is a God in being and the Apostle doth not say that they know God but they profess to know him True knowledge and profession of knowledge are distinct It intimates also to us the unreasonableness of Atheism in the Consequence when men shut their eyes against the beams of so clear a sun God revengeth himself upon them for their impiety by leaving them to their own wills lets them fall into the deepest sink and dregs of iniquity and since they doubt of him in their hearts suffers them above others to deny him in their works this the Apostle discourseth at large * Rom. 1.24 The Text then is a description of mans Corruption 1. Of his mind The fool hath said in his heart No better title than that of a fool is afforded to the Atheist 2. Of the other faculties 1. In sins of Commission exprest by the loathsomeness corrupt abominable 2. In sins of Ommission there is none that doth good he lays down the Corruption of the mind as the cause the corruption of the other faculties as the effect I. Doct. 1 'T is a great Folly to deny or doubt of the Existence or Being of God Or An Atheist is a great Fool. II. Practical Atheism is natural to man in his corrupt State 'T is against Nature as constituted by God but Natural as Nature is depraved by Man The absolute disowning of the Being of a God is not natural to men but the contrary is natural but an inconsideration of God or mis-representation of his Nature is natural to Man as corrupt III. A secret Atheism or a partial Atheism is the Spring of all the wicked Practices in the world The disorders of the Life spring from the ill dispositions of the Heart For the first every Atheist is a Grand Fool. If he were not a Fool he would not imagine a thing so contrary to the stream of the Universal Reason of the world contrary to the rational Dictates of his own Soul and contrary to the Testimony of every Creature and Link in the Chain of Creation If he were not a Fool he would not strip himself of Humanity and degrade himself lower than the most despicable Brute 'T is a Folly for tho God be so Inaccessible that we cannot know him perfectly yet he is so much in the light that we cannot be totally ignorant of him As he cannot be comprehended in his Essence he cannot be unknown in his Existence 't is as easie by Reason to understand that he is as it is difficult to know what he is The Demonstrations Reason furnisheth us with for the Existence of God will be Evidences of the Atheist's Folly One would think there were little need of spending time in evidencing this Truth since in the Principle of it it seems to be so universally own'd and at the first proposal and demand gains the assent of most men But 1. Doth not the growth of Atheism among us render this Necessary may it not justly be suspected that the swarms of Atheists are more numerous in our times than History Records to have been in any age when men will not only say it in their hearts but publish it with their lips and boast that they have shaken of those Shackles which bind other mens Consciences Doth not the bare-fac'd Debauchery of men evidence such a setled Sentiment or at least a careless Beleif of the truth which lies at the root and sprouts up in such venemous branches in the World Can mens hearts be free from that Principle wherewith their Practices are so openly depraved 'T is true the light of Nature shines too vigorously for the Power of Man totally to put it out yet loathsom Actions impair and weaken the actual thoughts and considerations of a Deity and are like Mists that darken the light of the Sun though they cannot extinguish it their Consciences as a Candlestick must hold it though their unrighteousness obscure it Rom. 1.18 Who hold the Truth in Vnrighteousness The engraved Characters of the Law of Nature remain though they dawb them with their muddy Lusts to make them illegible So that since the inconsideration of a Deity is the cause of all the wickedness and extravigancies of men and as Austin saith the Proposition is always true the Fool hath said in his heart c. and more evidently true in this age than any it will not be unnecsseary to discourse of the Demonstrations of this first Principle The Apostles spent little time in urgng this Truth it was taken for granted all over the world and they were generally devout in the Worship of those Idols they thought to be Gods That age run from one God to many and our age is running from one God to none at all 2. The Existence of God is the Foundation of all Religion The whole Building totters if the Foundation be out of Course If we have not deliberate and right Notions of it we shall perform no Worship no Service yeild no affection to him If there be not a God 't is impossible there can be one for Eternity is Essential to the notion of a God so all Religion would be vain and unreasonable to pay Homage to that which is not in being nor can ever be We must first beleive that he is and that he is what he declares himself to be before we can seek him adore him and devote our Affections to him * Heb. 11.6 We cannot pay God a due and regular Homage unless we understand him in his Perfections what he is and we can pay him no Homage at all unless we beleive that he is 3. 'T is sit we should know why we beleive that our Beleif of a God may appear to be upon undeniable Evidence and that we may give a better reason for his Existence than that we have heard our Parents and Teachers tell us so and our acquaintance think so 'T is as much as to say there is no God when we know not why we believe there is and would not consider the Arguments for his Existence 4. It is necessary to depress that secret Atheism which is in the heart of every man by nature Though every visible object which offers it self to our sense presents a Deity to our minds and exhorts us to subscribe to the truth of it yet there is a Root of Atheism springing up sometimes in wavering thoughts and foolish imaginations inordinate actions and secret wishes Certain it is that every man that doth not love God denyes God now can he that disaffects him and hath a slavish fear of him wish his Existence and say to his own heart with any chearfulness there is a God and make it his cheif care to perswade himself of it he would perswade himself there is no God and stifle the seeds of it in his Reason and Conscience that he might have the greatest liberty to intertain the allurements of the Flesh 'T is necessary to Excite men to daily and actual considerations of
10.9 Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord. An Invader and Oppressor of his Neighbors and reputed the Introducer of a new Worship and being the first that built Cities after the flood as Cain was the first Builder of them before the flood built also Idolatry with them And erected a new Worship and was so far from strengthing that Notion the people had of God that he endeavoured to corrupt it The first Idolatry in common Histories being noted to proceed from that part of the World the Ancientest Idol being at Babylon and supposed to be first invented by this Person Whence by the way perhaps Rome is in the Revelations called Babylon with respect to that similitude of their saint-Saint-Worship to the Idolatry first set up in that place * Or if we understand it as some think that he defended his invasions under a pretext of the preserving Religion it assures us that there was a notion of an object of Religion before since no Religion can be without an object of Worship T is evident Politicians have often changed the Worship of a Nation but it is not upon record that the first thoughts of an object of Worship ever entred into the minds of people by any trick of theirs But to return to the present Argument the Being of a God is owned by some Nations that have scarce any form of policy among them T is as wonderful how any wit should hit upon such an Invention as it is absur'd to ascribe it to any humane device if there were not prevailing Arguments to constrain the consent Besides how is it possible they should deceive themselves What is the reason the greatest Politicians have their fears of a Deity upon their unjust practices as well as other men they intended to befool How many of them have had forlorn Consciences upon a Death bed upon the consideration of a God to answer an account to in another world Is it credible they should be frighted by that wherewith they knew they beguiled others No man satisfying his pleasures would impose such a deceipt upon himself o render and make himself more miserable than the Creatures he hath dominion over 2. It is unaccountable how it should indure so long a time That this Policy should be so fortunate as to gain ground in the Consciences of men and exercise an Empire over them and meet with such an universal success If the Notion of a God were a a State-Engine and introduced by some Politick Grandees for the ease of Government and preserving people with more facility in order how comes it to pass the first broachers of it were never upon record there is scarce a false opinion vented in the World but may as a stream be traced to the first head and fountain The Inventors of particular forms of worship are known and the reasons why they prescribed them known but what Grandee was the Author of this who can pitch a time and person that sprung up this Notion If any be so insolent as to impose a cheat he can hardly be supposed to be so successful as to deceive the whole world for many ages Impostures pass not free through the whole world without Examination and discovery Falsities have not been universally and constantly owned without controul and question If a cheat imposeth upon some Towns and Countries he will be found out by the more peircing enquiries of other places and it is not easy to name any Imposture that hath walked so long in its disguise in the World without being unmasked and whipped out by some Nation or other If this had been a meer trick there would have been as much craft in some to discern it as there was in others to contrive it No Man can be imagined so wise in a Kingdom but others may be found as wise as himself And it is not conceivable that so many clear sighted men in all ages should be ignorant of it and not endeavour to free the world from so great a falsity * Fotherby a Theomastix p. 64. It cannot be found that a trick of State should always beguile men of the most piercing insights as well as the most credulous That a few crafty men should befool all the wisemen in the world and the world lie in a beleif of it and never like to be freed from it What is the reason the succeeding Politicians never knew this Stratagem since their Maxims are usually handed to their Successors And there is not a Richlieu but leaves his Axioms to a Mazarine This perswasion of the Existence of God ows not it self to any Imposture or subtelty of Men If it had not been agreable to common Nature and Reason it could not so long have born sway The imposed yoke would have been cast off by Multitudes Men would not have charged themselves with that which was attended with consequences displeasing to the Flesh and hindred them from a full swing of their rebellious Passions such a shackle would have mouldred of it self or been broke by the extravigances humane nature is enclin'd unto The wickedness of men without question hath prompted them to endeavour to unmask it if it were a Cosenage but could never yet be so successful as to free the world from a perswasion or their own Consciences from the tincture of the Existence of a Deity It must be therefore of an ancienter Date than the Craft of States-men and descend into the world with the first appearance of humane nature Time which hath rectified many Errors improves this Notion makes it shock down its roots deeper and spread its branches larger It must be a natural Truth that shines clear by the detection of those Errors that have befooled the World and the wit of Man is never able to name any humane Author that first insinuated it into the beleifs of men 3. Nor was it Fear first introduced it Fear is the Consequent of Wickedness As Man was not created with any inherent sin so he was not created with any terrifying fears the one had been against the Holiness of the Creator the other against his Goodness Fear did not make this Opinion but the Opinion of the Being of a Dâ—ity was the cause of this Fear after his sense of angring the Deity by his Wickedness The Object of Fear is before the Act of Fear there could not be an Act of Fear exercised about the Deity till it was beleived to be existent and not only so but Offended For God as existent only is not the Object of Fear or Love 't is not the Existence of a thing that excites any of those Affections but the Relation a thing bears to us in particular God is good and so the object of Love as well as just and thereby the object of Fear He was as much called Love * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Mens or Mind in regard of his Goodness and Understanding by the Heathens as much as by any other Name Neither
and as a stone in things relating to the Donor of them as a man with his mind about him in the affairs of the world as a Beast without reason in his acts towards God If a man did not employ his reason in other things he would be an unprofitable Creature in the world If he do not employ his spiritual faculties in worship he denies them the proper end and use for which they were given him 't is a practical denial that God hath given him a Soul and that God hath any right to the exercise of it If there were no worship appointed by God in the world the natural inclination of man to some kind of Religion would be in vain and if our inward faculties were not employed in the duties of Religion they would be in vain The true end of God in the endowment of us with them would be defeated by us as much as lies in us if we did not serve him with that which we have from him solely at his own cost As no man can with reason conclude that the Rest commanded on the Sabbath and the Sanctification of it was only a rest of the body that had been performed by the Beasts as well as Men but some higher end was aimed at for the rational Creature So no man can think that the Command for worship terminated only in the presence of the Body that God should give the Command to Man as a reasonable Creature and expect no other service from him than that of a Brute God did not require a worship from man for any want he had or any essential honour that could accrue to him but that men might testifie their gratitude to him and dependance on him 'T is the most horrid ingratitude not to have lively and deep sentiments of gratitude after such obligations and not to make those due acknowledgments that are proper for a rational Creature Religion is the highest and choicest act of a reasonable Creature No Creature under Heaven is capable of it that wants reason As it is a violation of reason not to worship God so it is no less a violation of reason not to worship him with the Heart and Spirit It is a high dishonour to God and defeats him not only of the service due to him from Man but that which is due to him from all the Creatures Every Creature as it is an effect of Gods Power and Wisdom doth passively worship God that is it doth afford matter of adoration to man that hath reason to collect it and return it where it is due Without the exercise of the Soul we can no more hand it to God than without such an exercise we can gather it from the Creature So that by this neglect the Creatures are restrained from answering their chief end they cannot pay any service to God without man nor can man without the employment of his rational faculties render a homage to God any more than beasts can This engagement of our inward power stands firm and unviolable let the modes of worship be what they will or the changes of them by the Soveraign Authority of God never so frequent this could not expire or be changed as long as the nature of Man endured As Man had not been capable of a Command for Worship unless he had been endued with spiritual faculties so he is not active in a true practice of Worship unless they be imployed by him in it The constitution of Man makes this manner of worship perpetually obligatory and the oblation can never cease till man cease to be a Creature furnisht with such faculties In our worship therefore if we would act like rational Creatures we should extend all the powers of our Souls to the utmost pitch and essay to have apprehensions of God equal to the excellency of his Nature which though we may attempt we can never attain Reason 3. Without this engagement of our Spirits no act is an act of worship True worship being an acknowledgment of God and the perfections of his Nature results only from the Soul that being only capable of knowing God and those perfections which are the object and motive of worship The posture of the body is but to testifie the inward temper and affection of the mind If therefore it testifies what it is not 't is a lye and no worship The cringes a Beast may be taught to make to an Altar may as well be called Worship since a man thinks as little of that God he pretends to honour as the beast doth of the Altar to which he bowes Worship is a reverent remembrance of God and giving some honour to him with the intention of the Soul It cannot justly have the name of Worship that wants the essential part of it 'T is an ascribing to God the glory of his Nature an owning subjection and obedience to him as our soveraign Lord This is as impossible to be performed without the Spirit as that there can be life and motion in a body without a Soul 'T is a drawing neer to God not in regard of his essential presence so all things are neer to God but in an acknowledgement of his excellency which is an act of the Spirit without this the worst of men in a place of worship are as neer to God as the best The necessity of the conjunction of our Soul ariseth from the nature of worship which being the most serious thing we can be employed in the highest converse with the highest object requires the choicest temper of Spirit in the performance That cannot be an act of worship which is not an act of Piety and Vertue but there is no act of vertue done by the members of the Body without the concurrence of the Powers of the Soul We may as well call the presence of a dead Carcass in a place of worship an act of Religion as the presence of a living body without an intent Spirit The separation of the Soul from one is natural the other moral that renders the body lifeless but this renders the act loathsome to God As the being of the Soul gives life to the Body so the operation of the Soul gives life to the actions As he cannot be a man that wants the form of a man a rational Soul so that cannot be a worship that wants an essential part the act of the Spirit God will not vouchsafe any acts of man so noble a title without the requisite qualifications Hos 5.6 They shall go with their Flocks and their Herds to seek the Lord c. A multitude of Lambs and Bullocks for Sacrifice to appease Gods Anger God would not give it the title of worship though instituted by himself when it wanted the qualities of such a service The Spirit of Whoredom was in the midst of them v. 4. In the judgment of our Savior it is a vain worship when the Traditions of Men are taught for the Doctrins of God * Mat. 15.9 and no
