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A67068 God made visible in his workes, or, A treatise of the externall workes of God first, in generall, out of the words of the Psalmist, Psalm 35, 6 : secondly, in particular of the Creation, out of the words of Moses, Genesis, Chap. 1 and 2 : thirdly, of Gods actuall Providence / by George Walker ... Walker, George, 1581?-1651. 1641 (1641) Wing W358; ESTC R38408 12,999 22

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this use and doe worke this effect we may gather from the dependance and inference of this Text For the Psalmist having professed that he knows the Lord to be great and that he is the onely true God above all gods that is who hath all the essentiall properties of the true God he proves it by and from his workes and sheweth that by meanes of them he knoweth it And other Scriptures and experience confirme the same Psal. 19.1 It is said that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge and Rom. 1.20 The visible things of God are seene from the creation of the world clearly being understood by the things which were made Even his divine Power and God-head So the works of Gods actual providence in governing and upholding the world and in mooving the Heavens and the starres in order doe shew his infinite wisdome and supercelestia●l glory Psal. 8.1 His overthrowing of his enemies and the persecutors of his Church as in the flood of Noah and in the drowning of Pharaoh and his host do shew his power His giving of Christ his Son for a Redeemer aboundantly testifieth his infinite goodnesse and bounty his punishing our sins in Christ to the ●ull shews his infinite Justice and his pardoning of beleevers by Christs satisfaction freely given and communicated to them shewes his infinite mercy and free grace as the Scriptures often testifie and our own consciences within us do witnesse and our daily sense and experience do proove And in our Redemption and application of it we see discovered the Trinity of Persons in one God And while wee in these things as in a glasse behold the glory of God with open face the vaile of ignorance being remooved we are changed into the same Image from glory to glory and so come to have communion with God and the fruition of him 2 Cor. 3.18 The seventh and last Branch sets before us the utmost end of all Gods outward works to wit the eternall blessednesse of the elect by the communion vision and fruition of God in all his glorious attributes as wisedome power goodnesse mercy justice and the rest The Text it selfe intimates this Truth to us saying that all these workes of God proceed from his good will and pleasure For the good pleasure and will of God consists chiefly and principally in willing that his elect shall be brought to perfect communion of himselfe and of his glory for their eternall happinesse And what God willeth according to his owne good pleasure and doth because he is pleased so to do it must needs aime at the blessednesse of his elect by the sight and fruition of him and his glory Now therfore all Gods outward workes proceeding from Gods pleasure must needs tend to this end and this is confirmed Rom. 8.28 1 Cor. 3.21 22 23. where we read that all things worke together for good to them that love God and are the called according to his purpose and that all things are the elects the world life and death things present and things to come and they are Christs and Christ is Gods also Col. 1.16 all things visible and invisible were created as by Christ so for him that they might serve him for the salvation of his elect and for this end and purpose Angells principalities and powers are said to be made subject to Christ 1 Pet. 3.22 And their office and ministery and the great wonders which God doth by them are said to be for them who shall be heires of salvation Heb. 1.14 To these testimonies many reasons might be added I will onely call to mind that which I have else where abundantly declared and prooved to wit that for this end the world is upheld by Christ and for his sake and through his mediation ever since mans fall and for this end the wicked live even the barbarous and savage nations either that they may serve for some use to Gods people or for the elects sake whom God will raise up out of them or that God may shew his justice and power on them being fitted for destruction to the greater glory of his elect even the judgements of God on the wicked and their damnation serve for this end to increase the blessednesse of the Saints The doctrine of this description serves for to stirre us up in imitation of God our Creator not to content our selves with saying purposing and promising or with making a shew of doing good workes but to be reall true constant and faithfull in performance of them For so doth God whatsoever he promiseth or purposeth or is pleased to doe that he doth in Heaven and Earth Sluggards who delight in idlenesse doing nothing and Hypocrites who say and promise and make great shew of doing but are barren of the fruites of good workes as they are most unlike to God and contrary to him so they are hatefull and abhominable in the sight of God and they onely are accepted of God who are active Christians alwayes doing good and abounding in the worke of the Lord their labour shall not be in vaine but every one shall receive reward according to his workes which are evidences of his communion with Christ and of his faith justification and sanctification wherefore seeing God is alwayes reaching forth his mighty hand to worke in Heaven in Earth in the Sea and all deep places for our profit let us be alwayes doing and studying to do good for his glory Secondly it serves to move and direct us in and through the outward workes of God to see and behold the infinite eternall and omnipotent God