Joh. 1. 4. 2. The life of grace and it is God alone that quickens men that are dead in trespasses and sins to live the life of godliness Eph. 2. 1. 3. The life of comfort Sorrow is called death Psa 116. 8. Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears c. What is the eternal death of the damned but eternal sorrow sorrow is called the vale of death Now it is the Lord that speaks peace and creates joy to disconsolate spirits Vita nihil aliud est quam actio cum delectatione as some define it and what is the life of Angels and Saints but unspeakable and endless joy in God 4. Resurrection of dead men to life God onely by his almighty power can command the graves to yeild up their dead and make each soul to possess its own body after a long divorce made by death God alone brings these two old friends together which at first were loth to part and then shall never part again but shall then live with God for ever or else dye a living death with Devils in Hell 5. A life of glory which he alone gives to all the godly Christ saith of his sheep Joh. 10. 28. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish CHAP. III. Of the Properties of the life of God with reasons to prove him to be a living God NOw I shall explicate Gods life further in the properties of it 1. It is a most perfect and blessed life because there is nothing wanting to make his life most perfect he living of himself independing 2. It is an immutable life there is no change nor alteration of his life man is up and down sometimes brought as low as death anon revived and walks again in the land of the living Gods life is always the most happy glorious and delightsom life 3. It is an immortal and eternal life it hath no beginning neither is it capable of dying God cannot cease to be Now I shall prove that God is a living God by Scripture and Reason For Scripture read Deut. 32. 40. I lift up my hand to heaven and say I live for ever This lifting up the hand was either a sign of swearing or a gesture used by such as took an oath Gen. 14. 22. as Abram said to the King of Sodom I have lifted up my hand to the Lord the most high God the possessor of heaven and earth Sometimes it was a sign to make the hearers more attentive Thus saith the Lord Behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles and set up my standard to the people c. Isa 49. 22. Both ways it may be taken here though in the former properly for there Moses brings in God swearing I say I live for ever God speaks like a living God I say saith God None but he can say so Should creatures be so impudent as to say I say I live God will make them appear to be but dead dogs God saith I live for ever admit creatures may say we live yet herein is the living God discerned I live for ever Before the world was I lived and when the world shall have an end I live Psal 42. 2. David calls him the living God Now the Reasons of it are these Reas 1. Because whatsoever is a perfection in the creature is most eminent in God Of all natural perfection life is the principal it is better then beauty strength wisdom nothing is more dear then life Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life A living Dog is better then a dead Lion Eccles 9. 4. One living Souldier is better then an huge Army of dead Souldiers a living beggar is better then a rich Nobleman Now if life be such a perfection then surely God is living and his life is most perfect and most eminent If God were a dead God he should want the greatest perfection then many living creatures would be better then God himself he is no God if he be not a living God Reas 2. From the actions of God we may evidently argue him to be a living God he knows all things he wills all things he makes all things he is a God that heareth our prayers and granteth the very desires of our hearts giveth the very things we beg which he could not do were he not a living God What makes him the onely true God but because he is a living God The false gods the Idolls the vanities of the Gentiles have eyes and see not ears and hear not hands and work not Baal could not hear his Priests crying aloud to him O Baal hear us therefore they are no gods But God hath eyes to see all things yea the secrets of mens hearts ears to hear the desires and groans of the poor and dictressed therefore he only is the true and living God Reas 3. All our life is from him therefore he is a living God therefore Christ is called The author of life Acts 3. With thee is the fountain of life Psal 36. 9. Life natural spiritual eternal is from God as the fountain therefore he is called life not onely because he is life essentialitèr essentially but also effectivè effectually And by the Platonists he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The soul of the world he quickens and governs the whole world and hath all the lives of his creatures in his hands I kill I make alive I save I destroy Deut. 32. 39. CHAP. IV. Of the Immortality of God NOw because the Immortality of God though it be a distinct Attribute falls under and in with the life of God I will annex a brief discourse of the nature of it and so make application of the life and immortallity of God together God is a living God and this life of God is not subject to death wherefore he is called immortal Now I shall give a brief description of Gods Immortality It is that perfection of God Desâ—r whereby his life cannot be separated from him by death God cannot cease to live God cannot dye 1 Tim. 1. 16. The Reasons of it are these Reas 1. Because God is most simple void of all composition of body and soul or a principle of life and life it self being the same in God his own essence is his life Only things which are compounded are subject to dissolution Man being compounded of soul and body is obnoxious to a separation by death where there is no union there is no separation where there can be no separation of parts there can be no death or mortality Quest But are not Angels and the souls of men immortal who are not subject to death therefore not God onely Sol. 1. It is true Angels and the souls of men are immortal but they are subject to annihilation which God is not Angels and souls of men may cease to be but God cannot cease to be 2. Angels and the Souls of men are immortal dependently God conserveth them in