one as well as the other denies his spiritual nature This is worse for had it been lawful to represent God to the eye it could not have been done but by a bodily figure suted to the sense but since it is necessary to worship him it cannot be by a corporeal attendance without the operation of the Spirit A spiritual frame is more pleasing to God than the highest exterior adornments than the greatest gifts and the highest Prophetical illuminations The glory of the second Temple exceeded the glory of the first * Hag. 2.8 9. As God accounts the spiritual glory of Ordinances most beneficial for us so our spiritual attendance upon Ordinances is most pleasing to him He that offers the greatest services without it offers but flesh Hos 8.13 They sacrifice Flesh for the Sacrifices of my Offerings but the Lord accepts them not Spiritual frames are the Soul of Religious services all other carriages without them are contemptible to this Spirit We can never lay claim to that promise of God none shall seek my face in vain We affect a vain seeking of him when we want a due temper of Spirit for him And vain Spirits shall have vain returns 'T is more contrary to the nature of Gods Holiness to have communion with such than it is contrary to the nature of Light to have communion with Darkness To make use of this Vse 1. First it serves for information 1. If spiritual worship be required by God How sad is it for them that are so far from giving God a spiritual worship that they render him no worship at all I speak not of the neglect of publick but of private when men present not a devotion to God from one years end to the other The speech of our Saviour that we must worship God in Spirit and Truth implies that a worship is due to him from every one That is the common impression upon the Consciences of all men in the world if they have not by some constant course in gross sins hardned their Souls and stifled those natural sentiments There was never a Nation in the world without some kind of Religion and no Religion was ever without some modes to testifie a devotion The Heathens had their Sacrifices and Purifications and the Jews by Gods order had their rites whereby they were to express their Allegiance to God Consider 1. Worship is a duty incumbent upon all men 'T is a homage Mankind ows to God under the relation wherein he stands obliged to him 'T is a prime and immutable justice to own our Allegiance to him 'T is as unchangeable a truth that God is to be worshipped as that God is He is to be worshipped as God as Creator and therefore by all since he is the Creator of all the Lord of all and all are his Creatures and all are his Subjects Worship is founded upon Creation Psal 100.2 3. 'T is due to God for himself and his own essential excellency and therefore due from all 'T is due upon the account of mans nature The human rational nature is the same in all Whatsoever is due to God upon the account of mans nature and the natural obligations he hath laid upon man is due from all men because they all enjoy the benefits which are proper to their nature Man in no state was exempted nor can be exempted from it In Paradise he had his Sabbath and Sacraments Man therefore dissolves the obligation of a reasonable nature by neglecting the worship of God Religion is in the first place to be minded As soon as Noah came out of the Ark he contrived not a Habitation for himself but an Altar for the Lord to acknowledge him the Author of his preservation from the Deluge * Gen. 8.20 And wheresoever Abraham came his first business was to erect an Altar and pay his arrears of gratitude to God before he ran upon the score for new mercies * Gen. 12.7 Gen. 13.4.18 He left a testimony of worship where ever he came 2. Wholly therefore to neglect it is a high degree of Atheism He that calls not upon God saith in his heart there is no God and seems to have the sentiments of natural Conscience as to God stifled in him * Psal 14.1 4 It must arise from a conceit that there is no God or that we are equal to him adoration not being due from persons of an equal state or that God is unable or unwilling to take notice of the adoring acts of his Creatures What is any of these but an undeifying the supream Majesty When we lay aside all thoughts of paying any homage to him we are in a fair way opinionatively to deny him as much as we practically disown him Where there is no knowledge of God that is no acknowledgment of God a gap is opened to all licentiousness * Hos 4.1 2. And that by degrees brawns the Conscience and raseth out the sense of God Those forsake God that forget his holy Mountain * Isa 65.11 They do not practically own him as the Creator of their Souls or bodies 'T is the sin of Cain who turning his back upon worship is said to go out from the presence of the Lord * Gen. 4.16 Not to worship him with our Spirits is against his Law of Creation Not to worship him at all is against his act of Creation Not to worship him in truth is Hypocrisie Not to worship him at all is Atheism whereby we render our selves worse than the worms in the Earth or a toad in a Ditch 3. To perform a worship to a false God or to the true God in a false manner seems to be less a sin than to live in perpetual neglects of it Though it be directed to a false Object instead of God yet it is under the notion of a God and so is an acknowledgement of such a Being as God in the world whereas the total neglect of any worship is a practical denying of the existence of any supream Majesty Whosoever constantly omits a publick and private worship transgresses against an universally received dictate For all Nations have agreed in the common notion of worshipping God though they have disagreed in the several modes and rites whereby they would testifie that adoration By a worship of God though superstitious a veneration and reverence of such a being is maintained in the world whereas by a total neglect of worship he is vertually disowned and discarded if not from his existence yet from his Providence and Government of the world All the mercies we breath in are denied to flow from him A foolish worship owns Religion though it bespatters it As if a stranger coming into a Country mistakes a Subject for the Prince and pays that reverence to the Subject which is due to the Prince though he mistakes the object yet he owns an Authority or if he pays any respect to the true Prince of that Country after the mode of
crucified at Jerusalem Honours and Wealth were to be despis'd Flesh to be tam'd the Cross to be borne Enemies to be loved Revenge to be satisfied Blood to be spilt and Torments to be endured for the Honour of One they never saw nor ever before heard of who was preached with the Circumstances of a shameful Death enough to affright them from the Entertainment And the Report of a Resurrection and glorious Ascension were things never heard of by them before and unknown in the World that would not easily enter into the belief of men The Cross Disgrace Self-denial were only discours'd of in order to the attainment of an invisible World and an unseen reward which none of their Predecessors ever returned to acquaint them with a Patient death contrary to the pride of Nature was publisht as the way to Happiness and a blessed Immortality The dearest Lusts were to be pierced to death for the honour of this new Lord. Other Religions brought Wealth and Honour this struck them off from such Expectations and presented them with no Promise of any thing in this Life but a prospect of Misery Except those inward Consolations to which before they had been utter Strangers and had never experimented It made them to depend not upon themselves but upon the sole Grace of God It decried all natural all moral Idolatry things as dear to men as the Apple of their Eyes It despoyl'd them of whatsoever the Mind Will and Affections of men naturally lay claim to and glory in It pulled Self up by the Roots unman'd carnal Man and debas'd the Principle of Honour and Self-satisfaction which the World counted at that time noble and brave In a word it took them off from themselves to act like Creatures of God's framing to know no more than he would admit them and do no more than he did command them How difficult must it needs be to reduce men that plac'd all their happiness in the Pleasures of this Life from their pompous Idolatry and brutish Affections to this mortifying Religion What might the World say Here is a Doctrine will render us a company of puling Animals Farewel Generosity Bravery Sense of Honour Courage in enlarging the Bounds of our Country for an ardent Charity to the bitterest of our Enemies Here 's a Religion will rust our Swords Canker our Arms dispirit what we have hitherto called Vertue and annihilate what hath been esteem'd worthy and comely among Mankind Must we change Conquest for Suffering the increase of our Reputation for Self-denial the natural Sentiment of Self-preservation for affecting a dreadful Death How impossible was it that a Crucified Lord and a Crucifying Doctrine should be received in the World without the mighty Operation of a Divine Power upon the Hearts of Men And in this also the Almighty Power of God did notably shine forth II. Divine Power appear'd in the Instruments employ'd for the publishing and propagating the Gospel Who were 1. Mean and worthless in themselves Not noble and dignified with an earthly Grandeur but of a low Condition meanly bred So far from any splendid Estates that they possessed nothing but their Nets without any Credit and Reputation in the World without Comliness and Strength as unfit to subdue the World by Preaching as an Army of Hares were to conquer it by War Not learned Doctors bred up at the feet of the Famous Rabbins at Jerusalem whom Paul calls the Princes of the World * 1 Cor. 2.8 nor nurs'd up in the School of Athens under the Philosophers and Orators of the time Not the Wise-men of Greece but the Fishermen of Galilee naturally skill'd in no Language but their own and no more exact in that than those of the same Condition in any other Nation Ignorant of every thing but the Language of their Lakes and their fishing Trade except Paul call'd sometime after the rest to that Imployment And after the descent of the Spirit they were ignorant and unlearned in every thing but the Doctrine they were commanded to publish for the Council before whom they were summon'd prov'd them to be so which increased their wonder at them Acts 4.13 Had it been publish't by a Voice from Heaven That Twelve poor men taken out of Boats and Creeks without any help of Learning should conquer the World to the Cross it might have been thought an Illusion against all the Reason of Men yet we know it was undertaken and accomplish't by them They publish't this Doctrine in Jerusalem and quickly spread it over the greatest part of the World Folly outwitted Wisdom and Weakness over-powred Strength The Conquest of the East by Alexander was not so admirable as the Enterprise of these poor men He attempted his Conquest with the hands of a Warlike Nation though indeed but a small number of Thirty thousand against Multitudes many Hundred thousands of the Enemies yet an Effeminate Enemy a People inur'd to Slaughter and Victory attack'd great Numbers but enfeebled by Luxury and Voluptuousness Besides he was bred up to such Enterprizes had a learned Education under the best Philosopher and a Military Education under the best Commander and a natural Courage to animate him These Instruments had no such advantage from Nature the Heavenly Treasure was placed in those Earthen Vessels as Gideons Lamps in empty Pitchers Judges 7.16 that the excellency or Hyperbole of the Power might be of God 2 Cor. 4.7 and the strength of his Arm be display'd in the infirmity of the Instruments They were destitute of earthly Wisdom and therefore despis'd by the Jews and derided by the Gentiles the Publishers were accounted Mad men and the embracers Fools Had they been Men of known natural Endowments the Power of God had been vail'd under the Gifts of the Creature 2. Therefore a Divine Power suddenly spirited them and fitted them for so great a Work Instead of Ignorance they had the knowledge of the Tongues and they that were scarce well skill'd in their own Dialect were instructed on the sudden to speak the most flourishing Languages of the World and Discourse to the People of several Nations the great things of God †Acts 2.11 Though they were not enricht with any Worldly wealth and possessed nothing yet they were so sustained that they wanted nothing in any place where they came a Table was spread for them in the midst of their bitterest Enemies Their Fearfulness was chang'd into Courage and they that a few days before skulk'd in Corners for fear of the Jews ‖ John 20.19 speak boldly in the Name of that Jesus whom they had seen put to death by the Power of the Rulers and the Fury of the People They reproach them with the Murder of their Master and out-brave that great People in the midst of their Temple with the glory of that Person they had so lately Crucified * Acts 2.23 Acts 3.13 Peter that was not long before qualm'd at the presence of a Maid was not daunted
them and the Provisions that were made for them Divine Bounty was the Motive to Erect Altars and present Sacrifices though they mistook the Object of their Worship and offer'd the dues of the Creator to the Instruments whereby he conveyed his Benefits to them And you find that the Religion instituted by him among the Jews was enforc'd upon them by the consideration of their miraculous deliverance from Egypt the preservation of them in the Wilderness and the infeoffing them in a Land flowing with Milk and Honey Every act of bounty and success the Heathens received moved them to appoint new Feasts and repeat their adorations of those Deities they thought the Authors and Promoters of their Victories and Welfare The Devil did not mistake the common Sentiment of the World in Divine Service when he alledg'd to God that Job did not fear him for nought i. e. worship him for nothing * Job 1.9 All acts of Devotion take their rise from Gods liberality either from what they have or from what they hope Praise speaks the Possession and Prayer the Expectation of some Benefit from his Hand Though some of the Heathens made fear to be the prime Cause of the acknowledgment and worship of a Deity yet surely something else besides and beyond this Establisht so great a thing as Religion in the World an ingenuous Religion could never have been born into the World without a Notion of Goodness and would have gaspt its last as soon as this Notion should have expir'd in the minds of Men. What encouragement can fear of Power give without sense of Goodness just as much as Thunder hath to invite a Man to the place where it is like to fall and crush him The nature of fear is to drive from and the nature of goodness to allure to the Object The Divine Thunders Prodigies and other Armies of his Justice in the World which are the Marks of his Power could conclude in nothing but a slavish Worship Fear alone would have made Men blaspheme the Deity instead of serving him they would have fretted against him they might have offer'd him a trembling Worship but they could never have in their minds thought him worthy of an Adoration they would rather have secretly complain'd of him and cursed him in their heart than inwardly have admir'd him The issue would have been the same which Job's Wife advis'd him to when God withdrew his Protection from his Goods and Body Curse God and die * Job 2.9 'T is certainly the common sentiment of Men that he that acts Cruelly and Tyrannically is not worthy of an integrity to be retain'd towards him in the hearts of his Subjects But Job fortifies himself against this Temptation from his Bosom Friend by the consideration of the good he had received from God which did more deserve a worship from him than the present evil had reason to discourage it Alass what is only fear'd is hated not ador'd Would any seek to an irreconcilable Enemy Would any person affectionately list himself in the service of a Man void of all good disposition Would any distressed person put up a Petition to that Prince who never gave any experiment of the sweetness of his Nature but always satiated himself with the Blood of the meanest Criminals All affection to service is rooted up when hopes of receiving good are extinguisht There could not be a spark of that in the World which is properly call'd Religion without a Notion of Goodness The Existence of God is the first Pillar and the Goodness of God in rewarding the next upon which coming to him which includes all acts of Devotion is established * Heb. 11.6 He that comes unto God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him If either of those Pillars be not thought to stand firm all Religion falls to the ground 'T is this as the most agreeable Motive that the Apostle James uses to encourage Mens approach to God because he gives liberally and upbraideth not * James 1.5 A Man of a kind heart and bountiful hand shall have his gate throng'd with suppliants who sometimes would be willing to lay down their lives For a good Man one would even dare to die when one of a niggardly or tyrannical temper shall be destitute of all free and affectionate applications What Eyes would be lifted up to Heaven What hands stretched out if there were not a knowledge of goodness there to enliven their hopes of speeding in their Petitions Therefore Christ orders our Prayers to be directed to God as a Father which is a Title of tenderness as well as a Father in Heaven a Mark of his greatness The one to support our confidence as well as the other to preserve our distance God could not be ingenuously ador'd and acknowledged if he were not liberal as well as powerful The Goodness of God is the foundation of all ingenuous Religion Devotion and Worship 6. The sixth Instruction The Goodness of God renders God amiable His Goodness renders him beautiful and his Beauty renders him lovely both are linkt together * Zach. 9.17 How great is his Goodness And how great is his Beauty This is the most powerful Attractive and masters the affections of the Soul 'T is goodness only supposed or real that is thought worthy to demerit our affections to any thing If there be not a reality of this or at least an opinion and estimation of it in an Object it would want a force and vigor to allure our Will This Perfection of God is the Loadstone to draw us and the Center for our Spirits to rest in 1. This renders God amiable to himself His Goodness is his Godhead * Rom. 1.20 By his Godhead is meant his Goodness If he loves his Godhead for it self he loves his Goodness for it self He would not be good if he did not love himself And if there were any thing more Excellent and had a greater goodness than himself he would not be good if he did not love that greater Goodness above himself For not only a hatred of goodness is evil but an indifferent or cold affection to goodness hath a tincture of evil in it If God were not good and yet should love himself in the highest manner he would be the greatest Evil and do the greatest evil in that act for he would set his love upon that which is not the proper Object of such an affection but the Object of a version His own Infinite Excellency and Goodness of his Nature renders him lovely and delightful to himself without this he could not love himself in a commendable and worthy way and becoming the purity of a Deity and he cannot but love himself for this For as Creatures by not loving him as the Supream Good deny him to be the choicest good so God would deny himself and his own goodness if he did not love himself and that for his
