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A62579 The remaining discourses, on the attributes of God Viz. his Goodness. His mercy. His patience. His long-suffering. His power. His spirituality. His immensity. His eternity. His incomprehensibleness. God the first cause, and last end. By the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury. Being the seventh volume; published from the originals, by Ralph Barker, D.D. chaplain to his Grace. Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708, publisher. 1700 (1700) Wing T1216; ESTC R222200 153,719 440

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of it Psal 29.1 Give unto the Lord O ye mighty give unto the Lord glory and strength So likewise it should take Men off from relying upon their own strength which at the best is but an arm of flesh as the Scripture calls it for the weakness of it Do we not see that many times the battel is not to the strong That things are not done by might and by power but by the spirit of the Lord. When he appears against the most potent their hearts melt within them and there is no more spirit left in them as 't is said of the mighty Inhabitants of Canaan Josh 5.1 Thirdly We should make this Omnipotence of God the Object of our trust and confidence This is the most proper use we can make of this Doctrine as David does in this Psalm and this was used for a form of blessing the People in the Name of God Psal 136.3 The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee And David when he magnifies God's deliverance of his People from the multitude of their Enemies resolves it into this Our help standeth in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth Thus did the great Pattern and Example of Faith incourage and support his confidence in God in a very difficult tryal he staggered not at it because he believed God who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things that be not as tho' they were therefore against hope he believed in hope c. Rom. 4.17 c. This gives life to all our Devotion to be perswaded that God is able to do for us exceedingly above what we can ask or think and that his is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory I shall only caution two things as to our relyance on the Power of God I. Labour to be such Persons to whom God hath promised that he will engage and imploy his Omnipotence for their good If we hope for any good from the Almighty we must walk before him and be perfect as he said to Abraham Good Men have a peculiar interest in God's Power hence he is called the strength of Israel and the mighty one of Israel If we do what God requires of us we may expect that he will put forth his Power and exert his Arm for us but if we disobey we must expect he will manifest his Power against us Ez. 8.22 When we do well we may commit the keeping of our souls to him 1 Pet. 4.19 II. Our expectations from the Omnipotence of God must be with submission to his Pleasure and Goodness and Wisdom we must not expect that God will manifest his Power when we think there is occasion for it but when it seems best to him he will so imploy his Omnipotence as to manifest his Goodness and Wisdom And with these two Cautions we may rely upon him in all our Wants both Spiritual and Temporal for his Divine Power can give us all things that pertain to life and godliness 2 Pet. 1.3 We may trust him at all times for the Omnipotent God neither slumbereth nor sleepeth the Almighty fainteth not neither is he weary trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength SERMON XI Vol. VII· The Spirituality of the Divine Nature JOHN IV. 24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth THese are the words of our Saviour to the Woman of Samaria who was speaking to him of the difference between the Samaritans and the Jews concerning Religion v. 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain but ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship Christ tells her The time was coming when the worshippers of God should neither be confined to that mountain nor to Jerusalem but men should worship the Father in spirit and in truth when this carnal and ceremonial and typical Worship of God should be exalted into a more spiritual a more real and true and substantial Religion which should not be confined to one Temple but should be universally diffused through the World Now such a Worship as this is most agreeable to the Nature of God for he is a spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth In the words we have First A Proposition laid down God is a spirit Secondly A Corollary or Inference deduced from it they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth I shall speak of the Proposition as that which concerns my present Design and afterward speak something to the Corollary or Inference deduced from it together with some other Inferences drawn from this truth by way of Application First That God is a spirit This expression is singular and not to be parallell'd again in the Scripture indeed we have often mention made in Scripture of the spirit of God and the spirit of the Lord which signifies a Divine Power and Energy and of the holy Spirit signifying the third Person in the Trinity God is call'd the God of the Spirits of all flesh Numb 16.22.27.16 much in the same Sense as he is call'd the Father of Spirits Heb. 12.9 that is the Creator of the Souls of Men but we no where meet with this expression or any other