yet the living God can breath the spirit of life upon them and make a dead sinner become a living soul to God a dead drunkard and a dead worldling buried under a dunghil become a living soul to God t is no superstition for you that live the life of God to pray for such dead for a living husband to pray for his dead wife a living father to pray for his dead children so when God shall bring a Minister as he did the Prophet Ezekiel into a valley of dead bones of dead sinners and say unto him Prophecy O ye dead sinners hear ye the word of the Lord and while we are prophecying God should cause the breath of life bones and sinews to come upon these dry bones should we then despair of the quickening of any dead soul we are to mourn over the dead but not as men without hope of their better and more glorious life and condition the living God can yet make them live the life of God we should do therefore for sinful men as David did for his sick Child while it was living he humbled his soul laid on the ground fasted and praied for the childs recovery while there was hope he would not give over praying so while there is hope of a mans resurrection from death to life of his conversion from sin to God be not wanting in all means for in so doing you may save a soul This likewise may teach the godly in all their dead and dull tempers of heart whether to go for life and motion sc to the living God in whom as all naturally live move and have their being so the Saints in him have their spiritual being life and motion Thus David prayeth nine times in Psa 119. that God would quicken him as who should say my heart is dead my prayers are dead and lazy I have no heart to any good but thou who art the living God canst quicken me and revive me and enlarge my heart and make me to run the way of thy commandments Therefore in all your deadest frames be more frequent in prayer do not give over because thou findest not thy heart so fervent It is reported of that holy Martyr Mr. Bradford that when he went about any duty he would never give over till he found some reviving from God if he confessed his sins he would confess till he found his heart melting and mourning if he prayed for pardon he would still beg for pardon till he found his heart somewhat eased of his sins in praying for grace he would never give over till he found his heart warmed in prayer go then and do likewise in all thy dead frames importune the living God till he doth revive thy spirit Vse 5. This should comfort the godly against the fear of death and the forerunners of death ye are for the present the Sons of the living God ye are come to the City of the living God what need you to fear to dye seeing God will give you life eternal ye are the living stones of the Temple of the living God and he can raise your dead bodies when mouldered into dust and make both soul and body live gloriously and eternally when a godly man dieth eternal life swalloweth him up did ever man fear to go to bed to put on better apparel shall we be afraid to die to put on glory immortality and eternal life Vse 6. Take heed of sinning against God because he liveth to take vengeance upon stubborn Rebels he is a living God and takes exact notice what sinners do and lives for ever to torment the wicked to eternity The wicked need not fear eternal death if they did sin against a dead God but God who is life eternal will doom them to eternal death Vse 7. Here see the folly of Apostates in departing from a living God to embrace dead creatures that forsake the fountain of living waters and run to a pool that one warm day will dry up as Mephibosheth said to David proferring him kindness for Jonathan his fathers sake What is thy servant that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am So do creatures say to Apostates What are we thy servants that that thou shouldest take thy heart and eye from off a living God and look upon such dead dogs as honours riches and preferments are or rather speak to them as David to Saul 1 Sam. 24. 14. after whom is the King of Israel come out aâ—ter whom dost thou pursue after a dead dog after a flea dost thou pursue after a vile and base creature and cast off a most blessed God the fountain of all glory and happiness O ye Apostates seeing you forsake a living God ye shall die the death God liveth for ever to see sore execution done upon you this shall be your dying life in Hell to bemoan your departure from the living God CHAP. VI. Vses drawn from Gods Immortality IS God an immortal God then Vse 1. hence behold the infinite love of Christ who being immortal yet would become subject to death an immortal God become a mortal man for our salvation Rom. 5. 8. 2 Seeing God is immortal hence we may see what a beam of divine perfection we lost by the fall of Adam we were made immortal but our sin makes us mortal and liable to all mortal and sore diseases we lose a double immortality because of sin the immortality of our bodies and which is worse in some sense we lose the immortality of our souls Sin brings eternal death will ye still go in sin hath it not done enough to you in making you obnoxious to death but will ye bring upon you the eternal death of your immortal souls 3. This likewise should allay the fears of death in us God being immortal we also shall be immortal these mortal bodies shall put on immortality 4. See that ye fear God more then men the wrath of God more then the rage of men because man is but mortal and their rage and fury is but mortal when their breath goeth forth their rage ceaseth but as God is immortal so is his wrath an immortal wrath as he will never cease to be so the fire of his wrath shall never be quenched FINIS