and his divine power and God-head and in the unity of Gods essence the sacred Trinity of persons because all the persons have a hand in every worke and that one God who is three persons is the author and worker of every divine outward worke as this doctrine teacheth It is a common custome among men when they see and behold the handy worke of any person to remember the person to bee put in minde of him by the worke especially if he have knowne the person before and beare the love and affection to him of a friend and a beloved one So let it be with us so often as we see and behold the visible outward workes of God let us in them behold the face of God and remember his glorious attributes Let us in the great workes of Creation behold the wisedome and power of God the Creator in the worke of Redemption the mercy bounty and love of God in our Sanctification the love and the holinesse of God and in them all let us behold the three glorious Persons in that one God who worketh all things after the counsell of his owne will The Father by his eternall Word and Spirit creating all things The Sonne sent forth by the Father in our nature and sanctified by the Spirit redeeming
Lord and to laud his name more specially the Lords servants who are continuall professors in his Church Secondly in the 3 4 5. verses he gives some reasons drawne from the Attributes of God and the consideration of his nature to wit because the Lord is good and his name pleasant and because of his owne free grace he hath chosen Israel that is his elect and faithfull Church to be his owne peculiar people and because the Lord is great and is a God above all gods In testifying and affirming the Lords goodnesse and being above all gods he brings for proofe his owne knowledge and experience I know saith he that the Lord is great vers. 5. Thirdly he doth proove God to be such a one even so good gracious and great by his outward workes and sheweth that by them he knowes God to be so for he saith here in this text whatsoever the Lord pleased that he hath done in Heaven and in earth in the Sea and all deepe places So that it is plaine by the order dependance and scope of the text That here David extolls Gods outward workes in generall as things proceeding from his owne good pleasure and serving to proove him to be good and gracious and to make us know him so great and glorious a God as he is In the second place for the wordes themselves they are plaine and easie to be understood at the first hearing without any laborious interpretation They run thus in the Hebrew All which the Lord pleaseth he hath done in Heaven Earth Sea and all deepe places This word all ●hewes that he speakes not of some particular workes but of all in that kind The word Jehovah is the proper name of God considered in the unity of his essence with all his ess●ntiall Attributes and every one of the 3. Persons is called by this name as they are of the same essence and all one God The enumeration of all the notable places in the world wherein these workes are done discovers the workes which he here speakes off to be outward workes which doe not abide in Gods essence and there onely subsist as his eternall counsell decrees and inward operations do but are done in time and place and have their subsistance in and among the creatures such as are creating ruling ordering upholding of all things and also redeeming and restoring of all man-kinde The word pleaseth limits the generall note or particle all unto all workes which in themselves are good or else serve for good use and so are pleasing to the Lord for the use sake Hee doth not say that the Lord doth all things which are done but all things which he pleaseth that is he doth not make men sinnefull and wicked neither doth he worke rebellion in men which is displeasing unto him but he doth whatsoever is pleasing that is all things which are agreeable to his nature And whatsoever is according to his will and good pleasure that he doth none can hinder it This is the true sense and meaning of the wordes Now from the text thus opened and the circumstances observed wee may gather a perfect description of them in generall shewing the nature and use of them The description of Gods outward Workes The outward workes of God in generall are all things whatsoever the Lord God Jehovah that one infinite and eternall God 3. Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost doth according to his eternall purpose and after the counsell and good pleasure of his will work and bring to passe not within but without himselfe in all the world and upon all creatures therein and that certainely and irresistably in due time and place to the communicating and making of himself known to men and Angels in his infinite and eternall nature and in his goodnesse grace glory power and all other essentiall properties for the salvation and eternall blessednes of his elect in Christ This description truely gathered from this Text and the scope and order of it and discovering plainely the nature and use of Gods outwa●d workes in generall I will proove in every part and branch orderly and will conclude with some application The first thing in it is the generall matter of Gods externall workes they are things done that is not onely actions working and operations such as Creation Redemption and the like but also things or works made ●ff●cted and done by those actions as Heaven Earth Angels and other things created ●or all these are things done and wrought by God This Branch is plainly expressed in this word of my Text {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} hath done or doth or hath made for the Hebrew word signifies all these And that Gods outward works consist in doing and are things not spoken or promised but done and wrought Divers testimonies of Scripture