hitherto spread his Wings over us Where can we meet with a nobler Object than Divine Goodness And what nobler work can be practiced by us than to consider it What is more sensible in all the Operations of his hands than his skill as they are consider'd in themselves and his goodness as they are consider'd in relation to us 'T is strange that we should miss the thoughts of it that we should look upon this Earth and every thing in it and yet overlook that which it is most full of viz. Divine Goodness * Psal 33 5â— It runs through the whole web of the World all is fram'd and diversifyed by Goodness 'T is one intire single Goodness which appears in various garbs and dresses in every part of the Creation Can we turn our Eyes inward and send our Eyes outward and see nothing of a Divinity in both worthy of our deepest and seriousest thoughts Is there any thing in the World we can behold but we see his Bounty since nothing was made but is one way or other beneficial to us Can we think of our daily food but we must have some reflecting thoughts on our great Caterer Can the sweetness of the Creature to our Palate obscure the sweetness of the Provider to our Minds 'T is strange that we should be regardless of that wherein every Creature without us and every sense within us and about us is a Tutor to instruct us Is it not reason we should think of the times wherein we were nothing and from thence run back to a never begun Eternity and view our selves in the thoughts of that Goodness to be in time brought forth upon this stage as we are at present Can we consider but one act of our understandings but one thought one blossom one spark of our Souls mounting upwards and not reflect upon the goodness of God to us who in that faculty that sparkles out Rational thoughts has advanced us to a nobler State and endued us with a nobler Principle than all the Creatures we see on Earth except those of our own Rank and Kind Can we consider but one foolish thought one sinful act and reflect upon the guilt and filth of it and not behold Goodness in sparing us and Miracles of Goodness in sending his Son to die for us for the Expiation of it This Perfection cannot well be out of our thoughts or at least it is horrible it should when it is writ in every line of the Creation and in a legible Rubrick in Bloody Letters in the Cross of his Son Let us think with our selves how often he hath multiplied his Blessings when we did deserve his Wrath how he hath sent one unexpected Benefit upon the heel of another to bring us with a swift pace the tidings of good will to us How often hath he deliver'd us from a Disease that had the Arrows of Death in its hand ready to pierce us How often hath he turn'd our fears into joys and our distempers into promoters of our felicity How often hath he mated a temptation sent seasonable supplies in the midst of a sore distress and prevented many dangers which we could not be so sensible of because we were in a great measure ignorant of them How should we meditate upon his goodness to our Souls in preventing some Sins in pardoning others in darting upon us the knowledge of his Gospel and of himself in the face of his Son Christ This seems to stick much upon the Spirit of Paul since he doth so often sprinkle his Epistles with the Titles of the Grace of God Riches of Grace Vnsearchable Riches of God Riches of Glory and cannot satisfie himself with the Extolling of it Certainly we should bear upon our heart a deep and quick sense of this Perfection as it was the design of God to manifest it so it would be acceptable to God for us to have a sense of it A dull receiver of his Blessings is no less nauseous to him than a dull dispenser of his Alms He loves a chearful giver * 2 Cor. 9.7 He doth himself what he loves in others He is chearful in giving and he loves we should be serious in thinking of him and have a right apprehension and sense of his Goodness 1. A right sense of his Goodness would dispose us to an ingenuous Worship of God It would damp our aversness to any act of Religion What made David so resolute and ready to Worship towards his holy Temple but the sense of his loving kindness * Psal 138.2 This would render him always in our mind a worthy Object of our Devotion a Stable Prop of our Confidence We should then adore him when we consider him as our God and our selves as the People of his Pasture and the Sheep of his hand * Psal 95.7 We should send up Prayers with strong faith and feeling and Praises with great joy and pleasure The sense of his Goodness would make us love him and our love to him would quicken our adoration of him but if we regard not this we shall have no mind to think of him no mind to act any thing towards him We may tremble at his Presence but not heartily Worship him We shall rather look upon him as a Tyrant and think no other affection due to him than what we reserve for an Oppressor viz. hatred and ill will 2. A sense of it will keep us humble A sense of it would effect that for which it self was intended viz. bring us to a Repentance for our Crimes and not suffer us to harden our selves against him When we should deeply consider how he hath made the Sun to shine upon us and his Rain to fall upon the Earth for our support the one to supple the Earth and the other to assist the Juyce of it to bring forth Fruits How would it reflect upon us our ill requitals and make us hang down our heads before him in a low posture pleasing to him and advantageous to our selves What would the first charge be upon our selves but what Moses brings in his Expostulation against the Israelites * Deut. 32.6 Do I thus requite the Lord What is this goodness for me who am so much below him for me who have so much incensed him for me who have so much abus'd what he hath allow'd It would bring to remembrance the horrour of our Crimes and set us a blushing before him when we should consider the multitude of his Benefits and our unworthy behaviour that hath not constrain'd him even against the inclination of his Goodness to punish us How little should we plead for a further liberty in Sin or palliate our former faults When we set Divine Goodness in one Column and our Transgressions in another and compare together their several Items it would fill us with a deep consciousness of our own guilt and devest us of any worth of our own in our approaches to him It would humble us that
Eternity a property of God and Christ Pag. 181 191 192 What it is Pag. 182 In what respects God is eternal Pag. 183 ad 186 That he is so proved 186 ad 190 God's incommunicable property Pag. 16 17 190 191 Dreadful to sinners Pag. 193 194 Comfortable to the Righteous Pag. 194 ad 197 The thoughts of it should abate our Pride Pag. 197 198 199 Take off our love and confidence from the World Pag. 199 200 We should provide for an happy Interest in it Pag. 200 201 Often meditate on it Pag. 201 Renders him worthy of our choicest Affections Pag. 201 202 And our best Service Pag. 202 Exaltation of Christ the Holiness of God appears in it Pag. 514 515 His Goodness to us as well as to Christ Pag. 624 And his Soveraignty Pag. 751 Examination of our selves before and after worship and wherein our duty Pag. 162 163 164 178 Experience of God's Goodness a Preservative against Atheism Pag. 45 46 Extremity then God usually delivers his Church Pag. 487 488 F. FAith the same thing may be the object of it and of Reason too Pag. 4 Must be exercised in Spiritual worship Pag. 146 147 The Wisdom Holiness Goodness of God in prescribing it as a Condition of the Covenant of Grace v. Covenant Must look back as far as the foundation promise Pag. 341 †Only the obedience flowing from it acceptable to God Pag. 336 Distinct but inseparable from Obedience Pag. 336 337 Foresight of it not the ground of Election Pag. 729 730 Fall of man God no way the Author of it Pag. 505 506 519 How great it is Pag. 546 547 Doth not impeach God's Goodness Pag. 594 595 'T is evident Pag. 670 671 Brought a Curse on the Creatures v. Creatures Falls of God's Children turned to their good Pag. 361 ad 369 Fear not the cause of the Belief of a God Pag. 14 Men that are under a slavish fear of him wish there were no God Pag. 53 54 Of Man a contempt of God's Power Pag. 481 482 Should be of God and not of the pride or force of man Pag. 491 492 God's Soveraignty should cause it Pag. 779 Features different in every man and how necessary it should be so Pag. 31 32 348 Fervency v. Activity Flesh the Legal Services so called Pag. 135 Fools wicked men are so Pag. 1 400 Folly sin is so v. Sin Forgetfulness of God men naturally are prone to it Pag. 97 Of his Mercies a great sin v. Mercies How attributed to God Pag. 283 Foreknowledge in God of sin no blemish to his Holiness Pag. 520 521 Vide Knowledge of God Future things men desirous to know them Pag. 323 Known by God v. Knowledge of God G. GAbriel on what Messages he was sent Pag. 468 Generation could not be from Eternity Pag. 16 17. Gifts God can bestow them on men Pag. 719 His Soveraignty seen in giving greater measures to one than another Pag. 738 Glory of all they do or have men are apt to ascribe to themselves Pag. 82 83 Of God little minded in many seemingly good actions Pag. 72 73 Men are more concern'd for their own reputation than God's glory Pag. 83 Should be aim'd at in Spiritual worship Pag. 153 God's permission of sin is in order to it Pag. 528 529 Sould be advanced by us Pag. 778 God his Existence known by the light of Nature Pag. 4 5 By the Creatures Pag. 5 14 ad 29 Miracles not wrought to prove it Pag. 5 Owned by the universal consent of all Nations Pag. 6 Never disputed of old Pag. 7 Denied by very few if any Pag. 8 Constantly owned in all changes of the world Pag. 9 Under anxieties of Conscience ib. The Devil not able to root out the belief of it Pag. 9 10 Natural and innate Pag. 10 Not introduced meerly by Tradition Pag. 11 Nor Policy Pag. 12 13 Nor Fear Pag. 14 Witnessed to by the very Nature of Man Pag. 29 ad 37 And by extraordinary Occurrencies Pag. 37 38 Impossible to demonstrate there is none Pag. 41. 42 Motives to endeavour to be setled in the belief of it Pag. 44 45 Directions Pag. 45 Men wish there were none and who they are Pag. 52 53 54 Two ways of describing him Negation and Affirmation Pag. 113 Is active and communicative Pag. 126 127 Propriety in him a great Blessedness Vide Covenant Infinitely happy Pag. 476 477 Good That which is materially so may be done and not formally Pag. 69 72 73 Good Actions cannot be perform'd before Conversion Pag. 100 The thoughts of Gods Presence a Spur to them Pag. 270 God only is so Pag. 578 579 Goodness pure and perfect the Royal Prerogative of God only Pag. 581 Own'd by all Nations Pag. 582 Inseparable from the Notion of God Pag. 582 583 What is meant by it Pag. 583 How distinguish'd from Mercy Pag. 584 Comprehends all his Attributes Pag. 585 Is so by his Essence Pag. 586 The Chief Pag. 587 'T is communicative Pag. 588 Necessary to him Pag. 589 Voluntary Pag. 590 Communicative with the greatest pleasure Pag. 591 The displaying of it the Motive and End of all his Works Pag. 592 Arguments to prove it a Property of God Pag. 593 594 Vindicated from the Objections made against it Pag. 594 ad 604 Appears in Creation Pag. 604 ad 615 In Redemption Pag. 615 ad 645 In his Government Pag. 645 ad 660 Frequently contemn'd and abus'd Pag. 660 661 The Abuse and Contempt of it base and disingenuous Pag. 661 662 Highly resented by God Pag. 662 How 't is contemn'd and abus'd Pag. 660 ad 670 Men justly punish'd for it Pag. 671 Fits him for the Government of the World and engages him actually to govern it Pag. 671 6 2 The ground of all Religion Pag. 673 674 Renders God amiable to himself Pag. 674 675 Should do so to us and why Pag. 675 ad 678 Renders him a fit object of Trust with Motives to it drawn hence Pag. 678 679 680 And worthy to be obey'd and honour'd Pag. 680 681 682 Comfortable to the Righteous and wherein Pag. 682 ad 685 Should engage us to endeavour after the enjoyment of him with Motives Pag. 685 686 Should be often meditated on and the Advantages of so doing Pag. 681 682 683 We should be thankful for it Pag. 690 And imitate it and wherein Pag. 691 692 Gospel Men greater Enemies to than to the Law Pag. 101 Its Excellency Pag. 103 334 Called Spirit Pag. 135 The only Means of establishment Pag. 333 Of an Eternal Resolution tho of a Temporary Revelation Pag. 334 Mysterious ibi◠The first Preachers of it Vide Apostles It s Antiquity Pag. 335 The Goodness of God in spreading it among the Gentiles ibid. Gives no encouragement to Licentiousness Pag. 336 The Wisdom of God in its Propagation Pag. 390 ad 395 And Power Pag. 461 ad 467 Vide Christian Religion Government of the World God could not manage it without Immutability Pag. 220 And Knowledge Pag. 314
so ever doth never contradict it self And this is so convincing an argument of the Existence of God that God never vouchsafed any Miracle or put forth any act of Omnipotency besides what was evident in the Creatures for the satisfaction of the Curiosity of any Atheist or the evincing of his Being as he hath done for the Evidencing those Truths which were not written in the book of nature or for the restoring a decayed worship or the protection or deliverance of his people Those Miracles in publishing the Gospel indeed did demonstrate the existence of some supream Power but they were not seals designedly affixt for that but for the confirmation of that truth which was above the ken of purblind Reason and purely the birth of Divine Revelation Yet what proves the Truth of any Spiritual Doctrine proves also in that act the Existence of the Divine Author of it The Revelation alwayes implies a Revealer and that which manifests it to be a Revelation manifests also the supream Revealer of it By the same light the Sun manifests other things to us it also manifests it self But what Miracles could rationally be supposed to work upon an Atheist who is not drawn to a sence of the Truth proclaimed aloud by so many wonders of the Creation Let us now proceed to the demonstration of the Atheists Folly T is a Folly to deny or doubt of a Soveraign Being incomprehensible in his Nature infinite in his Essence and Perfections independent in his Operations who hath given Being to the whole frame of sensible and intelligible Creatures and governs them according to their several natures by an unconceivable Wisdom who fills the Heavens with the Glory of his Majesty and the Earth with the influences of his Goodness 'T is a Folly inexcusable to renounce in this case all appeal to universal consent and the joynt assurances of the Creatures Reason 1. 'T is a Folly to deny or doubt of that which hath been the acknowledged Sentiment of all Nations in all places and ages There is no Nation but hath owned some kind of Religion and therefore no Nation but hath consented in the notion of a supream Creator and Governor 1. This hath been universal 2. It hath been constant and uninterrupted 3. Natural and innate First I. It hath been universally assented to by the Judgments and practices of all Nations in the World 1. No Nation hath been exempt from it All Histories of former and latter Ages have not produced any one Nation but fell under the force of this Truth Though they have differed in their Religions they have agreed in this Truth here both Heathen Turk Jew and Christian center without any Contention No quarrel was ever commenced upon this score though about other opinions Wars have been sharp and Enmities Irriconcilable The notion of the Existence of a Deity was the same in all Indians as well as Britains Americans as well as Jews It hath not been an opinion peculiar to this or that people to this or that Sect of Philosophers but hath been as universal as the reason whereby men are differenc'd from other Creatures so that some have rather defin'd man by animal religiosum then animal rationale 'T is so twisted with Reason that a man cannot be accounted rational unless he own an object of Religion Therefore he that understands not this renounceth his Humanity when he renounceth a Divinity No instance can be given of any one people in the World that disclaimed it It hath been owned by the Wise and ignorant by the learned and stupid by those who had no other guide but the dimmest light of Nature as well as by those whose Candles were snuft by a more polite Education and that without any solemne debate and contention Though some Philosophers have been known to change their opinions in the concerns of Nature yet none can be proved to have absolutely changed their opinion concerning the Being of a God One died for asserting one God none in the former Ages upon record hath died for asserting no God Go to the utmost bounds of America you may find people without some broken peices of the Law of nature but not without this signature and stamp upon them though they wanted commerce with other Nation except as Savage as themselves in whom the light of nature was as it were sunk into the Socket who are but one remove from Brutes who cloath not their bodies cover not their shame yet were they as soon known to own a God as they were known to be a people they were possessed with the Notion of a Supream Being the Author of the World had an object of Religious adoration put up Prayers to the Deity they owned for the good things they wanted and the diverting the evils they feared no people so untamed where absolute perfect Atheism hath gained a footing Not one Nation of the World known in the time of the Romans that were without their Ceremonies whereby they signified their devotion to a Deity They had their places of Worship where they made their Vows presented their Prayers offered their Sacrifices and implored the Assistance of what they thought to be a God And in their distresses run immediatly without any deliberation to their Gods so that the notion of a Deity was as inward and setled in them as their own Souls and indeed runs in the blood of mankind the distempers of the understanding cannot utterly deface it you shall scarce find the most distracted Bedlam in his raving sits to deny a God though he may Blaspheme and fancy himself one 2. Nor doth the Idolatry and multiplicity of Gods in the World weaken but confirm this universal consent Whatsoever unworthy conceits men have had of God in all Nations or whatsoever degrading representations they have made of him yet they all concur in this that there is a Supream Power to he ador'd Tho one People worshipped the Sun others the Fire and the Egyptians gods out of their Rivers Gardens and Fields yet the Notion of a Deity existent who created and governed the World and conferred daily benefits upon them was maintained by all tho applyed to the Stars and in part to those sordid Creatures All the Dagons of the World establish this Truth and fall down before it Had not the Nations owned the Being of a God they had never offered Incense to an Idol Had there not been a deep impression of the Existence of a Deity they had never exalted Creatures below themselves to the honour of Altars Men could not so easily have been deceived by forged Deities if they had not had a Notion of a real one Their fondness to set up others in the place of God evidenced a natural knowledg that there was one who had a right to be worshipped If there were not this sentiment of a Deity no man would ever have made an Image of a peice of Wood worshipp'd it pray'd to it and said deliver me for thou art my God
