new appearance the grace of God hath appeared * Tit. 1.11 6. Proposition A change of Laws by God argues no change in God when God abrogates some Laws which he had setled in the Church and enacts others I spake of this something the last day I shall only add this God commanded one thing to the Jews when the Church was in an infant state and removed those Laws when the Church came to some growth The Elements of the world were suted to the state of Children * Gal. 4.3 A Mother feeds not the Infant with the same diet as she doth when it is grown up Our Saviour acquainted not his Disciples with some things at one time which he did at another because they were not able to bear them Where was the change in Christs Will or in their growth from a state of weakness to that of strength A Physitian prescribes not the same thing to a person in health as he doth to one conflicting with a distemper nor the same thing in the beginning as he doth in the state or declination of the disease The Physicians Will and Skill are the same but the capacity and necessity of the Patient for this or that Medicine or method of proceeding are not the same VVhen God changed the Ceremonial Law there was no change in the Divine Will but an execution of his Will For when God commanded the observance of the Law he intended not the perpetuity of it nay in the Prophets he declares the cessation of it he decreed to command it but he decreed to command it only for such a time so that the abrogation of it was no less an execution of his Decree than the establishment of it for a season was The commanding of it was pursuant to his Decree for the appointing of it and the nulling of it was pursuant to his Decree of continuing it only for such a season So that in all this there was no change in the Will of God The Counsel of God stands sure what changes soever there are in the World are not in God or his Will but in the events of things and the different relations of things to God 'T is in the Creature not in the Creator The Sun alway remains of the same hue and is not discoloured in it self because it shines green through a green Glass and blew through a blew Glass the different colours come from the Glass not from the Sun The change is alway in the disposition of the Creature not in the Nature of God or his Will 5. Vse 1. For Information 1. If God be unchangeable in his Nature and Immutability be a Property of God Then Christ hath a Divine Nature This in the Psalm is applyed to Christ in the Hebrews Heb. 1.11 where he joyns the citation out of this Psalm with that out of Psalm 45.6 7. Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the Oyl of Gladness above thy Fellows and thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the Foundation of the Earth c. As the first must necessarily be meant of Christ the Mediator and therein he his distinguish'd from God as one anointed by him so the other must be meant of Christ whereby he is made one with God in regard of the Creation and Dissolution of the World in regard of Eternity and Immutability Both the Testimonies are linkt together by the Copulative and and thou Lord declaring thereby that they are both to be understood of the same Person the Son of God The design of the Chapter is to prove Christ to be God and such things are spoken of him as could not belong to any Creature no not to the most excellent of the Angels The same Person that is said to be anointed above his Fellows and is said to lay the Foundation of the Earth and Heavens is said to be the same that is the same in himself The Prerogative of sameness belongs to that Person as well as Creation of Heaven and Earth The Socinians say it is spoken of God and that God shall destroy the Heavens by Christ If so Christ is not a meer Creature not created when he was incarnate for the same Person that shall change the World did create the World If God shall change the world by him God also created the world by him He was then before the world was for how could God create the world by one that was not That was not in Being till after the Creation of the world The Heavens shall be changed but the Person who is to change the Heavens is said to be the same or unchangeable in the Creation as well as the Dissolution of of the world This sameness referrs to the whole Sentence * Placeus de deitate Christi The Psalm wherein the Text is and whence this in the Hebrews is cited is properly meant of Christ and Redemption by him and the compleating of it at the last day and not of the Babylonish captivity That captivity was not so deplorable as the state the Psalmist describes Daniel and his Companions flourished in that Captivity It could not reasonably be said of them that their days were consumed like Smoke their heart withered like Grass that they forgot to eat their Bread * as it is V. 3.4 Besides he complains of shortness of Life * V. 11. But none had any more reason to complain of that in the time of the Captivity than before and after it than at any other time Their Deliverance would contribute nothing to the natural length of their lives Besides when Sion should be built the Heathen should fear the Name of the Lord that is worship God and all the Kings of the Earth his Glory * V. 15. The rearing the second Temple after the deliverance did not proselyte the Nations nor did the Kings of the Earth worship the Glory of God nor did God appear in such Glory at the erecting the second Temple The second Temple was less glorious than the first for it wanted some of the Ornaments which were the Glory of the first But it is said of this state * Ver. 16. that when the Lord should build up Sion he should appear in his Glory his proper Glory and extraordinary Glory Now that God who shall appear in Glory and build up Sion is the Son of God the Redeemer of the World He builds up the Church he causes the Nations to fear the Lord and the Kings of the Earth his Glory He broke down the partition Wall and opened a Door for the entrance of the Gentiles He struck the Chains from off the Prisoners and loosed those that were appointed to death by the Curse of the Law * Ver. 20. And to this Person is ascribed the Creation of the World and he is pronounced to remain the same in the midst of an infinite number of changes in
all affections to sin lye down in Sorrow and bewail what he hath done amiss against so tender a God Can you expect that any man that Promises you a great honour or a rich donative should demand less of you than to trust his word bear an affection to him and return him kindness Can any less be expected by a Prince than obedience from a pardoned Subject and a redeemed Captive If you have injured any man in his Body Estate Reputation would you not count it a reasonable Condition for the partaking of his Clemency and Forgiveness to express a hearty sorrow for it and a resolution not to fall into the like Crime again Such are the Conditions of the Gospel suted to the Consciences of men 5. The Wisdom of God appears in that this condition was only likely to attain the end There are but two Common Heads appointed by God Adam and Christ By one we are made a living Soul by the other a quickning Spirit By the one we are made sinners by the other we are made righteous Adam fell as a Head and all his members his whole Issue and Posterity fell with him because they proceeded from him by natural Generation But since the second Adam can not be our Head by natural Generation there must be some other way of engrafting us in him and uniting us to him as our Head which must be Moral and Spiritual this can not rationally be conceived to be by any other way than What is sutable to a reasonable Creature and therefore must be by an act of the Will Consent and Acceptance and owning the terms setled for an Admission to that Union And this is that we properly call Faith and therefore called a receiving of him John 1.12 Now this Condition of enjoying the Fruits of Redemption could not be a bare Knowledge for that is but only an act of the Understanding and doth not in itself include the act of the Will and so would have united only one Faculty to him not the whole Soul But Faith in an act both of the Understanding and Will too and principally of the Will which doth presuppose an act of the Understanding For there cannot be a Perswasion in the Will without a Proposition from the Understanding The Understanding must be convinced of the truth and goodness of a thing before the Will can be perswaded to make any motion towards it and therefore all the Promises Invitations and Proffers are suted to the Understanding and Will To the Understanding in regard of Knowledge to the Will in regard of Appetite to the Understanding as true to the Will as good To the Understanding as practical and influencing the Will 2. Nor could it be an intire Obedience That as was said before would have made the Creature have some matter of boasting and this was not sutable to the Condition he was sunk into