as in vers 21. Their foolish heart was darkned and they did not follow the conduct of it but retained the Truth in unrighteousness hereupon they are convinced of Sin for they did neither take up those worthy Conceptions of God's Being which the Law of Nature might direct them to as the Apostle speaks in vers 21 22. neither did they manage their conversation towards men with that justice sobriety equity and charity as that Law did both direct and urge them to as the Apostle doth at large declare in the enumeration of those several Vices which they lived in the practice of in the last part of the Chapter Now this Law of Nature as written in the Hearts of Men he speaketh of in the Verse before the Text calling it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which may be known of God manifest in them And as written in the Works of Creation he speaks it of these words of the Text For the Invisible Things of Him from the Creation of the World are seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead And hence he infers they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without excuse And so I am come to the Text. I having already spoken from another Scripture at large of the Glory of God as manifested in Christ and of the Glory of Christ as manifested in the Gospel-Ministration my intention from this Text is to set forth the Glass of the World's Creation wherein we may behold and from whence we may evince both the Being of God or his Deity and many Attributes and Properties of his Being And whereas all Theology consisteth of two Parts either that which is called Natural or that which consisteth of Supernatural Revelation the former I shall here speak of By Natural Theology that all may understand I mean that knowledge of God and our duty to Him which the Light of Nature may lead Man up to and which is concreat with his Soul The Image of God upon Man in his first Creation consisted in Knowledge as well as Holiness and the knowledge Adam had of his Creator was partly by the Character of his Being engraven upon his Soul which is by some stiled verbum
a Sensitive life as Plants and Trees in this lower World Whence is it that the Ivy as if it did know it was a weak Plant and could not subsist of itself should naturally bend to the Wall or Tree that is near it there to fix and as it were incorporate itself by a strange and firm in hesion Whence is it that a Tree doth fix its Roots with that strength and Art in the bowels of the Earth that no man can imagine how it could be done better as if it did know what blasts of wind it must encounter with which threaten its subversion c. And what Wisdom is that which guides and carries the Root downward when the Boughs and Branches ascend upward as if it understood the need it stood in of the fatness and moisture of the Earth and therefore doth send forth its roots up and down through the Earth to forage and fetch it in So also If we consider how curiously the Embrio or Infant is formed in the Womb of her that is with Child the formative vertue that doth this is ignorant of what it doth and yet every part is formed to a rational End in Nature And whence is it in the upper World that the Sun is placed at such a convenient distance from the Earth and steers its motion by such a Line as is most for the benefit of it That when it is gone to its Tropic in the South it should return back again to the North as if it did rationally provide for the benefit of each part and region of the lower World In so much that the Psalmist doth attribute Knowledg to it Psal 104. 19. The Sun knoweth its going down And as Tully argues concerning the Heavens Their motion is either by Nature Chance or Prudence Not by Nature for if they were light they would move upwards if heavy they would move downwards if neither they would stand still Nor by chance for they move in a constant and regular Order where there is nothing temerarium nec fortuitum nothing rash nor accidental as he speaks Lib. 2. De Nat. Deor. And therefore they move by Prudence And that not their own as they were Gods as some imagined but by his Wisdom that made them by that Eternal Mind that superintends and guides their motions which he that denies Ipse mentis expers judicandus est as he there speaks that is one void of Reason If we yield these things are done by Nature and natural Instincts yet still we must reply Whence had Nature these several instincts and if it acts and moves by a Law who put this Law first into it but He that made all things in Wisdom and hath left the prints and footsteps of it in the several works of his hand If we see an Arrow for the most part hit the mark no man will say This is by chance but it is guided by some skilful hand So Nature could never produce in so great a constancy such admirable effects if it was not guided by some invisible hand Argum. 7. We see this Order in Nature that all Creatures do serve some end above themselves As Creatures without life do serve those Creatures that have life and those Creatures that have only a vegetative life serve the Creatures that have a Sensitive Life and those that have a Sensitive Life do serve Man that hath a superiour Rational Life and therefore Man also was made to serve some end above himself and what can this be but to serve his Creator For there is no end that Man can serve above himself but serving God which may evidence to us that God is And as there is some Equity and Reason that those things in Nature which are inferior should serve the superior so it is the highest Reason in the world that Man should serve Him that is infinitely superiour to him and supreme over all and which is that End above Man which he was made to serve Argum. 8. Lastly We see all things in Nature under certain bounds and limits As the Earth the Waters the Sun the Moon the Stars the Heavens So are all living creatures bounded and limited in their several natures And within these bounds they still abide Now how came all things to be thus circumscribed and limited Why are their several natures extended thus far and no farther when it is natural to the Creatures to be extensive of themselves towards some further perfection in their Beings Natural Bodies are under Limits and so are created Spirits as Angels in their several Orders or denominations and the Souls of Men. Now who hath set these limits but that first Being who is unlimited and hath made all things in Number Weight and Measure It is He that hath given the Earth its dimensions and confined the Waters within their Banks that comprehendeth the dust of the Earth in a Measure that weigheth the Hills in Scales and the Mountains in a Balance It is He that hath meted out the Heavens with his Span and appointed the number of the Stars and calleth them all by name Which the Grecians meant by calling their chief God Jupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Limiter and the Romans call'd him Jovem Terminalem As God hath given the Creatures their being so He hath set them the several Bounds of their Being And to make this yet more plain in a few Instances Whence is it that a Stone hath not a vegetative Life as well as a Tree and a Tree a Sensitive Life as well as a Beast and a Beast Reason as well as a Man and why are not Men intellectual Spirits as well as Angels All Creatures are bounded in their several natures and what or who could thus bound them but the God and Author of Nature So that upon the whole I may conclude That if the World was a living Animal as Plato fancied and knew it self it would readily acknowledg its Beginning and Being from God alone CHAP. III. The general Doctrine improved Atheism unreasonable The Degeneracy of Reason about Divine Objects Few profest Atheists The reason why some attempt to make themselves Atheists The several Causes out of which Atheism springs Why amongst Christians that live under the Gospel there is found the greatest Atheism THus we have demonstrated the God-head or the Being of God from the Works of Creation I should now proceed to Demonstrate thence also several Attributes of his Being but I shall first endeavour to reduce this Knowledge of God's Being arising from the light and Law of Nature to the service of Christianity For my design is for Practice rather than Speculation Inf. 1. First We may hence take notice that Atheism is not only Impious but Irrational To deny a God is to deny and contradict true Reason The Psalmist calls him a Fool that saith in his heart there is no God Psal 14. 