equivalent to it that God is a spirit but only in this place nor had it been used here but to prove that the best Worship of God that which is most proper to him is spiritual so that the thing which our Saviour here intends is not to prove the Spiritual Nature of God but that his Worship ought to be spiritual nor indeed is there any necessity that it should have been any where said in Scripture that God is a spirit it being the natural Notion of a God no more than it is necessary that it should be told us that God is good or that he is infinite and eternal and the like or that the Scripture should prove to us the Being of a God All these are manifest by the Light of Nature and if the Scripture mention them it is ex abundanti and it is usually in order to some further purpose For we are to know that the Scripture supposeth us to be Men and to partake of the common Notions of Human Nature and therefore doth not teach us Philosophy nor solicitously instruct us in those things which are born with us but supposeth the knowledge of these and makes use of these common Principles and Notions which are in us concerning God and the immortality of our Souls and the Life to come to excite us to our Duty and quicken our Endeavours after Happiness For I do not find that the Doctrine of the immortality of the Soul is any where expresly delivered in Scripture but taken for granted in like manner that the Scripture doth not solicitously instruct us in the natural Notions which we have of God but supposeth them known to us and if it mention them it is not so
Church with it and make it a ground of separation from her 3. If God be a Spirit then we should worship him in spirit and in truth This is the Inference of the Text and therefore I shall speak a little more largely of it only I must explain what is meant by worshiping in spirit and in truth and shew you the force of this Consequence how it follows that because God is a Spirit therefore he must be worship'd in spirit and in truth 1 st For the explication of it This word Spirit is sometimes apply'd to the Doctrine of the Gospel and so it is opposed to Letter by which Name the Doctrine of Moses is called 2 Cor. 3.6 Who hath made us able Ministers of the new Testament not of the letter but of the spirit not of the Law which was written in Tables of Stone but which Christ by his Spirit writes in the Hearts of Believers Sometimes to the worship of the Gospel and so it is opposed to the Flesh Gal. 3.3 Having begun in the spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh that is by the works of the ceremonial Law which is therefore call'd Flesh because the principal ceremony of it Circumcision was made in the Flesh and because their Sacrifices a chief part of their Worship were of the Flesh of Beasts and because the greatest part of their Ordinances as washing and the like related to the Body Hence it is the Apostle calls the worship of the Jews the law of a carnal commandment Heb. 7.16 and Heb. 9.10 Carnal Ordinances speaking of the Service of the Law which saith he stood in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances Now in opposition to this carnal and ceremonial Worship we are to worship God in the Spirit The Worship of the Jews was most a bodily service but we are to give God a reasonable service to serve him with the spirit of our minds as the Apostle speaks instead of offering the flesh of bulls and goats we are to consecrate our selves to the service of God this is a holy and acceptable sacrifice or reasonable service And in truth Either in opposition to the false Worship of the Samaritans as in spirit is opposed to the Worship of the Jews as our Saviour tells the Woman that they worship'd they knew not what or which I rather think in opposition to the shadows of the Law and so it is opposed John 1.17 The Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ Not that the external Service of God is here excluded not that we are to show no outward reverence to him but that as under the Law the Service of God was chiefly external and corporeal so now it should chiefly be inward and spiritual the Worship of God under the Gospel should chiefly be spiritual and substantial not a carnal and bodily and ceremonious Devotion 2 dly For the force of the Consequence it doth not lie in this that just such as God is such must our Worship of him be for this would exclude all bodily and outward worship our Worship of God must therefore be invisible eternal c. for so is he and besides the Will of God seems rather to be the rule of his Worship than his Nature but the force of it is this God is of a spiritual Nature and this is to be supposed to be his Will that our Worship should be as agreable to the Object of it as the nature of the Creature who is to give it will bear now saith Christ to the Woman the Jews and the Samaritans they limit their Worship to a certain place and it consists chiefly in certain carnal Rites and Ordinances but saith he tho' God have permitted this for a time because of the carnality and hardness of their hearts yet the time is coming when a more spiritual and solid and substantial Worship of God is to be introduced which will be free from all particular Places and Rites not tyed to the Temple or to such external Ceremonies but consisting in the devotion of our Spirits even the inward frame and temper of our Hearts all outward Circumstances excepting those of the two Sacraments which are positive being left by the