by the fall Besides mans Nature being corrupted was rendered uncapable to obey and unable to have one thought of a due Obedience 2 Cor. 3.5 When man turned from God and upon that was turned out of Paradise his return was impossible by any strength of his own his Nature was as much corrupted as his re-entrance into Paradise was prohibited That Covenant whereby he stood in the garden required a perfection of action and intention in the observance of all the Commands of God But his Fall had crack'd his Ability to recover happiness by the terms and condition of an intire Obedience yet man being a person governable by a Law and capable of happiness by a Covenant if God would restore him and enter into a Covenant with him we must suppose it to have some Condition as all Covenants have That Condition could not be works because mans Nature was polluted Indeed had God reduced mans Body to the dust and his Soul to nothing and framed another man he might have govern'd him by a Covenant of Works But that had not been the same man that had revolted and upon his revolt was stain'd and disabled But suppose God had by any transcendent Grace wholly purified him from the stain of his former Transgression and restored to him the strength and ability he had lost might he not as easily have rebelled again And so the Condition would never have been accomplisht the Covenant never have been performed and Happiness never have been enjoyed There must be some other Condition then in the Covenant God would make for mans Security Now Faith is the most proper for receiving the Promise of Pardon of Sin Belief of those promises is the first natural reflection that a Malefactor can make upon a pardon offered him and acceptance of it is the first consequent from that beliefe Hence is Faith entitled a perswasion of and embraceing the Promises Heb 11.13 and a receiving the atonement Rom. 5.11 Thus the Wisdom of God is apparent in annexing such a Condition to the Covenant whereby man is restored as answers the end of God for his glory the State Conscience and necessity of Man and had the greatest congruity to his recovery 9. This Wisdom of God is manifest in the manner of the publishing and propagating this Doctrine of Redemption 1. In the gradual discoveries of it Flashing a great light in the face of a suddain is amazing should the Sun glare in our Eye in all its brightness on a suddain after we have been in a thick darkness it would blind us instead of comforting us So great a work as this must have several digestions God first reveals of what Seed the Redeeming Person should be the Seed of the Woman Gen. 3.15 Then of what Nation Gen. 26.4 then of what Tribe Gen. 49.12 of the Tribe of Judah then of what Family the family of David then what works he was to do what sufferings to undergoe The first Predictions of our Saviour were obscure Adam could not well see the Redemption in the Promise for the punishment of death which succeeded in the Threatning the Promise exercised his Faith and the Obscurity and bodily Death his Humility The Promise made to Abraham was clearer than the Revelations made before yet he could not tell how to reconcile his Redemption with his Exile God supported his Faith by the Promise and exercised his Humility by making him a Pilgrim and keeping him in a perpetual dependance upon him in all his motions The Declarations to Moses are brighter than those to Abraham The delineations of Christ by David in the Psalms more illustrious than the former And all those exceeded by the Revelations made to the Prophet Isaiah and the other Prophets according as the Age did approach wherein the Redeemer was to enter into his Office God wrapt up this Gospel in a multitude of Types and Ceremonies fitted to the Infant state of the Church Gal. 4.3 An Infant State is usually affected with sensible things yet all those Ceremonies were fitted to that great end of the Gospel which he would bring forth in
God said and he there owns him ver 5. Ye shall become as Gods He owns God in the question he asks the Woman and perswades our first Parents to be Gods themselves And in all stories both Ancient and Modern the Devil was never able to Tincture mends minds with a professed denial of the Deity which would have opened a door to a world of more wickedness than hath been acted and took away the bar to the breaking out of that evil which is naturally in the hearts of men to the greater prejudice of human societies He wanted not malice to rase out all the Notions of God but power He knew it was impossible to effect it and therefore in vain to attempt it He set up himself in several places of the ignorant world as a God but never was able to overthrow the opinion of the being of a God The impressions of a Deity were so strong as not to be struck out by the malice and power of Hell What a folly is it then in any to contradict or doubt of this Truth which all the periods of time have not been able to wear out which all the Wars and Quarrels of men with their own Consciences have not been able to destroy which Ignorance and Debauchery it s two greatest Enemies cannot weaken which all the falsehoods and errors which have reigned in one or other part of the world have not been able to banish which lives in the consents of men in spight of all their wishes to the contrary and hath grown stronger and Shone clearer by the improvements of natural reason 3. Natural and innate which pleads strongly for the perpetuity of it T is natural tho some think it not a Principle writ in the heart of man * Pink. Eph. 6. pag. 10. 11. t is so natural that every man is born with a restless instinct to be of some kind of Religion or other which implies some object of Religion The impression of a Deity is as common as reason and of the same age with reason * King en Jonah pag. 16. T is a Relique of knowledg after the fall of Adam like fire under ashes which sparkles as soon as ever the heap of ashes is opened A notion sealed up in the Soul of every man * Amyrant des Religious pag. 6. 5. 8. 9. else how could those people who were unknown to one another separate by Seas and Mounts differing in various customes and manner of living had no mutual intelligence one with another light upon this as a common Sentiment if they had not been guided by one uniforme reason in all their minds by one nature common to them all though their Clymates be different their tempers and constitutions various their imaginations in somethings as distant from one another as Heaven is from Earth the Ceremonies of their Religion not all of the same kind Yet wherever you find human nature you find this setled perswasion So that the Notion of a God seems to be twisted with the nature of man and is the first natural branch of Common reason or upon either the first inspection of a man into himself and his own state and constitution or upon the first sight of any external visible object Nature within man and nature without man agree upon the first meeting together to form this Sentiment that there is a God T is as natural as any thing we call a Common Principle One thing which is called a Common Principle and natural is that the whole is greater than the parts If this be not born with us yet the exercise of reason essential to man settles it as a certain Maxim upon the dividing any thing into several parts he finds every part less than when they were altogether By the same exercise of reason we cannot cast our eyes upon any thing in the world or exercise our understandings upon our selves but we must presently imagine there was some cause of those things some cause of my self and my own being so that this Truth is as natural to man as any thing he can call most natural or a Common Principle It must be confest by all that there is a Law of nature writ upon the hearts of men which will direct them to commendable actions if they will attend to the writing in their own Consciences This Law cannot be considered without the notice of a Law-giver For t is but a natural and obvious conclusion that some superior hand engrafted those principles in man since he finds something in him twitching him upon the pursuit of uncomely actions though his heart be mightily enclined to them man knows he never planted this principle of Reluctancy in his own Soul he can never be the cause of that which he cannot be friends with If he were the cause of it why doth he not rid himself of it No man would endure a thing that doth frequently molest and disquiet him if he could casheir it T is therefore sown in man by some hand more powerful than man which riseth so high and is rooted so strong that all the force that man can use cannot pull it up If therefore this principle be natural in man and the Law of Nature be natural the Notion of a Law-giver must be as natural as the Notion of a Printer or that there is a Printer is obvious upon the sight of a stamp imprest After this the multitude of effects in the World step in to strengthen