1. And a Fool is one that is defective or distempered in his Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Bullocks Lambs Sheep Goats Swine and in some cases Men and Children as their own Poets Virgil and Plautus c. and so Plutarch and others of their Moral Writers affirm and these they offered up to appease their gods when any Calamities fell upon them Illius aras Saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet Agnus Haedum Neptuno Taurum tibi Pulcher Apollo Virgil. And of their Humane Sacrifices see Lact. lib. 1. p. 81 82 83. and Dr. Owen's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 307. They offered Placatory Sacrifices to such gods of whom they feared harm and Propitiatory to such of whom they expected good as Dr. Jackson Observes But these they used not with any respect to Christ who was the end of the Institution of all the Expiatory or Propitiatory Sacrifices and gave them their Vertue and Efficacy and so they could not avail them to what they designed as the very use of them they borrowed either from the Sacrifice of Noah conveighed in the notice of it down to his Posterity or from some acquaintance they might have with the Jewish Laws rather than from any Dictates of Natural Light howsoever improved by them For what-ever may be said concerning Sacrifices called Gratulatory offered by way of Thanksgiving that a principle of Natural Gratitude might lead them to their use by giving part of the whole to acknowledg the whole from God yet who can imagine it concerning Expiatory Sacrifices that ever the Light of Nature could lead them to think that the slaying of a Bruit Creature as a Sheep or a Lamb or a Goat c. should be able to reconcile God to Man or be a meet Satisfaction to the offended Deity for his sin or indeed be pleasing to God at all And though this was the practice of the Jews yet they were led to it by God's Institution and not by the Light of Nature And though some have said that the continuance of Nature in its course and the benefits that are thereby daily conveighed from God to the World do declare to all Men that he is some-way reconciled else Man's sin would either have dissolved or at least interrupted this beneficial course of Nature yet this cannot lead Man to the true Propitiatory nor to the way of enjoying the benefit thereof By these common benefits of Nature God left not himself without witness to the Gentiles and for which they ought to have been thankful but by these they could not understand that they had favour with God were not under God's displeasure for their sin seeing the worst of men partaked of them as well as others and the Beasts as well as Men. It 's true something may hence be gathered of the benignity and goodness of the Nature of God his long-suffering and patience whereby they might be encouraged to go to him for Mercy and Pardon but the way wherein God hath appointed to bestow this pardoning Mercy they could not know by any natural Light And what respect God may have to some among the Gentiles that best improved that Light and had recourse to his general Mercy without the distinct knowledg of a Saviour which they had not means to attain I shall rather leave it amongst the Secrets of God's Counsel than make determination therein But we that have the Scriptures know that all Man's Reconciliation is by the death of the Son of God And that pardon of sin is by Faith in his Blood which things the Light of Nature is a meer stranger too 3. As to the true knowledg of sin the Scriptures give a more distinct account than any that can be known by Nature Some grosser sins may be known by it but the secret Obliquities of the Heart and Life are not detected but by a straiter Rule than the Light or Law of Nature The Apostle Rom. 7. professeth he had not known Lust to be sin except the Law of God had said Thou shalt not covet It is the Commandment of God that David saith is exceeding broad can only discover sin in the full latitude of it And which made the Apostle say By the Law is the knowledg of sin And therefore the Law was first briefly published upon Mount Sinai and afterwards explained and urged upon the People by Moses as appears in the Book of Deuteronomy that they might being under the conviction of sin look towards the Messiah for Salvation who was yet to come which needed not have been could the Law of Nature have given a perfect Knowledg and Conviction Of it the Scriptures resolve that great Question unde malum discoursing of it in the first original of it as also in the due merit of it and the punishment it leadeth to As for sins that are more strictly Evangelical as Unbelief in Christ c. As the Light of Nature doth not discover the Gospel so neither can it do sins against it For this we must have recourse to the Word of Christ and to his Spirit Whom he promised to send to convince the World of sin because they believed not on him for the Light of Nature could not evidence it to be sin 4. If we speak also of the satisfaction of the Soul in possessing the chief Good Here also Scripture-Light excels that of Nature There was nothing did more exercise the Minds of the wiser Heathens than this to find out and enjoy this Good and nothing were they more divided in their Judgments about But the Reason was because they wanted the true knowledg of God and knew not the way to the fruition of him who alone is this chief Good of Man But here the Scriptures again supply the defect of Nature's Light which reveal to us not only that God is and what he is but that Everlasting Covenant of his Grace made in Jesus Christ wherein and whereby he offers himself to Men to become their God and to take them for his People And there we find this summum Bonum this chief good The Philosophers of old Yea all Men are as Merchants seeking this godly Pearl but they find it not until they are by Scripture-Light led to it And we may say of it as Job speaks of Wisdom The Depth saith It is not in me and the Sea saith It is not with me It cannot be gotten for Gold neither shall Silver be weighed for the price thereof c. and therefore is not found in Silver or Gold Destruction and Death say We have heard the same thereof with our Ears Those that are in the Grave or Hell may have heard of it but where there is no Good there cannot be found this chief Good But the Word of God tells the Living of it shews it to them and invites them to the possessing of it 5. With respect to the Worship of God The Light of Nature doth dictate that God ought to be worshipt but Scripture-Revelation is requisite to guide us unto the right way of Worship I know there is Natural Worship founded upon the Right of