* Isa 44.17 They applyed a general Notion to a perticular Image The difference is in the manner and immediate object of worship not in the formal ground of worship The worship sprung from a true Principal though it was not applyed to a right object While they were rational Creatures they could not deface the Notion yet while they were corrupt Creatures it was not difficult to apply themselves to a wrong object from a true principle A blind man knows he hath a way to go as well as one of the clearest sight but because of his blindness he may miss the way and stumble into a Ditch No man would be impos'd upon to take a Bristol Stone instead of a Diamond if he did not know that there were such things as Diamonds in the World nor any man spread forth his hands to an Idol if he were altogether without the sense of a Deity Whether it be a false or a true God men apply to yet in both the natural sentiment of a God is evidenc'd all their mistakes were grafts inserted in this Stock since they would multiply gods rather than deny a Deity * Charron de la Sagesse Livr 1. Cha. 7. p. 43. 44. How should such a general submission be entered into the by all the world so as to adore things of a base alloy if the force of Religion were not such that in any fashion a man would seek the satisfaction of his natural instinct to some object of worship This great diversity confirms this consent to be a good argument for it evidenceth it not to be a Cheat combination or conspiracy to deceive or a mutual intelligence but every one finds it in his climate yea in himself * Gassend Phys § 1. lib. 4. Ca. 2. p. 291. People would never have given the Title of a God to men or Brutes had there not been a pre-existing and unquestioned perswasion that there was such a Being how else should the Notion of a God come into their minds the Notion that there is a God must be more ancient 3. Whatsoever disputes there have been in the World this of the existence of God was never the subject of contention All other things have been questioned What Jarrings were there among Philosophers about natural things into how many parties were they split with what animosities did they maintain their several judgments but we hear of no solemn Controversies about the Existence of a Supream Being this never met with any considerable contradiction no Nation that hath put other things to question would ever suffer this to be disparaged so much as by a publick doubt * Amyrant des Religion p. 50. We find among the Heathen contentions about the Nature of God and the number of gods some asserted an innumerable multitude of gods some affirmed him to be subject to birth and death some affirmed the intire World was God others fancied him to be a circle of a bright Fire others that he was a Spirit diffused through the whole World Yet they unanimously concurr'd in this as the judgment of Universal Reason that there was such a sovereign Being And those that were sceptical in every thing else and asserted that the greatest certainty was that there was nothing certain profest a certainty in this The question was not whether there was a First Cause but why it was * Gassend Phys § 1. lâ—b 4. Ca. 2. p. 291. 'T is much the same thing as the disputes about the Nature and matter of the Heavens the Sun and Planets tho there be great diversity of Judgments yet all agree that there are Heavens Sun Planets so all the Contentions among men about the Nature of God weaken not but rather confirm that there is a God since there was never a publick formal debate about his Existence Those that have been ready to pull out one anothers eyes for their dissent from their judgments sharply censured one anothers sentiments envied the births of one anothers wits alwayes shook hands with an unanimous consent in this never censured one another for being of this perswasion never called it into question as what was never controverted among men professing Christianity but acknowledged by all though contending about other things has reason to be judged a certain Truth belonging to the Christian Religion so what was never subjected to any Controversy but acknowledged by the whole World hath reason to be imbraced as a Truth without any doubt 4. This Vniversal Consent is not prejudiced by some few Dissenters History doth not reckon twenty profest Atheists in all Ages in the compass of the whole World Gassend Phys § 1. lib. 4. cap. 7. p. 282. and we have not the name of any one absolute Atheist upon Record in Scripture yet it is questioned whether any of them noted in History with that infamous name were down-right denyers of the Existence of God but rather because they disparaged the Deities commonly worshipped by the Nations where they lived as being of a clearer reason to discern that those qualities vulgarly attributed to their gods as lust and luxury wantonness and quarrels were unworthy of the nature of a God But suppose they were really what they are termed to be what are they to the multitude of men that have sprung out of the loyns of Adam not so much as one grain of ashes is to all that were ever turned into that form by any fires in your Chimnies And many more were not sufficient to weigh down the contrary consent of the whole World and bear down an universal impression Should the Laws of a Country agreed universally to by the whole Body of the People be accounted vain because a hundred men of those millions disapprove of them when not their reason but their folly and base interest perswades them to dislike them and dispute against them * Gassend ibid. p. 290. What if some men be blind shall any conclude from thence that eyes are not natural to men shall we say that the notion of the Existence of God is not natural to men because a very small number have been of a contrary opinion shall a man in a dungeon that never saw the Sun deny that there is a Sun because one or two blind men tell him there is none when thousands assure him there is Why should then the exceptions of a few not one to millions discredit that which is voted certainly true by the joynt consent of the World Add this too that if those that are reported to be Atheists had had any considerable reason to step aside from the common perswasion of the whole world 't is a wonder it met not with entertainment by great numbers of those who by reason of their notorious wickedness and inward disquiets might reasonably be thought to wish in their hearts that there were no God 'T is strange if there were any reason on their side that in so long a space of time as hath run
of the Lord smote him The Judgment here was suted to the sin he that would be a God is eaten up of Worms the vilest Creatures Tully Hostilius a Roman King who counted it the most unroyal thing to be Religious or own any other God but his Sword was consumed himself and his whole House by Lightning from Heaven Many things are unaccountable unless we have recourse to God The strange Revelations of Murderers that have most secretly committed their crimes The making good some dreadful imprecations which some wretches have used to confirme a lie and immediatly have been struck with that Judgement they wished The raising often unexpected persons to be instruments of Vengeance on a sinful and perfidious Nation The overturning the deepest and surest Counsels of men when they have had a succesful progress and came to the very point of execution the whole designe of mens preservation hath been beaten in peices by some unforeseen circumstance so that Judgments have broken in upon them without controul and all their subtilties been out-witted The strange crossing of some in their Estates though the most wise industrious and frugal persons and that by strange and unexpected wayes And it is observable how often every thing contributes to carry on a Judgment intended as if they rationally designed it All those loudly proclaim a God in the world If there were no God there would be no sin if no sin there would be no punishment 2. In Miracles The course of nature is uniforme and when it is put out of its course it must be by some superior power invisible to the world and by whatsoever invisible instruments they are wrought the efficacy of them must depend upon some first cause above nature Psal 72.18 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who only doth wondrous things by himself and his sole power That which cannot be the result of a natural cause must be the result of something supernatural What is beyond the reach of nature is the effect of a power superior to nature For it is quite against the order of nature and is the elevation of something to such a pitch which all nature could not advance it to Nature cannot go beyond its own limits If it be determined by another as hath been formerly proved it cannot lift it self above it self without that power that so determined it Natural agents act necessarily The Sun doth necessarily shine fire doth necessarilly burn That cannot be the result of nature which is above the Ability of nature That cannot be the work of nature which is against the order of nature Nature cannot do any thing against it self or invert its own course We must own that such things have been or we must accuse all the Records of former ages to be a pack of lies which whosoever doth destroys the greatest and best part of human knowledge The Miracles mentioned in the Scripture wrought by our Saviour are acknowledged by the Heathen by the Jews at this day though his greatest enemies There is no dispute whether such things were wrought the dead raised the blind restored to sight The Heathens have acknowledged the Miraculous Eclipse of the Sun at the Passion of Christ quite against the rule of nature the Moon being then in opposition to the Sun The propagation of Christianity contrary to the methods whereby other Religions have been propagated that in a few years the Nations of the world should be sprinkled with this Doctrine and give in a greater Catalogue of Martyrs courting the devouring flames than all the Religions of the world To this might be added the strange hand that was over the Jews the only people in the world professing the true God that should so often be befriended by their Conquerors so as to rebuild their Temple though they were looked upon as a people apt to rebel Dion and Seneca observe that whereever they were transplanted they prospered and gave laws to the Victors So that this proves also the Authority of the Scripture the truth of Christian Religion as well as the being of a God and a superior power over the world To this might be added the bridling the tumultuous passions of men for the preservation of human societies which else would run the world into unconceivable confusions Psal 65.7 Which stilleth the noise of the Sea and the tumults of the people As also the Miraculous deliverance of a person or Nation when upon the very brink of ruin The suddain answer of Prayer when God hath been sought to and the turning away a Judgment which in reason could not be expected to be averted and the raising a sunk people from a ruine which seemed inevitable by unexpected ways 3. Accomplishments of Prophecies Those things which are purely contingent and cannot be known by Natural signs and in their causes as Ecclipses and changes in Nations which may be discerned by an observation of the signs of the times such things that fall not within this compass if they be foretold and come to pass are solely from some higher hand and above the cause of Nature This in Scripture is asserted to be a notice of the true God Isa 41.23 Shâ—w the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that you are God and Isa 46.10 I am God declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying my Counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure And Prophecy was consented to by all the Philosophers to be from Divine illumination That power which discovers things future which all the foresight of men cannot kenn and conjecture is above nature And to foretel them so certainly as if they did already exist or had existed long ago must be the result of a mind infinitely intelligent Because it is the highest way of knowing and a higher cannot be imagined And he that knows things future in such a manner must needs know things present and past Cyrus was Prophesied of by Esay ch 44.28 45.1 long before he was born His Victories Spoils all that should happen in Babylon his bounty to the Jews came to pass according to that Prophecy and the sight of that Prophecy which the Jews shewed him as other Historians report was that which moved him to be favourable to the Jews Alexanders sight of Daniels Prophecy concerning his Victories moved him to spare Jerusalem And are not the four Monarchies plainly deciphered in that Book before the fourth rose up in the world That power which foretells things beyond the reach of the wit of man and orders all causes to bring about those predictions must be an infinite power the same that made the world sustains it and governs all things in it according to his pleasure and to bring about his own ends And this Being is God Vse 1 1. If Atheism be a folly T is then pernicious to the World and to the Atheist himself Wisdom is the band of human societies the glory
every side destruction shall be ready at his side the first born of Death shall devour his strength his confidence shall be rooted out and it shall bring him to the King of Terrors Brimstone shall be scattered upon his Habitation he shall be driven from light into darkness and chased out of the World they that come after him shall be astonished at his day as they that went before were affrighted and this is the place of him that knows not God * Ver. 21 If there be a future reckoning as his own Conscience cannot but sometimes inform him of his condition is desperate and his misery dreadful and unavoidable T is not righteous a Hell should entertain any else if it refuse him Vse 2 2. How lamentable is it that in our times this folly of Atheism should be so rise That there should be found such Monsters in human nature in the midst of the improvements of Reason and shinings of the Gospel who not only make the Scripture the matter of their Jeers but Scoff at the Judgments and Providences of God in the World and envy their Creator a being without whose goodness they had had none themselves who contradict in their carriage what they assert to be their sentiment when they dreadfully imprecate damnation to themselves Whence should that damnation they so rashly wish be poured forth upon them if there were not a revenging God Formerly Atheism was as rare as prodigious scarce two or three known in an age * And those that are reported to be so in former ages are rather thought to be counted so for mocking at the senceless Deities the common people ador'd and laying open their impurities A meer natural strength would easily discover that those they adored for Gods could not deserve that title since their original was known their uncleanness manifest and acknowledged by their worshippers And probably it was so * As Justin infâ—rm us since the Christians were termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they acknowledged not their vain Idols I question whether there ever was or can be in the world an uninterrupted and internal denyal of the being of God or that men unless we can suppose Conscience utterly dead can arrive to such a degree of impiety For before they can stifle such sentiments in them whatsoever they may assert they must be utter strangers to the common conceptions of reason and despoile themselves of their own humanity He that dares to deny a God with his lips yet sets up something or other as a God in his heart Is it not lamentable that this sacred truth consented to by all Nations which is the band of civil societies the source of all order in the world should be denyed with a bare face and disputed against in Companies And the Glory of a wise Creator ascribed to an unintelligent nature to blind chance are not such worse then Heathens They worshipped many Gods these none They preserved a notion of God in the world under a disguise of Images These would banish him both from Earth and Heaven and demolish the Statues of him in their own Consciences They degraded him these would destroy him They coupled Creatures with him Rom 1.25 Who worshipped the Creature with the Creator as it may most properly be rendred And these would make him worse than the Creature a meer nothing Earth is hereby become worse than Hell Atheism is a perswasion which finds no footing any where else Hell that receives such persons in this point reforms them They can never deny or doubt of his being while they feel his stroaks The Devil that rejoyces at their wickedness knows them to be in an error for he believes and trembles at the belief * Jam. 2.19 This is a forerunner of Judgment Boldness in sin is a presage of vengeance especially when the honour of God is more particularly concern'd therein It tends to the overturning human society taking off the Bridle from the wicked inclinations of men And God appears not in such visible Judgments against sin immediately committed against himself as in the case of those sins that are destructive to human society Besides God as Governor of the world will uphold that without which all his ordinances in the world would be useless Atheism is point blank against all the Glory of God in Creation and against all the glory of God in Redemption and pronounceth at one breath both the Creator and all Acts of Religion and Divine Institutions useless and insignificant Since most have had one time or other some risings of doubt whether there be a God tho few do in expressions deny his being it may not be unnecessary to propose somethings for the further impressing this truth and guarding themselves against such temptations 1. T is utterly impossible to demonstrate there is no God He can choose no Medium but will fall in as a proof for his Existence and a manifestation of his excellency rather than against it The pretences of the Atheist are so ridiculous that they are not worth the mentioning They never saw God and therefore know not how to believe such a Being they cannot comprehend him He would not be God if he could fall within the narrow Model of an humane Understanding He would not be infinite if he were comprehensible or to be terminated by our sight How small a thing must that be which is seen by a bodily Eye or graspt by a weak Mind If God were visible or comprehensible he would be limited Shall it be a sufficient Demonstration from a blind man that there is no fire in the Room because he sees it not though he feel the warmth of it The knowledge of the effect is sufficient to conclude the existence of the cause Who ever saw his own Life Is it sufficient to deny a man lives because he beholds not his Life and only knows it by his motion He never saw his own Soul but knows he hath one by his thinking power The Air renders it self sensible to Men in its Operations yet was never seen by the eye If God should render Himself visible they might question as well as now whether that which was so visible were God or some delusion If he should appear glorious we can as little behold him in his Majestick Glory as an Owl can behold the Sun in its brightness we should still but see him in his Effects as we do the Sun by his Beams If he should shew a new Miracle we should still see him but by his Works so we see him in his Creatures every one of which would be as great a Miracle as any can be wrought to one that had the first prospect of them To require to see God is to require that which is impossible 1 Tim. 6.16 He dwels in the Light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see 'T is visibe that he is for he covers himself with Light as with a Garment Psal 104.2
temper under a storm he would submit to God and let Israel go but when the storm is ended he will not be under Gods controul and Israels slavery shall be increased The fear of Divine wrath makes many a sinner turn his back upon his sin and the love of his ruling lust makes him turn his back upon his true Lord. This is from the prevalency of sin that disputes with God for the Soveraignty When God hath sent a sharp disease as a messenger to bind men to their beds and make an interruption of their sinful pleasures their mouths are full of promises of a new life in hope to escape the just vengeance of God The sense of Hell which strikes strongly upon them makes them full of such pretended resolutions when they howl upon their beds But if God be pleased in his Patience to give them a respite to take off the Chains wherewith he seemed to be binding them for destruction and recruit their strength they are more earnest in their sins than they were in their promises of a reformation as if they had got the mastery of God and had outwitted him How often doth God charge them * Amos 4.6 to ver 11. of not returning to him after a succession of Judgments So hard it is not only to allure but to scourge men to an acknowledgement of God as their Ruler Consider then Are we not naturally inclined to disobey the known Will of God Can we say Lord for thy sake we refrain the thing to which our hearts encline Do we not allow our selves to be licentious earthly vain proud revengful tho we know it will offend him Have we not been peevishly cross to his declared Will Run Counter to him and those Laws which express most of the glory of his holiness Is not this to disown him as our Rule Did we never wish there were no Law to bind us no precept to check our Idols What is this but to wish that God would depose himself from being our Governour and leave us to our own conduct or else to wish that he were as unholy as our selves as careless of his own laws as we are that is that he were no more a God then we a God as sinful and unrighteous as our selves He whose heart riseth against the Law of God to unlaw it riseth against the Author of that Law to undeifie him He that casts contempt upon the dearest thing God hath in the world that which is the image of his holiness the delight of his Soul that which he hath given a special charge to maintain and that because it is holy just and good would not stick to rejoyce at the destruction of God himself If Gods Holiness and righteousness in the beam be despised much more will an immense goodness and holiness in the fountain be rejected He that wisheth a beam far from his eyes because it offends and scorcheth him can be no friend to the Sun from whence that beam doth issue How unworthy a Creature is man since he only a rational Creature is the sole being that withdraws it self from the rule of God in this Earth And how miserable a Creature is he also Since departing from the order of Gods goodness he falls into the order of his Justice and while he refuseth God to be the rule of his life he cannot avoid him being the Judge of his punishment T is this is the original of all sin and the fountain of all our misery This is the first thing man disowns the Rule which God sets him Secondly 2. Man naturally owns any other rule rather than that of Gods prescribing The Law of God orders one thing the heart of man desires another There is not the basest thing in the world but man would sooner submit to be guided by it rather than by the holiness of God and when any thing that God commands crosses our own Wills we value it no more than we would the advise of a poor despicable beggar How many are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God * 2 Tim. 3.4 To make something which contributes to the perfection of nature as learning wisdom moral vertues our Rule would be more tolerable But to pay that homage to a swinish pleasure which is the right of God is an inexcusable contempt of him The greatest excellency in the world is infinitely below God much more a bestial delight which is both disgraceful and below the nature of man If we made the vilest Creature on Earth our Idol t is more excusable than to be the slave of a brutish pleasure The viler the thing is that doth possess the throne in our heart the greater contempt it is of him who can only claim a right to it and is worthy of it Sin is the first object of mans election as soon as the faculty whereby he choses comes to exercise its power And it is so dear to man that it is in the estimate of our Saviour counted as the right hand and the right eye dear precious and useful members 1. The rule of Satan is owned before the rule of God The natural man would rather be under the guidance of Satan than the Yoke of his Creator Adam chose him to be his Governour in Paradice No sooner had Satan spoke of God in a way of derision Gen. 3.1 5. Yea hath God said but man follows his Counsel and approves of the scoff and the greatest part of his posterity have not been wiser by his fall but would rather ramble in the Devils Wilderness than to stay in Gods fold T is by the sin of man that the Devil is become the God of the world as if men were the Electors of him to the Government Sin is an Election of him for a Lord and a putting the Soul under his Government Those that live according to the course of the world and are loath to displease it are under the Government of the Prince of it The greatest part of the works done in the world is to enlarge the Kingdom of Satan For how many ages were the laws whereby the greatest part of the world was governed in the affairs of Religion the fruits of his usurpation and policy When Temples were erected to him Priests consecrated to his service The rites used in most of the Worship of the world were either of his own Coyning or the misapplying the Rites God had ordained to himself under the notion of a God Whence the Apostle calls all Idolatrous Feasts the table of Devils the cup of Devils Sacrifice to Devils fellowship with Devils * 1 Cor. 10.20.21 Devils being the real object of the Pagan Worship tho not formally intended by the Worshipper tho in some parts of the Indies the direct and peculiar worship is to the Devil that he might not hurt them And tho the intention of others was to offer to God and not the Devil yet since the action was contrary to the Will of God he regards
