Holiness includes in it and what would be left but an Omnipotent Evil an Eternal Being infinitely Knowing and infinitely able to do mischief which is as plain and notorious a Contradiction and as impossible a thing as can be-imagin'd so that if we have any sparks of ambition in us we cannot but aspire after Holiness which is so great an Excellency and Perfection of God himself There is a vulgar prejudice against Holiness as if it were a poor mean thing and below a great and generous Spirit whereas Holiness is the only true greatness of Mind the most genuine Nobility and the highest gallantry of Spirit and however it be despised by Men it is of a Heavenly Extraction and Divine Original Holiness is the first part of the Character of the wisdom that is from above Jam. 3.17 The wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie 2. Holiness is an essential and principal ingredient of Happiness Holiness is a state of Peace and Tranquillity and the very frame and temper of Happiness and without it the Divine Nature as it would be imperfect so it would be miserable If the Divine Nature were capapable of envy or malice or hatred or revenge or impatience or cruelty or injustice or unfaithfulness it would be liable to vexation and discontent than which nothing can be a greater disturbance of Happiness so that Holiness is necessary to our Felicity and Contentment not only to the happiness of the next life but to our present Peace and Contentment If reasonable Creatures could be happy as brute Beasts are in their degree by enjoying their depraved Appetites and following the Dictates of Sense and Fancy God would not have bound us up to a Law and Rule but have left us as he hath done unreasonable Creatures to satisfie our Lusts and Appetites without check and control but Angels and Men which are reasonable Creatures have the Notions of Good and Evil of Right and Wrong of Comliness and Filthiness so woven and twisted into their very Natures that they can never be wholly defaced without the ruine of their Beings and therefore it is impossible that such Creatures should be happy otherwise than by complying with these Notions and obeying the natural Dictates and Suggestions of their Minds which if they neglect and go against they will naturally feel remorse and Torment in their own Spirits their Minds will be uneasie and unquiet and they will be inwardly grieved and displeased with themselves for what they have done So the Apostle tells us Rom. 1. That even the most degenerate Heathens had Consciences which did accuse or excuse them according as they obeyed or did contrary to the dictates of Natural Light God therefore who knows our frame hath so adapted his Law to us which is the rule of holiness that if we live up to it we shall avoid the unspeakable torment of a guilty Conscience whereas if we do contrary to it we shall always be at discord with our selves and in a perpetual disquiet of Mind for nothing can do contrary to the Law of its Being that is to its own Nature without displeasure and reluctancy the consequence of which in Moral Actions is Guilt which is nothing else but the Trouble and Disquiet which ariseth in one's Mind from consciousness of having done some thing that contradicts the perfective Principle of his Being that is something which did not become him and which being what he is that is a reasonable Creature he ought not to do So that in all reasonable Creatures there is a certain kind of Temper and Disposition that is necessary and essential to Happiness and that is Holiness which as it is the Perfection so it is the great Felicity of the Divine Nature And on the contrary this is one chief part of the Misery of those wicked and accursed Spirits the Devils and of unholy Men that they are of a temper contrary to God they are Envious and Malicious and Wicked that is of such a temper as is naturally a Torment and Disquiet to it self and here the foundation of Hell is laid in the evil disposition of our Spirits and till that be cured which can only be done by Holiness 't is as impossible for a wicked Man to be happy and contented in himself as it is for a Sick Man to be at ease and the external presence of God and a local Heaven would signifie no more to make a wicked Man happy and contented than heaps of Gold and Consorts of Musick and a well spread Table and a rich Bed would contribute to a Man's ease in the paroxysms of a Feaver or in a violent fit of the Stone If a sensual or covetous or ambitious Man were in Heaven he would be like the rich Man in Hell he would be tormented with a continual Thirst and burnt up in the Flames of his own ardent Desires and would not meet with the least drop of suitable Pleasure and Delight to quench and allay the Heat the reason is because such a Man hath that within him which torments him and he cannot be at ease till that be removed Sin is the violent and unnatural and uneasie State of our Soul every wicked Man's Spirit is out of order and till the Man be put into a right Frame by Holiness he will be perpetually disquieted and can have no rest within himself The Prophet fitly describes the condition of such a Person Isa 57.20 21. But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast forth mire and dirt there is no peace saith my God to the wicked So long as a Man is unholy so long as filthiness and corruption abound in his Heart they will be restlesty working like Wine which is in a perpetual motion and agitation till it have purged it self of its Dregs and Foulness Nothing is more turbulent and unquiet than the Spirit of a wicked Man it is like the Sea when it roars and rages through the strengh of contrary Winds it is the scene of furious Lusts and wild Passions which as they are contrary to Holiness so they maintain perpetual contests and fewds among themselves All Sin separates us from God who is the Foundation of our Happiness Our limited Nature and the narrowness of our Beings will not permit us to be happy in our selves it is peculiar to God to be his own Happiness but Man because he is finite and therefore cannot be self-sufficient is carried forth by an innate desire of Happiness to seek his Felicity in God So that there is in the nature of man a Spring of restless Motion which with great impatience forceth him out of himself and tosses him to and fro till he comes to rest in something that is self-sufficient Our Souls when they are separated from God like the unclean Spirit in the Gospel when it was cast out they