doe shew Psal. 44.1 David cals them workes which he hath done And Isa. 28.21 The Prophet saith that the Lord doth his worke his s●range worke And not to stand in repeating many Scriptures in a point so plaine This in one word is sufficient that the two Hebrew words {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which are used in the Scriptures to signifie Gods outward works are both derived of verbs which signifie doing The second branch in this description comprehends in it the Authour of these works to wit the Lord ●od Jehovah that one infinite eternall God and three Persons Father Sonne and Holy Ghost This Branch doth distinguish these workes First from the workes of creatur●s which are proper to them Secondly from the personall operations of God as the eternall begetting of the Sonne which is proper to the Father and is his worke onely That God considered in the unity of his essence as he comprehends all the three Persons is the Authour of these workes and that they are common to the Father Son and Holy Ghost and every one of them hath an hand in every work of this kind though one more immediately than another The word Jehovah here used in the Text doth plainly shew where it is said Whatsoever Jehovah pleased or was willing to do that he hath done which word is so proper to God and signifies One God that it also agrees to every person in that one God And this is also confirmed by divers other testimonies of Gods word which shew that in divers of these outward actions or workes the Father workes by the Sonne and the Sonne by the Father with and by the Spirit The first great work of this kind even the work of Creation which sometimes is attributed to the Father as more peculiar to him because terminatur in Patre as the Schoole-men speak that is it is bounded and termined in the Father and he is principium summus terminus creationis the first beginning and utmost bound of creation from whom it first proceeded even this is attributed to the Sonne and Spirit also as being common to
all the Persons as Psal. 33.6 By the word of the Lord that is the Sonne were the Heavens made and all the host of them by the Spirit of his mouth To which adde Job 33.4 The Spirit of God made me John 1.2 10. Colos. 1.16 where it is said that by the eternall word the Sonne all things were made both in Heaven and Earth visible and invisible and without him was made nothing of all that was made So likewise in that outward worke of Judgement executed on Sodome and Gomorrah Gen. 19.24 Jehovah is said to raine downe from Jehovah out of Heaven fire and brimstone that is Jehovah the Son from Jehovah the Father who are both one and the same God Jehovah yea that these externall workes of God are not divided some to one Person and some to another in the Trinity but are common to all the Persons and proceed from that one common essence according to that saying of the School-men opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa Our Saviour sheweth most plainly Ioh. 5.19 22. where he saith that as the Sonne cannot worke of himselfe alone without the Father but he must have and see the Father working with him so the Father doth not judge any that is by his owne proper act of judgement but hath committed all judgement to the Sonne that he may have a hand in all judgements together with himselfe and Iohn 16.13 14. speaking of that speciall illumination of mens hearts and inward teaching which seemes most proper to the Spirit he saith it is not of himselfe alone but it is what he hath heard and received from the Father and the Sonne And therefore the second Branch is manifest that the doer of the outward workes of God is Jehovah our God and all the three Persons in God The third Branch comprehends in it the outward moving cause of all these outward workes namely Gods owne will and pleasure for he is said to do them according to his eternall purpose and after the counsell of his owne will This is expressed in the description and in the words of the Text {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Whatsoever the Lord pleased that is whatsoever is according to the Lords will and pleasure that he hath done and this is testified in other Scriptures as Psal. 115.3 where it is said that the Lord doth whatsoever pleaseth him and Isa. 46.10 where the Lord saith I will do all my pleasure and Ionah 1.14 All which places shew that first the Lord hath a mind and pleasure to doe such things and therupon he doth them Also Ephes. 1.11 It is said he doth worke all things after the counsell of his will And Acts 2.23 4.28 the worke of our Redemption by Christ and all that he did and suffered is said to be done by the determinate counsell of God Therfore this Branch is manifest namely That Gods will and pleasure is the only inward mooving cause of all his outward works and that they are nothing but the execution of his eternall will and decree The fourth Branch by which these outward works are specially distinguished from his inward operation comprehends in it the subject wherein these workes do subsist and the circumstance of time and place wherein they are done For these workes are not done within God himselfe neither doe they subsist in his Essence as his inward operations do but they are Extra Dei essentiam without Gods essence they are done in all the world and upon the creatures some in Heaven and some in Earth others in the Sea and all deepe places as my Text saith and they have their circumstances of time and place as God hath appointed from all eternity The Creation was in the first beginning of time in the first six dayes of the world Gen. 1. The Redemption wrought by Christ in the midst of yeares betweene the Law and the Gospell Hab. 3.2 and upon the mountaine where Hierusalem stood Isa. 25.6 7. The great execution shall be at