light and darkness create good and evil Again our own souls are notable instances We see one and the same soul worketh diversly as to will and not will it perceiveth various things it understandeth divers things it move's the body from place to place it resteth the body If one creature can produce various and divers things then much more God we may as well argue that there are two contrary souls in man as argue there be two Gods from diverse operations and effects There is no summè malum principium Arg. 2. as there is summè bonum because God who is summè bonus good in the highest manner can and doth disperse order and govern the greatest evil according as he will for either it is Sin that is summè malum or the Devil now both Sin and Devils are all subject to Gods government which would not be if there were a summè malum principium as there is summè bonum because then there would be an equal power in both that the chiefest evil would never endure the chiefest good but would strongly oppose it CHAP. IV. IT is needlesse for me to confute Vse 1. the Heathens who worshipped many Gods in heaven and earth most kind of creatures were Gods to some nation or other I know there are no such persons here among us we are Christians and all say I believe in God so we profess but one God It were needlesse for me any further to confute the old heresie of the Manichees which heresie St. Augustine Aug. in Haeres c. 1. 7 8. c. 6 22. 46. held before his conversion because I believe there are none here that hold that wretched Tenet There are other Heretiques called Tritheitae who held there were three Gods and that upon this ground because there were three Persons and each person is very God this errour ariseth from the ignorance of this in that they consider not that though the three Persons are truly distinct yet are they but one and the self same glorious Being and Essence I hope there is none that heareth me that thinketh the three persons in holy Trinity to be three gods really distinct Now because the Heathen have worshipped many gods and because mâ—ny errours have sprung from thence I will draw these useful Considerations from the Premises 1. We may see in them the most horrible pollution of nature by the fall of Adam the strong and strange pronenesse of mans heart naturally to idolatry and to make many Gods How can we but wonder to consider how reasonable Man should be so besotted blinded and stupefied as to fall down before stocks and stones beasts and clouts and worship them for gods Hence God compareth them to Oxen and Asses yea makes them more brutish Isa 1. 3. 2. We may see hence the full necessity of having the holy Scriptures which are Gods own Testimony of himself as he is and how many gods there are or rather that there is but one God the onely living and true God Then what a mercy is it to have the scriptures read and diligently preached among us Why did the Gentiles like blind Sodomites go feeling and groping after God as they for Lot's door if haply they might find him and therefore took creature 's for God but because they had not the light of the Word to discover the one glorious God to them So how comes it to passe that Papists are kept under spiritual darknesse and in an idolatrous worship this is one reason because they are kept from reading the Scriptures in the mother-tongue The Psalmist makes the word of God to be the greatest blessing Psal 147. 19. 20. He sheweth his word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any nation and as for his Judgments they have not known them 3. Take heed of foolish reasonings about the Godhead I mean about the Unity of the Godhead and of thy foolish conceits how three persons can be but one God these foolish reasonings were the ground of the heresie of the Tritheites as How can three persons being very God make one God The best answer unto all such thoughts about the unity of the Godhead is to hold to the holy Scriptures God in his word hath given this testimony that there is but one God I will believe no more Gods because God hath said There is but one God I will acknowledg no more His own testimony is the very ground why I will believe and acknowledg but one God Take this for a rule when once a man departs from the word of God he exposeth himself to an hundred errors What the German Proverb is concerning a Lie is true of all errors Nothing is more fruitful one error begetteth another CHAP. V. FRom hence I gather that Christ Use 2. is God equâ—l with the Father contrary to the Arrians of old and Socinians of late who maintain that Christ is God but yet diverse and not of the same substance with the Father for Christ must either be the same with the Father or else there must of necessity be more Gods then one Now if Christ be God and diverse from the Father then the Father and the Son be two real distinct Gods which is blasphemously false 'T is true what learned Zanchy saith A man makes Zanch. de trib Elohim more Gods intra Deum as well as extra Deum Intra Deum as the Arrians and Photinians of old and the Socinians unto this day If there be but one God and we acknowledge Use 3. but one God then as God is to have all worship so only God is to be worshipped Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Matt. 4. 10. There is the Act that is to give Divine worship unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae quantum ad religionem attinet non nisi uni et soli Deo debetur Isidor lib. 11. Aug. cont Faust Manic lib. 20. God and the object is both exclusive and inclusive God must be worshipped and served and no other but he only A place if well weighed that would scatter all Popish shifting distinctions concerning Divine Worship given to Creatures as to Angels Saints and Images as the common distinctions of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Creature and to this may be added their hyperdulia to the Virgin Mary But we find that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are promiscuously used for service to God and the creature therefore it is a meer verbal distinction because they signifie one and the same No distinction will excuse the Papists from Idolatry and as they give Divine worship to others rather then to God they make moe Gods then one Their own praiers put up to the Virgin Mary testify against them that they make her a God praying to her for grace and mercy yea their putting up