of it that we be perpetually ascending and climbing up higher still advancing from one degree of Goodness to another and continually aspiring after a nearer resemblance to God And this certainly is possible to us to endeavour to be as like God as we can in this weak and imperfect state Whereas any Equality with God even in the communicable Attributes of his Goodness and Mercy and Patience is not only impossible to us in this state of Sin and Imperfection but above the condition of a Creature even of the Spirits of just Men made Perfect and of the highest Angels in Glory for their Perfection is not absolute but in comparison with our present state And I think there is no great Reason to doubt but that the blessed Spirits above who continually behold the Face of their Father are still writing after this Copy which is here propounded to us and endeavouring to be perfect as their Father which is in Heaven is perfect still aspiring after a nearer and more perfect resemblance of God whose Goodness and Mercy is so far beyond and before that of any Creature that they may be for ever approaching nearer to it and yet never overtake it And this seems to be no inconsiderable ingredient and enhancement of the happiness of Heaven that the Holiness of good men which is the similitude of God is never at a stand nor at it's full growth and period but that the glorified Saints yea and blessed Angels too may be continually growing and improving and they themselves still become better and happier to all eternity And this in my apprehension is no undervaluing the happiness of Heaven that it is not so perfect at first as it shall be afterwards because it is granted on all hands that the happiness of those good Souls who are already in bliss shall be more perfect and compleat at the Resurrection And why may it not then be continually increasing and be augmented still more and more without any stint or final period of it's perfection In this world we are apt to faint in a long course of goodness and to be weary of well doing But in the other state when men shall be strongly byassed to goodness and have nothing to pull them back it will then be so far from being a trouble that methinks it should be a mighty pleasure to the blessed to find that there is no end of their doing good and becoming better For if conformity to God be the ground and foundation of all Happiness then our Blessedness will advance proportionably as we grow more and more like to him This I confess were a dismal Consideration to think that in Heaven we should be liable to relapse to go backward or fall from that holy and happy state But this is a comfortable Consideration that our holiness and happiness shall never be at a stand that it is secure so far as it goes and that we cannot lose what we have once attain'd as we may do in this world This methinks should be a trouble to no man that as good and happy as he is at first he shall still be better and better more and more happy without end But be that as it will and as God pleaseth for we do but talk in the dark about our future state this is certain that an equality with God in any of his Perfections is not to be attained by any Creature and therefore cannot be thought to be the meaning of this Precept But that which our Saviour requires is a vigorous imitation of this Pattern that we have this Example of the Divine Perfection always before us and that we be continually endeavouring as much as in us lies to bring our selves to the nearest resemblance of God that possibly we can And if this be our sincere care and study we need not doubt but that it will find acceptance with God and that he will be graciously pleased to esteem us for his Children and if there need a pardon for it that God will forgive wherein we fall short of the Perfection of that Pattern which we can never imitate to Perfection And happy were it for us if this were all the ground of our fear and trouble that when we had done all we could we must still fall much short of the perfection of God's Law and the Duty therein laid upon us alas which of us does near so much as we can and is not conscious to himself that it is through his own fault and neglect that he is so unlike his heavenly Father in Goodness and Mercy in Righteousness and true Holiness and that he still partakes in so great a measure of those not only unreasonable and brutish but even devilish Passions of Malice and Hatred of Rage and Cruelty of Impatience and implacable Revenge and that these ungodlike Qualities do so frequently prevail upon us and have so much dominion over us We are so far from being what we ought in these and many other respects that we are far from what we might be if we would mind our Duty with care and conscience and make it our sincere endeavour to subdue our selves to a conformity to God and to a perfect holiness in his fear Would we but often set God before our eyes and represent to our selves those excellent and amiable Perfections of the Divine Nature which are so comfortable and beneficial to us and to which we stand so infinitely oblig'd his Goodness and Mercy and Patience upon which all our hopes of Happiness do depend and to which we are indebted that we are not miserable past recovery that Goodness and Patience which he continually exerciseth towards us for we provoke him every day and exerciseth towards us on purpose to endear those Perfections to us from which we reap so much comfort and advantage that by the Pattern of Perfection it self and the Example of him who is so much above us so no ways obliged to us nor tyed by any interest to be concerned for us and who being happy in himself neither hopes nor fears any thing from us I say by an Example that has all these advantages we might be provok'd to be so affected towards one another who have mutual Obligations one to another and mutual Expectations of Good or Evil one from another as we have always found God to be towards us and as we desire he should still continue and miserable Creatures are we when ever he ceaseth to be so And we have reason to fear he will cease to be so if this Example of his Goodness and Patience towards us do not transform us into the Image of the Divine Perfections and prevail upon us to imitate those Excellencies which we have so much reason to approve and admire and be in love withal These Considerations taken both from ingenuity and interest should awaken our sloath and stir up our most resolute and vigorous endeavours after that Perfection which our Saviour here requires and make us ashamed of