the end of the world in the last day of Judgement and the works of Gods governement and actuall providence as they are divers so they are done at divers times and in divers places of the world as experience teacheth on the very day which the Lord appointed did the flood come upon the old world Gen. 7.11 In the same day which God had fore-told was Israel delivered out of Aegypt Exod. 21.41 And howsoever the words of the Apostle Act. 17.18 intimate that in God and not without him We live moove and have our being yet we are not thus to understand that these things are and that we subsist in Gods Essence and that we are so in God as his inward operations and eternall decrees are But that we all are compassed about with Gods presence and essentiall power which are every where and by him as by the chiefe efficient cause and authour of life motion and being are sustained and upheld in life being and motion continually For to be in God that is to subsist in his essence doth necessarily imply coeternity and consubstantiality with God Quicquid est in Deo Deus est nothing can be within his Essence but it must be coeternall with God and of the same Substance with him Hee who denies this must needes deny God to be immutable and most simple free from all composition Therfore this Branch also is most manifest and doth containe in it nothing but solid Truth The fifth Branch containes in it the manner of Gods outward works to wit that in respect of God himselfe they are done with such power as cannot be resisted and in respect of the event they are certaine infallible and cannot faile This is truely collected from the Text For it is said that all Whatsoever the Lord pleaseth hee doth or hath done which shewes that not one jot of his will and pleasure failes but comes to passe If his will or pleasure could be resisted or any thing prevented which he willeth to worke surely the Divell who is so cunning watchfull and malitious would in some things have defeated God or this either by himselfe or some of his instruments But this Text affirmes the contrary that whatsoever the Lord pleased he hath done in all the world Therfore in r●s●ect of ●od they are all unresistable and in respect of the event infallible And this David testifieth Psal. 1●5 3 saying The Lord doth whatsoever pleaseth him And Isa. 46.10 my counsell shall stand and I will performe all my pleasure yea because these are voluntary workes of God and are willed and decreed in his secret counsell from all eternity as I have noted before therefore they must needs be unresistable for Who can resist his will Rom. 9.19 The sixth Branch containes the principall use and effects of Gods outward workes namely the making of himselfe knowne in his nature and essentiall attributes and so communicating himselfe to his elect That Gods externall workes doe all serve for
us and paying our ransome The Holy Ghost shed on us by God the Father through the Sonne Christ in our regeneration And all three conspiring together to purge sanctifie and justifie us and to make us eternally blessed in our communion with them and in our fruition of God in grace and glory And let us take heed and beware of idle and vaine speculation of Gods great workes which shew his glory and proclaime his glorious Attributes Wisdome Power and Goodnesse lest by such idle negligence wee become guilty of taking the name of the Lord our God in vaine Thirdly from this description we may easily gather and conclude that sinnefull actions as they are evill and sinnefull are not Gods workes for God is pleased with those things which he doth and his workes are according to his pleasure but God is not pleased with sinnefull actions and evill workes he hath no pleasure in iniquity Psal. 5.4 If any aske How then can it be done if he will not and be not pleased I answer That in them there is to be considered 1. A naturall motion or action proceeding from some created power and so from God the Creator and this is good and of God and according to his will as it willeth things properly 2. There is a corruption perversenesse and crookednesse of the action this is of the Divell and mans corruption this God hateth but because actions thus corrupted and stayned make way for God and give him occasion to shew his wisedome and power in ouer-ruling them and disposing them by his hand to a good end and his justice in punishing them therefore God is pleased to continue that naturall power to the wicked which they pervert and abuse and to over-rule such wicked workes and to raise light out of that darkenesse And therefore let us not impute any evill and sinfull workes to God as they are evill and sinfull nor wickedly imagine that he is the author of sin His hand is never in any sinfull work otherwise then to over-rule order and dispose the sinfulnesse and evill thereof to some good end and purpose Fourthly we are hereby admonished not to impute any worke done in the world to fortune or chance as worldly Epicures do but to ascribe all workes and every thing which comes to passe to the certaine will purpose and determinate counsell of ●od It is true that in respect of second causes and purposes of men many things come to passe accidentally and by chance no man purposing or intending any such thing but in respect of God they are certaine and infallible they all happen according to his will and without it not an haire can fall from our heads nor a Sparrow fall to the earth all power and motion is of him and the abuse of the power and motion which is from the Divell and mans corruption he willingly permitted and doth over-rule and dispose by his wisedome and providence to a good end And therefore in all casualties and accidents let us comfort our selves and rest content and bee patient knowing that they come not but by his will and pleasure