this beam of natural light and the direct Conclusion from thence is that that power which made those outward objects implanted this inward principle This is sown in us born with us and sprouts up with our growth or as one saith * Chaâ—leâ—â—â— t is like Letters carved upon the bark of a young plant which grows up together with us and the longer it grows the Letters are more legible This is the ground of this universal consent and why it may well be termed natural This will more evidently appear to be natural because 1. This consent could not be by meer Tradition 2. Nor by any mutual intelligence of Governors to keep people in aw which are two things the Atheist pleads the first hath no strong foundation and that other is as absurd and foolish as it is wicked and abominable 3. Nor was it fear first introduced it 1. It could not be my meer Tradition Many things indeed are entertained by posterity which their Ancestors delivered to them and that out of a common reverence to their Fore-Fathers and an opinion that they had a better prospect of things than the increase of the corruption of suceeding ages would permit them to have But if this be a Tradition handed from our Ancestors they also must receive it from theirs we must then ascend to the first man we cannot else escape a confounding ourselves with running into infinite was it then the only Tradition he left to them is it not probable he acquainted them with
was so as that he never began Is to come so as that he never shall end By whom all things are what they are who hath both eternal knowledge to remember our service and eternal goodness to reward It. A DISCOURSE UPON THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD. Psalm 102.26 27. They shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old as a Garment as a Vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed But thou art the same and thy years shall have no end THIS Psalm contains a Complaint of a People pressed with a great Calamity some think of the Jewish Church in Babylon others think the Psalmist doth here personate Mankind lying under a state of corruption because he wishes for the coming of the Messiah to accomplish that Redemption promised by God and needed by them Indeed the title of the Psalm is a Prayer of the Afflicted when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the Lord Whether afflicted with the sense of corruption or with the sense of oppression And the Redemption by the Messiah which the ancient Church looked upon as the fountain of their Deliverance from a sinful or a servile Bondage is in this Psalm spoken of A set time appointed for the discovery of his mercy to Sion v. 13. An appearance in glory to build up Sion v. 16. The loosing of the Prisoner by Redemption and them that are appointed to Death v. 20. The calling of the Gentiles v. 22. And the latter part of the Psalm wherein are the verse I have read are applied to Christ Heb. 1. Whatsoever the design of the Psalm might be many things are intermingled that concern the Kingdom of the Messiah and Redemption by Christ Some make three parts of the Psalm 1. A Petition plainly delivered v. 1.2 Hear my Prayer oh Lord and let my cry come unto thee c. 2. The Petition strongly and argumentatively enforced and pleaded v. 3. from the misery of the Petitioner in himself and his reproach from his Enemies 3. An acting of Faith in the expectation of an Answer in the general Redemption promised v. 12 13. But thou oh Lord shalt endure for ever thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion The Heathen shall fear thy Name The first part is the Petition pleaded the second part is the Petition answered in an assurance that there should in time be a full deliverance * Pareus The design of the Pen-man is to confirm the Church in the truth of the Divine Promises that though the foundations of the World should be ript up and the Heavens clatter together and the whole Fabrick of them be unpinn'd and fall to pieces the firmest parts of it dissolved yet the Church should continue in its stability because it stands not upon the changeableness of Creatures but is built upon the immutable Rock of the truth God which is as little subject to change as his Essence They shall perish thou shalt change them As he had before ascribed to God the foundation of Heaven and Earth * verse 25. so he ascribes to God here the destruction of them Both the beginning and end of the World are here ascertained There is nothing indeed from the present appearance of things that can demonstrate the cessation of the world The Heaven and Earth stand firm the motions of the heavenly Bodies are the same their beautie is not decayed Individuals corrupt but the Species and Kinds remain The Successions of the Year observe their due order but the Sin of Man renders the change of the present appearance of the world necessary to accomplish the design of God for the glory of his Elect. The Heavens do not naturally perish as some fancied an old age of the world wherein it must necessarily decay as the Bodies of Animals do or that the parts of the Heavens are broken off by their rubbing one against another in their motion and falling to the Earth are the Seeds of those things that grow among us * Plin. Hist lib. 2. cap. 3. The Earth and Heavens He names here the most stable parts of the world and the most beautiful parts of the Creation those that are freest from corruptibility and change to illustrate thereby the Immutability of God that though the Heavens and Earth have a Prerogative of fixedness above other parts of the world and the Creatures that reside below the Heavens remain the same as they were created and the Center of the Earth retains its fixedness and are as beautiful and fresh in their age as they were in their youth many years ago notwithstanding the change of the Elements Fire and Water being often turned into Air so that there may remain but little of that Air which was first created by reason of the continual transmutation yet this firmness of the Earth and Heavens is not to be regarded in comparison of the unmoveableness and fixedness of the Being of God As their beauty comes short of the glory of his Being so doth their firmness come short of his stability Some by Heavens and Earth understand the Creatures which reside in the Earth and those which are in the Air which is called Heaven often in Scripture but the ruin and fall of these being seen every day had been no fit illustration of the unchangeableness of God They shall perish they shall be changed 1. They may perish say some they have it not from themselves that they do not perish but from thee who didst endue them with an incorruptible nature They shall perish if thou speakest the word Thou canst with as much ease destroy them as thou didst create them But the Psalmist speaks not of their possibility but the certainty of their perishing 2. They shall perish in their qualities and motion not in their substance say others They shall cease from that motion which is designed properly for the generation and corruption of things in the Earth but in regard of their substance and beauty they shall remain As when the strings or Wheels of a Clock or Watch are taken off the material parts remain though the motion of it and the use for discovering the time of the day ceaseth * Coccei in loc To perish doth not signify alway a falling into nothing an annihilation by which both the matter and the form are destroyed but a ceasing of the present apearance of them a ceasing to be what they now are as a man is said to perish when he dies whereas the better part of man doth not cease to be The figure of the Body moulders away and the matter of it returns to Dust but the Soul being immortal ceaseth not to act when the Body by reason of the absence of the Soul is uncapable of acting So the Heavens shall perish the appearance they now have shall vanish and a more glorious and incorruptible frame be erected by the power and goodness of God The dissolution of Heaven and Earth is meant by the