Here God gives a reason why he is a God afar off as well as at hand and seeth what men do in every secret place because he fills Heaven and earth he is in all places CHAP. II. HEnce I Note That God is every-where Observ present This point I will first prove by Scripture Psal 139. from 7. to the 13. verse In the foregoing verse he sheweth how God knew his down-sitting and up-rising and all his thoughts all his words all his actions not a thought word or action but God knew them altogether God besets us behind before on each side he compasseth us about therefore he seeth all Whither shall I go from thy Spirit that is from Gods knowledge and understanding of his wayes If I ascend into Heaven thou art there that is the place of thy special residence If I make my Bed in Hell Hell is taken for the Grave If I should be buried as deep as the centre of the earth behold there thou art Ver. 3. If I take the mings of the Morning He alludes to the swift spreading of the light of the Sun which at day-break in a moment spreads from East to West If I should in a moment flie from one part of the World to another yet I could not flie from thy presence If men think the darkness shall cover them the Night shineth as the day darkness and light are both alike Thou hast possessed my reins Thou canst not flie away from God God hath possession of thee God is more present to thee than thy own soul is Though they dig into Hell thence shall mine hand take them though they climb up to Heaven thence will I bring them down and though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel I will search and take them out thence and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the Sea c. Amâ—s 9. 2 3. It sheweth there is no escaping of Gods judgment when he comes forthtvisit the iniquities of rebellious persons God is said not to be far from every one of us for in him we live and move and have our being In him Tanquam domicilio nos capiente undique ambiente God is thorough and thorough every one of us we are in him and he in us Acts 17. 27 28. The World is in God as a little Sponge in the vâ—st Sea the Ocean compasseth it round about and doth penetrate every part of the Sponge or as a little Glass in the light of the Sun the light is within it and without it pierceth thorow every part of it and 't is diffused round about it Thus God is within every creature is more present to the creature than the creature is to it self he is within thy spirit thy soul and each particle of every thing thy soul is more present to thee than thy body God is more present to thee than thine own soul CHAP. III. IN the handling of this Attribute I will shew what Gods Omnipresence is in divers particulars then answer some Objections or Questions and so make use of the point A thing is said to be in place three wayes 1. Circumscriptivè so all bodies are in place circumscribed with local terms so limâ—teâ— in this place as they cannot be in another place at the same time one part of the body is beyond another and each part hath its cerâ—ain dimensions 2. Definitivâ— so Angels are in place who have not one parâ— of their being beyond another as bodies have â— but in respect of their being operation are in this oâ— that place as they cannot be at the same time in another place 3. Replâ—tivâ—â— filling every place oâ— possessing all places real and imaginary yeâ— beyond all imaginary places So God is in place filling Heaven â—â—â—th Hell all imaginary places and beyond all imaginary places Take these Propositions 1. God is in all places at once bodieâ— Pâ—op 1. may remove from place to place Angels may remove from place to place from Heaven to Earth from Earth to Heaven again from this place to another place but God is in all places at once he fills Heaven and Earth and Hell at once and is immoveable he doth not move from place to place Wicked men may run from one part of the world to the other climb up to Heaven hide themselves in the bottom of the Sea but cannot go from him God is in all these places at once 2. God is wholly everywhere Prop. 2. whole God is in Heaven whole God in earth when we say God is every-where we must not conceive that part of God is here and part of God in another place part in Heaven part in earth part in every creature but all God or whole God is in Heaven is in earth is everywhere neither must we conceive that God is more in this place more in that place a greater part of God in the greater part of the World and a lesser part of God in the lesser part of the World but as the Philosophers say of the Soul of man that it is tota in toto tota in qualibeâ— parte it is all in all and all in every part so whole God is in Heaven and in earth and whole God is in every part he is totaliter totus in every place 3. Though God â—e every where and Prop. 3. in every creature yet God is not part of the creatuâ—e nor is he defiled with the filthy creatures though God be present totâ—e wicked and in the wicked yâ—t not defiled with them but God subsisteth in hâ—s glorious purity separated from all God is conjunctâ— ssimuâ— remotissimus praesentissimus segregatissimus He is most near as a man cannot be nearer to himself than God is to him yet God is infinitely remote from the creature in respect of defilement from them and being part of them CHAP. IV. AGain God is present three wayes 1. Per Potentiam by his Power upholding governing preserving all things In him we live move and have our being â—eâ—ause he is present he gives life to eveâ—y living thing motion to every moving thing and preseâ—veth every thing in their being God worketh everywhere having all creatures in subjection to him 2. God is everywhere per inspectionem in respect of his knowledge All things are naked and bare before him God beholdeth all things actions persons thoughts speeches gestures yea every creature at all times everywhere by one single view and not one thing after another successively as we do He beholdeth all things thy secret thoughts and intents thy hidden purposes and the nâ—mble and quâ—ck motions of thy heart are as clear and nâ—ked and visible to God as the Moon in the clear Sky is to our eyes and far more manifest and open to him 3. God is everywhere present per Essentiam by his Essâ—nce His Essence fills Heaven and Earth he is essentially present to every Creature and in every Creature The two former wayes may be without