Gospel to as great a liberty as natural necessity and decency will permit We must worship God and therefore it is naturally necessary that we should do it somewhere in some place now seeing some body must determine this it is most convenient that Authority should determine it according to the conveniency of cohabitation We must not be rude nor do any thing that is naturally undecent in the Worship of God this Authority should restrain but further than this I doubt not but the Gospel hath left us free and to this end that the less we are tied to external Observances the more intent we should be upon the spiritual and substantial parts of Religion the conforming of our selves to the Mind and Will of God endeavouring to be like God and to have our Souls and Spirits ingaged in those Duties we perform to him So that our Saviour's argument is this God is a Spirit that is the most excellent Nature and Being and therefore must be served with the best We consist of Body and Soul 't is true and we must serve him with our whole Man but principally with our Souls which are the most excellent Part of our selves the Service of our Mind and Spirit is the best we can perform and therefore most agreeable to God who is a Spirit and the best and most perfect Being So that the Inference is this that if God be a Spirit we must worship him in spirit and in truth our Religion must be real and inward and sincere and substantial we must not think to put off God with external observances and with bodily reverence and attendance this we must give him but we must principally regard that our Service of him be reasonable that is directed by our Understandings and accompanied with our Affections Our Religion must consist principally in a sincere love and affection to God which expresseth it self in a real conformity of our lives and actions to his Will and when we make our solemn approaches to him in the Duties of his Worship and Service we must perform all acts of outward Worship to God with a pure and sincere Mind whatever we do in the Service of God we must do it heartily as to the Lord. God is a pure Spirit present to our Spirits intimate to our Souls and conscious to the most secret and retired motions of our Hearts now because we serve the Searcher of Hearts we must serve him with our Hearts Indeed if we did worship God only to be seen of Men a pompous and external Worship would be very suitable to such an end but Religion is not intended to please Men but God and therefore it must be spiritual and inward and real And where-ever the external part of Religion
The most Reverend D r. IOHN TILLOTSON late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury The Remaining DISCOURSES ON THE Attributes of God viz. His Goodness His Mercy His Patience His Long-suffering His Power His Spirituality His Immensity His Eternity His Incomprehensibleness God the first Cause and last End By the Most Reverend Dr. JOHN TILLOTSON Late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Being The SEVENTH VOLUME Published from the Originals By Ralph Barker D. D. Chaplain to his Grace LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard 1700. THE CONTENTS SERMON I II III IV. The Goodness of God PSAL. CXLV 9 The Lord is good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works Page 1 25 51 81. SERMON V. The Mercy of God NUMB. XIV 18 The Lord is long-suffering and of great Mercy p. 145. SERMON VI VII The Patience of God 2 Pet. III. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance p. 143 179. SERMON VIII IX The Long-suffering of God ECCLES VIII 11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the Sons of men is fully set in them to do evil p. 193 239. SERMON X. The Power of God PSAL. LXII 11 God hath spoken once twice have I heard this that power belongeth unto God p. 265. SERMON XI The Spirituality of the Divine Nature JOHN IV. 2 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth p. 299. SERMON XII The Immensity of the Divine Nature PSAL. CXXXIX 7 8 9 10. Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me p. 331 SERMON XIII The Eternity of God PSALM XC 2 Before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God p. 355 SERMON XIV The Incomprehensibleness of God JOB XI 7 Canst thou by searching find out God Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection p. 377 SERMON XV. God the first Cause and last End ROM XI 36 For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be Glory for ever Amen p. 403 SERMON I. Vol. VII The Goodness of God PSAL. CXLV 9 The Lord is Good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works THE Subject which I have now proposed to treat of is certainly one of the Greatest and Noblest Arguments in the World the Goodness of God the Highest and most Glorious Perfection of the best and most Excellent of Beings than which nothing deserves more to be considered by us nor ought in Reason to affect us more The Goodness of God is the cause and the continuance of our Beings the Foundation of our Hopes and the Fountain of our Happiness our greatest comfort and our fairest Example the chief Object of our love and praise and admiration the joy and rejoycing of our hearts and therefore the Meditation and Discourse of it must needs be pleasant and delightful to us the great difficulty will be to confine our selves upon so copious an Argument and to set bounds to that which is of so vast an extent the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works