the Majesty of the Creator of the world and the excellency of Religion No Nation no person did ever assert that the vilest part of man was enough for the most excellent Being as God is That a bodily service could be a sufficient acknowledgment of the greatness of God or a sufficient return for the bounty of God * Amyraut Ib. Man could not but know that he was to act in Religion conformably to the Object of Religion and to the excellency of his own Soul The notion of a God was sufficient to fill the mind of man with admiration and reverence and the first conclusion from it would be to honour God and that he have all the affection placed on him that so infinite and spiritual a Being did deserve The progress then would be that this excellent Being was to be honoured with the motions of the Understanding and Will with the purest and most spiritual powers in the nature of man because he was a spiritual Being and had nothing of matter mingled with him Such a brutish imagination to suppose that blood and fumes beasts and incense could please a Deity without a spiritual frame cannot be supposed to befal any but those that had lost their reason in the rubbish of sense Meer rational nature could never conclude that so excellent a Spirit would be put off with a meer animal service an attendance of matter and body without Spirit when they themselves of an inferior nature would be loath to sit down contented with an outside service from those that belong to them So that this instruction of our Saviour that God is to be worshipped in Spirit and Truth is conformable to the sentiments of nature and drawn from the most undeniable principles of it The excellency of Gods nature and the excellent constitution of human faculties concur naturally to support this perswasion This was as natural to be known by men as the necessity of Justice and Temperance for the support of human societies and bodies 'T is to be feared that if there be not among us such brutish apprehensions there are such brutish dealings with God in our services against the light of nature when we place all our worship of God in outward attendances and drooping countenances with unbelieving frames and formal devotions when Prayer is muttered over in private slightly as a Parrot learns lessons by rote not understanding what it speaks or to what end it speaks it not glorifying God in Thought and Spirit with Understanding and Will 3. Spiritual Worship therefore was always required by God and always offered to him by one or other Man had a perpetual obligation upon him to such a worship from the nature of God and what is founded upon the nature of God is unvariable This and that particular mode of worship may wax old as a Garment and as a Vesture may be folded up and changed as the expression is of the Heavens * Heb. 1.11 12. But God endures for ever his spirituality fails not therefore a worship of him in Spirit must run through all ways and rites of Worship God must cease to be Spirit before any service but that which is spiritual can be accepted by him The light of Nature is the light of God the light of nature being unchangeable what was dictated by that was alway and will alway be required by God The worship of God being perpetually due from the Creature the worshipping him as God is as perpetually his right Though the outward expressions of this Honour were different one way in Paradice for a worship was then due since a solemn time for that worship was appointed another under the Law another under the Gospel the Angels also worship God in Heaven and fall down before his Throne yet though they differ in rites they agree in this necessary ingredient All rites though of a different shape must be offered to him not as Carcasses but animated with the affections of the Soul Abels Sacrifice had not been so excellent in Gods esteem without those gracious habits and affections working in his Soul * Heb. 11.4 Faith works by Love his heart was on fire as well as his Sacrifice Cain rested upon his Present perhaps thought he had obliged God he depended upon the outward Ceremony but sought not for the inward purity It was an offering brought to the Lord * Gen. 4.5 he had the right object but not the right manner Gen. 4.7 If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted And in the Command afterwards to Abraham Walk before me and be thou perfect was the direction in all our religious acts and walkings with God A sincere act of the Mind and Will looking above and beyond all Symbolls extending the Soul to a pitch far above the Body and seeing the day of Christ through the vail of the Ceremonies was required by God And though Moses by Gods order had instituted a multitude of carnal Ordinances Sacrifices Washings Oblations of sensible things and recomended to the people the diligent observation of those Statutes by the allurements of promises and denouncing of threatnings as if there were nothing else to be regarded and the true workings of Grace were to be buried under a heap of Ceremonies yet sometimes he doth point them to the inward worship and by the Command of God requires of them the Circumcision of the Heart Deut. 10.16 the turning to God with all their heart and all their Soul Deut. 30.10 whereby they might recollect that it was the engagement of the Heart and the worship of the Spirit that was most agreeable to God and that he took not any pleasure in their observance of Ceremonies without true Piety within and the true purity of their thoughts 4. 'T is therefore as much every mans duty to worship God in Spirit as it is their duty to worship him Worship is so due to him as God as that he that denies it disowns his Deity And spiritual worship is so due that he that waves it denies his spirituality 'T is a debt of Justice we owe to God to worship him and it is as much a debt of Justice to worship him according to his Nature Worship is nothing else but a rendring to God the honour that is due to him and therefore the right posture of our Spirits in it is as much or more due than the material worship in the modes of his own prescribing that is grounded both upon his Nature and upon his Command this only upon his Command that is perpetually due whereas the Channel wherein outward worship runs may be dryed up and the River diverted another way Such a worship wherein the mind thinks of God feels a sense of God has the Spirit consecrated to God the Heart glowing with affections to God 'T is else a mocking God with a feather A rational Nature must worship God with that wherein the Glory of God doth most sparkle in him God is most visible in the frame
incourage our Obedience as to illustrate his Glory We cannot conceive â—hat could be done greater for the salvation of our Souls and consequently what could have been done more to enforce our observance We have a Redeemer as man to copy it to us and as God to perfect us in it It would make the heart of any to tremble to wound him that hath provided such a salve for our Sores and to make Grace a warrant for Rebellion Motives capable to form Rocks into a flexibleness Thus is the Wisdom of God seen in giving us a ground of the surest confidence and furnishing us with incentives to the greatest Obedience by the horrors of wrath death and sufferings of our Saviour 8. The Wisdom of God is apparent in the Condition he hath settled for the enjoying the fruits of Redemption and this is faith a wise and reasonable Condition And the concomitants of it 1. In that it is suted to mans lapsed state and Gods Glory Innocence is not required here that had been a Condition impossible in its own nature after the Fall The rejecting of Mercy is now only condemning where mercy is proposed Had the Condition of Perfection in Works been required it had rather been a condemnation than redemption Works are not demanded whereby the Creature might ascribe any thing to himself but a Condition which continues in man a sense of his Apostacy abates all aspiring Pride and makes the reward of Grace not of Debt A Condition whereby Mercy is owned and the Creature emptied Flesh silenc'd in the Dust and God set upon his Throne of Grace and Authority The Creature brought to the lowest debasement and Divine Glory raised to the highest pitch The Creature is brought to acknowledge Mercy and seal to Justice to own the Holiness of God in the hatred of sin the Justice of God in the Punishment of sin and the Mercy of God in the pardoning of sin A condition that despoils Nature of all its pretended excellency Beats down the glory of man at the foot of God 1 Cor. 1.29.31 It subjects the Reason and Will of man to the Wisdom and Authority of God it brings the Creature to an unreserved submission and intire resignation God is made the Soveraign Cause of all the Creature continued in his emptiness and reduced to a greater dependance upon God than by a Creation depending upon him for a constant influx for an intire happiness A Condition that renders God glorious in the Creature and the fallen creature happy in God God glorious in his Condescension to Man and Man happy in his emptiness before God Faith is made the Condition of mans recovery that the lofty looks of man might be humbled and the haughtiness of man be pulled down Isa 2.11 that every towring imagination might be levelled 2. Cor. 10.5 Man must have all from without doors he must not live upon himself but upon anothers allowance He must stand to the provision of God and be a perpetual Sutor at his Gates 2. A Condition opposite to that which was the cause of the Fall We fell from God an unbelief of the Threatning he recovers us by a belief of the Promise by Unbelief we laid the Foundation of Gods dishonour by Faith therefore God exalts the Glory of his free Grace We lost our selves by a desire of self dependence and our return is ordered by a way of self-emptiness 'T is reasonable we should be restored in a way contrary to that whereby we fell We sinned by a refusal of cleaving to God t is a part of divine Wisdom to restore us in a denial of our own righteousness and strength * Laud against Fisher p. 5. Man having sinned by Pride the Wisdom of God humbles him saith one at the very root of the Tree of Knowledge and makes him deny his own Vnderstanding and submit to Faith or else for ever to lose his desired Felicity 3. It is a Condition suted to the Common Sentiment and custome of the World There is more of belief than reason in the World All Instructers and Masters in Sciences and Arts require first a belief in their Disciples and a resignation of their Understandings and Wills to them And it is the Wisdom of God to require that of man which his own reason makes him submit to another which is his fellow Creature He therefore that quarrels with the Condition of Faith must quarrel with all the World since Belief is the beginning of all Knowledge †Bradward p. 28. yea and most of the Knowledge in the World may rather come under the title of Belief than of Knowledge For what we think we know this day we may find from others such Arguments as may stagger our Knowledge and make us doubt of that we thought our selves certain of before Nay sometimes we change our Opinions our Selves without anâ— Instructor and see a reason to entertain an Opinion quite contrary to what we had before And if we found a general Judgment of others â—o vote against what we think we know it would make us give the less Credit to our selves and our own Sentiments All Knowledge in the World is only a belief depending upon the testimony or arguings of others for indeed it may be said of all men as in Job 8. Job 9. We are but of yesterday and know nothing Since therefore Belief is so universal a thing in the World the Wisdom of God requires that of us which every man must count reasonable or render himself utterly ignorant of any thing It is a Condition that is common to all Religions All Religions are Founded upon a Belief Unless men did believe future things they would not hope nor fear A Belief and Resignation was required in all the Idolatries in the World so that God requires nothing but what a universal custome of the World gives its suffrage to the reasonableness of Indeed justifying Faith is not suted to the Sentiments of men but that Faith which must precede iustifying a beliefe of the Doctrine though not comprehended by Reason is common to the custome of the World * Jâ—neway p. 88. 'T is no less madness not to submit our Reason to Faith than not to regulate our Fancies by Reason 4. This Condition of Faith and Repentances is suted to the Conscience of Men. The Law of Nature teaches us thâ—t we are bound to believe every revelation from God when it is made known to us And not only to assent to it as true but embrace it as good This Nature dictates that we are as much obligeâ— to believe God because of his Truth as to love him because of his Goodness Every mans Reason tells him he cannot obey a Precept nor depend upon a Promise unless he believes both the one and the other No man's Conscience but will inform him upon hearing the revelation of God concerning his excellent contrivance of Redemption and the way to Enjoy it that it is very reasonable he should strip off
distance from Jerusalem to assemble together at Jerusalem at the Feast of Pentecost And God pitched upon this Season that there might be Witnesses of thâ—s Miracle in many parts of the World There were some of every Nation under Heaven verse 5. that is of that known part of the World so saith the Text. Fourteen several Nations are mentioned and Proselytes as well as Jews by Birth They are called devout men men of Conscience whose testimony would carry weight with it among their Neighbours at their return because of their Reputation by their Religious Carriage Again this was not heard and seen by some of them at one time and some at another by some one hour by others the next successively * Faucheur in loc p. 294 295. but altogether in a Solemn Assembly that the testimony of so many Witnesses at a time might be more valid and the truth of the Doctrine appear more illustrious and undeniable And it must needs be astonishing to them to hear that Person magnified in so miraculous a manner who had so lately been condemned by their Country-men as a Malefactor Wisdom consists in the timing of things And in this Circumstance doth the wisdom of God appear in furnishing the Apostles with the Spirit at such a time and bringing forth such a Miracle as the gift of Tongues on a suddain that every Nation might hear in their own Language the wonder of Redemption and as Witnesses at their returns into their own Countreys report it to others that the credit they had in their several Places might facilitate the belief and entertainment of the Gospel when the Apostles or others should arrive to those several Charges and Dioceses appointed for them to preach the Gospel in Had this Miracle been wrought in the presence only of the Inhabitants of Judea that understood only their own Language or one or two of the Neighbouring Tongues it had been counted by them rather a Madness than a Miracle Or had they understood all the Tongues which they spoke the news of it had spread no further than the limits of their own Habitations and had been confin'd within the narrow bounds of the Land of Judea But now it is carried to several remote Nations where any of those Auditors then assembled had their Residence As God chose the time of the Passeover for the Death of Christ that there might be the greatest Number of the Inhabitants of the Country as Witnesses of the Matter of Fact the Innocence and Sufferings of Christ so he chose the time of Pentecost for the first publishing the value and end of this Blood to the World Thus the Evangelical Law was given in a Confluence of People from all Parts and Nations because it was a Covenant with all Nations And the variety of Languages spoken by a Company of poor Galileans bred up at the Lake of Tiberias and in poor corners of Canaan without the Instructions of men for so great a Skil might well evidence to the hearers that God that brought the Confusion of Languages first at Babel did only work that Cure of them and combine all together at Jerusalem 3. The wisdom of God is seen in the Instruments he employed in the publishing the Gospel He did not employ Philosophers but Fishermen used not acquired Arts but infus'd wisdom and courage This Treasure was put into and preserved in Earthen Vessels that the Wisdom as well as the Power of God might be magnified The weaker the means are which attain the end the greater is the skill of the Conductor of them Wise Princes choose men of most credit Interest Wisdom and Ability to be Ministers of their Affairs and Embassadors to others But what were these that God chose for so great a Work as the publishing a new Doctrine to the World What was their quality but mean what was their Authority without Interest What was their Ability without eminent Parts for so great a Work but what Divine Grace in a special manner endowed them with Nay what was their disposition to it as dull and unweildy Witness the frequent rebukes for their slow-heartedness from their Master when he conversed in the Flesh with them And One of the greatest of them so fond of the Jewish Ceremonies and Pharisaical Principles wherein he had been more than ordinarily principled that he hated the Christian Religion to extirpation and the Professors of it to death by those ways which were out of the rode of Human wisdom and would be accompted the greatest absurdity to be practis'd by men that have a repute for Discretion did God advance his Wisdom 1 Cor. 1.25 The foolishness of God is wiser than man By this means it was indisputably evidenc'd to unbyassed Minds that the Doctrine was Divine It could not rationally be imagined that Instruments destitute of all Human Advantages should be able to vanquish the World confound Judaism overturn Heathenism chase away the Devils strip them of their Temples alienate the Minds of men from their several Religions which had been rooted in them by Education and established by a long succession It could not I say reasonably be imagined to be without a Supernatural Assistance an heavenly and efficacious working Whereas had God taken a Course agreeable to the prudence of Man and used those that had been furnished with Learning tip'd with Eloquence and armed with Human Authority the Doctrines would have been thought to have been of a Human Invention and to be some subtle Contrivance for some unworthy and ambitious end The nothingness and weakness of the Instruments manifest them to be conducted by a Divine Power and declare the Doctrine it self to be from Heaven When we see such feeble Instruments proclaiming a Doctrine repugnant to Flesh and Blood sounding forth a crucified Christ to be believed in and trusted on and declaiming against the Religion and Worship under which the Roman Empire had long flourished exhorting them to the Contempt of the World preparation for Afflictions denying themselves and their own Honours by the hopes of an unseen reward things so repugnant to Flesh and Blood And these Instruments concurring in the same Story with an admirable Harmony in all parts and sealing this Doctrine with their Blood can we upon all this ascribe this Doctrine to a Human Contrivance or fix any lower Author of it than the wisdom of Heaven 'T is the wisdom of God that carries on his own Designs in methods most sutable to his own Greatness and different from the Customes and Modes of Men that less of Humanity and more of Divinity might appear 4. The wisdom of God appears in the ways and manner as well as in the Instruments of its propagation By ways seemingly contrary You know how God had sent the Jews into Captivity in Babylon and though he struck off their Chains and restored them to their Country yet many of them had no mind to leave a Country wherein they had been born and bred The distance from the