or by any Creature is Blasphemous it sets the Creature in the place of God and invests it in that which is the peculiar honour of the Divinity for when any swear truly they intend the invocation of an infallible Witness and the bringing an undoubted Testimony for what they do assert While any therefore Swear by a Creature or a false God they profess that that Creature or that which they esteem to be a God is an infallible Witness which to be is only the right of God they attribute to the Creature that which is the Property of God alone to know the Heart and to be a Witness whether they speak true or no and this was accounted by all Nations the true Design of an Oath As to Swear falsely is a plain denyal of the All-Knowledg of God so to Swear by any Creature is to set the Creature upon the Throne of God in ascribing that Perfection to the Creature which Soveraignly belongs to the Creator for it is not in the Power of any to Witness to the truth of the heart but of him that is the searcher of hearts 4. We Sin against this Attribute by censuring the hearts of others An open Crime indeed falls under our Cognizance and therefore under our Judgment for whatsoever falls under the Authority of man to be punished falls under the Judgment of man to be censured as an act contrary to the Law of God yet when a censure is built upon the evil of the act which is obvious to the view if we take a step farther to judg the heart and state we leave the revealed rule of the Law and ambitiously erect a Tribunal equal with Gods and usurp a Judicial Power pertaining only to the Supream Governour of the World and consequently pretend to be possest of this Perfection of Omniscience which is necessary to render him capable of the exercise of that Soveraign Authority For it is in respect of his Dominion that God hath the supream right to Judg and in respect of his Knowledg that he hath an incommunicable capacity to Judg. In an action that is doubtful the good or evil whereof depends only upon Gods determination and wherein much of the Judgment depends upon the discerning the intention of the Agent we cannot Judg any man without a manifest invasion of Gods peculiar right such actions are to be Tryed by Gods knowledg not by our surmises God only is the Master in such cases to whom a person stands or falls Rom. 14.4 Till the true Principle and ends of an action be known by the confession of the party acting it a true Judgment of it is not in our Power Principles and Ends lye deep and hid from us and it is intollerable Pride to pretend to have a joint Key with God to open that Cabinet which he hath reserved to himself Besides the violation of the Rule of Charity in misconstruing actions which may be great and generous in their root and principle we invade Gods Right as if our ungrounded imaginations and conjectures were in joint Commission with this Sovereign Perfection and thereby we become Usurping Judges of evil thoughts James 2.4 'T is therefore a boldness worthy to be punished by the Judge to assume to our selves the Capacity and Authority of him who is the only Judg. For as the Execution of the Divine Law for the inward violation of it belongs only to God so is the right of Judging a Prerogative belonging only to his Omniscience his Right is therefore invaded if we pretend to a knowledg of it This Humor of men the Apostle checks when he saith 1 Cor. 4.5 He that judgeth me is the Lord therefore judg nothing before the time until the Lord come who will manifest the Counsels of all hearts 'T is not the time yet for God to erect the Tribunal for the tryal of mens hearts and the Principles of their Actions He hath reserv'd the glorious discovery of this Attribute for another season We must not therefore presume to Judge of the Counsels of mens hearts till God hath reveal'd them by opening the Treasures of his own Knowledg much less are we to judge any Mans final Condition Manasseh may Sacrifice to Devils and unconverted Paul tear the Church in pieces but God had Mercy on them and called them The Action may be Censur'd not the State for we know not whom God may call In Censuring Men we may doubly imitate the Devil in a false accusation of the Brethren as well as in an ambitious usurpation of the Rights of God 2. This Perfection is injured by presuming upon it or making an ill use of it As in the neglect of Prayer for the supply of Men's wants because God knows them already so that that which is an encouragement to Prayer they make the reason of restraining it before God Prayer is not to administer knowledge to God but to acknowledge this admirable Perfection of the Divine Nature If God did not know there were indeed no use of Prayer it would be as vain a thing to send up our Prayers to Heaven as to implore the senseless Statue or Picture of a Prince for a Protection We Pray because God knows for though he know our wants with a knowledge of Vision yet he will not know them with a knowledge of supply till he be sought unto All the Excellencies of God are ground of Adoration * Mat. 6.32.33 Matth. 7.11 and this Excellency is the ground of that part of Worship we call Prayer If God be to be Worshipped he is to be called upon Invocations of his name in our necessities is a chief act of Worship whence the Temple the place of solemn Worship was not called the House of Sacrifice but the House of Prayer Prayer was not appointed for Gods information as if he were ignorant but for the expression of our desires not to furnish him with a knowledge of what we want but to manifest to him by some Rational Sign convenient to our Nature our sense of that want which he knows by himself So that Prayer is not design'd to acquaint God with our wants but to express the desire of a Remedy of our wants God knows our wants but hath not made promises barely to our wants but to our asking That his Omniscience in hearing as well as his sufficiency in supplying may have a sensible honour in our acknowledgments and receits 'T is therefore an ill use of this Excellency of God to neglect Prayer to him as needless because he knows already 4. This Perfection of God is wrong'd by a practical denial of it 'T is the language of every Sin and so God takes it when he comes to reckon with Men for their Impieties Upon this he charges the greatness of the iniquity of Israel the overflowing of Blood in the Land and the perversness of the City They say the Lord hath forsaken the Earth and the Lord sees not * Ezek. 9.9 They deny his Eyes to see
use them no better than Men do devouring Fish and untam'd Beasts with a Hook in the Nose and a Bridle in the Mouth Those States-men in Isa 29.15 thought their Contrivances too deep for God to fathom and too close for God to frustrate They seek deep to hide their Counsels from the Lord surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the Potters Clay of no more force and understanding than a Potters Vessel which understands not its own form wrought by the Artificer nor the use it is put to by the Buyer and Possessor or shall be esteemed as a Potters Vessel that can be as easily flung back into the Mass from whence it was taken as preserved in the Figure it is now endued with No secret Designer is shrowded from Gods sight or can be shelter'd from Gods Arm He understands the Venom of their Hearts better than we can feel it and discovers their inward fury more plainly than we can see the Sting or Teeth of a Viper when they are opened for mischief and to what purpose doth God know and see them but in order to deliver his People from them in his own due time I know their sorrow and am come down to deliver them * Ex. 3.7 8. The Walls of Jerusalem are continually before him he knows therefore all that would undermine and demolish them None can hurt Zion by any ignorance or inadvertency in God 'T is observable that our Saviour assuming to himself a different Title in every Epistle to the Seven Churches doth particularly ascribe to himself this of Knowledge and Wrath in that to Thyatira an Emblem or Description of the Romish State * Rev. 2 1â— And unto the Angel of the Church of Thyatira write These things saith the Son of God who hath his Eyes like to a flame of Fire and his Feet like fine Brass His Eyes like a flame of Fire are of a piercing nature insinuating themselves into all the Pores and parts of the Body they encounter with and his Feet like Brass to crush them with is explained Verse 23. I will k ll her Children with Death and all the Churches shall know that I am he which searches the Reins and the Heart and I will give to every one of you according to your works He knows every design of the Romish Party design'd by that Church of Thyatira * For the Evidence of it I refer you to Dr. More 's Exposition of the seven Churches worthy every Learned and Vnderstanding Mans reading and of every sober Romanist Jezabel there signifies a whorish Church such a Church as shall act as Jezabel Ahab's Wife who was not only a Worshipper of Idols but propagated Idolatry in Israel slew the Prophets persecuted Elijah murdered Naboth the Name whereof signifies Prophesie seiz'd upon his Possession And if it be said that Verse 19. this Church was commended for her Works Faith Patience 't is true Rome did at first strongly profess Christianity and maintain'd the interest of it but afterwards fell into the practice of Jezabel and committed Spiritual Adultery And is she to be owned for a Wife that now plays the Harlot because she was honest and modest at her first Marriage * Coc. in loc And though she shall be destroy'd yet not speedily Verse 22. I will cast her into a Bed seems to intimate the destruction of Jezabel not to be at once and speedily but in a lingring way and by degrees as Sicknes consumes a Body 2. This Perfection of God fits him to be a special Object of Trust If he were forgetful what comfort could we have in any Promise How could we depend