made good what evil he hath threatned to bring upon the impenitently wicked all shall come to pass Balaam said God is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent Numb 23. 19. God is not a man that he should lie that is promise and not perform falsifie or go back from his word threaten and not put his threatnings in execution 5. God is immutable in all his Affections in his Love in his Hatred Whom he loveth he loveth to the end he loveth his Elect from everlasting to everlasting Whom he hateth he hateth to the end the Damned are the immortal objects of his eternal hatred 6. God is immutable in all his saving Gifts Rom. 11. 29. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance When God pardoneth justifieth sanstifieth calleth reconcileth any soul to himself he never repenteth of so doing to any man but what he doth shall stand inviolate CHAP. IV. MAny Reasons may be given to evidence to us that God is unchangeable 1. God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is the Lord Jehovah Reas 1. hath being from himself and not from any other cause He is absolutely independent and dependeth upon no other All creatures have received their being from him and depend upon him therefore God onely is immutable and all Creatures are changeable and continue not in one stay For the ground of change is to have being or any perfection from another and always to be at the will and disposing of him from whom they have what they have as a Subjects honours and dignities are received from his Prince's favour and are at the will and disposing of his Prince if he withdraw the influence of his favour his dignities wither and are taken from him Thus all Creatures receiving their being from God are at God's disposing if he speak the word Let a Creature be made thus and thus it is so if he say Let that Creature be turned into destruction it is destroyed If God withdraw the influence of his favour and supportance from the Creatures they cannot subsist for a moment but suffer a pitiful change but now God depending upon no superiour cause not liable to the will pleasure disposing of a supreme power abideth the same for ever without the least shadow of change 2. God is Immutable because he Reas 2. is most simple void of all composition he is purus actus a pure act there is no passive power in him All Creatures are therefore mutable because there is some composition in them Man is obnoxious to dissolution because compounded of a body and soul his body liable to alteration and corruption because 't is compounded of the elements Even the Angels themselves and the Souls of Men which are the most simple yet are compounded â—x actu potentia ex subjecto accidente therefore are they liable both to alteration as we see in Devils and also to annihilation for God can turn them into nothing again But now in God there is no mixture no composition but whatsoever is in God is God is his Essence therefore no alteration or mutation can be in him 3. Because God comprehendeth in Reas 3. him all fulness of perfection he is infinitely perfect therefore he is immutable There is a double alteration which the Creature is liable unto there is Alteratio perfectiva Alteratio corruptiva A perfective alteration A destructive alteration A Creature may alter from good to bad from bad to worse so from bad to good from good to better There is no creature but is capable of more perfections then they have Angels though they have great perfections yet may be more gradually perfect but God being infinitely perfect admits of no diminution nor increase being infinitely wise he cannot be wiser being infinitely good he cannot be better for if God should thus change then were he imperfect and were not infinite Now to say that there may be a decrease of his perfections then should God become imperfect and if God should lose some of his perfections he might lose more then God should be no God 4. God is unchangeable in his Decrees Reas 4. Promises and Threatnings of which I touched before 1. In his Decrees because God is omniscient so he foresees all inconveniences to prevent errour or mistake he cannot err because he infallibly foreknows all Men may alter their Decrees because they are ignorant and cannot foresee inconveniences to prevent errors but God foresees all without the least error therefore what he decreeth shall stand firm 2. Because God is omnipotent therefore he can overcome all impediments that may hinder and frustrate the execution of his Decrees Men are hindred in their decrees by some over-powering impediment but who can resist the omnipotent will of God He is unchangeable in his Promises and threatnings because he is able and faithful true and just therefore will not nor cannot deny himself CHAP. V. Objections about God's Immutability answered NOw let us clear some Questions or Objections touching God's unchangeableness If God be immutable how is he Object 1. then said to repent It is said that he repented that he made man on the earth Gen. 6. 6. And upon the repentance of the Ninivites it is said God repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them and did it not Jon. 3. 10. Repentance is spoken of God for our Sol. 1. understandings sake when the Scripture saith That God did repent of this or that thing it speaks of God after the manner of men for our learning 2. God is said to repent not as if there were a change of mind in God as when men repent but when there is a change wrought in the creature their change is his repentance The destruction of the old World is Gods repenting of making man upon the earth The removing of plagues and curses the evils which he inflicts upon us is Gods repentance of the evils he inflicteth So the preventing of evils threatned his bidding the Angel to put up his Sword drawn forth to destroy Jerusalem is Gods repentance of the evil So then there is a double change subjectiva or in agente objectiva or in patiente The change is altogether in the creature the object and patient not in God the agent If God be Immutable how then is Object 2. it said That God is sometime angry with his people and that sometimes he is said to rejoyce over them Now he smiles upon them and kisseth his Spouse anon he withdraws himself and frowns upon her this argues a change of affections We must distinguish between Gods Sol. 1. love to us and joy over us and our apprehension of his love and joy between his affection and the sense of his affection to us Gods love is immutable there 's no decay in it but there may be a decay and want of apprehension in us 2. The change is in us not in God our loose