Which words are an Argument which the divine Plalmist useth to stir up himself and others to the praise of God At the 3. v. he tells us that the Lord is great and greatly to be praised and he gives the reason of this v. 8. and 9. from those Properties and Perfections of the Divine Nature which declare his Goodness the Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works where you have the Goodness of God declared together with the amplitude and extent of it in respect of the Objects of it the Lord is good to all In the handling of this Argument I shall do these four things First Consider what is the proper Notion of Goodness as it is attributed to God Secondly Shew that this Perfection belongs to God Thirdly Consider the Effects and the Extent of it Fourthly Answer some Objections which may seem to contradict and bring in question the Goodness of God First What is the proper Notion of Goodness as it is attributed to God There is a dry Metaphysical Notion of Goodness which only signifies the Being and essential properties of a thing but this is a good word ill bestowed for in this sense every thing that hath Being even the Devil himself is good And there is a Moral Notion of Goodness and that is twofold 1. More general in opposition to all Moral evil and imperfection which we call sin and vice and so the Justice and Truth and Holiness of God are in this sense his Goodness But there is 2. Another Notion of Moral Goodness which is more particular and restrained and then it denotes a particular Virtue in opposition to a particular Vice and this is the proper and usual acceptation of the word Goodness and the best description I can give of it is this that it is a certain propension and disposition of mind whereby a person is enclined to desire and procure the happiness of others and it is best understood by its contrary which is an envious disposition a contracted and narrow Spirit which would confine happiness to it self and grudgeth that others should partake of it or share in it or a malicious and mischievous temper which delights in the harms of others and to procure trouble and mischief to them To communicate and lay out our selves for the good of others is Goodness and and so the Apostle explains doing good by communicating to others who are in misery or want Heb. 13.16 but to do good and to communicate forget not The Jews made a distinction between a righteous and a good man to which the Apostle alludes Rom. 5.7 scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet peradventure for a good man one would even dare to die The righteous man was he that did no wrong to others and the good man he who was not only not injurious to others but kind and beneficial to them So that Goodness is a readiness and disposition to communicate the good and happiness which we enjoy and to be willing others should partake of it This is the Notion of Goodness among men and 't is the same in God only with this difference that God is originally and transcendently good but the Creatures are the best of them but imperfectly good
is principally regarded and Men are more careful to worship God with outward pomp and ceremony than in spirit and in truth Religion degenerates into Superstition and Men embrace the shadow of Religion and let go the substance And this the Church of Rome hath done almost to the utter ruin of Christianity she hath clogged Religion and the Worship of God with so many Rites and Ceremonies under one Pretence or other that the Yoke of Christ is become heavier than that of Moses and they have made the Gospel a more carnal Commandment than the Law and whatever Christians or Churches are intent upon external Rites and Observances to the neglect of the weightier Parts of Religion regarding meats and drinks c. to the prejudice of righteousness and peace wherein the kingdom of God consists they advance a Religion as contrary to the Nature of God and as unsuitable to the genius and temper of the Gospel as can be imagined It is an Observation of Sir Edwin Sands that as Children are pleas'd with Toys so saith he it is a pitiful and childish Spirit that is predominant in the contrivers and zealots of a ceremonious Religion I deny not but that very honest and devout Men may be this way addicted but the wiser any Man is the better he understands the Nature of God and of Religion the further he will be from this temper A Religion that consists in external and little things doth most easily gain upon and possess the weakest Minds and whoever entertain it it will enfeeble their Spirits and unfit them for the more generous and excellent Duties of Christianity We have but a finite heat and zeal and activity and if we let out much of it upon small things there will be too little left for those parts of Religion which are of greatest moment and concernment if our heat evaporate in externals the heart and vitals of Religion will insensibly cool and decline How should we blush who are Christians that we have not learnt this easie truth from the Gospel which even the Light of Nature taught the Heathen Cultus autem deorum est optimus itemque sanctissimus atque castissimus plenissimusque pietatis ut eos semper purâ integrâ incorruptâ mente voce veneremur Tully The best the surest the most chast and most devout worship of the Gods is that which is pay'd them with a pure sincere and uncorrupt Mind and words truly representing the thoughts of the Heart Compositum jus fasque animi c. Serve God