place of the Original of their Ancestors and their affection to the Country wherein they were born might have occasioned their embracing the Idolatrous Worship of the place Afterwads the Persecutions of Antiochus scatter'd many of the Jews for their security into other Nations yet a great part and perhaps the greatest preserved their Religion and by that were obliged to come every year to Jerusalem to Offer and so were present at the effusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost and were witnesses of the miraculous effects of it Had they not been dispers'd by Persecution had they not resided in several Countries and been acquainted with their Languages the Gospel had not so easily been diffused into several Countreys of the World The first Persecutions also raised against the Church propagated the Gospel the scattering of the Disciples enflamed their courage and dispers'd the Doctrine ‖ Acts 8.3 ccording to the Prophecy of Daniel Dan. 12.4 Many should run to and fro and knowledge should be encreased The flights and hurryings of men should enlarge the Territories of the Gospel There was not a Tribunal but the primitive Christians were cited to not a horrible Punishment but was inflicted upon them Treated they were as the dregs and offals of Mankind as the common Enemies of the World yet the Flames of the Martyrs brightned the Doctrine and the Captivity of its Professors made way for the Throne of its Empire The imprisonment of the Ark was the downfal of Dagon Religion grew stronger by Sufferings and Christianity taller by Injuries What can this be ascribed to but the conduct of a Wisdom superiour to that of Men and Devils defeating the methods of human and hellish Policy thereby making the wisdom of the World foolishness with God 1 Cor. 3.19 Fifthly The Vse I. Of Information If wisdom be an excellency of the Divine Nature then 1. Christ's Deity may hence be asserted Wisdom is the emphatical Title of Christ in Scripture Prov. 8.12 13 31. where Wisdom is brought in speaking as a distinct Person ascribing Counsel and Understanding and the Knowledge of witty Inventions to it self He is called also the power of God and the wisdom of God * 1 Cor. 1.21 And the Ancients generally understood that place Col. 2.3 In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge as an assertion of the God-head of Christ in regard of the infiniteness of his knowledge referring wisdom to his knowledge of Divine things and knowledge to his understanding of all Human things But the natural sense of the place seems to be this that all wisdom and knowledge is displayed by Christ in the Gospel and the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 refer either to Christ or the mystery of God spoken of vers 2. But the Deity of Christ in regard of infinite Wisdom may be deduc'd from his Creation of things and his Government of things both which are ascribed to him in Scripture The first ascribed to him John 1.3 All things were made by him and verse 27. Without him was not any thing made that was made The second John 5.22 The Father hath committed all Judgment to the Son and both put together Col. 2.16 17. Now since he hath the Government of the World he hath the Perfections necessary to so great a Work As the Creation of the World which is ascribed to him requires an infinite power so the Government of the World requires an infinite wisdom That he hath the knowledge of the hearts of men was proved in handling the Omniscience of God That knowledge would be to little purpose without wisdom to order the motions of mens hearts and conduct all the qualities and actions of Creatures to such an end as is answerable to a wise Government we cannot think so great an Imployment can be without an Ability necessary for it The Government of Men and Angels is a great part of the glory of God and if God should intrust the greatest part of his Glory in hands unfit for so great a trust it would be an argument of weakness in God as it is in men to pitch upon unfit Instruments for particular Charges Since God hath therefore committed to him his greatest Glory the Conduct of all things for the highest end he hath a wisdom requisite for so great an end which can be no less than infinite If then Christ were a finite Person he would not be capable of an infinite Communication he could not be a Subject wherein infinite wisdom could be lodged for the terms finite and infinite are so distant that they cannot commence one another finite can never be changed into infinite no more than infinite can into finite 2. Hence we may assert The right and fitness of God for the Government of the World as he is the wisest Being Among men those who are excellent in Judgment are accounted fittest to preside over and give orders to others the wisest in a City are most capable to govern a City or at least though ignorant men may bear the Title yet the advice of the soundest and skilfullest Heads should prevail in all publick Affairs We see in Nature that the eye guides the body and the mind directs the eye * Amyâ—â—uâ— Mâ—â— â—or 1. p. 253 259. Power and Wisdome are the two Arms of Authority Wisdom knows the end and directs the means Power executes the means design'd for such an end The more splendid and strong those are in any the more Authority results from thence for the conduct of others that are of an inferiour Orb Now God being infinitely excellent in both his ability and right to the management of the World cannot be suspected the whole World is but one Commonwealth whereof God is the Monarch Did the Government of the World depend upon the Election of Men and Angels where could they pitch or where would they find Perfections capable of so great a work but in the Supream Wisdom His Wisdom hath already been apparent in those Laws whereby he formed the World into a Civil Society and the Israelites into a Commonwealth The one suted to the Consciences and Reasons of all his Subjects and the other suted to the Genius of that particular Nation drawn out of the Righteousness of the Moral Law and applicable to all Cases that might arise among them in their Government so that Moses asserts that the wisdom apparent in their Laws enacted by God as their chief Magistrate would render them famous among other Nations in regard of their Wisdom as well as their Righteousness Deut. 4.6 7 9. Also this perfection doth evidence that God doth actually govern the World It would not be a commendable thing for a man to make a curious Piece of Clock-work and take no care for the orderly motion of it Would God display so much of his Skill in framing the Heaven and Earth and none in actual guidance of them to their particular and universal ends Did he lay the Foundation in
been handed down to them by their Predecessors which Paul * 1 Tim. 6.20 entitles a Science falsly so called either meant of the Philosophers or the Gnosticks They presum'd that they were able to measure all things by their own Reason whence when the Apostle came to preach the Doctrine of the Gospel at Athens the great School of Reason in that Age they gave him no better a Title than that of a Babler Acts 17.18 and openly mocked him verse 32. a Seed gatherer ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that hath no more brain or sense than a Fellow that gathers up Seeds that are spilt in a Market or one that hath a vain and empty found without Sense or Reason like a foolish Mountebank so slightly did those Rationalists of the World think of the Wisdom of Heaven That the Son of God should veil himself in a Mortal Body and suffer a disgraceful Death in it were things above the ken of Reason Besides the World had a general disesteem of the Religion of the Jews and were prejudic'd against any thing that came from them Whence the Romans that used to incorporate the gods of other Conquer'd Nations in their Capitol never moved to have the God of Israel worshipped among them Again they might argue against it with much fleshly Reason Here is a Crucified God preached by a Company of Mean and Ignorant persons What Reason can we have to entertain this Doctrine since the Jews who as they tell us had the Prophecies of him did not acknowledge him Surely had there been such Predictions they would not have Crucified but Crowned their King and expected from him the Conquest of the Earth under their Power What reason have we to entertain him whom his own Nation among whom he lived with whom he conversed so unanimously by the Vote of the Rulers as well as the Rout rejected It was impossible to conquer Minds possessed with so many Errors and applauding themselves in their own Reason and to render them capable of receiving Revealed Truths without the influence of a Divine Power 2. It was contrary to the Customes of the World The strength of Custome in most Men surmounts the strength of Reason and Men commonly are so wedded to it that they will be sooner divorc'd from any thing than the Modes and Patterns received from their Ancestors The endeavouring to change Customes of an ancient standing hath begotten Tumults and furious Mutinies among Nations though the change would have been much for their advantage This Doctrine struck at the Root of the Religion of the World and the Ceremonies wherein they had been educated from their Infancy delivered to them from their Ancestors confirm'd by the customary Observance of many Ages rooted in their Mindss and establish'd by their Laws Acts 18.13 This Fellow perswadeth us to worship God contrary to the Law against Customes to which they ascrib'd the happiness of their States and the prosperity of their People and would put in the place of this Religion they would abolish a new one instituted by a Man whom the Jews had condemn'd and put to death upon a Cross as an Impostor Blasphemer and Seditions person It was a Doctrine that would change the Customes of the Jews who were intrusted with the Oracles of God It would bury for ever their Ceremonial Riâ—â—s delivered to them by Moses from that God who had with a mighty hand brought them out of Egypt consecrated their Law with Thunders and Lightnings from Mount Sinai at the time of its publication backt it with severe Sanctions confirm'd it by many Miracles both in the Wilderness and their Canaan and had continued it for so many Hundred years They could not but remember how they had been ravaged by other Nations and Judgments sent upon them when they neglected and slighted it and with what great success they were follow'd when they valued and observed it and how they had abhorred the Author of this new Religion who had spoken slightly of their Traditions till they put him to death with Infamy Was it an easie matter to divorce them from that Worship upon which were entail'd as they imagin'd their Peace Plenty and Glory things of the dearest regard with Mankind The Jews were no less devoted to their Ceremonial Traditions than the Heathen were to their Vain Superstitions This Doctrine of the Gospel was of that nature that the state of Religion all over the Earth must be overturned by it the Wisdom of the Greeks must vail to it the Idolatry of the People must stoop to it and the prophane Customes of Men must moulder under the weight of it Was it an easie matter for the Pride of Nature to deny a customary Wisdom to entertain a new Doctrine against the Authority of their Ancestors to inscribe Folly upon that which hath made them admir'd by the rest of the World Nothing can be of greater esteem with Men than the Credit of their Law-givers and Founders the Religion of their Fathers and Prosperity of themselves hence the Minds of Men were sharpned against it The Greeks the Wisest Nation slighted it as Foolish the Jews the Religious Nation stumbled at it as contrary to the received Interpretations of Ancient Prophecies and Carnal Conceits of an Earthly glory The dimmest Eye may behold the difficulty to change Custome a Second Nature 'T is as hard as to change a Wolf into a Lamb to level a Mountain stop the course of the Sun or change the Inhabitants of Africk into the colour of Europe Custome dips Men in as durable a Dye as Nature The difficulties of carrying it on against the Divine Religion of the Jew and rooted Customes of the Gentiles were unconquerable by any but an Almighty Power And in this the Power of God hath appeared wonderfully 3. It was contrary to the Sensuality of the World and the Lusts of the Flesh How much the Gentiles were over-grown with base and unworthy Lusts at the time of the Publication of the Gospel needs no other Memento than the Apostles Discourse Rom. 1. As there was no Error but prevail'd upon their Minds so there was no brutish Affection but was wedded to their Hearts The Doctrine proposed to them was not easie it flatter'd not the Sense but checked the Stream of Nature It thundred down those three great Engines whereby the Devil had subdued the World to himself the lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eye and the pride of Life Not only the most sordid Affections of the Flesh but the more refin'd Gratifications of the Mind It stript Nature both of Devil and Man of what was commonly esteem'd great and vertuous That which was the root of their Fame and the satisfaction of their Ambition was struck at by this Ax of the Gospel The first Article of it ordered them to deny themselves not to presume upon their own worth to lay their Understandings and Wills at the foot of the Cross and resign them up to one newly
at the Presence of the Council that had their hands yet reeking with the Blood of his Master but being filled with the Holy Ghost seems to dare the Power of the Priests and Jewish Governours and is as confident in the Council Chamber as he had been cowardly in the High Priests Hall †Acts 4.9 c. the efficacy of Grace triumphing over the Fearfulness of Nature Whence should this Ardor and Zeal to propagate a Doctrine that had already born the Scars of the Peoples Fury be but from a mighty Power which changed those Hares into Lions and stript them of their Natural Cowardize â—o cloath them with a Divine Courage making them in a moment both Wise and Magnanimous alienating them from any Consultations with Flesh and Blood As soon as ever the Holy Ghost came upon them as a mighty rushing Wind they move up and down for the Interest of God as Fish after a great Clap of Thunder are rowz'd and move more nimbly on the top of the Water therefore that which did so fit them for this undertaking is called by the title of Power from on high Luke 24.49 III. The Divine Power appears in the Means whereby it was propagated 1. By Means different from the Methods of the World Not by force of Arms as some Religions have taken root in the World Mahomets Horse hath trampled upon the Heads of Men to imprint an Alcoran in their Brains and robb'd Men of their Goods to plant their Religion But the Apostles bore not this Doctrine through the World upon the Points of their Swords they presented a Bodily death where they would bestow an Immortal life They employ'd not Troops of Men in a Warlike posture which had been possible for them after the Gospel was once spread they had no Ambition to subdue Men unto themselves but to God they coveted not the Possessions of others design'd not to enrich themselves invaded not the Rights of Princes nor the Liberties and Properties of the People They rifled them not of their Estates nor scar'd them into this Religion by a fear of losing their Worldly happiness The Arguments they used would naturally drive them from an entertainment of this Doctrine rather than allure them to be Proselytes to it Their design was to change their Hearts not their Government to wean them from the love of the World to a love of a Redeemer to remove that which would ruine their Souls It was not to enslave them but ransom them they had a warfare but not with Carnal weapons but such as were mighty through God for the pulling down of strong holds 2 Cor. 10.4 they used no weapons but the Doctrine they preach'd Others that have not gained Conquests by the Edge of the Sword and the Stratagems of War have extended their Opinions to others by the strength of Humane Reason and the Insinuations of Eloquence But the Apostles had as little flourish in their Tongues as edge upon their Swords Their Preaching was not with the enticing words of Mans wisdom * 1 Cor. 2.4 their Presence was mean and their Discourses without varnish their Doctrine was plain a Crucified Christ a Doctrine unlac'd ungarnisht untoothsom to the World but they had the demonstration of the Spirit and a mighty Power for their Companion in the work The Doctrine they preached viz. the Death Resurrection and Ascension of Christ are called the Powers not of this World but of the World to come †Heb. 6.5 No less than a Supernatural Power could conduct them in this Attempt with such weak Methods in Humane appearance 2. Against all the Force Power and Wit of the World The Divisions in the Eastern Empire and the feeble and consuming State of the Western contributed to Mahomets Success ‖ Dailâ—é 15. Serm. p. 57. But never was Rome in a more flourishing condition Learning Eloquence Wisdom Strength were at the highest pitch Never was there a more diligent Watch against any Innovations never was that State governed by more severe and suspicious Princes than at the time when Tiberius and Nero held the Rains No time seemed to be more unfit for the entrance of a New Doctrine than that Age wherein it begun to be first publish'd never did any Religion meet with that Opposition from Men. Idolatry hath been often setled without any Contest but this hath suffered the same Fate with the Institutor of it and endured the Contradictions of Sinners against it self And those that publish'd it were not only without any Worldly prop but expos'd themselves to the Hatred and Fury to the Racks and Tortures of the strongest Powers on Earth It never set foot in any place but the Country was in an uproar †Acts 19.28 Swords were drawn to destroy it Laws made to suppress it Prisons provided for the Professors of it Fires kindled to consume them and Executioners had a perpetual employment to stifle the progress of it Rome in its Conquest of Countries chang'd not the Religion Rites and Modes of their Worship They alter'd their Civil Government but left them to the liberty of their Religion and many times joyned with them in the Worship of their Peculiar gods and sometime imitated them at Rome instead of abolishing them in the Cities they had subdued But all their Councils were assembled and their Force was bandied against the Lord and against his Christ and that City that kindly receiv'd all manner of Superstitions hated this Doctrine with an irreconcileable hatred It met with Reproaches from the Wise and Fury from the Potentates it was derided by the one as the greatest Folly and persecuted by the other as contrary to God and Mankind the one were afraid to lose their Esteems by the Doctrine and the other to lose their Authority by a Sedition they thought a change of Religion would introduce The Romans that had been Conquerors of the Earth feared Intestine Commotions and the falling asunder the Links of their Empire Scarce any of their first Emperors but had their Swords dy'd Red in the Blood of the Christians The Flesh with all its Lusts the World with all its Flatteries the Statesmen with all their Craft and the Mighty with all their Strength joyn'd together to extirpate it Though many Members were taken off by the Fires yet the Church not only lived but flourish'd in the Furnace Converts were made by the Death of Martyrs and the Flames which consumed their Bodies were the occasion of firing Mens hearts with a Zeal for the Profession of it Instead of being extinguish'd the Doctrine shone more bright and multiplied under the Sickles that were employed to cut it down God ordered every Circumstance so both in the Persons that publish'd it the Means whereby and the Time when that nothing but his Power might appear in it without any thing to dim and darken it IV. The Divine Power was conspicuous in the great success it had under all these difficulties Multitudes were Prophecied of to