His perfect Knowledge of them 2 ly That this is his peculiar Prerogative 1 st God perfectly knows the hearts of Men Jer. 17.10 I the Lord search the hearts and try the reins where by heart and reins which are the most inward parts of the Body and lie least open to discovery are signified the most secret Thoughts and Motions of the Soul these God is said to search and try not as if it were a work of Labour and Difficulty to the Divine Knowledge to penetrate the hearts of Men and to dive into their Thoughts but to signifie to us the Perfection and Exactness of the Divine Knowledge as when Men would know a thing exactly they search into every part of it and examine every thing narrowly so God is said to search the heart to signifie to us that he knows the hearts of Men as throughly as we do any thing upon the strictest Search and most diligent Examination upon the same account he is said elsewhere in Scripture to weigh the Spirits of Men Prov. 16.2 All the ways of Man are clean in his own eyes but the Lord weigheth the Spirits that is he hath as perfect a Knowledge of the secret Motions and Inclinations of Mens hearts as Men have of those things which they weigh in a Ballance with the greatest exactness Now that God hath this perfect Knowledge of Mens hearts the Scripture frequently declares to us that he knows the hearts of all Men 1 Kings 8.39 For thou even thou knowest the hearts of all the Children of Men. 1 Chron. 28.9 The Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts How close and reserved soever Men may be what disguise soever they may use to hide their purposes from Men yet God sees them the things which are most dark and secret are open to his view Psal 44.21 He knoweth the secrets of the hearts Prov. 15.11 Hell and Destruction are before him how much more the hearts of the Children of Men Whatever pretences Men may make God sees through them and discovers the very intentions of their hearts Psal 7.9 The righteous Lord tryeth the hearts and reins Heb. 4.13 It is said there of the Word of God that it is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the Heart for all things are naked and open to the Eye of him with whom we have to do and there is no Creature that is not manifest in his sight nay he knows our thoughts at a distance what they will be before they actually are Psal 139.2 Thou knowest my thoughts afar off 'T is true indeed every Man is conscious to his own Thoughts and privy to the Motions of his own Mind when they are present and when they are past if he have not forgot them but no Man knows what he shall think to morrow but this God knows for he knows us more intimately and throughly than we do our selves God is greater than our hearts and knows all things 1 John 3.20 And tho' the Scripture had not revealed this so plainly yet we had not been wholly ignorant of it it is a Principle implanted in us and born with us as being part of that natural Notion which Men have of God the Reason of our Minds tells us that God knows our Hearts and the Fears and Jealousies of our Minds are an Evidence of it 1 st The Reason of every Man's mind tells him that the Supreme Being whom we call God is endowed with all Perfection and among his other Perfections that he excels in Knowledge and to the Perfection of Knowledge it is required that it extend it self to all Objects and that nothing be exempted from it The Knowledge of God in respect of all Objects is like the Sun in respect of this lower World nothing is hid from the light of it We have naturally this Apprehension of God that he is an immense Being every where present that he intimately penetrates all places and things and consequently that he is present to our Spirits and sees all the motions of our Minds and discerns the very secrets of our Hearts and there can be no such thing as secresie and retirement from an Eye that is every where and a Knowledge that pierceth into all things And to convince us that these are the dictates of Natural Reason without the help and assistance of Divine Revelation we shall find that the Heathen who had only the advantage of Natural Light were firmly possest with this apprehension that God knows the hearts of Men. This may be sufficiently Collected from the frequent sayings of the wiser Heathens to this purpose that the best and most acceptable worship of the Deity is that which is inward that of the Heart and Mind To this Sense Tully speaks Cultus autem deorum est optimus idemque castissimus atque sanctissimus plenissimusque pietatis ut eos semper purâ integrâ atque incorruptâ mente voce veneremur The best and holiest worship of the Gods is to worship them with a pure and upright and sincere Mind To the same purpose is that known saying of the Poet Compositum jus fasque animi sanctosque recessus Mentis incoctum generoso pectus honesto Haec cedo ut admoveam templis farre litabo Do but offer to God a mind inwardly resolved to be just and honest and the plainest sacrifice will please him Now from hence that they judged the purity of our Hearts and Thoughts and an honest disposition of Mind to be most acceptable to their Gods we may certainly conclude that they did most firmly believe that God knows the Secrets of Mens Hearts otherwise there had been no need for Men to endeavour to recommend themselves this way to the Divine acceptance But we need not argue this by consequence there are many express passages in their Writings which do sufficiently signifie their belief of this Principle Thales one of their most ancient Philosophers being askt if an unjust Man could conceal himself from God he answer'd he cannot so much as hide from him the very thoughts and design of it Socrates as Xenophon tells us was wont to inculcate this Principle upon his Scholar that the Gods know all things what we say and what we do and what we think in silence To the same purpose Arrian in his Dissertations upon Epictetus laying down the Principles of a virtuous life first of all saith he we must learn this that there is a God who takes care of the World and that there is nothing hid from him not only what we do but not so much as what we think and design So likewise Tully in his Book of Laws let every Man be firmly perswaded of this that the Gods see what every Man is and with what Mind and Devotion they serve them I will add but one Testimony more and that is of Seneca in his Epistles nihil Deo clausum est interest animis nostris cogitationibus mediis intervenit we can