with a pure honest holy frame of Spirit bring him a heart that is but generously honest and he will accept of the plainest Sacrifice And let me tell you that the ceremonious Worship of the Jews was never a thing in it self acceptable to God or which he did delight in and tho' God was pleased with their obedience to the ceremonial Law after it was commanded yet antecedently he did not desire it but that which our Saviour saith concerning the Law of Divorce is true likewise of the ceremonial that it was permitted to the Jews for the hardness of their hearts and for their proneness to Idolatry God did not command it so much by way of approbation as by way of condescension to their weakness it was because of the hardness of their carnal hearts that God brought them under the Law of a carnal Commandment as the Apostle calls it See Psal 51.16 17. Jer. 7.21 The reason why I have insisted so long upon this is to let you understand what is the true nature of Christ's Religion and to abate the intemperate heat and zeal which Men are apt to have for external and indifferent things in Religion The Sacrifices and Rites of the Jews were very unagreeable and unsuitable to the Nature of God Psal 50.13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats Spirits neither eat nor drink it was a very unsuitable way of service to kill Oxen and Sheep for God and there 's the same reason of all other Rites which either natural necessity or decency doth not require Can any Man in earnest think that God who is a Spirit is pleased with the pompous bravery and pageantry which affects our Senses So little doth God value indifferent Rites that even the necessary external Service of God and outward Reverence where they are separated from spirit and truth from real holiness and obedience to the indispensable Laws of Christ are so far from being acceptable to God that they are abominable nay if they be used for a Cloak of Sin or in opposition to real Religion and with a design to undermine it God accounts such Service in the number of the most heinous Sins You who spend the strength and vigour of your Spirits about external things whose zeal for or against Ceremonies is ready to eat you up you who hate and persecute one another because of these things and break the necessary and indispensable Commands of Love as an indifferent and unnecessary Ceremony go and learn what that means I will have mercy and not sacrifice which our Saviour doth so often inculcate and that Rom. 14.17 The kingdom of God is not meat and drink c. And study the meaning of this God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth SERMON XII Vol. VII The Immensity of the Divine Nature PSAL. CXXXIX 7 8 9 10. Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me THAT Attribute of God which I last discours'd of is most Absolute and declares his Essence most immediately the spirituality of the Divine Nature I shall in the next place speak of those which relate to the manner of his Being Immensity and Eternity that is the infiniteness of his Essence both in respect of space and duration that the Divine Nature hath no limits of its Being nor bounds of its duration I shall at the present speak to the first of these his Immensity and that from these words which I here read to you Whither shall I go from thy spirit c. The meaning of which is this That God is a Spirit infinitely diffusing himself present in all places so that wherever I go God is there we cannot flee from his presence If I ascend into heaven he is there if I go down into the grave the place of silence and obscurity he is there for that is the meaning of the Expression If I make my bed in hell If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me that is if my
another tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Be ye therefore followers of God as dear Children and walk in love We cannot in any thing resemble God more than in goodness and kindness and mercy and in a readiness to forgive those who have been injurious to us and to be reconciled to them Let us then often contemplate this Perfection of God and represent it to our Minds that by the frequent contemplation of it we may be transformed into the Image of the Divine Goodness Is God so good to his Creatures with how much greater reason should we be so to our fellow Creatures Is God good to us let us imitate his universal goodness by endeavouring the good of Mankind and as much as in us lies of the whole Creation of God What God is to us and what we would have him still be to us that let us be to others We are infinitely beholding to this Perfection of God for all that we are and for all that we enjoy and for all that we expect and therefore we have all the reason in the World to admire and imitate it Let this pattern of the Divine Goodness be continually before us that we may be still fashioning our selves in the temper of our Minds and in the actions of our Lives to a likeness and conformity to it Lastly The consideration of the Divine goodness should excite our praise and thankfulness This is a great Duty to the performance whereof we should summon all the Powers and Faculties of our Souls as the holy Psalmist does Psal 103. Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits And we should invite all others to the same Work as the same devout Psalmist frequently does Psal 106. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever And Psal 107. O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of Men And we had need to be often call'd upon to this Duty to which we have a peculiar backwardness Necessity drives us to Prayer and sends us to God for the supply of our wants but Praise and Thanksgiving is a Duty which depends upon our gratitude and ingenuity and nothing sooner wears off than the sense of Kindness and Benefits We are very apt to forget the blessings of God not so much from a bad Memory as from a bad Nature to forget the greatest blessings the continuance whereof should continually put us in mind of them the blessings of our Beings So God complains of his People Deut. 32. Of the God that formed thee thou hast been unmindful the dignity and excellency of our Beings above all the Creatures of this visible World Job 35.10 11. None saith Where is God my Maker who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven the daily comforts and blessings of our Lives which we can continually receive without almost ever looking up to the Hand that gives them So God complains by the Prophet Hosea 2.8 9. She knew not that I gave her corn and wine and oyl and multiplied her gold and silver And is it not shameful to see how at the most plentiful Tables the giving of God Thanks is almost grown out of fashion as if Men were ashamed to own from whence these Blessings came When thanks is all God expects from us can we not afford to give him that Do ye thus requite the Lord foolish people and unwise It is just with God to take away his Blessings from us if we deny him this easie tribute of Praise and Thanksgiving It is a sign Men are unfit for Heaven when they are backward to that which is the proper Work and Imployment of the blessed Spirits above Therefore as ever we hope to come thither let us begin this Work here and inure our selves to that which will be the great business of all Eternity Let us with the four and twenty Elders in the Revelation fall down before him that sits on the throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever and cast our crowns before the throne that is cast our selves and ascribe all glory to God Saying thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast made all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created To him therefore the infinite and inexhaustible fountain of goodness the father of mercies and the God of all consolation who gave us such excellent Beings having made made us little lower than the Angels and crowned us with glory and honour who hath been pleased to stamp upon us the image of his own goodness and thereby made us partakers of a divine nature communicating to us not only of the effects of his goodness but in some measure and degree of the perfection it self to him who gives us all things richly to enjoy which pertain to life and godliness and hath made such abundant provision not only for our comfort and convenience in this present life but for our unspeakable happiness to all eternity to him who designed this happiness to us from all eternity and whose mercy and goodness to us endures for ever who when by willful transgressions and disobedience we had plunged our selves into a state of sin and misery and had forfeited that happiness which we were designed to was pleased to restore us to a new capacity of it by sending his only Son to take our nature with the miseries and infirmities of it to live among us and to die for us in a word to him who is infinitely good to us not only contrary to our deserts but beyond our hopes who renews his mercy upon us every morning and is patient tho' we provoke him every day who preserves and provides for us and spares us continually who is always willing always watchful and never weary to do us good to him be all glory and honour adoration and praise love and obedience now and for ever SERMON V. Vol. VII The Mercy of God NUMB. XIV 18 The Lord is long suffering and of great Mercy I Have considered God's Goodness in general There are two eminent Branches of it his Patience and Mercy The Patience of God is his goodness to them that are guilty in deferring or moderating their deserved punishment the Mercy of God is his goodness to them that are or may be miserable 'T is the last of these two I design to discourse of at this time in doing which I shall inquire First What we are to understand by the Mercy of God Secondly Shew you that this Perfection belongs to God Thirdly Consider the degree of it that God is of great Mercy First What we are to understand by the Mercy of God I told you it is his goodness to them that are in
great absurdities following from the supposing of God to be mere Matter or Body we are to conceive of him as another kind of substance that is a Spirit So that I wonder that the Author of the Leviathan who doth more than once expresly affirm that there can be nothing in the World but what is material and corporeal did not see that the necessary consequence of this Position is to banish God out of the World I would not be uncharitable but I doubt he did see it and was content with the consequence and willing the World should entertain it for it is so evident that by supposing the Divine Essence to consist of Matter the immensity of the Divine Nature is taken away and it is also so utterly unimaginable how mere Matter should understand and be endowed with liberty and consequently with goodness that I cannot but vehemently suspect the Man who denies God to be a Spirit either to have a gross and faulty understanding or a very ill will against