upon him if he were ignorant of our State His Compassions to pity us his Readiness to relieve us his Power to protect and assist us would be insignificant without his Omniscience to inform his Goodness and direct the Arm of his Power This Perfection is as it were Gods Office of Intelligence As you go to your Memorandum Book to know what you are to do so doth God to his Omniscience This Perfection is Gods Eye to acquaint him with the necessities of his Church and directs all his other Attributes in their exercise for and about his People You may depend upon his Mercy that hath promised and upon his Truth to perform upon his Sufficiency to supply you and his Goodness to relieve you and his Righteousness to reward you because he hath an infinite Understanding to know you and your wants you and your services And without this knowledge of his no comfort could be drawn from any other Perfection none of them could be a sure Nail to hang our hopes and confidence upon This is that the Church alway Celebrated Psal 105.7 He hath remembred his Covenant for ever and the Word which he hath commanded to a thousand generations And Verse 42. He remembred his holy Promise and he remembred for them his Covenant * Psal 106.45 He remembers and understands his Covenant therefore his Promise to perform it and therefore our Wants to supply them 3. And the rather because God knows the Persons of all his own He hath in his infinite Understanding the exact number of all the individual Persons that belong to him 2 Tim. 2.19 The Lord knows them that are his He knows all things because he hath Created them and he knows his People because he hath not only made them but also chose them He could no more choose he knew not what than he could Create he knew not what He knows them under a double Title of Creation as Creatures in the common Mass of Creation as new Creatures by a particular act of Separation He cannot be ignorant of them in time whom he fore-knew from Eternity His knowledge in time is the same he had from Eternity He fore-knew them that he intended to give the Grace of Faith unto and he knows them after they believe because he knows his own act in bestowing Grace upon them and his own Mark and Seal wherewith he hath stampt them No doubt but he that calls the Stars of Heaven by their names * Psal 147.4 knows the number of those living Stars that sparkle in the Firmament of his Church He cannot be ignorant of their Persons when he numbers the Hairs of their Heads and hath Registred their Names in the Book of Life As he only had an infinite Mercy to make the choice so he only hath an infinite Understanding to comprehend their Persons We only know the Elect of God by a Moral assurance in the Judgment of Charity when the Conversation of Men is according to the Doctrine of God We have not an infallible knowledge of them we may be often mistaken Judas a Devil may be judged by Man for a Saint till he be stript of his disguise God only hath an infallible knowledge of them he knows his own Records and the Counterparts in the hearts of his People None can counterfeit
upon them by the Wonders wrought by the Apostles Acts 2.43 And fear came upon every Soul and many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles Was there not the same reason in the nature of the Works our Saviour wrought to point them to the Finger of God and calm their rage Yet did not the Power of God work upon their Passions in those Miracles nor stop the impetuousness of the Corruption resident in their hearts Yet now those who had the boldness to attack the Son of God and nail him to the Cross are frighted at the Appearance of Twelve unarmed Apostles as the Sea seems to be afraid when it approacheth the bounds of the feeble Sand. How did God bend the Hearts of the Egyptians to the Israelites and turn them to that point as to lend their most costly Vessels their precious Jewels and rich Garments to supply those whom they had just before tyrannically loaded with their Chains * Exod. 3.21 22. 1 Chro. 18.31 When a great part of an Army came upon Jehosaphat to dispatch him into another World how doth God in a trice touch their hearts and move them by a secret instinct at once to depart from him As if you should see a numerous sight of Birds in a moment turn wing another way by a sudden and joynt consent When he gave Saul a Kingdom he gave him a Spirit fit for Government and gave him another heart 1 Sam. 1â—â— and brought the People to submit to his yoke who a little before wandred about the Land upon no nobler employment than the seeking of Asses 'T is no small remark of the Power of God to make a number of strong and discontented Persons and desirous enough of liberty to bend their Necks under the yoke of Government and submit to the Authority of One and that of their own Nature often weaker and unwiser than the most of them and many times an Oppressor and Invader of their Rights Upon this account David calls God his Fortress Tower Shield Psal 144 2. all terms of Strength in subduing the People under him 'T is the Mighty hand of God that links Princes and People together in the bands of Government The same hand that asswageth the Waves of the Sea suppresseth the Tumults of the People III. It appears in his Gracious and Judicial Government 1. In his Gracious Government In the Deliverance of his Church He is the strength of Israel and hath protected his Little Flock in the midst of Wolves 1 Sam. 15.29 and maintained their standing when the strongest Kingdoms have sunk and the best joynted States have been broken in pieces When Judgments have ravaged Countries and torn up the Mighty as a tempestuous Wind hath often done the tallest Trees which seem'd to threaten Heaven with their Tops and dare the Storm with the depth of their Roots when yet the Vine and Rose-bushes have stood firm and been seen in their beauty next morning The state of the Church hath outlived the most flourishing Monarchies when there hath been a mighty knot of Adversaries against her when the Bulls of Bashan have pusht her and the whole Tribe of the Dragon have sharpen'd their weapons and edg'd their Malice when the voice was strong and the hopes high to raze her foundation even with the ground when Hell hath roar'd when the wit of the World hath contriv'd and the strength of the World hath attempted her ruine when Decrees have been past against her and the Powers of the World arm'd for the execution of them when her Friends have droop'd and skulk'd in Corners when there was no Eye to pity and no Hand to assist help hath come from Heaven her Enemies have been defeated Kings have brought gifts to her and rear'd her Tears have been wip'd off her Cheeks and her very Enemies by an unseen Power have been forc'd to court her whom before they would have devour'd quick The Devil and his Armies have sneakt into their Den and the Church hath triumphed when she hath been upon the brink of the Grave Thus did God send a mighty Angel to be the Executioner of Senacheribs Army and the Protector of Jerusalem who run his Sword into the hearts of Eighty Thousand 2 King 19.35 when they were ready to swallow up his beloved City When the Knife was at the Throats of the Jews in Shushan Esther 8. by a powerful hand it was turned into the hearts of their Enemies With what an Out-stretched Arm were the Israelites freed from the Egyptian yoke Deut. 4.34 When Pharoah had muster'd a great Army to pursue them assisted with Six hundred Chariots of War the Red Sea obstructed their passage before and an enraged Enemy trod on their rear when the fearful Israelites despair'd of Deliverance and the insolent Egyptian assured himself of his Revenge God stretches out his irresistible Arm to defeat the Enemy and assist his People he strikes down the Wolves and preserves the Flock God restrain'd the Egyptian Enmity against the Israelites till they were at the brink of the Red Sea and then lets them follow their humor and pursue the Fugitives that his Power might more gloriously shine forth in the Deliverance of the one and the Destruction of the other God might have brought Israel out of Egypt in the â—ime of those Kings that had remembred the good Service â—f Joseph to their Country but he leaves them till the Reign of a cruel Tyrant suffers them to be Slaves that they might by his sole Power be Conquerors which had had no appearance had there been a willing dismission of them at the first summons Exod. 9.16 In very deed for this cause have I raised thee up for to shew my Power and that my Name might be declared throughout all the Earth I have permitted thee to rise up against my People and keep them in Captivity that thou might'st be an occasion for the manifestation of my Power in their rescue and whilst thou art obstinate to enslave them I will stretch out my Arm to deliver them and make my Name famous among the Gentiles in the wrack of thee and thy Host in the Red Sea The Deliverance of the Church hath not been in one Age or in one Part of the World but God hath signaliz'd his Power in all Kingdoms where she hath had a footing As he hath guided her in all places by one Rule animated her by one Spirit so he hath protected her by the same Arm of Power When the Roman Emperors bandied all their Force against Her for about Three hundred years they were further from effecting her ruine at the end than when they first attempted it The Church grew under their Sword and was hatcht under the Wings of the Roman Eagle which were spread to destroy her The Ark was elevated by the Deluge and the Waters the Devil poured out to drown Her did but slime the Earth for a new increase of her She hath sometime been