keep nothing close from God for he is present to our Minds and intimate to our Thoughts so that you see this Principle is deeply rooted in the Minds of Men and that Men do naturally Reason themselves into it 2. The natural fears of Men are likewise a secret acknowledgement of this and I take this to be a great Truth that a Man's natural Actions and such as happen upon Surprise and without Deliberation are a better argument of the intimate sense of our Minds and do more truly discover what lies at the bottom of our Hearts and what Notions are natural to us than our contrived and deliberate Discourse If I see a Man upon the sudden sight of a Serpent recoil and start back tho' he tell me never so often that he is not afraid yet I am sufficiently convinc'd of the contrary because I see in his Countenance and Carriage a natural acknowledgment of Fear and Danger so if Men find that upon the designing of a secret Wickedness which never went further than their own Hearts their Consciences do sting and lash them that they have a sense of Guilt and feel inward Frights and Horrours whatever they may say to the contrary this is a natural acknowledgment of an invisible Eye that sees them and disallows their wicked Designs If that be true which the Heathen Poet says That Scelus intra se tacitum qui cogitat ullum Facti crimen habet He that meditates any secret Wickedness in his Heart is guilty to himself as if he had committed it this is a plain Confession that the Man stands in Awe of something besides Himself and is jealous that there is one that is Conscious to what he thinks 2. That to have a perfect and thorough knowledge of Mens Hearts is the peculiar Prerogative of God This is imply'd in the Answer to that Question Who can know the heart of man Jer. 17.10 I the Lord search the heart and try the reins this is the Prerogative of God and one of his chief Titles that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a knower of the heart 1 King 8.39 Thou even thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men Men may make a probable conjecture at the Thoughts and Designs of others from their Words and Actions but God only knows them Men are conscious to their own Thoughts and Purposes the spirit of a man that is in him knows the things of a man but they cannot see into the Secrets of another Man's Mind 't is God alone that knows the Hearts of all Men. The Heart of Man is a priviledg'd place and the secret and inward workings of it are not subject to the cognisance of any but God alone The limits of Humane Knowledge are the outward appearances of Actions 1 Sam. 16.7 The Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart our Knowledge is but superficial and glides upon the outside and surface of things but the Divine Knowledge pierceth to the very center of every thing Now the darkest place the most inward retirement the privatest Closet in the whole World is the Heart of Man and this God only is privy to Deus autor omnium speculator omnium à quo nihil secretum esse potest tenebris interest interest cogitationibus nostris quasi alteris tenebris saith Min. Foelix God made all things and sees all things and therefore nothing can be secret from him he is present in Darkness and he is present to the Thoughts of Men which are as it were another and a thicker Darkness The Devil indeed pretends to this Knowledge he would take upon him to know the integrity of Job's Heart better than God himself and that notwithstanding the Testimony which God gave of his Integrity yet if he were but soundly tried by Affliction he would renounce God and curse him to his face but the event proved how groundless and malicious this suggestion was But there is a far greater difficulty in this matter from the passages of some Divines concerning the Devil's immediate access to the Minds of Men and his Power to cast in Wicked Thoughts into them which seems by consequence to grant him some knowledge of Mens Hearts for by the same Reason that he can imprint Thoughts upon Mens Minds he may see those that are imprinted there That the Devil is a very sagacious Spirit and can make very shrewd Conjectures at the bent and inclinations of Mens Minds and the probable workings of our Thoughts from a general Knowledge and Observation of our Tempers and Passions of our Interests and Designs and from the general tenour of our Actions in Publick and Private and from our Prayers and Confessions to God if he permit him at any time to be so near Good Men I think there is no doubt but this is far from a Knowledge of our Hearts all this is but Conjecture and such as men may make of one another in a lower degree But as to the business of casting in blasphemous and despairing Thoughts into the Minds of Men to this I would say these three things 1. That there are few of these cases which may not more probably be resolved into the Wickedness and Infidelity of Mens Hearts or into the Darkness and Melancholy of our tempers which are apt to raise and suggest strange Thoughts to Men and such as we may be apt to think have no rise from our selves not considering what an odd and strange influence the disorder of our bodily Humours may have upon our Minds as we see in violent Fevers and several other Diseases and Melancholy tho' the workings of it are more still and quiet is as truly a Disease as any other so that I chuse rather to ascribe as much of these to a bodily Distemper as may be because it is a very uncomfortable consideration to think that the Devil hath such an immediate Power upon the Minds of Men. 2. I do not see how by any means it can be granted without prejudice to this Prerogative of God which the Scripture plainly gives him of being the only Knower of the Heart that the Devil can have so immediate an access to our Minds as to put wicked Thoughts into them nor can I think that when it is said 1 Chron. 21.1 That Satan provoked David to number the people and Luke 22.3 That the devil entred into Judas and Acts 5.3 That Satan had filled the heart of Ananias to lie unto the Holy Ghost and Eph. 2.2 That the devil is the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience I say I cannot think that any or all of these expressions do amount to such an immediate power of putting wicked Thoughts into Mens Minds but they only signifie that the Devil hath a greater hand in some sins than others and that a Heart wickedly bent and inclined give him a great advantage to tempt Men more powerfully by presenting the occasions of