he is the maker of time of all ages and generations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken sometimes for times created Tit. 1. 2. Secondly Because he is King eternal not onely ante temporis durationem sed etiam omnem cogitationem As St. Augustine in his book of confessions acknowledgeth August Coâ—fess 2. He is called King Immortall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes this word denotes incorruptible pure and sincere and without corruption but here iâ— excludeth end of time or being o else it signifies God that can not die 3. He is called invisible God that cannot be seen and of this attribute I am to speak CHAP. II. HEnce I note that God is an invisible Observ King or God is invisible Gods Invisibility is that divine perfection whereby his nature being so spiritual cannot be seen by any bodily eye The Scripture sufficiently proveth this attribute of God his glory that is his essence is invisible When Moses prayed Lord I beseech thee shâ—w me thy glory God answered him thou canst not see my face for Heb. 11. 27. there shall no man see me and live Ex. 33. 18. 20. The invisible things of God viz. his power wisdom goodnesse are seen onely in the vâ—sible creatures which he hath made Rom. 1. 20. but the face and essence of God cannot be seen for to be invisible is to be of such a nature as cannot be seen by any mortal eye A thing may be said to be invisible to a mans eye divers ways 1. When there is something between he object and the eye the object being visible in it self thus the sun which is primum visible the chiefest visible thing being set cannot be seen or when a Cloud is between us and it so we cannot see a picture when a curtain is drawn over it in this sense God is not invisible for there is nothing between God and us for in him we live move and have our being we are in God nothing can stand between God and us 2. A thing is said to be invisible in respect of the indistance of the object so we cannot discern it put your hand upon your eye or any thing you cannot see it in respect of the neernesse of it neither also in this respect is God said to be invisible 3. In respect of the distance of the object from the eye when the object is too remote from us we cannot see iâ— though it be a mountain because the sight is terminated and bounded beyond which the eye cannot exceed or ken and in this sense God is not invisible for he is neer every one of us that were it possible for bodily hands of flesh to touch and feel a spirit we might touch and feel him Act. 17. 4. A thing is said to be invisible when the medium is not rightly disposed as in the dark we can see nothing because the air is not light which is the medium or mean of seeing in that sense the School-men say God is invisible because there is lumen gloriae a light of glory required to behold God and so God as he hath revealed himself in his word is invisible to sinners because they are in darkness and there is a thick vail of ignorante drawn over their eyes that they cannot see God in his word of grace 5. An object is invisible through the glorious perfection of it when there is not a proportion between the eye and the object so the glorious Sun dâ—zleth the eyes that we cannot look upon it So God is invâ—sible therefore he is stiled light inaccessible unto which no mortal eye can approach A thing is said to be invisible in respâ—ct of the nature or essence of it being spiritual and incorporeal and in this sence God is invisible who is a Spirit more spiritual than Angels incorporeal though the Scripture attributeth to God eyes hands mouth nose c. it speaks of him to us after the manner of men but it sets forth the invisible things of God by the visible parts of mans body as by the eye Gods Omnisciency and his provident care c. CHAP. III. Reasons to prove God's Invisibility THe Reasons to prove this Doctrine are these 1. Because if God were visible then Reas 1. we should see nothing in the world but God because God being Omnipresent immense and infinite and so filling heaven and earth with his presence then should we see nothing else but God his immense Essence would exclude all other visible objects 2. Because if God were visible then Reas 2. God should be corporeal and not a Spirit because there is nothing subject to bodily senses but what is corporeal This was our Saviours Argument to confirm his staggering Disciples after his Resurrection That he was truly the Christ that was crucified and risen again because they might feel and see him for a spirit had not flesh and bones as he had Luk. 24. as if he had said Were I a spirit you could not feel me because spirits are not subject to sensible qualities Now God being a spirit and â—ot corporeal we cannot see him with these eyes 3. We know there are many creatures Reas 3. that are invisible therefore much more must God the Creatour of them be invisible The wind whose blustering gusts we feel whose sound we hear yet we cannot see nor do we know whence it cometh nor whither it goeth as our Saviour tells us John 3. 8. The Air is invisible the soul of man is invisible we cannot see the essence of it while the soul is in the body we see it not when the soul at death departs from the body we see it not The Angels and Devils are invisible the Angels that protect and preserve us the Devils that tempt us are invisible these we see not therefore God is invisible therefore if an Heathen should upbraid us you worship a God whom you see not where is your God shew him to us that we may see him We may answer him Therefore we worship the true God for the true God is invisible a God that is visible is not the true God those visible stocks and stones which ye worship are not gods They cannot do evil neither is it in them also to do good but the invisible God he is the true God the living God and an everlasting King Jer. 10. 10. Here â—t may be demanded whether Quest 1. God be visible in Heaven 1. We shall in Heaven behold Sol. 1. Christ in his Humanity God man with these bodily eyes as Job speaks I know that my Redeemer liveth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me Job 19. 25 26 27. Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him Râ—v 1. 7. 2. We shall see God that is we shall see