God is able to make him to stand Rom. 14.4 5. From this Attribute of the Infinite Power of God we have a ground of comfort in the lowest estate of the Church Let the state of the Church be never so deplorable the condition never so desperate that Power that created the World and shall raise the Bodies of men can create a happy state for the Church and raise her from an overwhelming Grave Though the Enemies trample upon her they cannot upon the Arm that holds her which by the least motion of it can lift her up above the heads of her Adversaries and make them feel the thunder of that Power that none can understand By the blast of God they perish and by the breath of his nostrils they are consumed Job 4.9 they shall be scattered as Chaff before the wind If once he draw his hand out of his bosom all must fly before him or sink under him * Psal 74.11 And when there is none to help his own Arm sustains him and brings salvation †Isa 63.5 and his fury doth uphold him What if the Church totter under the underminings of Hell What if it hath a sad heart and wet eyes In what a little moment can he make the night turn into day and make the Jews that were preparing for death in Shushan triumph over the necks of their Enemies and march in one hour with Swords in their hands that expected the last hour ropes about their necks Esth 9.1.5 If Israel be pursued by Pharoah the Sea shall open its arms to protect them If they be thirsty a Rock shall spout out Water to refresh them If they be hungry Heaven shall be their Granary for Manna If Jerusalem be besieg'd and hath not Force enough to encounter Senacherib an Angel shall turn the Camp into an Aceldema a Field of Blood His People shall not want deliverances till God want a power of working Miracles for their security He is more jealous of his Power than the Church can be of her Safety And if we should want other Arguments to press him we may implore him by virtue of his Power For when there is nothing in the Church as a Motive to him to save it there is enough in his own Name and the illustration of his Power Psal 106.8 Who can grapple with the Omnipotency of that God who is jealous of and zealous for the honour of it And therefore God for the most part takes such opportunities to deliver wherein his Almightiness may be most conspicuous and his Counsels most admirable He awakened not himself to deliver Israel till they were upon the brink of the Red Sea nor to rescue the three Children till they were in the fiery Furnace nor Daniel till he was in the Lions Den. 'T is in the weakness of his Creature that his strength is perfected not in a way of addition of perfectness to it but in a way of manifestation of the perfection of it As it is the perfection of the Sun to shine and enlighten the World not that the Sun receives an increase of light by the darting of his Beams but discovers his Glory to the admiration of Men and pleasure of the World If it were not for such occasions the World would not regard the Mightiness of God nor know what Power were in him It traverses the Stage in its fulness and liveliness upon such occasions when the Enemies are strong and their strength edg'd with an intense hatred and but little time between the contrivance and execution 'T is a great comfort that the lowest Distresses of the Church are a fit Scene for the discovery of this Attribute and that the Glory of God's Omnipotence and the Churches Security are so straitly link't together 'T is a promise that will never be forgotten by God and ought never to be forgotten by us that in this Mountain the hand of the Lord shall rest ‖ Isa 25.10 that is the Power of the Lord shall abide and Moab shall be trodden under him even as Straw is trodden down for the Dunghill And the Plagues of Babylon shall come in one day death and mourning and famine for strong is the Lord who judges her Rev. 18.8 Use III The Third Vse is for Exhortation 1. Meditate on this Power of God and press it often upon your Minds We conclude many things of God that we do not practically suck the comfort of for want of deep thoughts of it and frequent inspection into it We believe God to be true yet distrust him we acknowledge him powerful yet fear the motion of every straw Many Truths though assented to in our Understandings are kept under hatches by corrupt Affections and have not their due influence because they are not brought forth into the open air of our Souls by meditation If we will but search our hearts we shall find it is the Power of God we often doubt of When the heart of Ahaz and his Subjects trembled at the Combination of the Syrian and Israelitish Kings against him for want of a confidence in the Power of God God sends his Prophet with Commission to work a miraculous sign at his own choice to rear up his fainting heart and when he refus'd to ask a sign out of diffidence of that Almighty Power the Prophet complains of it as an affront to his Master * Isa 7.12 13. Moses so great a Friend of God was overtaken with this kind of unbelief after all the Experiments of God's miraculous Acts in Egypt the Answer God gives him manifests this to be at the Core Is the Lord's hand waxed short Numb 11.23 For want of actuated thoughts of this we are many times turned from our known duty by the blast of a Creature as though man had more power to dismay us than God hath to support us in his commanded way The belief of God's Power is one of the first steps to all Religion without settled thoughts of it we cannot pray lively and believingly for the obtaining the Mercies we want or the averting the Evils we fear we should not love him unless we are persuaded he hath a Power to bless us nor fear him unless we were perswaded of his Power to punish us The frequent thoughts of this would render our Faith more stable and our Hopes more stedfast it would make us more feeble to sin and more careful to obey When the Virgin stagger'd at the Message of the Angel that she should bear a Son he in his Answer turns her to the Creative power of God Luke 1.35 The Power of the highest shall over-shadow thee Which seems to be in allusion to the Spirits moving upon the face of the Deep and bringing a comely World out of a confus'd Mass Is it harder for God to make a Virgin conceive a Son by the power of his Spirit than to make a World Why doth he reveal himself so often under the title of Almighty and press it upon us but
there was not from Eternity any Creature under the Government of it but in regard of the foundation of it his Essence his Excellency 't is Eternal As God was from eternity Almighty but there was no exercise or manifestation of it till he began to Create Men are Kings only for a time their lives expire like a Lamp and their dominion is extinguisht with their lives they hand their Empire by Succession to others but many times it is snapt off before they are cold in their Graves How are the famous Empires of the Chaldeans Medes Persians and Greeks mouldred away and their place knows them no more And how are the wings of the Roman Eagle cut and that Empire which overspread a great part of the World hath lost most of its Feathers and is confin'd to a narrower compass The dominion of God flourisheth from one Generation to another He sits King for ever Psal 29.10 His session signifies the establishment and for ever the duration and he sits now his Soveraignty is as absolute as powerful as ever How many Lords and Princes hath this or that Kingdom had In how many Families hath the Scepter lodg'd When as God hath had an uninterrupted dominion As he hath been always the same in his Essence he hath been always glorious in his Soveraignty Among men he that is Lord to day may be stript of it to morrow the dominions in the World vary he that is a Prince may see his Royalty upon the Wings and feel himself laden with Fetters And a Prisoner may be lifted from his Dungeon to a Throne But there can be no diminution of God's Government His Throne is from Generation to Generation Lament 5.19 It cannot be shaken His Scepter like Aarons Rod is alway's green It cannot be wrested out of his hands none rais'd him to it Nâ—ne therefore can depose him from it it bears the same splendor in all humane affairs he is an eternal an immortal King 1 Tim. 1.17 As he is eternally Mighty so he is eternally