place of Sen. Nota enim illis operis sui series c. 2. By Arguments from Scripture I will mention but one the clear and particular Predictions of future Events long before they happened Gen. 15.13 God foretels the Children of Israel's deliverance after 430 Years which he punctually accomplisht Exod. 12.40 41. The Prophet that prophesied against the Altar at Bethel named the Man that should do it Josias 350 Years before-hand 1 Kings 13.2 The deliverance of the Children of Israel from the Babylonish Captivity was foretold 100 Years before to be done particularly by Cyrus which is so strange that the Prophet brings it in with a Preface of God's Wisdom and Power Isa 44.24 c. Which was afterward precisely fulfilled when the 70 Years were expired How are the Life and Death of the Messias with many particular Circumstances foretold And did not he foretel the Destruction of Jerusalem 40 Years before But because there may be no contingency in good things God himself may be resolved to effect them or excite Men to do them when he hath foretold them you shall find that the worst things have been foretold the Apostacy of the Children of Israel Deut. 31.16 and their Infidelity in times of the Gospel Isa 53.1 5 9 26. Our Saviour foretold the Treachery of Judas and Peter's denial of him now these are so evil that it were Blasphemy to suppose the Holy God to have any hand in them and therefore are foretold by him meerly by virtue of his Fore-knowledge and the infiniteness of his Vnderstanding which reacheth things at the greatest distance that are most contingent SERMON VI. Of the Knowledge of God 1 SAM II. 3 The Lord is a God of Knowledge I Have consider'd this Perfection of God in some of the greatest and most difficult instances of it his Knowledge of the most secret Things the hearts of Men and future Events against the last of which there are some Objections which I come now briefly to consider and pass on to what remains Objection the First The impossibility of the thing Certainty of all Knowledge depends upon the certainty of the Object therefore there cannot be a certain and determinate Knowledge of any thing but what is certainly and determinately true but future Events which may or may not be have no certain and determinate Truth that is it is not certain either that they will or will not be because they have no certain Cause therefore there can be no infallible Knowledge concerning them Answer This I confess is the grand Difficulty I shall not be so solicitous to take it away as to give satisfaction to it 1. I might say with a very fair Probability that the certainty of Knowledge doth not depend upon the certainty of the Cause but of the Object which may be certain tho' the Cause be contingent Which I prove thus whatever Event hath actually happened as because now it is past it is certainly true that it was so because it once was it was certainly true before it was that it would be as in Peter's denying of Christ If it be now true that he hath denied him it was true before that he would deny him and it being determinately true God saw it as it was so that here is an Object of a certain Knowledge 2. Tho' we could not explain the possibility of God's knowing future Contingencies much less the manner how yet we are sufficiently assured that God doth know them I will give but one instance for the Proof of this Nothing more evident than the Sin of Adam yet God fore-knew this how else was Christ decreed before the Foundation of the World Christ was a remedy upon the occasion of sin now the remedy could not be designed before the sin was foreseen and this being certain cum constat de re frustra inquiritur de modo when we are certain of the thing 't is not necessary to know the manner We are satisfied of many things the manner whereof we do not know we believe the union of the Soul and Body tho' no Man can explain how a Spirit can be united to Matter we believe the continuity of matter that is that the parts of it hang together of which whosoever saith he can give an account doth but betray his own ignorance And so in many other things that Man doth not know himself nor the measure of his own understanding nor the nature and obscurity of things that will not confess himself posed in many things that doth not acknowledge that there are many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many things the manner whereof is unimaginable and of which our best Reason and Understanding can give no account 3. 'T is very unreasonable to expect we should know all the ways which infinite Knowledge hath of knowing things We have but finite Faculties and Measures which bear no proportion to infinite Powers and Objects Could we explain the manner how infinite Knowledge knows things we should be like God in Knowledge our understandings would be infinite like his and in this case especially it becomes us to put on the modesty of Creatures and to remember that we are finite and limited Some arrogant Spirits take it for an affront to their understandings that any one should expect they should believe any thing tho' they have the highest assurance of it if they cannot explain the particular manner of it they make nothing to deny God's Knowledge of future Events unless they may be satisfied of the particular way how he knows them I know there are those who undertake to explain the particular manner Some say that God sees future Events in speculo voluntatis others say that the Eternity of God is actually commensurate to all Duration as his Immensity to all Space and so God doth not so properly fore-see and fore-know as see and know future things by the presentiality and coexistence of all things in Eternity for they say that future things are actually present and existing to God tho' not in mensurâ propriâ yet in mensurâ alienâ the School-men have much more of this Jargon and canting Language and I envy no Man the understanding these Phrases but to me they seem to signifie nothing but to have been words invented by idle and conceited Men which a great many ever since lest they should seem to be ignorant would seem to understand but I wonder most that Men when they have amused and puzzled themselves and others with hard Words should call this explaining things The sum of the Answer is this that when we have done all we can God's fore-knowledge of future Events may seem contradictious and impossible to us much less do I expect ever to be able to give a particular account of the manner of it but we have sufficient assurance of the thing and unless we had infinite understandings it were vanity to pretend to explain all the ways of infinite Knowledge Secondly It is Objected That if we can