sends not Judgments without giving warnings His Justice is so far from extinguishing his Goodness that his Goodness rather shines out in the preparations of his Justice He gives Men time and sends them Messengers to perswade them to another temper of mind that he may change his Hand and exercise his Liberality where he threatned his Severity When the Heathen had Presages of some Evil upon their Persons or Countreys they took them for invitations to Repentance excited themselves to many acts of Devotion implored his Favour and often Experimented it The Ninivites upon the Proclamation of the destruction of their City by Jonah fell to Petitioning him whereby they signified That they thought him good though he were just and more prone to Pity than Severity and their humble Carriage caused the Arrows he had ready against them to drop out of his hands * Jonah 3.9 10. When he brandisheth his Sword he wishes for some to stand in that Gap to mollifie his anger that he might not strike the fatal blow †Ezek 22.30 I sought for a Man among them that should make up the Hedge and stand in the Gap before me in the Land that I should not destroy it He was desirous that his Creatures might be in a capacity to receive the Marks of his Bounty * Cressel Antholog Decad. 2. p. 162. This he signified not obscurely to Moses Exod. 32.10 when he spoke to him to let him alone that his anger might wax hot against the People after they had made a Golden Calf and Worshipped it Let me alone said God Not that Moses restrained him saith Chrysostom who spake nothing to him but stood silent before him and knew nothing of the Peoples Idolatry But God would give him an occasion of praying for them that he might exercise his Mercy towards them yet in such a manner that the People being struck with a sense of their Crime and the horrour of Divine Justice they might be amended for the future when they should understand that their Death was not averted by their own Merit or Intercession but by Moses his Patronage of them and pleading for them As we see sometimes Masters and Fathers angry with their Servants and Children and preparing themselves to punish them but secretly wish some Friend to intercede for them and take them out of their hands There is a Goodness shining in the preparations of his Judgments 2. A Goodness in the Execution of them They are good as they shew God disaffected to Evil and conduce to the glory of his Holiness and deter others from presumptuous Sins †Deut. 10.3 I will be glorified in all that draw near unto me in his Judgment upon Nadab and Abihu the Sons of Aaron for Offering strange Fire By them God preserves the excellent Footsteps of his own Goodness in his Creation and his Law and curbs the Licentiousness of Men and contains them within the bounds of their Duty The Judgments are good saith the Psalmist * Psal 119. Psal 39. i. e. Thy Judicial proceedings upon the Wicked For he desires God there to turn away by some signal act the reproach the Wicked cast upon him Can there be any thing more Miserable than to live in a World full of Wickedness and void of the Marks of Divine Goodness and Justice to repress it Were there not Judgments in the World Men would forget God be insensible of his Government of the World neglect the Exercises of Natural and Christian Duties Religion would be at its last gasp and expire among them and Men would pretend to break Gods Precepts by Gods Authority Are they not good then as they restrain the Creature from further Evils Affright others from the same Crimes which they were inclinable to commit He strikes some to reform others that are Spectators As Apollonius tam'd Pigeons by beating Dogs before them Punishments are Gods gracious warnings to others not to venture upon those Crimes which they see attended with such Judgments The Censers of Corah Dathan and Abiram were to be wrought into Plates for a covering of the Altar to abide there as a Memento to others not to approach to the Exercise of the Priestly Office without an authoritative call from God * Num. 16.38 40. And those Judgments exercised in the former Ages of the World were intended by Divine Goodness for warnings even in Evangelical times Lots Wife was turned into a Pillar of Salt to prevent Men from Apostacy That use Christ himself makes of it in the exhortation against turning back †Luke 17.32 33. And * Psal 58.10 The Righteous shall wash his Feet in the Blood of the Wicked When God shall drench his Sword in the Blood of the Wicked the Righteous shall take occasion from thence to purifie themselves and reform their Ways and look to the Paths of their Feet Would not Impunity be hurtful to the World and Men receive incouragement to Sin if severities sometimes did not bridle them from the practice of their Inclinations Sometimes the Sinner himself is reform'd and sometimes removed from being an example to others Though Thunder be an affrightning noise and Lightning a scaring flash yet they have a liberal goodness in them in shattering and consuming those contagious Vapours which burden and infect the Air and thereby render it more clear and healthful Again There are few acts of Divine Justice upon a People but are in the very Execution of them attended with demonstrations of his Goodness to others He is a Protector of his own while he is a Revenger on his Enemies When he rides upon his Horses in anger against some his Chariots are Chariots of Salvation to others * Hab. 3.8 Terrour makes way for Salvation The overthrow of Pharaoh and the strength of his Nation compleated the deliverance of the Israelites Had not the Aegyptians met with their Destruction the Israelites had unavoidably met with their Ruine against all the Promises God had made to them and to the defamation of his former Justice in the former Plagues upon their Oppressors The death of Herod was the security of Peter and the rest of the Malic'd Christians The gracious deliverance of good Men is often occasion'd by some severe stroak upon some eminent Persecutor The destruction of the Oppressor is the rescue of the Innocent Again Where is there a Judgment but leaves more Criminals behind than it sweeps away that deserved to be involved in the same fate with the rest More Aegyptians were left behind to possess and enjoy the goodness of their fruitful Land than they were that were hurried into another World by the overflowing Waves Is not this a Mark of goodness as well as severity Again Is it not a goodness in him not to pour out Judgments according to the greatness of his Power To go gradually to work with those whom he might in a moment blow to destruction with one breath of his Mouth Again He sometimes exerciseth
the Kingdom of Heaven 'T is very reasonable that things so great and glorious so beneficial to Men and reveal'd to them by so sound an Authority and an unerring truth should be believed The Excellency of the thing disclos'd could admit of no lower a Condition than to be believ'd and embraced There is a sort of Faith that is a Natural Condition in every thing All Religion in the World though never so false depends upon a sort of it for unless there be a belief of future things there would never be a hope of Good or a fear of Evil the two great Hinges upon which Religion moves In all kinds of Learning many things must be believed before a progress can be made Belief of one another is necessary in all acts of Humane Life without which Humane Society would be unlinkt and dissolv'd What is that Faith that God requires of us in this Covenant but a willingness of Soul to take God for our God Christ for our Mediator and the Procurer of our Happiness * Rev. 22.17 What Prince could require less upon any Promise he makes his Subjects than to be believed as true and depended on as good That they should accept his Pardon and other gracious offers and be sincere in their Allegiance to him avoiding all things that may offend him and pursuing all things that may please him Thus God by so small and reasonable a Condition as Faith le ts in the Fruits of Christs Death into our Soul and wraps us up in the fruition of all the Priviledges purchas'd by it So much he hath condescended in his Goodness that upon so slight a Condition we may plead his Promise and humbly challenge by vertue of the Covenant those good things he hath promised in his Word 'T is so reasonable a Condition that if God did not require it in the Covenant of Grace the Creature were obliged to perform it For the publishing any Truth from God naturally calls for Credit to be given it by the Creature and an entertainment of it in Practice Could you offer a more reasonable Condition your selves had it been left to your choice Should a Prince proclaim a Pardon to a profligate Wretch would not all the World cry shame of him if he did not believe it upon the highest assurances and if Ingenuity did not make him sorry for his Crimes and careful in the Duty of a Subject surely the World would cry shame of such a Person 5. 'T is a necessary Condition 1. Necessary for the honour of God A Prince is disparag'd if his Authority in his Law and if his Graciousness in his Promises be not accepted and believed What Physician would undertake a Cure if his Precepts may not be Credited 'T is the first thing in the order of Nature that the Revelation of God should be believed that the reality of his Intentions in inviting Man to the acceptance of those Methods he hath prescribed for their attaining their chief Happiness should be acknowledged 'T is a debasing Notion of God that he should give a Happiness purchased by Divine Blood to a Person that hath no value for it nor any abhorrency of those Sins that occasion'd so great a Suffering nor any will to avoid them Should he not vilifie himself to bestow a Heaven upon that Man that will not believe the offers of it nor walk in those ways that leads to it That walks so as if he would declare there was no truth in his Word nor Holiness in his Nature Would not God by such an act verifie a truth in the language of their practice viz. that he were both false and impure careless of his Word and negligent of his Holiness As God was so desirous to ensure the Consolation of Believers that if there had been a greater Being than himself to attest and for him to be Responsible to for the confirmation of his Promise he would willingly have submitted to him and have made him the Umpire * Heb. 6.19 He swore by himself because he could not swear by a greater By the same reason Had it stood with the Majesty and Wisdom of God to stoop to lower Conditions in this Covenant for the reducing of Man to his Duty and Happiness he would have done it but his Goodness could not take lower steps with the preservation of the Rights of his Majesty and the Honour of his Wisdom Would you have had him wholly submitted to the obstinate will of a Rebellious Creature and be ruled only by his terms Would you have had him receiv'd Men to Happiness after they had heightned their Crimes by a contempt of his Grace as well as of his Creating Goodness and have made them blessed under the guilt of their Crimes without an acknowledgment Should he glorifie one that will not believe what he hath reveal'd nor repent of what himself hath committed and so save a Man after a repeated unthankfulness to the most immense Grace that ever was or can be discovered and offer'd without a detestation of his ingratitude and a voluntary acceptance of his offers 'T is necessary for the honour of God that Man should accept of his terms and not give Laws to him to whom he is obnoxious as a guilty Person as well as Subject as a Creature Again it was very equitable and necessary for the honour of God that since Man fell by an unbelief of his Precept and Threatning he should not rise again without a belief of his Promise and calling himself upon his Truth in that Since he had vilified the honour of his Truth in the Threatning Since Man in his fall would lean to his own understanding against God 't is fit that in his Recovery the highest powers of his Soul his Understanding and Will should be subjected to him in an intire Resignation Now whereas Knowledge seems to have a power over its Object Faith is a full submission to that which is the Object of it Since Man intended a glorying in himself the Evangelical Covenant directs its whole battery against it that Men may glory in nothing but Divine Goodness †1 Cor. 1.29 30 31. Had Man perform'd exact Obedience by his own Strength he had had something in himself as the Matter of his Glory And though after the fall Grace had made it self illustrious in setting him up upon a new Stock yet had the same Condition of exact Obedience been setled in the same manner Man would have had something to glory in which is strook off wholly by Faith whereby Man in every act must go out of himself for a supply to that Mediator which Divine Goodness and Grace hath appointed 2. 'T is necessary for the happiness of Man That can be no contenting Condition wherein the will of Man doth not concur He that is forced to the most delicious Diet or to wear the bravest Apparel or to be stor'd with abundance of Treasure cannot be happy in those things without an esteem of them
evident in encouraging any thing of Moral Goodness in the World Though Moral Goodness cannot claim an Eternal Reward yet it hath been many times rewarded with a Temporal Happiness He hath often signally rewarded acts of honesty justice and fidelity and punisht the contrary by his Judgments to deter Man from such an unworthy practice and encourage others to what was Comely and of a general good report in the World Ahab's humiliation put a demurrer to Gods Judgments intended against him and some ascribe the great Victories and success of the Romans to that justice which was observed among themselves Baruch was but an Amanuensis to the Prophet Jeremy to write his Prophesy and very despondent of his own welfare * Jer. 45.13 God upon that account provides for his safety and rewards the industry of his service with the security of his Person He was not a States-Man to declare against the corrupt Counsels of them that sat at the Helm nor a Prophet to declare against their prophane practices but the Prophets Scribe and as he writes in Gods service the Prophesies revealed to the Prophet God writes his name in the Roll of those that were design'd for preservation in that deluge of Judgments which were to come upon that Nation Epicurus complain'd of the administration of God that the Vertuous Moralist had not sufficient smiles of Divine Favour nor the Swinish Sensualist frowns of Divine Indignation But what if they have not always that confluence of outward Wealth and Pleasures but remain in the common level Yet they have the happiness and satisfaction of a clear Reputation the esteem of Men and the secret applauses of their very Enemies besides the inward ravishments upon an exercise of Vertue and the commendatory subscription of their own hearts a dainty the Vicious Man knows not of They have an inward applause from God as a Reward of Divine Goodness instead of those Racks of Conscience upon which the Prophane are sometimes stretch'd He will not let the worst Men do him any service though they never intended in the act of service him but themselves without giving them their Wages He will not let them hit him in the teeth as if he were beholding to them If Nebuchadnezzar be the instrument of Gods Judgments against Tyrus and Israel he will not only give him that rich City but a richer Country Egypt the granary for her Neighbours a wages above his work In this is Divine Goodness eminent since in the most Moral actions as there is something beautiful so there is something mixt hateful to the infinitely exact Holiness of the Divine Nature yet he will not let that which is pleasing to him go unrewarded and defeat the expectations of Men as Men do with those they employ when for one flaw in an action they deny them the reward due for the other part God encourag'd and kept up Morality in the Cities of the Gentiles for the entertainment of a further goodness in the Doctrine of the Gospel when it should be publisht among them 4. Divine Goodness is eminent in providing a Scripture as a Rule to guide us and continuing it in the World If Man be a Rational Creature governable by a Law can it be imagin'd there should be no revelation of that Law to him Man by the light of Reason must needs confess himself to be in another condition than he was by Creation when he came first out of the hands of God and can it be thought that God should keep up the World under so many Sins against the light of Nature and bestow so many providential influences to invite Men to return to him and acquaint no Men in the World with the means of that return Would he exact an Obedience of Men as their Consciencies witness he doth and furnish them with no Rules to guide them in the darkness they cannot but acknowledge that they have contracted No Divine Goodness hath otherwise provided This Bible we have is his Word and Rule Had it been a falsity and imposture would that Goodness that watches over the World have continued it so long That Goodness that overthrew the burdensom Rites of Moses and expell'd the foolish Idolatry of the Pagans would have discover'd the imposture of this had it not been a transcript of his own Will Whatever mistakes he suffers to remain in the World what goodness had there been to suffer this anciently amongst the Jews and afterwards to open it to the whole World to abuse Men in Religion and Worship which so nearly concern'd himself and his own Honour that the World should be deceiv'd by the Devil without a remedy in the morning of its appearance It hath been honour'd and admir'd by some Heathens when they have cast their Eyes upon it and their natural Light made them behold some footsteps of a Divinity in it If this therefore be not a Divine Praescript let any that deny it bring as good Arguments for any Book else as can be brought for this Now the publishing this is an argument of Divine Goodness 'T is design'd to win the affections of beggarly Man to be espous'd to a God of Eternal Blessedness and immense Riches It speaks words in season No doubts but it resolves No Spiritual Distemper but it Cures No Condition but it hath a Comfort to suit it 'T is a Garden which the hand of Divine Bounty hath planted for us In it he condescends to shadow himself in those Expressions that render him in some manner intelligible to us Had God wrote in a loftiness of Style sutable to the greatness of his Majesty his Writing had been as little understood by us as the brightness of his Glory can be beheld by us But he draws Phrases from our affairs to express his mind to us He incarnates himself in his Word to our Minds before his Son was incarnate in the Flesh to the Eyes of Men He ascribes to himself Eyes Ears Hands that we might have from the consideration of our selves and the whole Humane Nature a conception of his Perfections He assumes to himself the Members of our Bodies to direct our Understandings in the knowledge of his Deity This is his Goodness Again Though the Scripture was written upon several occasions yet in the dictating of it the Goodness of God cast his Eye upon the last Ages of the World * 1 Cor. 10 11. They are written for our admonition upon whom the endâ— of the World are come It was given to the Israelites but Divine Goodness intended it for the future Gentiles The old Writings of the Prophets were thus design'd much more the later Writings of the Apostles Thus did Divine Goodness think of us and prepare his Records for us before we were in the World These he hath written plain for our instruction and wrapt up in them what is necessary for our Salvation 'T is clear to inform our Understanding and rich to comfort us in our Misery 'T is a Light