Soul which the brute Beasts have not Though they have some resemblance of reason yet they have nothing of the impression of a Deity because they are not made to the immediate praise and glory of their Creator as Man is Which is the reason why all Nations have acknowledged and worshipped a Deity When the Apostle went forth in the execution of his Commission to preach the Gospel in the Nations of the Gentile World where-ever he came he found the People performing Worship to some Deity or other When he came to Athens he found there that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or superstitious fear and reverence of their Gods which Luke mentions in Acts 17. 22. Yea not onely at Athens which was a place of Learning but even amongst the barbarous people Which we read of in Acts 14. how they brought Garlands and would have offered Sacrifices to Barnabas and Paul which shews they had upon their hearts the sense of a Deity and some kind of religious Worship was found amongst them And their Learned Men have all along asserted the worship of a Deity to be the chief part of the Law of Nature God having a Witness for himself in every Man's Conscience But this I shall speak more of afterwards 2. The Being of God is made known by the Scriptures which throughout declare to us that God is And this is the evidence of Faith as in Heb. 11. 3. Through Faith we understand that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear A Text somewhat parallel to that which I am now discoursing upon For both of them speaks of the Visible Things of Nature and the Invisible Things of God Both do speak of these Invisible things of God evidenced to the mind of man But with this difference the one doth speak of the evidence that Reason gathers from Nature the other of the evidence of Faith from the Word of God So it follows in the sixth Verse He that cometh to God must believe that he is Faith believes it from the Scriptures which give witness of him being the proper Object of Faith And God hath written his Name in clearer Characters in these than what is found in the Book of Conscience Had Natural Conscience been sufficient there had been no need of the Scriptures which were written to inform rectifie and guide Conscience wherein it is defective or erroneous So that as it is said Ideò scribuntur omnes Libri ut emendetur unus All Books are written to amend the Book of Conscience So especially we may say it of the Book of Scriptures Conscience hath thence a clearer account not only of the Will and Counsels of God but even of his very Nature and Being than by any Characters thereof it can discover within it self 3. The Being of God is also made known to us from the Works of Creation All these Works of God do preach a Deity As the Heavens are said to declare his Glory and the Firmament to shew his Handy-work Psal 19. 1. so his Name is said to be excellent in all the Earth Psal 8. 1. The Beams of his Divinity shine through the Latitude of all Created Beings And if you lay your eye in a Beam of the Sun it leads it to the Body of the Sun As in every Creature there is aliquid nihili something of nothing so there is aliquid Dei something of God Praesentemque refert quaelibet Herba Deum The Herbs we see shew God to Be. As the Philosopher being asked where his Books were answered His Books were Totius Entis naturalis Universitas The University of all natural Being And verily those that have no Books and never were at any University of Learning may in the Book of Nature and the University of created beings read and understand the Being of God Now this is the Evidence of his Being that my Text speaks of and therefore is to be the subject of my present Discourse Which I shall explain by these following Arguments Arg. 1. It is impossible for this Creation to give itself a Being The Heavens could not make themselves nor the Earth itself for then they should be before themselves Their acting before their existing which is impossible to Reason For it is a true saying in Philosophy Operari sequitur esse Operations do follow the Creatures Being both as to time and the manner of working As also Nihil producitur in actum nisi per ens in actu Nothing is produced into actual being but by some Being that doth actually exist And therefore this Creation must be brought into being by some actual Being that was before it Nil se gignit nil provenit a se Paling And what can that be but God alone Should we assert the World was made by Angels as the Carpocratians said of old yet who then made those Angels Much less could it be made by Men for they understand little of the works of it how it is made And how came Man himself first to be It s true what we read Act. 17. Of one Blood were made all Nations but not by Creation but Generation And what gave being to that one Blood There we must have recourse to a first Being and who that is the Text tells us God made of one Blood all Nations Or should we say according to the antient Philosophy now revived by some That the Universe was framed by the fortuitous concourse of innumerable Atomes of several Forms Figures and Qualities that from Eternity danced up and down in an infinite space And those that were heaviest fell lowest and made the Earth And those that were lighter took their place above them Those that were moist did coalesce into Water and those that were thin and rare into Air and the superiour Elements Which was the fond and irrational Opinion of certain Philosophers of old The account of this Opinion we find at large in Gassendus as Leucippus Lucretius and especially Epicurus But of this Opinion we need no other confutation than the exact Order of all things in Nature which could not be so by some chance or accident No more than an House exactly built could come into such a frame by the Casual meeting together of Stones and Timber And why did those Atomes fall together then and not sooner And whence is it that the course of Nature is now so fixed and constant if all things came together at first by chance all things still should fall out by chance Or if we should admit a possibility of such an orderly concourse of these Atomes yet how came these Atomes into being Did they make themselves That I shewed was impossible Were they Eternal How come they then to be changed from what they were For whatever is from Eternity mâ—st needs be the same to Eternity But he that desires a further confutation of this fancy may read what is written against it by a