his Eye is always open and every thing is in the view of it The Knowledge of the Creature is more Power than Act it is not much that we are capable of knowing but there is very little that we do actually know 't is but one thing that we can fix our Thoughts upon at once and apply our Minds to we can remove them to another Object but then we must take off our Minds from the former and quit the actual knowledge of it but the knowledge of God is an actual and steady Comprehension of things he being every where present and all eye nothing can escape his sight but all Objects are at once in the view of the Divine Understanding Heb. 4.13 Neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do 2. God's Knowledge is an intimate and thorough Knowledge whereby he knows the very Nature and Essence of things The Knowledge which we have of things 't is but in part but outward and superficial our Knowledge glides upon the superficies of things but doth not penetrate into the intimate Nature of them it seldom reacheth further than the skin and outward appearance of things we do not know things in their realities but as they appear and are represented to us with all their Masks and Disguises but God knows things as they are 1 Sam. 16.7 The Lord seeth not as Man seeth for Man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the Heart God knows things throughout all that can be known of them The quick and piercing Eye of God Penetrates into every thing the light of the Divine Understanding lays all things open and naked Heb. 4.13 In which expression the Apostle alludes to the Sacrifices of Beasts which were flead and cleft down the back bone that the Priest might look into them and see whether they were without blemish To the Eye of our understandings most Objects are close and have their Skins upon them but to the Eyes of God all things are uncovered and dissected and he open to his view 3. God's Knowledge is clear and distinct Our Understandings in the Knowledge of things are liable to great confusion we are often deceived with the near likeness and resemblance of things and mistake one thing for another our Knowledge is but a twi-light which doth not sufficiently separate and distinguish things from one another we see things many times together and in a heap and do but know them in gross but there is no confusion in the Divine Understanding that is a clear Light which separates and distinguisheth things of the greatest nearness and resemblance God hath a particular Knowledge of the least things Luke 12.7 Even the very hairs of your Head are all numbred those things which are of the least consideration and have the greatest likeness to one another the very hairs of our Head are severally and distinctly known to God 4. God's Knowledge is certain and infallible We are subject to doubt and error in our understanding of things every thing almost imposeth upon our Understandings and tinctures our Minds and makes us look on things otherwise than they are our Temper and Complexion our Education and Prejudice our Interest and Advantage our Humours and Distempers these all misrepresent things and darken our Minds and seduce our Judgments and betray us to Error and Mistake but the Divine Understanding is a clear fixt constant and undisturbed Light a pure Mirrour that receives no stain from Affection or Interest or any other thing Men are many times confident and apt to impose upon others as if they were infallible but this is the Prerogative of God the Priviledge of the Divine Understanding that it is secure from all possibility of Errour 't is God only that cannot lie Tit. 1.2 because he cannot be deceived the infallibility of God is the Foundation of his veracity 5. The Knowledge of God is easie and without difficulty We must dig deep for Knowledge take a great deal of pains to know a little we do not attain the Knowledge of things without search and study and great intention of Mind we strive to comprehend some things but they are so vast that we cannot other things are at such a distance that our Understanding is too weak to discern them other things are so little and small and nice that our Understanding cannot lay hold of them we cannot contract our Minds to such a Point as to fasten upon them but the Understanding of God being infinite there is nothing at a distance from it nothing too great and vast for it's comprehension nor is there any thing so little that it can escape his Knowledge and animadversion The great Wisdom of Solomon is compared to the Sand on the Sea shore the shore is vast but the Sands are little saith one to signifie that the vast Mind of Solomon did comprehend the least things 'T is much more true of God his Understanding is a vast comprehension of the least things as well as the greatest and all this God does without difficulty or pain he knows all things without study and his Understanding is in continual exercise without weariness How many things are there which we cannot find out without search without looking narrowly into and bending our Minds to understand them But all things are obvious to God and lie open to his view He is said indeed in Scripture to search the Heart and to try the Reins and to weigh the Spirits but these Expressions do not signifie the painfulness but the perfection of his Knowledge that he knows those things as perfectly as we can do any thing about which we use the greatest diligence and exactness 6. The Knowledge of God is universal and extends to all Objects We know but a few things our Ignorance is greater than our Knowledge maxima pars eorum quae scimus est minima pars eorum que nescimus but the Divine Understanding is vast and comprehensive and by an imperious view commands all Objects he is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things he knows himself and the excellency and perfection of his own Nature and the secrets of his Will 1 Cor. 2.11 The Spirit of God searcheth the deep things of God he knows all other things that are not and all things that are in all differences of time their Powers and Qualities The Knowledge of God is infinite Psal 147.5 His understanding is infinite he knows himself and his own Perfections and all the possibilities of things which are all infinite Now the Understanding of God being infinite is incapable of any Addition or Diminution or Change Our finite Understandings are liable to alterations they may grow or decline but the Knowledge of God is a full constant Light 't is always the same not liable to any Eclipse nor capable of any exaltation or improvement but remains for ever the