Soveraign and being an eternal King he is a King that gives not a momentary and perishing but a durable and Everlasting Life to them that obey him A durable and eternal punishment to them that resist him IIII. Wherein this Dominion and Soveraignty consists and how 't is manifested 1. The first act of Soveraignty is the making Laws This is Essential to God no Creatures Will can be the first rule to the Creature but only the Will of God He only can prescribe man his duty and establish the rule of it hence the Law is call'd the Royal Law James 2.8 It being the first and clearest manifestation of Soveraignty as the power of Legislation is of the Authority of a Prince Both are joyn'd together in Isaiah 53.22 The Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King Legislative power being the great mark of Royalty God as a King enacts Laws by his own proper Authority and his Law is a Declaration of his own Soveraignty and of mens moral subjection to him and dependance on him * Suarez de Legib. p. 23. His Soveraignty doth not appear so much in his promises as in his precepts A man's power over another is not discovered by promising For a promise doth not suppose the promiser either superior or inferior to the person to whom the promise is made 'T is not an exercising Authority over another but over a man's self No man forceth another to the acceptance of his promise but only proposeth and encourageth to an embracing of it But commanding supposeth always an Authority in the person giving the precept It obligeth the person to whom the command is directed A promise obligeth the person by whom the promise is made God by his command binds the Creature by his promise he binds himself He stoops below his Soveraignty to lay obligations upon his own Majesty By a precept he binds the Creature by a promise he encourageth the Creature to an observance of his precept What Laws God makes man is bound by vertue of his Creation to observe that respects the Soveraignty of God What promises God makes man is bound to beleive but that respects the faithfulness of God God manifested his dominion more to the Jews than to any other people in the World He was their Lawgiver both as they were a Church and a Commonwealth As a Church he gave them Ceremonial Laws for the regulating their Worship As a State he gave them Judicial Laws for the ordering their Civil Affairs and as both he gave them Moral Laws upon which both the Laws of the Church and State were founded This dominion of God in this regard will be manifest 1. In the Supremacy of it The sole power of making Laws doth originally reside in him James 4.12 There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy By his own Law he Judges of the eternal States of Men and no Law of man is obligatory but as it is agreeable to the Laws of this supream Lawgiver and pursuant to his righteous rules for the Government of the World The power that the Potentates of the World have to makes Laws is but derivative from God If their dominion be from him as it is For by him Kings Reign Prov. 8.15 Their Legislative power which is a prime flower of their Soveraignty is deriv'd from him also And the Apostle resolves it into this original when he orders us to be subject to the higher powers not only for wrath but for Conscience sake Rom. 13.5 Conscience in its operations solely respects God And therefore when it is exercised as the principle of Obedience to the Laws of Men 't is not with a respect to them singly considered but as the Majesty of God appears in their station and in their decrees This power of giving Laws was acknowledged by the Heathen to be solely in God by way of original And therefore the greatest Lawgivers among the Heathen pretended their Laws to be received from some Deity or supernatural power by special Revelation now whither they did this seriously acknowledging themselves this part of the dominion of God For it is certain that what soever just orders were issued out by Princes in the World was by the secret influence of God upon their Spirits Prov. 8.15 By me Princes Decree Justice by the secret conduct of Divine Wisdom or whither they pretended it only as a publick Engine to enforce upon people the observance of their Decrees and gain a greater credit to their Edicts yet this will result from it that the people in general entertain'd this common notion that God was the great Lawgiver of the World The first founders of their Societies could never else have so absolutely gain'd upon them by such a pretence These was always a Revelation of a Law from the mouth of God in every age The exhortation of Eliphaz to Job Job 22.22 Of receiving a Law from the mouth of God at the time before
Will of man Disclaim our dependance on God to hang upon the uncertain breath of a Creature in all this God is made less than man and man more than God God is depos'd and man enthron'd God made a slave and man a soveraign above him To this we may referre the solemn Addresses of some for the maintenance of the Protestant Religion according to Law the Law of Man not so much minding the Law of God resolving to make the Law the Church the State the Rule of their Religion and change that if the Laws be chang'd steering their Opinions by the compass of the Magistrates Judgment and Interest 2. The Dominion of God as a Proprietor is practically contemned 1. By Envy When we are not as flush and gay as well spread and sparkling as others this passion gnaws our Souls and we become the Executioners to wrack our selves because God is the Executor of his own pleasure The foundation of this passion is a quarrel with God to envy others the enjoyment of their Propriety is to envy God his right of disposal and consequently the propriety of his own Goods 'T is a mental Theft committed against God we rob him of his right in our will and wish 't is a Robbery to make our selves equal with God when it is not our due which is implied Phil. 2.6 when Christ is said to think it no Robbery to be equal with God We would wrest the Scepter out of his hand wish he were not the conductor of the world and that he would resign his Soveraignty and the right of the distribution of his own goods to the Capricios of our humor and ask our leave to what Subjects he should dispense his favours All Envy is either a tacit accusation of God as an usurper and assuming a right to dispose of that which doth not belong to him and so it is a denyal of his propriety or else charges him with a blind or unjust distribution and so it is a bespattering his wisdom and righteousness When God doth punish envy he vindicates his own Soveraignty as though this passion cheifly endeavoured to blast this perfection Ezek. 25.11 12. As I live saith the Lord I will do according to thy anger and according to thy envy and thou shall know that I am the Lord. The sin of envy in the Devils was immediately against the Crown of God and so was the sin of envy in the first man envying God the sole Prerogative in knowledge above himself This base humor in Cain at the preference of Abels sacrifice before his was the cause that he deprived him of his life Denying God first his right of choice and what he should accept and then invading Gods right of propriety in usurping a power over the Life and Being of his brother which solely belong'd to God 2. The Dominion of God as a proprietor is practically contemned by a violent or sâ—rreptitious taking away from any what God hath given him the possession of Since God is the Lord of all and may give the possession and dominion of things to whom he pleaseth all Theft and Purloyning all cheating and cousening another of his right is not only a crime against the true possessor depriving him of what he is intrusted with but against God as the absolute and universal proprietor having a right thereby to confer his own goods upon whom he pleaseth as well as against God as a Lawgiver forbidding such a violence The snatching away what is an others denyes man the right of possession and God the right of donation The Israelites taking the Egyptians Jewels had been Theft had it not been by a Divine license and order but cannot be slander'd with such a term after the proprietor of the whole World had alter'd the Title and alienated them by his positive grant from the Egyptians to conferr them upon the Israelites 3. The Dominion of God as a proprietor is practically contemned by not using what God hath given us for those ends for which he gave them to us God passeth things over to us with a condition to use that for his Glory which he hath bestowed upon us by his bounty He is Lord of the end for which he gives as well as Lord of what he gives the donors right of propriety is infringed when the Lands and legacies he leaves to a particular use are not employ'd to those ends to which he bequeathed them The right of the Lord of a Mannour is violated when the Copy-hold is not us'd according to the condition of the conveyance So it is an invasion