appears by this Chapter and by the fourth and tenth Chapters In his speaking of Christ he sets him forth two ways 1. In his absolute and personal excellency in the beginning of the first Chapter 2. In his comparative excellency being compared with Angels Prophets and Priests and Levitical Sacrifices he sheweth how Christ infinitely transcends all these He sheweth how far he excelleth all the glorious Angels in the first Chapter and that in divers particulars 1. He is the natural Son of God 2. He is the heir of all things 3. He is the Creatour and Lord of Angels him all the glorious Angels worship and adore Then he shews Christs transcendent excellency above all Prophets he instanceth in Moses the first and Prince of Prophets here in this third Chapter setting forth the excellency of Moses in an high manner that he might the better declare the transcendent excellency of Christ above him The thing chiefly commended in Moses was his faithfulness in Gods House by house understand not a material but a spiritual house his Church Now Christ excelled Moses in two things 1. Christ was the Son of God Moses a Servant 2. Christ was builder and Master of the House Moses was part of this house Now in the following Verses the Apostle strongly inferreth that Christ is more excellent then Angels and Moses We ought to give more heed to the word spoken by him then to the word spoken by Angels or by Moses and this he presseth from the danger of unbeleif after men have heard and received the Gospel of Christ Those that did not beleive Moses were not suffered to enter into Canaan but perished in the Wildernes Now the Apostle tells the Hebrews that as God dealt with their forefathers for their unbelief so will he deal with all unbeleivers they shall never enter into his glorious rest but shall perish eternally My Text is a serious admonition to all to beware of unbeleif seeing it shuts men out of heavenly rest and throws them headlong into hellish torments Wherefore Calv. in loc for so Calvin thinketh is to be referred to this twelfth verse all the foregoing words being a Parenthesis take heed lest there be in any of you c. In the words there are these three things considerable 1. A dangerous disease to which those that make profession of Christ are subject viz. Apostacy from Christ who is here stiled a living God 2. The cause of that dangerous disease is an evil heart of unbeleif it is an hebraism put for an evil unbeleiving heart where the Apostle doth describe unbeleif by an elegant paranomasia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unbeleif is Apostacy 3. The cure and remedy both of the root and disease Take heed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 look about you look circumspectly above all things take heed of an unbeleiving heart for in time of trial it will make you to fall off from God There are these four points observable from these words 1. That an unbeleiving heart is Observ the evil heart 2. That an unbeleiving heart is the cause of Apostacy from God 3. Christians must specially watch and keep their own hearts 4. That our God is a living God CHAP. II. MY purpose is onely to handle the last point viz. that attribute of the life of God That God from whom unbeleivers back-slide is a living God The life of God is taken two ways in Scripture 1. For that life whereby God liveth Vita Dei dicitur vel quâ vivit in nobis qui regenerati sumus in his Saints or a Saints godly life â—ph 4. 18. The Apostle setting forth the state of unregenerate persons men addicted to their lusts saith They are alienated from the life of God that is have no acquaintance with the holy heavenly and spiritual life this life is here called the life of God and Gal. 2. 20. it is called the life of Christ I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me this life is also called the life of the spirit and beleivers are also said to live in the spirit Gal. 5. 25. But this life I am not to speak of 2. T is taken for that essential Vel quà ipse vivit in sese life of God or that life which God liveth himself and in himself and which is very God himself In him was life saith John of Christ as God John 1. 4. that is essentia vivens ab aeterno in aeternum that living essence who lives for ever and ever giving life to all others and this I am to speak of As the life of God is taken two ways so again living God is taken two ways in Scripture 1. Either it is opposed unto dead and false gods 1 Thes 1. 9. Ye turned from idols which cannot hear speak or do any thing for you to the living and true God Or 2. Living God implies that God is a powerful lively and effectual God Heb. 10. 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God most powerful able to destroy body and soul or who eternally liveth to take eternal vengeance on your immortal souls This being premised I will briefly shew what the life of God is Thus it is described It is Gods own divine being Descr who of himself doth all things and is the Author of all life in his creatures Or thus It is the divine being who of himself understandeth willeth and loveth infinitely and is the fountain of all life being and motion in all his creatures both bodily and spiritual Let me give it in parts 1. It is the divine being so it is Anima vivere operationes vitae distinguished from the life of creatures for in their life are three things the soul by which it liveth the life it self and the actions of life distinguished in the creatures but in God the essence life and the actions of life are one and the same his life is nothing else but his very being hence he is called that life and life eternal and the living God 2. Who of himself doth all things or of himself understandeth willeth and loveth all things and in this he is distinguished from the life of creatures for they live in another live move and have their being in God but he most independently lives of himself understandeth and willeth of himself therefore called Jehovah who hath being from himself 3. He is the Author of all life in his Creatures in him they live if he withdraw himself Creatures are turned into destruction if he say Return again ye sons of men they live Psa 90. 3. of dry bones he makes living men and of living men he makes dry bones T is said he breathed the spirit of life into Adam and he takes away mans breath again Some Divines make a fivefold life of men 1. The life of nature and this God is the Author of he made man a living soul In him was life and that life was the light of men