God may upon Repentance without any impeachment of the honour of his Truth or Knowledge or Power either defer or abate or remit the Punishment And that the Predictions of Judgments are to be understood with this Condition appears clearly from that known Text Jer. 18.7 8. I come now to the last thing I proposed to make some Vse of this Doctrine First If God be a God of Truth then this gives us assurance that he doth not deceive us that the Faculties which he hath given us are not false but when they have clear perceptions of Things they do not err and mistake Were it not for the veracity of God we might for any thing we know be under a constant Delusion and no Man could demonstate the contrary but that this is our make and temper and the very frame of our Understandings to be then most of all deceived when we think our selves to be most certain I say no Man could be assured of the contrary but from hence because veracity and truth is a Divine Perfection and therefore God cannot be the Author of Errour and Delusion Therefore we may be assured that the frame of our Understandings is not a Cheat but that our Faculties are true and unless it be our own fault we need not be deceived in things that are necessary to our Happiness Secondly If God be a God of Truth then there is Reason why we should believe and assent to whatever we are satisfied is revealed to us by God A Divine Revelation is a sufficient ground for the most firm assent for this very thing that any thing is revealed by God is the highest Evidence and ought to give us the most firm assurance of the truth of it Hence it is that the Word of God is call'd the Word of truth yea and truth it self John 17.17 Thy Word is truth Therefore whoever entertains the â—criptures as the Word of God and is satisfied of the Divine Authority of them ought in Reason to believe every thing contained in them yea tho' there be some things of which no reasonable account can be given and which our Reason and Understanding cannot give us particular satisfaction in yet because we are satisfied that they are revealed by God who cannot lie whose Knowledge is infallible and whose Word is true we ought upon this higher and superior Reason to yield a firm assent to the truth of them if we do not we dishonour this Perfection of God and rob him of this essential property his Veracity 1 John 5.10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeh not the record that God gave of his Son As on the other hand if we do believe what God hath revealed we glorifie this Perfection of his and set our seal to his Veracity So 't is said of Abraham Rom. 4.20 That he was strong in faith giving glory to God And St. John the Baptist speaking concerning our Saviour saith John 3.33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true Thirdly If God be a God of truth and faithful in performing his Promise then here is a firm Foundation for our Hope and Trust If God have made any Promise we may securely rely upon it that it shall be made good we may hold fast our hope without wavering because he is faithful who hath promised Heb. 10.23 Hence it is that the Blessings of God's Covenant are call'd sure mercies Isa 55.3 We attribute much to the Word of a faithful Friend and look upon the Promise of an honest Man as very good security but Men may fail us when we rely upon them but God is true tho' all Men should prove Lyars Men are fickle and murable but the Nature of God is fixt he cannot fail those that trust in him When God hath made any Promise to us we may plead it with him and urge him with his faithfulness So we find David did 2 Sam. 7.25 c. Only we should be careful to perform the Condition which is required on our part Heb. 4.1 we should take heed lest a Promise being left us any one should come short of it by not performing the Condition for that doth release and discharge him of the Promise and he is faithful tho' he doth not perform what he promised because he did not promise but upon Condition and this seem to be the meaning of those Words 2 Tim. 2.13 If we believe not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself He said before that if we perform the Conditions required God will bestow the Blessings promised It is a faithful saying for if we be dead with him we also shall live with him if we suffer we also shall reign with him but if we deny him the Curse threatned will then take place and he will deny us and God is not unfaithful in doing this he does not deny himself Now if we have such assurance we may trust him with our greatest Concernments and venture our Souls with him Psal 31.5 Into thy hands I commit my spirit O Lord God of truth We should rely upon him when there are the greatest improbabilities of the accomplishment of his Promises Thus did Abraham Rom. 4.17 c. This should also make us patient in hope if a Promise be not speedily accomplisht we should not be dejected or disquieted David challengeth himself upon this account Psal 42.11 Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God And so likewise in reference to the Rewards of another World tho' at a distance yet we should as the Apostle speaks wait for the blessed Hope Fourthly The Truth of God is matter of terrour to the Wicked All the threatnings of temporal Evils may justly be expected because their Sins deserve them and there is no Condition implyed in them upon which thou canst reasonably hope for the avoiding or abating of the Evils threatned but of Humiliation and Repentance and if notwithstanding these threatnings thou continuest in thy Sins and blessest thy self saying I shall have peace tho' thou walk in the imaginations of thy heart by this very thing thou provokest the Justice of God not to spare thee and makest his wrath and his jealousie to smoke against thee and if thou continuest impenitent however he may defer the execution of temporal Evils his Truth and Veracity is concerned to inflict eternal Punishments upon thee for he hath sworn in his wrath that such shall no enter into his rest Fifthly Let us propound to our selves the truth of God for our pattern and imitation Would you be like God be true and faithful Truth and faithfulness are Divine Perfections but lying and falsehood are the Properties of the Devil and the predominant qualities of Hell The character of the Devil