hearing the Corn Wine and Oyl and other Fruits and all hearing Man And as in this lower World one part of the Creation is supported by another as the Earth by the Waters and Air so this whole lower World is preserved by the superiour World and under the dominion of it which shews the excellent Order of things in Nature each part tending to preserve the whole which the Philosophers call the Harmony of the Universe As one of them speaks Natura est perfectissima Harmonia There is no Harmony better than the Order of Nature For as in Harmony though there are several Sounds yet are they so tempered and modulated as to make pleasant Musick So the several parts of the Universe are so adapted and fitted to each other as that they all do constitute an harmonious Order And as Harmony ariseth out of Discords so there is in the Universe Concordia discors Creatures of contrary Natures and Qualities yet so mixed and proportioned as that they sweetly agree together and harmonize with each other and serve mutually to the preservation of one another And if we consider how the Creation is fitted to the use of Man and Man is fitted to it who was made the Lord of it we may easily discern this was done by some wise Agent As there are many pleasant qualities in natural things so man hath several bodâ—ly Senses whereby to discern and enjoy the pleasantness of them To what purpose was there sweet Smells beautiful Colours pleasant Tasts in the Flowers and Fruits of the Earth if there were no such Senses as Seeing Tasting or Smelling And so to what purpose would these Senses be in the Bodies of Men if there were not suitable Objects provided in Nature for them And so when we observe in these fruits of the Earth such vertues and qualities that are both nourishing and medicinal to the Body of Man and some of them have Signatures and Characters upon them that declare their vertue and what part of Mans Body they are useful to it shewes they were created for the use of Man As we see a Man that builds an House for his use he doth fit it with Rooms Furniture and Utensils to make it a convenient Habitation So hath God fitted this World to be an habitation for Man who is made to be the Inhabitant of it Act. 17. 26. And as the Nature of Man doth affect variety so hath God furnisht the World with infinite variety of Creatures for the gratifying of his Sense and for the delightful exercise of his Mind and by all setting forth His own manifold Wisdom and commending Himself to Man by his great Goodness and Bounty herein And there is such a suitableness betwixt the World and Man that Man is called a little World But the greater World doth serve the lesser After God had made and finished the rest of his works He then made Man and epitomized them all in him and gave him dominion over them And the exact fitness of the several parts of the Creation to his use doth shew that it is the Effect of some Infinite Wisdom Arg. 4. Whence is it that those two Natural Principles of Self-preservation and Self-propagation are so inviolably founded in the Nature of all living Creatures even those that have no Reason as well as those that have both which are necessary to the preservation of the Universe May not we hence easily argue that surely this was done intentionally for such an end And if intentionally then it is done by Reason and if by Reason it must be by His Reason that first made this Universe For is it not rational that when the Creatures were made they should be preserved both in the Individuals and the several Species or kinds of their being and what can do this better in a natural course than for them to have these two Principles inherent in their several Natures And so we may observe in Vegetables as Herbs Flowers Trees they all have a Seed in themselves which Nature brings forth for the preservation of their several Kinds in a continued succession of Individuals of the same kind And whence is this rational provision in Nature but by some rational Agent and who can that be but the God of Nature that was before it and founded this rational Law in it and is the Natura naturans as Philosophers speak That Nature that is the Original and Law-giver of Nature Arg. 5. We may observe in the Creation there are degrees of being and this shews there is some chief Being And there are degrees of Perfection which shews there is some chief Perfection For else we could not compute degrees if there was no first with respect to which such computation is to be made These degrees in Nature are by learned Men call'd the Scale of Nature and we must come to some top in the Scale or Ladder and not ascend in Infinitum though we must into Infinity which is the Infinite God For as I said before where there is prius posterius there is primum postremum So where there is magis minus there is maximum minimum where there are degrees of Perfection there must needs be some greatest Perfection and what can that be but that God who is Optimus Maximus who is the most excellent Being and the first Perfection For instance we see some knowledg in Brutes but more in Man more in Angels but there is a Being then that is perfect in knowledg And so I might speak of all Perfections whether natural or moral The degrees of them shew there is One First Or if you will look upon these degrees of Being amongst the Creatures as several parts of being we may again argue Where there are parts there must be some whole and where there are particulars there must be some universal Now we see the Creatures Being is but a particular being and in their several kinds we see several parts of Being none of them having all Being in themselves and therefore there must be some totum of Being or some Being that is universal that comprehends in it self all Being and what can this be but God alone Argum. 6. We see in the Creation how Creatures that are without Reason yet act according to the exact Rules of Reason which could not be were they not guided and acted by some other principle than their own respective Natures For no Nature can act of it self beyond its own Principle As we see how the Bee doth make its Comb and the Spider its Web and the Birds their Nests and Bevers their Houses in the Waters consisting of several stories as I have heard from Eye-witnesses according to the exactest Rules of Art and Reason And if you say that these Creatures have Reason quoad hoc as to those things that belong to the benefit of their own natures though not to other things Yet what shall we say to those Creatures that have not so much as Sense or
Elijah Is it not because there is no God in Israel that thou sendest to ènquire of Baal-zebub 2 King 1. Yes there was a God of Israel but he was as if he was not unto Ahaziah Men cannot nullifie God's Being in it self but they may nullifie it to themselves As the Heathen Idols they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nothings as the Apostle saith of them 1 Cor. 8. 4. yet when Men Worships them trusted in them and gave Divine Honour to them they made them Godds So on the other-hand they not honouring acknowledging reverencing and trusting in the true God do make him as nothing For it is only those that glorifie him as God that do truly own and believe his Being Yea those Duties that are more properly Evangelical and not so expresly contained in the Law of Nature yet the belief we gather to our selves of the Being of God from the Creation of the World may much influence us that live under the Gospel to the performance of and so Natural Divinity may be made subservient to Christianiry whereof I shall give account in the next Chapter CHAP. V. Evangelical Duties are promoted by a true belief of God's Being How the Light of Nature may further the belief of the Scriptures and Faith in Christ and Repentance Whence Repentance first springs what is it to take up Christ's Cross How helped therein from the belief of God's Being What influence the Light of Nature hath upon Obedience to Gospel-Institutions Inference from the whole 1. IT is an Evangelical Duty to believe the Scriptures To receive them as a Divine and certain Rule of Faith and Obedience Now we may fetch some help from the Light of Nature herein Though I deny not but the Scripture