and from every Creature to the great Landlord since all are Tenants and hold by him at his Will Every Creature in Heaven and Earth under the Earth and in the Sea were heard by John to ascribe blessing honour glory and power to him that sits on the Throne Rev. 5.13 We are as much bound to the soveraignty of God for his preâ—â—rvation of us as for his Creation of us We are no less oblig'd to him that preservs our beings when exposed to dangers than we are for bestowing a being upon us when we were not capable of danger Thankfulness is due to this Soveraign for publick concerns Hath he not preserved the Ship of his Church in the midst of whistling winds and roaring waves in the midst of the combats of men and Devils and rescued it often when it hath been near ship-wrackt 3. How should we be induc'd from hence to promote the honour of this Soveraign We should advance him as supream and all our actions should concur in his honour We should return to his Glory what we have receiv'd from his Soveraignty and enjoy by his mercy He that is the superior of all ought to be the end of all This is the harmony of the Creation that which is of an inferiour nature is order'd to the service of that which is of a more excellent nature thus water and earth that have a lower being are employ'd for the honour and beauty of the plants of the earth who are more excellent in having a principle of a growing life These plants are again subservient to the beasts and birds which exceed them in a principle of sense which the others want Those beasts and birds are order'd for the good of man who is superior to them in a Principle of reason and is invested with a Dominion over them Man having God for his superior ought as much to serve the glory of God as other things are design'd to be useful to man Other Governments are intended for the good of the Community the chief end is not the good of the Governours themselves But God being every way Soveraign the Soveraign being giving being to all things the Soveraign Ruler giving order and preservation to all things is also the end of all things to whose glory and honour all things all creatures are to be subservient Rom. 11.36 For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Of him as the efficient cause through him as the preserving cause to him as the final cause All our actions and thoughts ought to be addrest to his glory our whole beings ought to be consecrated to his honour though we should have no reward but the honour of having been subservient to the end of our Creation So much doth the excellency and Majesty of God infinitely elevated above us challenge of us Subjects use to value the safety honour and satisfaction of a good Prince above their own David is accounted worth 10000 of the people and some of his Courtiers thought themselves oblig'd to venture their lives for his satisfaction in so mean a thing as a little water from the Well of Bethlehem Doth not so great so good a Soveraign as God deserve the same affection from us Do we swear saith a Heathen * Arrian in Epicter to prefer none before Caesar and have we not greater reason to prefer none before God 'T is a Justice due from us to God to maintain his Glory as it is a Justice to preserve the right and property of another As God would lay aside his Deity if he did deny himself so a creature acts irregularly and out of the rank of a creature if it doth not deny it self for God He that makes himself his own end makes himself his own Soveraign To napkin up a gift he hath bestow'd upon us or to employ what we possess solely to our own Glory to use any thing barely for our selves without respect to God is to apply it to a wrong use and to injure God in his propriety and the end of his donation What we have ought to be us'd for the honour of God He retains the Dominion and Lordship though he grants us the use We are but Stewards not Proprietors in regard of God who expects an account from us how we have employ'd his goods to his honour The Kingdom of God is to be advanced by us we are to pray that his Kingdom may come we are to endeavour that his Kingdom may come that is that God may be known to be the chief Soveraign that his Dominion which was obscur'd by Adam's fall may be more manifested that his Subjects which are supprest in the World may be supported his Laws which are violated by the rebellions of men may be more obeyed and his enemies be fully subdued by his final judgment the last evidence of his Dominion in this State of the World that the Empire of sin and the Devil may be abolish'd and the Kingdom of God be perfected that none may rule but the great and rightful Soveraign Thus while we endeavour to advance the honour of his Throne we shall not want an honour to our selves He is too gracious a Soveraign to neglect them that are mindful of his Glory those that honour him he will honour 1 Sam. 2.30 4. Fear and reverence of God in himself and in his actions is a duty incumbent on us from this Doctrine Jer. 10.7 Who would not fear thee O King of Nations The ingratitude of the World is taxt in not reverencing God as a great King who had given so many marks of his Royal Government among them The Prophet wonders there was no fear of so great a King in the World Since among all the wise men of the Nations and among all their Kings there is none like unto this No more reverence of him since none ruled so wisely nor any ruled so graciously The dominion of God is one of the first sparks that gives fire to Religion and Worship consider'd with the goodness of this Soveraign Psal 22.27.28 All the Nations shall worship before thee for the Kingdom is the Lord's and he is Governour among the Nations Epicurus who thought God careless of humane affairs leaving thâ—â— at hap-hazard to the conduct of mens wisdom and mutability of fortune yet acknowledged that God ought to be worshipped by man for the excellency of his nature and greatness of his Majesty How should we reverence that God that hath a Throne encompast with such Glorious Creatures as Angels whose faces we are not able to behold though shadow'd in assum'd bodies How should we fear the Lord of Hosts that hath so many Armies at his command in the Heavens above and in the Earth below whom he can dispose to the exact obedience of his will how should men be afraid to censure any of his actions to sit judge of their Judge and call him to an account to their Bar How should such
interest of the rest of the World that they should have been extinguisht for the instruction of their contemporaries and posterity The best of them had turned all Religion into a fable coyn'd a World of rites some unnatural in themselves and most of them unbecoming a rational creature to offer and a Deity to accept Yet he did not presently arm himself against them with Fire and Sword nor stopt the course of their Generations nor tare out all those reliques of natural light which were left in their minds He did not do what he might have done but he winkt at the times of that ignorance Act. 17.30 their ignorant Idolatry for that it referrs to ver 29. They thought the God-head was like to Gold or Silver or stone graven by Art and mens device 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 overlooking them He demean'd himself so as if he did not take notice of them He winkt as if he did not see them and would not deal so severely with them the eye of his Justice seem'd to wink in not calling them to an account for their sin 3. His slowness to anger is manifest to the Israelites You know how often they are call'd a stiff-necked people they are said to do evil from their youth i. e. from the time wherein they were erected a Nation and Common-wealth and that the City had been a provocation of his anger and of his fury from the day that they built it even to this day i. e. the day of Jeremiah's Prophesie that he should remove it from before his face Jer. 32.31 From the dayes of Solomon say some which is too much a curtailing of the Text as though their provocations had taken date no higher than from the time of Solomon's rearing the Temple and beautifying the City whereby it seem'd to be a new Building They began more early they scarce discontinued their revolting from God they were a grief to him 40 years together in the Wilderness Psal 95.10 Yet he suffer'd their manners Act. 13.18 He bore with their ill behaviour and sawcyness towards him And no sooner was Joshua's head laid and the Elders that were their conductors gathered to their fathers but the next Generation forsook God and smutted themselves with the Idolatry of the Nations Judg. 2.7.10 11. And when he punished them by prospering the Arms of their enemies against them they were no sooner delivered upon their cry and humiliation but they began a new Scene of Idolatry And though he brought upon them the power of the Babylonian Empire and laid chains upon them to bring them to their right mind And at 70 years end he struck off their chains by altering the whole posture of affairs in that part of the World for their sakes Overturning one Empire and settling another for their Restoration to their antient City And though they did not after disown him for their God and set up Baal in his Throne yet they multiplyed foolish traditions whereby they impaired the Authority of the Law yet he sustained them with a wonderful Patience and preferred them before all other people in the first offers of the Gospel And after they had outrag'd not only his servants the Prophets but his Son the Redeemer yet he did not forsake them but employed his Apostles to sollicit them and publish among them the Doctrine of Salvation So that his treating this people might well be call'd much long suffering it being above 1500 years wherein he bore with them or mildly punished them far less than their deserts Their coming out of Egypt being about the year of the World 2450 and their final destruction as a Common-wealth not till about 40 years after the death of Christ And all this while his Patience did sometimes wholly restrain his Justice and sometimes let it fall upon them in some few drops but made no total devastation of their Country nor wrote his revenge in extraordinary bloody Characters till the Roman conquest wherein he put a period to them both as a Church and State In particular this Patience is manifest 1. In his giving warnings of Judgments before he orders them to go forth He doth not punish in a passion and hastily He speakes before he strikes and speakes that he may not strike Wrath is publisht before it is executed and that a long time An 120 years Advertisement was given to a debauch'd World before the Heavens were open'd to spout down a deluge upon them He will not be accused of coming unawares upon a people He inflicts nothing but what he foretold either immediately to the people that provoke him or anciently to them that have been their fore-runners in the same provocation Hos 7.12 I will chastise them as their Congregation hath heard Many of the leaves of the Old Testament are full of those Presages and Warnings of approaching judgment These make up a great part of the Volume of it in various Editions according to the State of the several provoking times Warnings are given to those people that are most abominable in his sight Zeph. 2.1 2. Gather your selves together yea gather together Oh Nation not desired 't is a Meiosis Oh Nation abhorr'd before the decree bring forth He sends his Heralds before he sends his Armies He summons them by the voice of his Prophets before he confounds them by the voice of his Thunders When a parley is beaten a white flagg of Peace is hung out before a black flagg of fury is set up He seldom cuts down men by his Judgments before he hath hewed them by his Prophets Hos 6.5 Not a remarkable judgment but was foretold the Floud to the Old World by Noah The Famine to Egypt by Joseph The Earthquake by Amos. Amos 1.1 The storm from Chaldea by Jeremy The Captivity of the Ten Tribes by Hosea The total destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Christ himself He hath chosen the best persons in the World to give those intimations Noah the most Righteous person on the earth for the Old World And his Son the most beloved person in Heaven for the Jews in the later time And in other parts of the World and in the later times where he hath not warned by Prophets he hath supplyed it by Prodigies in the Air and Earth Histories are full of such Items from Heaven Lesser judgments are fore-warners of greater as Lightnings before Thunder are Messengers to tell us of a succeeding clap 1. He doth often give warning of Judgments He comes not to extremity till he hath often shaken the rod over Men He thunders often before he crusheth them with his Thunder-bolt He doth not till after the first and second admonition punish a rebel as he would have us reject a Heretick He speaks once yea twice Job 33.14 and man percieves it not He sends one Message after another and waits the success of many messages before he strikes Eight Prophets were order'd to acquaint the Old World with approaching judgment 2 Pet. 2.5 He saved
effect of Divine Revelation He only knows himself and can only make himself known to us It could not be supposed that an infinite God should have no perfections but what were visible in the works of his hands and that these perfections should not be infinitely greater than as they were sensible in their present effects This had been to apprehend God a limited Being meaner than he is Now 't is impossible to honour God as we ought unless we know him as he is and we could not know him as he is without divine revelation from himself for none but God can acquaint us with his own nature And therefore the nations void of this conduct heapt up modes of worship from their own imaginations unworthy of the Majesty of God and below the nature of man A rational man would scarce have owned such for signs of honour as the Scripture mentions in the services of Baal and Dagon Much less an infinitely wise and glorious God And when God had signified his mind to his own people how unwilling were they to rest satisfied with Gods determination but would be warping to their own inventions and make Gods and wayes of worship to themselves * Amos 5.26 As in the matter of the Golden Calf as was lately spoken of 2. Tho the outward manner of worship acceptable to God could not be known without revelation and those revelations might be various yet the inward manner of worship with our Spirits was manifest by nature And not only manifest by nature to Adam in Innocence but after his fall and the scales he had brought upon his understanding by that fall When God gave him his positive institutions before the fall or whatsoever additions God should have made had he persisted in that state or when he appointed him after his fall to testifie his acknowledgment of him by Sacrifices there needed no Command to him to make those acknowledgments by those outward wayes prescribed to him with the intention and prime affection of his Spirit This nature would instruct him in without revelation For he could not possibly have any semblance of reason to think that the offering of beasts or the presenting the first fruits of the increase of the ground as an acknowledgment of Gods Soveraignty over him and his bounty to him was sufficient without devoting to him that part wherein the Image of his Creator did consist He could not but discerne by a reflection upon his own being that he was made for God as well as by God For it is a natural principle of which the Apostle speaks Rom. 11.36 For of him and through him and to him are all things c. That the whole whereof he did consist was due to God and that his Body the dreggy and dusty part of his nature was not fit to be brought alone before God without that nobler principle which he had by Creation linkt with it Nothing in the whole law of nature as it is informed of Religion was clearer next to the being of God than this manner of worshipping God with the mind and Spirit And as the Gentiles never sunk so low into the mud of Idolatry as to think the Images they worshipped were really their Gods but the representations or habitations of their Gods so they never deserted this principle in the Notion of it that God was to be honoured with the best they were and the best they had As they never denyed the being of a God in the Notion tho they did in the practise so they never rejected this principle in Notion tho they did and now most men do in the inward observation of it It was a maxime among them that God was mens animus mind and Spirit and therefore was to be honoured with the mind and Spirit That religion did not consist in the Ceremonies of the body but the work of the Soul Whence the speech of one of them * Menander Grot. de veritat relig lib. 4. § 12. Sacrifice to the Gods not so much clothed with purple garments as a pure heart And of another God regards not the multitude of the Sacrifices but the disposition of the Sacrificer T is not fit we should deny God the Cream and Flower * Jamblick and give him the flotten part and the stalks And with what Reverence and intention of mind they thought their worship was to be performed is evident by the Priests crying out often hoc age Mind this let your Spirits be intent upon it This could not but result 1. From the knowledge of our selves T is a natural principle God hath made us and not we our selves Psal 100.1 2. Man knows himself to be a rational Creature As a Creature he was to serve his Creator and as a rational Creature with the best part of that rational nature he derived from him By the same act of reason that he knows himself to be a Creature he knows himself to have a Creator That this Creator is more excellent than himself and that an honour is due from him to the Creator for framing of him and therefore this honour was to be offered to him by the most excellent part which was framed by him Man cannot consider himself as a thinking understanding being but he must know that he must give God the honour of his thoughts and worship him with those faculties whereby he Thinks Wills and Acts. * Amiraut Mor. Tom. 1. pa. 309. 310. He must know his faculties were given him to act and to act for the glory of that God who gave him his Soul and the faculties of it and he could not in reason think they must be only active in his own service and the service of the Creature and idle and unprofitable in the service of his Creator With the same Powers of our Soul whereby we contemplate God we must also worship God We cannot think of him but with our Minds nor love him but with our Will and we cannot worship him without the acts of thinking and loving and therefore cannot worship him without the exercise of our inward faculties How is it possible then for any man that knows his own nature to think that extended hands bended knees and lifted up eyes were sufficient acts of worship without a quickned and active Spirit 2 From the knowledge of God As there was a knowledge of God by nature so the same nature did dictate to Man that God was to be glorified as God The Apostle implies the inference in the charge he brings against them for neglecting it We should speak of God as he is said one * Bias. Rom. 1.21 and the same reason would inform them that they were to act towards God as he is The excellency of the Object required a worship according to the dignity of his Nature which could not be answered but by the most serious inward affection as well as outward decency and a want of this cannot but be judged to be unbecoming