of Gods soveraignty not to use the Creatures for those ends for which we are intrusted with them when we deny our selves a due and lawful support from them hence Covetousness is an invasion of his right or when we unnecessarily wast them hence prodigality disowns his propriety Or when we bestow not any thing upon the relief of others hence uncharitableness comes under the same title appropriating that to our selves as if we were the Lords when we are but the usufructuaries for our selves and Stewards for others this is to be rich to our selves not to God Luke 12.21 for so are they who employ not their wealth for the service and according to the intent of the donor Thus the Israelites did not own God the true proprietor of their Corn Wine and Oyl which God had given them for his Worship when they prepared offerings for Baal out of his Stock Hos 2.8 For she did not know that I gave her Corn and Wine and Oyl and multiplied her Gold and Silver which they prepar'd for Baal as if they had been sole proprietors and not Factors by Commission to improve the Goods for the true owner 'T is the same invasion of Gods right to use the parts and gifts that God hath given us either as fuel for our pride or advancing self or a witty scoffing at God and Religion When we use not Religion for the honour of our Soveraign but a stool to rise by and observe his precepts outwardly not out of regard to his Authority but as a stale to our interest and furnishing self with a little concern and triflle When men will wrest his word for the favour of their lusts which God intended for the checking of them and make interpretations of it according to their humors and not according to his Will discovered in the Scripture this is to pervert the use of the best goods and depositum he hath put into our hands even divine Revelations Thus hypocrisie makes the soveraignty of God a nullity 3. The Dominion of God as a Governour is practically contemned I. In Idolatry Since Worship is an acknowledgment of Gods soveraignty to adore any Creature instead of God or to pay to any thing that homage of trust and confidence which is due to God though it be the highest Creature in Heaven or Earth is to acknowledg that soveraignty to pertain to a Creature which is challeng'd by
interest of the rest of the World that they should have been extinguisht for the instruction of their contemporaries and posterity The best of them had turned all Religion into a fable coyn'd a World of rites some unnatural in themselves and most of them unbecoming a rational creature to offer and a Deity to accept Yet he did not presently arm himself against them with Fire and Sword nor stopt the course of their Generations nor tare out all those reliques of natural light which were left in their minds He did not do what he might have done but he winkt at the times of that ignorance Act. 17.30 their ignorant Idolatry for that it referrs to ver 29. They thought the God-head was like to Gold or Silver or stone graven by Art and mens device 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 overlooking them He demean'd himself so as if he did not take notice of them He winkt as if he did not see them and would not deal so severely with them the eye of his Justice seem'd to wink in not calling them to an account for their sin 3. His slowness to anger is manifest to the Israelites You know how often they are call'd a stiff-necked people they are said to do evil from their youth i. e. from the time wherein they were erected a Nation and Common-wealth and that the City had been a provocation of his anger and of his fury from the day that they built it even to this day i. e. the day of Jeremiah's Prophesie that he should remove it from before his face Jer. 32.31 From the dayes of Solomon say some which is too much a curtailing of the Text as though their provocations had taken date no higher than from the time of Solomon's rearing the Temple and beautifying the City whereby it seem'd to be a new Building They began more early they scarce discontinued their revolting from God they were a grief to him 40 years together in the Wilderness Psal 95.10 Yet he suffer'd their manners Act. 13.18 He bore with their ill behaviour and sawcyness towards him And no sooner was Joshua's head laid and the Elders that were their conductors gathered to their fathers but the next Generation forsook God and smutted themselves with the Idolatry of the Nations Judg. 2.7.10 11. And when he punished them by prospering the Arms of their enemies against them they were no sooner delivered upon their cry and humiliation but they began a new Scene of Idolatry And though he brought upon them the power of the Babylonian Empire and laid chains upon them to bring them to their right mind And at 70 years end he struck off their chains by altering the whole posture of affairs in that part of the World for their sakes Overturning one Empire and settling another for their Restoration to their antient City And though they did not after disown him for their God and set up Baal in his Throne yet they multiplyed foolish traditions whereby they impaired the Authority of the Law yet he sustained them with a wonderful Patience and preferred them before all other people in the first offers of the Gospel And after they had outrag'd not only his servants the Prophets but his Son the Redeemer yet he did not forsake them but employed his Apostles to sollicit them and publish among them the Doctrine of Salvation So that his treating this people might well be call'd much long suffering it being above 1500 years wherein he bore with them or mildly punished them far less than their deserts Their coming out of Egypt being about the year of the World 2450 and their final destruction as a Common-wealth not till about 40 years after the death of Christ And all this while his Patience did sometimes wholly restrain his Justice and sometimes let it fall upon them in some few drops but made no total devastation of their Country nor wrote his revenge in extraordinary bloody Characters till the Roman conquest wherein he put a period to them both as a Church and State In particular this Patience is manifest 1. In his giving warnings of Judgments before he orders them to go forth He doth not punish in a passion and hastily He speakes before he strikes and speakes that he may not strike Wrath is publisht before it is executed and that a long time An 120 years Advertisement was given to a debauch'd World before the Heavens were open'd to spout down a deluge upon them He will not be accused of coming unawares upon a people He inflicts nothing but what he foretold either immediately to the people that provoke him or anciently to them that have been their fore-runners in the same provocation Hos 7.12 I will chastise them as their Congregation hath heard Many of the leaves of the Old Testament are full of those Presages and Warnings of approaching judgment These make up a great part of the Volume of it in various Editions according to the State of the several provoking times Warnings are given to those people that are most abominable in his sight Zeph. 2.1 2. Gather your selves together yea gather together Oh Nation not desired 't is a Meiosis Oh Nation abhorr'd before the decree bring forth He sends his Heralds before he sends his Armies He summons them by the voice of his Prophets before he confounds them by the voice of his Thunders When a parley is beaten a white flagg of Peace is hung out before a black flagg of fury is set up He seldom cuts down men by his Judgments before he hath hewed them by his Prophets Hos 6.5 Not a remarkable judgment but was foretold the Floud to the Old World by Noah The Famine to Egypt by Joseph The Earthquake by Amos. Amos 1.1 The storm from Chaldea by Jeremy The Captivity of the Ten Tribes by Hosea The total destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Christ himself He hath chosen the best persons in the World to give those intimations Noah the most Righteous person on the earth for the Old World And his Son the most beloved person in Heaven for the Jews in the later time And in other parts of the World and in the later times where he hath not warned by Prophets he hath supplyed it by Prodigies in the Air and Earth Histories are full of such Items from Heaven Lesser judgments are fore-warners of greater as Lightnings before Thunder are Messengers to tell us of a succeeding clap 1. He doth often give warning of Judgments He comes not to extremity till he hath often shaken the rod over Men He thunders often before he crusheth them with his Thunder-bolt He doth not till after the first and second admonition punish a rebel as he would have us reject a Heretick He speaks once yea twice Job 33.14 and man percieves it not He sends one Message after another and waits the success of many messages before he strikes Eight Prophets were order'd to acquaint the Old World with approaching judgment 2 Pet. 2.5 He saved