their being they are kept by the power of God but God is immortal absolutely and independently 3. Angels and souls of men are immortal per participationem by participation God makes them partakers of his immortality 4. There is an analogical mortality in Angels and the souls of men though they cannot cease to live yet they may cease to be happy and to live miserably to eternity The damnation of the Apostate Angels is a kind of death so the damned souls suffer a kind of death Damnation is called in Scripture the second death it were better that such souls did perish as the souls of beasts and when they cease to live this natural life in the body that they did cease to be CHAP. V. Vses drawn from the life of God IF God be the living God then Vse 1. he is the onely true God to be feared of all and to be worshipped 1. To be feared because he only can kill and make alive he alone preserves men from destruction and turns men into destruction The vanities of the Gentiles can neither do good nor hurt neither save nor destroy they have hands but cannot strike a man into destruction nor pluck a man from destruction When Daniel was cast into the den of lions the living God preserved him from death when his accusers were thrown in their Idols and golden images could not preserve them but the living God destroyed them See what a good use Darius an heathen King made of it and what a charge he giveth Dan. 6. 26. I make a decree that in every dominion of my Kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel the reason followeth for he is the living God the Images whom we adore for God are dead things how doth he prove that God is a living God vers 27. he delivereth and rescueth c. therefore fear and tremble before him the gods whom we serve can neither deliver nor rescue nor work signs and wonders the like argument Christ useth to perswade us to fear God because being a living God he can destroy both body and soul 2. He is the onely true God to be worshipped because a living God and therefore can hear help and save all such as worship him in spirit and truth men shew no greater madness in the world nor do more un-man themselves then in worshiping dead stocks and stones who have carved hands but are dead hands and cannot save have carved ears but are dead and cannot hear such were the gods of the Heathen and to adore dead stocks was the fruit of their blind Religion and the Papists that pretend to know the true God are no less sottish what is their Bread-Worship Altar-Worship Crucifix-Worship but a robbing of the living God of his glory and giving it to dead senseless creatures Vse 2. Is God a living God then commit your lives to him in well-doing trust the eternal living God with your mortal lives and fear not the rage and malice of evil men for they cannot take away your lives from you unless God permit them not an hair shall fall from your head without his knowledge then much less shall a drop of your blood fall much less a limb shall be cut off from your bodies much less shall they take away your lives from you if the living God will keep them and preserve them See Davids practice in a time when his enraged Enemies consulted to take away his life from him They devised to take away my life but I trusted in thee O Lord I said thou art my God my times are in thy hand deliver me from the hand of mine enemies c. Psalm 31. 13 14 15. all our times are in the hands of the living God our time of life the continuance and length of it our time of death the manner moment and instrument of it all is in the hands of the living God thy life and death are not in thine enemies hands they cannot take away thy life at their pleasure wherefore commit thy life to God and fear not the rage of enemies Should we at any time forsake God to please men for the preservation of life and betake our selves to sinful shifts it may fall out to us as Christ foretold He that saves his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for Christs sake shall save it even this natural life or the eternal life of the immortal soul Therefore if ye will have us to dye let us not be much troubled but be ready to give up our lives into the hands of the living God and if he will have us dye we can but dye as the Leapers said at the gate of Samaria the living God can give us a better life and if the Lord will he can deliver us from death The three Children were more regardful of their duty to God then of their lives Dan. 3. 16 17 18. this was the sum whether God would deliver them or not deliver them they were not anxiously careful they were careful to serve God but careless about the saving of their lives Better it were that the fiery Furnace should consume their lives then that the fire of Hell should consume their souls Vse 3. Hence there is good ground we should place all our confidence in God and in no creatures whatsoever because they are all dead perishing vanities if we may confide in any creature then may we put confidence in Princes because they are great and powerful they are Gods on earth and can afford the best aid and help to men in distres yet consider that in Psa 146. 3 4 5. Put not your trust in Princes nor in the son of man in whom there is no help Princes though they are great in power yet they are the Sons of men and obnoxious to the common condition of mankind they are vain mortal they dye and perish and when they dye all their thoughts perish all the purposes plots designs and intentions of Princes to do men good dye with them and their favourites are left to shift for themselves Then the Psalmist Vers 5. breaks forth into admiration of such a man who maketh God his help his aid his confidence and hope he is a living God he cannot dye he is a great God and his greatness is a living greatnes and none of all Gods thoughts perish but they endure from one generation to another if we must not put confidence in Princes then much less are we to trust in uncertain riches in uncertain honours in in Houses and Lands for these are all dead things and more vain and less able to help then man when riches are gone and perish the living God will and can aid us all the creatures are by fits but so many dead dogs before the living God Vse 4. â—s God a living God and the fountain of all life and motion then we should not despair of any though they through corrupt lusts do even stink in the nostrils of the godly