God and an evil design to root out of the Minds of Men the belief of a God I come in the III. Place to consider the Objections 1 Obj. Why then is God represented to us so often in Scripture by the Parts and Members of Mens Bodies Ans I shall only say at present that all these descriptions and representations of God are plainly made to comply with our weakness by way of condescention and accomodation to our capacities 2 Obj. How is it said that Man was made after the the Image of God If God be a Spirit of which there can be no likeness nor resemblance Ans Man is not said to be made after the image of God in respect of the outward Shape and Features of his Body but in respect of the Qualities of his Mind as Holiness and Righteousness or of his Faculties as Understanding and Will or which the Text seems most to favour in respect of his Dominion and Soveraignty over the Creatures for in the two former respects the Angels are made after the Image of God Now this seems to be spoken peculiarly of Men Gen. 1.26 Let us make man in our own image after our own likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air c. IV. I come now to draw some Inferences or Corollaries from hence and they shall be partly speculative partly practical First Speculative Inferences 1. That God is invisible The proper Object of sight is Colour and that ariseth from the various dispositions of the parts of Matter which cause several reflections of Light now a Spirit hath no Parts nor Matter and therefore is invisible 1 Tim. 1.17 Vnto the eternal immortal invisible the only wise God Heb. 11.27 He endured as seeing him who is invisible as seeing him by an Eye of Faith who is invisible by an Eye of Sense 1 Tim. 6.16 Whom no Man hath seen nor can see When Moses and the Elders of Israel are said to have seen God and Jacob to have seen him face to face Exod. 2.9 Gen. 32.30 it is meant of an Angel covered with divine Glory and Majesty as we shall see if we compare these with other Texts When Moses is said to have spoken to him face to face that is familiarly and so Micaiah 1 Kings 22.19 is said to have seen God upon his throne and all Israel scattered up and down this was in a Vision And it is promised that in Heaven we shall see God that is have a more perfect knowledge of him and full enjoyment as to see good days is to enjoy them Those Texts where it is said No man can see God and live Exod. 33.20 and John 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time do not intimate that God is visible tho' we cannot see him but seeing is metaphorically used for knowing and the meaning is that in this Life we are not capable of a perfect knowledge of God A clear discovery of God to our Understanding would let in joys into our Souls and create desires in us too great for frail Mortality to bear 2. That he is the living God Spirit and Life are often put together in Scripture 3. That God is immortal This the Scripture attributes to him 1 Tim. 1.17 To the King immortal invisible 1 Tim. 6.16 Who only hath immortality This also flows from God's Spirituality a Spiritual Nature hath no principles of Corruption in it nothing that is liable to perish or decay or dye Now this doth so eminently agree to God either because he is purely spiritual and immaterial as possibly no Creature is or else because he is not only immortal in his own Nature but is not liable to be reduced to nothing by any other because he hath an original and independent Immortality and therefore the Apostle doth attribute it to him in such a singular and peculiar manner Who only hath Immortality Secondly Practical Inferences 1. We are not to conceive of God as having a Body or any corporeal Shape or Members This was the gross conceit of the Anthropomorphites of old and of some Socinians of late which they ground upon the gross and literal Interpretation of many figurative Speeches in Scripture concerning God as where it speaks of his Face and Hand and Arm c. But we are very unthankful to God who condescends to represent himself to us according to our Capacities if we abuse this condescention to the blemish and reproach of the Divine Nature If God be pleased to stoop to our weakness we must not therefore level him to our Infirmities 2. If God be a Spirit we are not to worship God by any Image or sensible representation Because God is a Spirit we are not to liken him to any thing that is corporeal we are not to represent him by the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above that is of any Birds or in the earth beneath that is of any Beast or in the waters under the earth that is of any Fish as it is in the second Commandment For as the Prophet tells us there is nothing that we can liken God to Isa 40 18. To whom will ye liken God or what likeness will ye compare to him We debase his Spiritual and Incorruptible Nature when we compare him to corruptible Creatures Rom. 1.22 23. Speaking of the Heathen Idolatry Who professing themselves wise became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and to fourfooted Beasts and creeping things They became Fools this is the folly of Idolatry to liken a Spirit which hath no bodily shape to things that are corporeal and corruptible So that however some are pleased to mince the matter I cannot see how the Church of Rome which worships God by or toward some Image or sensible representation can be excused from Idolatry and the Church of England doth not without very just cause challenge the Romish