Lastly let us rejoyce in all the great workes which we see done in the world and honour them as meanes tending to our salvation if we be Gods faithfull people and with care and conscience walke before him according to his word and let the sight of them put us in mind for our comfort that our God in whom we trust doth not lie idle nor slumber or sleep but by a mighty hand and stretched out arme hath done all these great things and is continually doing and working for us to bring us at length out of all troubles and dangers and to set us and establish us for ever in eternall rest glory and blessednesse The next thing which in order followeth after the description of Gods outward workes in generall is the unfolding and distinct handling of the severall sorts and kindes of them And because the right dividing of them into heads and the reducing of all the particulars unto their proper and naturall heads is a maine ground of light and a sure way to the distinct handling and understanding of them I will therefore before I proceed any further labour to divide them aright into their naturall heads according to the ru●es of reason and truth and so will proceed to that which is the first in time and by the course and order of nature namely the creation of the world and all things in it The learned though they all acknowledge every kind of Gods outward workes and doe not differ in the kindes and numbers of them yet they are at variance about the true division of them into their first and principall heads Some divide the works of God into the works of Creation and the works of Redemption But this is no perfect division the two members of it do not containe all the outward works of God for over and besides them there are works of preservation and of judgement and revenge Others divide all Gods outward workes into the works of nature and the workes of grace The workes of nature they divide into two sortes 1. The workes which concerne the first beginning of nature that is the workes of creation 2. The workes which concerne the preservation which they call the works of Gods providence The works of grace they hold to be the works of Redemption and restauration of man-kind by which God brings supernaturall blessings to men But this division failes in divers respects First It makes a difference betweene works of nature and works of grace wheras indeed creation and preservation which they account works of nature are in some sense works of grace For God of his owne free grace created man in his own Image And now and ever since the first sin of Adam which brought death and destruction into the world all works of preservation by which God preserveth men in being and life are works of free grace and the preserving of his Elect unto his heavenly Kingdome is a worke of supernaturall grace in Christ Second●● they erre in distinguishing between the works of Gods providence and the works of Redemption and rest●uration wheras Redemption and restauration are principall works of Gods providence by which God provides for his elect in Christ such things as neither eye hath seen nor eare heard neither have entred into the heart of man 1 Cor. 2.9 A third sort there are who divide all Gods outward works into these two heads only namely the works of Creation and the works of actuall providence This I take to be the best and most perfect division First because under these heads are all Gods outward works contained and there is not any one which may not be reduced under one of these two For whatsoever God doth or hath done or can doe for the giving of the first being to all things may be reduced to Creation And whatsoever God doth or can do for the ordering preserving and disposing of things created and of their being and wel-being may be brought under the works of his actuall providence Secondly there is a perfect distinction and difference between the works of creation and the works of actuall providence So far as mans substance differs from mans misery and mans felicity so farre doth every proper worke of Creation differ from the works of Gods actuall providence in their objects And although God in the creating of things in order did shew his providence for man in that he first made a place of habitation for him and all things which may serve for his use as plants trees fruits light and other necessaries before he created him yet this breeds no confusion between the works of creation and the works of preservation for two things may go together in time and place and may be in the same subject as we see sense and understanding hearing and seeing in one man at the same time and heat and light in fire and yet they may be different in themselvs This order therfore I do purpose to follow hereafter by Gods assistance in prosecuting the body of Divinity First I will begin with the Creation and will labour to unfold the nature of it in generall And then I will proceed to the handling of all the speciall works therof every one distinctly by it self in particular Secondly I will passe from thence to the works of Gods actuall providence under which comes the government and preservation of the world and of al things created and the ordering and disposing of every thing to the proper end of it More especially the fall of man into sin misery and guilt of damnation And the Redemption of man from misery and his Restauration to grace and glory by the application and fruition of Redemption and by true spirituall union and communion with Christ the Redeemer and with God the Father in him by the inhabitation of the Holy Ghost Thus much for the generall Doctrin of Gods outward works laid down in this Text and for the division of them in their severall heads and kinds unto which all the particular outward works may be reduced FINIS Vse 1. Vse 2. Vse 3. Vse 4. Vse 5.