wander up and down in dry and desart places seeking rest but finding none Were the whole World calm about a Man and did it not make the least attempt upon him were he free from the fears of Divine Vengeance yet he could not be satisfied with himself there is something within him that would not let him be at rest but would tear him from his own Foundation and Consistency so that when we are once broken off from God the sense of inward want doth stimulate and force us to seek our contentment else-where So that nothing but Holiness which re-unites us to God and restores our Souls to their primitive and original state can make us happy and give peace and rest to our Souls And this is the constant voice and language of Scripture and the tenour of the Bible Acquaint thy self with God that thou mayest be at Peace Job 22.21 Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Psal 97.11 The work of righteousness is peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Isa 32.17 Seeing then Holiness is so high a Perfection and so great a Happiness let these Arguments prevail with us to aspire after this temper that as he who hath called us is holy so we may be holy in all manner of Conversation because it is written be ye holy for I am holy ADVERTISEMENT THE Discourses of the Divine Goodness being more than can be contain'd in this Volume are together with those of the remaining Attributes reserv'd for the next But to complete this here follows a single Sermon upon another Subject SERMON XIV Of doing Good Being a Spital Sermon Preach'd at Christ-Church on Easter-Tuesday April 14th 1691. GALAT. VI. 9 10. Let us not be weary in well doing forin due season we shall reap if we faint not As we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all Men especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith THE Apostle in these Words recommends unto us a great and comprehensive Duty the doing of good concerning which the Text offers these five particulars to our Consideration I. The Nature of the Duty it self which is called well doing v. 9. and doing good v. 10. II. The extent of this Duty in respect of it's Object which is all Mankind Let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith III. The measure of it as we have opportunity IV. Our unwearied perseverance in it let us not be weary in well doing V. The Argument and Encouragement to it because in due season we shall reap if we faint not Therefore as we have opportunity let us do good c. I. I will consider the Nature of the Duty it self of well doing and doing good And this I shall explain to you as briefly as I can by considering the extent of the Act of doing Good and the Excellency of it And 1. The extent of the Act. It comprehends in it all those ways wherein we may be beneficial and useful to one another It reaches not only to the Bodies of Men but to their Souls that Better and more Excellent part of our selves and is conversant in all those Ways and Kinds whereby we may serve the temporal or spiritual Good of our Neighbour and promote either his present or his future and eternal Happiness To instruct the Ignorant or reduce those that are in Error to turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just and reclaim those that are engaged in any evil Course by good Counsel and seasonable Admonition and by prudent and kind Reproof to resolve and satisfie the doubting Mind to confirm the weak to heal the broken-hearted and to comfort the melancholy and troubled Spirits These are the noblest Ways of Charity because they are conversant about the Souls of Men and tend to procure and promote their eternal Felicity And then to feed the hungry to cloath the naked release the imprisoned to redeem the Captives and to vindicate those who are injur'd and oppress'd in their Persons or Estates or Reputation to repair those who are ruin'd in their Fortunes and in a word to relieve and comfort those who are in any kind of Calamity or Distress All these are but the several Branches and Instances of this great Duty here in the Text of doing good tho' it hath in this place a more particular respect to the Charitable supply of those who are in Want and Necessity and therefore with a more particular regard to that I shall Discourse of it at this time You see the extent of the Duty We will in the 2. Place briefly say something of the Ecellency of it which will appear if we consider That it is the imitation of the highest Excellency and Perfection To do Good is to be like God who is Good and doth good and it is to be like to him in that which he esteems his greatest Glory It is to be like the Son of God who when he was pleased to take our Nature upon him and live here below and to dwell amongst us went about doing good And it is to be like the blessed Angels the highest Rank and Order of God's Creatures whose great Employment it is to be ministring Spirits for the good of Men. So that for a Man to be kind and helpful and beneficial to others is to be a good Angel and a Saviour and a kind of God too It is an Argument of a great and noble and generous Mind to extend our Thoughts and Cares to the concernments of others and to employ our interest and power and endeavours for their benefit and advantage Whereas a low and mean and narrow Spirit is contracted and shrivel'd up within it self and cares only for its own things without any regard to the good and happiness of others It is the most noble work in the World because that inclination of Mind which prompts us to do good is the very temper and disposition of Happiness Solomon after all his Experience of worldly greatness and pleasure at last pitched upon this as the great felicity of humane Life and the only good Use that is to be made of a prosperous and plentiful Fortune Eccles 3.12 I know says he speaking of Riches that there is no good in them but for a Man to rejoice and do good in his life And certainly the best way to take joy in an Estate is to do good with it and a greater and wiser than Solomon has said it even he who is the Power and Wisdom of God has said it that it is a more blessed thing to give than to receive Consider farther That this is one of the great and substantial parts of Religion and next to the love and honour which we pay to Almighty God the most acceptable Service that we can do to him it is one Table of the Law and next the First and great Commandment of loving the Lord our God and very