is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hath such Characters within it self as may perswade the belief of it and the Testimony of the Spirit in a Man's Conscience is the surest bottom of Divine Faith yet some additional strength may be borrowed from the Light of Nature For that Light that declares to Man There is a God that made the World declares also a Providence that he governs the World If he governs the World he governs it in Wisdom Etenim si Deus est utique providens est ut Deus Nec aliter potest ei Divinitas attribui c. Lact. de ira Dei Cap. 9. if in Wisdom then every Creature is governed according to the respective Principles of their several Natures And therefore Man must be govern'd as a rational Creature And he cannot be so governed but by a Law and that Law enforced by Rewards on one hand and Punishments on the other Now either this Law thus enforced is found in the Scriptures or no where There is no Book can pretend to stand in competition with the Scripture exstant in the World fot the Turkish Alchoran that is but of late years and Man hath been under God's Government from the beginning And most know by what Impostures it obtained any credit and the several Absurdities contained in it and what a sensual happiness it proposeth to them that receive it How it hath been from the beginning enforced upon people by the Sword And never confirmed by those many undoubted Miracles which the Truths of the Scriptures have been But I need not enlarge on this Subject There having been so many Learned Pens already engaged herein especially that Hononred Knight whose worthy Book concerning the Reasonableness of receiving the Scriptures for the Word of God doth justly add new Honour to Himself and a great Confirmation to the Truth 2. The Gospel calls upon Men to come to Christ and to believe in him as the Saviour of the World Now the powerful Sence of a Deity upon the Heart will Excite and Influence Men thereunto And the want of this I look upon as one great Reason why Christ is preached so much in vain When Conscience is awakened then the Innate Notion of a Deity that was before as it were asleep begins to awake And then Men begin to fear and the Sence of Sin and Judgment to come makes them enquire after a way of Reconciliation and so Men are brought to Christ as the way according to the notice they have of him in the Gospel So that as he that cometh to God must first believe that God is as we read Heb. 11. So he that cometh to Christ must be brought to him by an operative Belief of the Being of God When Paul came to Athens to preach Christ to them he first instructed them concerning the true God Act. 17. whom he declares to them to be the Maker of the World ver 24. God that made the World and all things therein c. Here begins true Christianity Men are Christians but in Name till they come to Christ by true Faith and they come not to him till the Practical Belief of God's Being doth excite them to it As the dark Notions the Heathen had concerning God did lead them to offer Sacrifice to him when they feared he was offended So much more will the clearer knowledg of his Being and the fear of his Wrath send those that live under the Gospel to Jesus Christ the true Sacrifice and Propitiation So that whiles I have been demonstrating a Deity from the Works of Creation I hope I have collaterally been serving the great Design of the Gospel of bringing home sinners to Jesus Christ As a Learned Man speaks to this purpose Dr. Jackson Vol. 1. p. 874. The ingrafted Notion is the Matter or Subject out of which God's Spirit raiseth the entire and right frame of Faith as it did the frame and fashion of this visible World out of that Mass which was first without Form though created by him 3. So Repentance is hereby promoted also When men are throughly convinced that God is they then begin to bethink themselves of their wayes how they have carried it towards him how observant they have been of his Law how they have answered his end in their Creation And hence now Repentance doth take its first rise What saith the Sinner if there be a God as I now clearly find there is wo is me that I have thus sinned against him and have taken no more notice of him Alas I have lived without him in the World I have been concerning my self about the Creatures and have little thought of God my Creator and had as little belief of his Being Alas what shall I do How shall I possibly escape I cannot flee from him for he is God I will now judge and condemn my self I will mourn bitterly I will lament my Folly and Ignorance I will go to him and say Lord I have sinned against Heaven and before thee I am thy Creature and the Work of thine Hands yet have rebelled against thee As Balaam went on confidently tlll his eyes were opened and he saw the Angel with the drawn Sword but then saith the Text He bowed down his
head and fell flat on his face Then he confesseth I have sinned and if it displease thee I will go back again Numb 22. 31 34. When sinners eyes are so far opened that they can behold and do powerfully believe the Being of God it is the first step towards their return and repentance And the Works of Creation may be serviceable to this end Though they cannot lead men of themselves either to that knowledg of God or knowledg of Sin as might effect evangelical Repentance yet the belief and sense of a Deity that may result from thence may be the first step towards it And we know how God brought Job to abhor himself and repent in dust and ashes by setting before him the glory and greatness of his Being in the several works of Creation and giving him a spiritual sight of himself therein as we read in the five last Chapters of that Book So that Repentance may not only be helpt thereby as to its first beginning in the hearts of the Impenitent but furthered also in the Hearts of true Saints 4. Taking up the Cross of Christ which we read of in the Scriptures but not in the Works of Nature However the knowledge we have of God's Being from those Works will further this Christian Duty For it is certain what-ever it is that strengthens this grand Principle in us that God is will enable us the better to suffer Persecution And upon the full belief of this did so many thousand Martyrs offer up their lives as I said before as knowing that it was for God's sake and from him they should have a reward Was there no God it was madness and folly in them to have so suffered and had they not well believed it they would not have been able to suffer To you it is given saith the Apostle first to believe and then to suffer Phil. 1. 29. It is said of Moses Heb. 11. 27. He endured as seeing him that is invisible And my Text saith The invisible Things of God and his God-head are seen in the Works of Creation so that the seeing of the Invisible God even in the Works of God as well as his Word may enable us the better to endure suffering And however Atheistical Men may account it folly to suffer yet from this Principle believed That God is a Christian can demonstrate his sufferings for God to be most rational upon the grounds of truest Reason And if you understand taking up Christ's Cross as some do for the crucifixion of the Flesh though this be also an Evangelical Duty yet it is furthered and promoted by a practical believing the Being of God to which the Works of Creation do contribute much As Atheism and not believing God's Being doth open a wide Door of Liberty to the Flesh so the true believing it will engage Man to restrain and crucifie it As when there was no King in Israel Every Man did that which was right in his own eyes much more if men believe not there is a God in Heaven But now the setting of an Almighty Infinite God the Creator of the World in the view of the Soul How doth this dash sin out of countenance as it did in Joseph How can I commit this wickedness and sin against God What shall I sin against and before that God which made Heaven and Earth that God that hath stampt the Characters of his Being round about me upon me and within me If there be a God as I see the undeniable evidence of it in his Works Shall I maintain an Idol-Lust as a false god in mine own heart And shall he who is the supream Being find any thing set up in my mind above him and he that is the chief Good find any Good standing as Competitor with him in my Affections And that God that made all things for himself shall I not live unto him as my ultimate End and live no more to my self in the serving of the Lusts of mine own Heart and Mind 4. If we speak of those Institutions of the Gospel which are the Ordinances of Divine Worship and not made known by the Light of Nature yet we may derive strength from Nature's Light to enforce their Authority upon our obedience Though we cannot do it ex antecedenti because the Light of Nature doth not reveal them yet we may do it a consequenti seeing they are acknowledged from the Scripture to be the Ordinances of God For the Light of Nature tells men there is a God it then tells men this God ought to be worshipped now the Scriptures that Christians receive as the Word of God tell men that these Institutions are his Commands and Rule for Worship and therefore the very Light of Nature that declares a God to us doth also thereby urge us to give obedience that therein we may give worship to him I deny not but God is to be obeyed and worshipped upon a newer and more Evangelical account as our Redeemer in Jesus Christ and as we are purchased by his Blood yet a Christian may and ought to strengthen his Obligation to Obedience herein from the evidence he finds of God's Being and so of his Sovereignty over his Creatures from the Works of his Creation For as when we find an Institution upon a moral Duty evidenced by the Law of Nature that Law is strengthned thereby so we may derive Strength from the Law of Nature to make those Institutions that are not contained therein more obligatory to us As God himself doth confirm this Truth when he speaks to Israel Levit. 19. 30. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary I am the Lord. The true owning God's Being that he is Jehovah the Lord will strongly oblige us to give obedience to Worship that is of pure Institution The first Commandment of the Law well received gives life and vigour to the Second that speaks of this Instituted Worship 5. Or Lastly The believing the fulfilling what God hath spoken in his Word and that the Counsels of his Mind revealed therein shall take place is another Gospel-Duty Now when we believe his Being from the Creation of the World and there see how his Word was fulfilled when he said Let there be Light and let there be a Firmament c. and it was so We may hence strengthen our Faith concerning the accomplishment of his Word that is written whether the Word of Promise to his Children or Threatning to his Adversaries When Sarah doubted the fulfilling God's Promise to her What said the Angel Is any thing too hard for Jehovah Which Name of God we do not read of until his Creation was finished and he had given being to all his Works as appears by Gen. 2. 4. being before that called Elohim Now Jehovah that gave being to the Works of Creation can he not also give being to his Word Can there be greater difficulty in the fulfilling of his Word than in creating all Things out of Nothing After God had
set before Job the Works of Creation Job thence concludes I know thou canst do every thing Job 42. 2. And the Psalmist having said Psal 33. 6. By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made c. And Vers 9. For be spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast He hence makes this Inference That his Counsel shall stand for ever and the thoughts of his Heart to all Generations His secret Counsel shall take place but that is not the Object of our Faith but his Counsel revealed in his Word And we may strengthen our Faith concerning it by looking upon him as the Creator of the World For when and wheresoever God speaks his Word never returns in vain when he spake in the Creation of the World his Word took place and so shall his Word in the Scripture where he is speaking in every Age of the World Inference Now from all this I have said we may consider how much it doth concern us to revive and strengthen upon our Souls the impressions of God's Being For though these Impressions be fundamentally in every Man's Nature yet in some they are more lively and operative than in others And it is no easie thing to preserve the powerful Sense of a Deity upon our hearts I mean such a Sense as may be prevalent to resist temptations and overpower the corruption of Nature For we see for the most part how this Seed of Nature is choaked in the hearts of men For this end let God be much in your sight behold him in the Works of his Creation and Providence and in all your wayes acknowledg him Concern him in all your Affairs converse much with him in Prayer endeavour to bring your Reasons under more powerful Convictions of the necessity of his Being And especially let Christians strengthen their Faith in it from the Word of God and the Evidence of the Spirit in their Hearts For it is an Act of Faith truly to believe God's Being as Heb. 11. 3. And it is one work that the Spirit is conversant about in the Hearts of Saints to strengthen this belief and to make it more efficacious upon their Hearts For this Faith hath its degrees as well as that which hath Christ the Promise or Heaven for its Object And by feeling the Divine Influences of the Spirit upon our Souls we may be more confirmed in this belief than by any Arguments from Reason He that would have the Boughs and Branches thrive doth seek to cherish the Root So all Religion growing originally out of this Root viz. the effectual belief of God's Being we should be daily strengthening it in our selves And as the withering of the Branches ariseth from the decay and rotting of the Root so if it be well examined mens decay in Religion their neglect of Duty and falling into immoralities and vicious practices doth radically spring from the decay of the belief and lively sense of God's Being in their Souls CHAP. VI. The several Moral Duties that result from Man to God as the Creator of the World Self-Debasement Dependance Awful-Fear Praise Admiration which is described in the Ground Kind and proper Effects of it BUt yet further to improve the Doctrine in hand I shall next speak of some other Duties which are more expresly in the Law of Nature and the great parts of Natural Worship and which a Christian by considering God as the Creator of the World is obliged to perform 1. Is to humble and debase our selves before him Considering him in the greatness of his Works which yet are but the shadow of his Greatness And if all Nations before him are but as the drop of a Bucket and the dust of the Ballance How humbly should this make us to walk before him and come unto him When David looked upon part of God's Creation in Psal 8. it had this effect upon him to make him shrink into a narrow compass of self-esteem O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the Earth thou hast set thy Glory above the Heavens And vers 3. When I consider thy Heavens the Work of thy Fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained What is Man that thou art mindful of him c And it was the course that God took with Job to take down his Spirit and to lay him at his foot to set himself before him as the Creator of the World Job 38. 3 4. Gird up now thy loyns like a man c. Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth Who hath laid the measures thereof if thou knowest Or who hath stretched the Line upon it c and so he proceeds in the following Chapters and it had this effect for he was brought hereby to acknowledg himself vile chap. 40. 4. and to ahhor himself and repent in dust and ashes Job 42. 6. The words may be read Wherefore I despise my self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that meant upon the account of his Parvity and Nothingness compared with the great God as well as his sinfulness and folly And to lie in the Dust is the deepest expression of an humbled Soul Or as one glosseth upon the words It grieves me what I have spoke against the great God Cum ipse pulvis sim abjectissimus when as I my self am but Dust and most contemptible Can a Man behold God in the vast Works of his Creation and not be self-debased and as it were self-annihilated thereby and say as one speaks Lord thou art an Abyss of Being and I of Nothing especially considering how infinitely his Greatness transcends them all They tell us that the Earth is but as a Punctum a small Point in comparison of the Heavens but Earth and Heaven both are less than a Punctum compared with the great God For there is some proportion betwixt Finite and Finite but none betwixt Finite and Infinite And therefore the Prophet Isaiah to express this infinite disproportion speaks thus Chap. 40. 17. All Nations before him are nothing and they are accounted to him less than nothing and vanity Which is to shew that betwixt him and the Works of his Creation there is indeed no proportion at all So that our minds may behold God's greatness in the greatness of his Works and much more in the littleness and nothingness of these Works compared with his Greatness and from both should lay us very low and humble us deeply before him It made Solomon have a mean opinion of the great House he had built considering the great God that was to dwell in it 1 Kings 8. 27. Behold the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee much less this House that I have builded It is Man's unacquaintedness with the great Creator of the World that makes him admire any greatness in himself or in the greatest things of this World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said the Philosopher Men that have true greatness of mind are not so apt to wonder as men of
he rose again loosing the Bands of Death and the Grave and ascended triumphantly into Heaven and acquired a new Title to his Dominion over the World in his conquest of it 5. And being now in Heaven yet still the Creation is in his hand and bringing in revenews of Glory to God by him He disposeth of Kingdoms and Nations as he pleaseth sometimes throwing down the mighty from their Seats and then exalting the lowly and meek as was prophesied of him Luk. 1. 70. Sometimes straitning the Nations in his displeasure and then enlarging them again in his mercy and goodness He takes care for the upholding and propagating the everlasting Gospel accompanies it with his Spirit to the conversion of Souls to God and building them up an habitation for him fits them for his Service and Praise in this World and then gathers them into the presence of his Father to stand before him and to minister to him for ever He also orders their Tryals and Sufferings as he seeth them requisite to the Glory of God and their preparation for Heaven and then when he seeth it meet delivers them out of them also 6. After all this at the time of the Consummation of all things he will come down from Heaven and judge the World receiving some into the Kingdom of his Father and sending others into everlasting Fire wherein the riches of God's Grace and Mercy and the clearness of his Justice will most illustriously shine forth to his eternal Praise and Glory And when this is done he delivers up his Kingdom and Dominion to his Father that he had received from him having subdued all Enemies under his feet and put down all Rule 1 Cor. 15. 28. Authority and Power his Father becomes All in All. Thus with respect to Christ and to the accomplishment of these Glorious Works which I have but briefly touched was this Creation of the World erected and which are transcendently more to the glory of God than what could have been under the first Adam either by any obedience performed by him or the dispensation of God towards him under that first Covenant And from hence I shall briefly make three Inferences Inference 1. That the Redemption of the World is a greater Work than the Creation of it seeing it was erected for the Son of God to transact that glorious Work in The end hath a pre-eminence above all those means that are made use of in a subserviency to it This lower World was made with respect to it where the Foundation of this Work is begun and laid And the upper World also where it is compleated and finished On Earth God hath the praise of it begun and in Heaven it shall be made perfect And if the Angels that are the chief part of God's Creation are made and appointed with a subserviency to it to be ministring Spirits to Christ and to the Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1. ult much more than sure the inferiour part of it And when all the Elect which are these Heirs shall be inflated in their Inheritance and fully possest of it then comes the dissolution upon this visible Creation as having then served the end for which it was first erected Inference 2. It also may be observed hence How the Nature of Man is in Christ advanced to the top of God's Creation For the World was created that it might be set under the government of the Son of God in the Nature of Man So that as I took notice before of its advancement by its union with him so here by the Dominion it hath over the whole Creation by vertue of that Union and the determination of God therein He first descended and assumed our Nature and then ascended and carried it up far above all Heavens Principalities and Powers which are the highest parts of God's Creation being made subject to him Ephes 1. 21. Our Nature was advanced in the first Adam into a great Dominion over the Creatures but it is advanced higher in the second Adam There it had a dignity upon Earth but here it hath a dignity both in Heaven and Earth There it had dominion over the Creatures of this lower World that were of an inferior Nature to it Here it hath dominion over the Angels in the upper World that are of a superior Nature and Order Lord what is Man saith the Psalmist that thou art mindful of him and the Son of Man that thou visitest him Thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels Thou hast crowned him with Glory and Honour Thou madest him to have dominion over the Works of thine hand Thou hast put all things under his feet And the Psalmist had respect not so much to the dignity of Man's Nature in the first Adam as in the Second For these words are in Heb. 2. applyed to Christ and the dignity God exalted him to Being first made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little while lower than the Angels by his debasement and suffering in this lower World and then exalted into Power and Dignity above them all in his ascending the upper World being crowned with Glory and Honour Oh the mysterious depths of Wisdom and Goodness that here meet together in the Man Christ Jesus Oh the stupidity and blindness of fal'n Man that takes so little notice of these great Works of God with respect to which the World was principally made With what sacred astonishment should we behold these Counsels of Heaven With what thanks givings and adorations should we celebrate this unspeakable Love Especially if we consider Man's Nature to be thus advanced after it had transgrest the Law of its Creation and corrupted it self more than any inferiour Nature Inference 3. We may hence conclude That the whole Creation being made for Christ and put into his hand shall be managed to the highest exaltation of the Glory of God However the course of things may run for a while and the reason of many things hid out of our sight yet all things will at last meer in this general Issue the universal end of all things which is the Glory of God The first Adam was made and placed upon the Stage of the World that through him God might have the Glory of his Creation but he being mutable fell from his Station lost his Strength and so could not serve the end of his Being Therefore God hath now put all things into a surer hand and his Glory stands upon a surer bottom For he that is both God and Man is likely to bring in both higher and surer glory to God than he that was but meer Man If he should fail in it it should be either because he wants ability which cannot be because he made all things or because he wants love and good will to God which cannot be neither because he is his only begotten Son And seeing the Work of Man's Redemption and Salvation was principally in the eye of God when he made the World as that Work
in order to Conversion as their proper end and that end but for Man's voluntary Corruption would be thereby attained even in all I should next proceed to speak of those several Attributes of God's Being which are evidenced from the Works of Creation which are either mentioned in the Text or may be educed out of it And shew how they may all be improved to the service of True Christianity and to an higher degree then the highest Light and Power of Nature could ever attain to But this shall suffice for the present FINIS A CATALOGUE OF Some Books Printed for and Sold by Nathaniel Ranew at the Kings Armes in St. Paul's Church-yard Folio's THE Famous and Memorable Works of Josephus a Man of much honor and Learning among the Jews Translated out of Latine and French by Thomas Lodge Doctor in Physick whereunto are newly added the References of the Scriptures throughout the History with an Alphabetical Table of the most Material things therein contained in Folio Large A Body of Divinity or the Sum and Substance of Christian Religion Catechistically propounded and explained by way of Question and Answer Methodically and familiarly handled Whereunto is added Immanuel or the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God Composed by the Reverend James Vsher Bishop of Armagh in Folio Small Quarto's The Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are Glorified in that great and blessed VVork by William Bates D. D. in Quarto Of VVisdom three Books written in French by Peter Charron Doctor of Law in Paris Translated by Sampson Lenâ—ard in Quatro A Sermon Preached at High-Wickham in the County of Bucks wherein the Ministers Duty is Remembred their Dignity Asserted Man's Reconciliation with God urged by Samuel Gardner Chaplain to his Majesty in Quarto The Norfolk Feast A Sermon Preached at St. Dunstans being the day of the Anniversary Feast for that County by William â—â—â—â—thes Minister in that County in Quarto The Speech of Sr. Audley Mervyn Knight His Majesties prime Serjeant of Law and Speaker of the House of Commons in Ireland delivered to his Grace Duke of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland the 13th Febr. 1662. in the Presence Chamber in the Castle in Dublin Octavo's A Worthy Communicant or a Treatise shewing the due order of Receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper by Jeremiah Dyke in Octavo The Way to Salvation or the Doctrine of Life Eternal laid down from several Texts of Scripture opened and applyed fitted to the capacity of the meanest Christian and useful for all Families by John Hieron in Octavo Solitude Improved by Divine Meditation or a Treatise proving the Duty and Demonstrating the Necessity Excellency Usefulness Nature Kinds and Requisites of Divine Meditation first intended for a Person of Honour and now Published for general use by Nathaniel Ranew sometime Minister of Felsted in Essex in Octavo Moral Vertues Baptized Christian or the Necessity of Morality among Christians by William Shelton of Bursted Magna in Essex in Octavo The Burning of London in the Year 1666. Commemorated and Improved in a hundred and ten Meditations and Contemplations by Samuel Rolle Minister of the Gospel and sometime Fellow of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge in Octavo Natural Theology or the Knowledge of God from the Works of Creation Accommodated and Improved to the Service of Christianity by Matthew Barker in Octavo Christ and the Covenant the Work and way of Meditation God's Return to the Soul or Nation together with his preventing Mercy Delivered in Ten Sermons by William Bridge sometime Minister of Yarmouth The Sinfulness of Sin and the Fulness of Christ Delivered in two Sermons by the same Author The Vanity of the World by Ezekiel Hopkins in Octavo The Souls Ascension in the state of Separation by Isaac Loeffs in Octavo An Explication of the Assemblies lesser Catechisme by Samuel Winney in Octavo Iter Boreale with other select Poems being an exact Collection of all hitherto extant and some added never before Printed by Robert Wild D. D. in Octavo A Synopsis of Quakerisme or a Collection of the Fundamental Errors of the Quakers by Thomas Danson in Octavo A Poetical Meditation wherein the Usefulness Excellency and several perfections of Holy Scripture are briefly hinted by John Clarke in Octavo Twelves Correction Instruction or a Treatise of Affliction first Conceived by way of Private Meditation afterwards Digested into certain Sermons and now Published for the help and Comfort of humble suffering Christians by Tho. Case in Twelves The Poor doubting Christian drawn to Christ by Thomas Hooker of New-England in Twelves Ovids Metamorphosis in English verse by George Sandy ' s in Twelves Aesop's Fables in Prose with Cuts in Twelves The Principles of Christian Religion with a brief Method of the Doctrine thereof Corrected and Enlarged by the Reverend James Vsher Bishop of Armagh in Twelves A plain Discourse of the Mercy of having Godly Parents with the Duties of Children that have such Parents by M. Goddard in Twelves ΗΚΑÎΗ ΔΙΑΘΗΚΗ Novum Testamentum huic editioni omnia Difficiliorum vocabulorum Themata qua in Georgii Passoris Lexico Gramatice resolvunter in Margiâ—e apposuit Carolus Hoole in eorum 〈◊〉 gratiam qui primi Graecoe Linguae Tyrocinia faciunt in Twelves