have you know or consider that it is too such only as seek him and waite upon him He cares not that ye know God is mercifull but he would not have you take notice of his justice and holy severitie against sinne that he is a revenging God and a consuming fire 〈◊〉 transgressours He would not have you take notice of everlâ—â—â—ing burnings and devouring fire in which sinners shall ly and be tormented during the long life of God T is true if he see that ye be in perplexitie about your sins and be in to tremble and to be afraid of the wrath of God then he will fast enough be telling you what a terrible God he is whom ye have sinned against that he may drive you to dispaire Thus would the devill separate what God hath joyned together Ye may see God putting both together Exod. 34.6 7. The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gratious long suffring and abundant in goodnes and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquitie and transgression and sinne and that will by no meanes clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children c. And therefore when wicked men shall talke of the goodnes of God I may say to them as Jehu did to Joram concerning peace what hast thou to do with peace c. So What have ye to do to talke of the goodnes of God that do not seeke him nor waite upon him I may say to such as Elisha did to that Lord on whose hand the King of Israel leaned mentioned 2 Kings 7.2 about the great plenty that should be in Samaria Behold thou shalt see it with thine eies but shalt not eate thereof So such may heare and speake of the unspeakable goodnes of God but they shall have no share therein O! T is true there are rich and pretious promises made but only to such as love God and keepe his commandements and take Christ to be their King Priest and prophet but gracelesse wretches must know that nothing remaines for them but a fearfull expectation of vengence when God shall reveale his wrath upon the breakers of his law upon the refusers of his Christ And therefore that Sathan may not carry you along in a fooles paradise do not separate those attributes of God which from all eternitie are joyned in one in God And chiefly labour to be in a capacitie of this attribute of goodnes and benignitie If ye will be welcome to God ye must have the wedding garment if ye will profit by my discourse of the usefull goodnes of God which I am now upon ye must be the children of the promise and have your vessels uncovered or else all the pretious liquor of the goodnes of God will run over But I have somewhat forestall'd mine application I have a few words more to speak of the explicatory part of this disâ—â—â—â—se and then I shall come to the Uses It is true it is naturall in God to be good for it ariseth out of his infinite perfection but yet the acts thereof are free From this disposition commeth another attribute to wit love of which we shall speake hereafter when we shall have finished others first in their order But in the meane time It is my work to shew you what this goodnes of God is which I am now upon It is in God a naturall propension to communicate himselfe to creatures according to their severall capacities VVhat the benignity of God is And whereas I say it is a naturall propension yet I do not meane that the acts of goodnes are so for they are free There was but one necessary and naturall act of goodnes in God and that is the communicating of his whole essence which is of infinit perfection excellency As inferior things are naturally prone to procreate somthing like and equall unto themselves But because that which is altogether infinite cannot be multiplied therefore the Divine essence doth not communicate it selfe by the production of a like essence distinct in number as created things do in which the essence which is in one suppositum doth produce an essence in another suppositum distinct innumber but by the giving of himself and as it were by replication so as the same most simple nature in number is in three subsistences distinct in number Yet this communication sith it is natural the pronenesse unto it is it not to be called benignity of which I am now speaking but it is a naturall production of a person and communication of a nature And we may call it fertility or fecundity But goodnes is a free communicating to inferior Which in God although it spring from his infinite goodnes or perfection as the former communication of the whole essence and be also naturall yet the acts thereof are free And this goodnes of God communicated to creatures is generall to all Psalm 145.9 The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his workes and verses 15.16 The eies of all waite upon thee and thou givest them their meate in due season Thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living creature But yet more especially to the rational and intellectuall creatures men and Angles which only by understanding and will are made capable of the divine goodnes These angelicall and humane natures God hath made far more capable of his goodnes and hath adorned them with many gifts of his good will And for man which he saw would stand in neede of many helpes he made all other things to be usefull for him out of Gods goodnes and benignity is all this done That the goodnes of humane being night be hereby made the more sweet and comfortable unto the sons of men In this respect he is said to be the Saviour of all men 1 Tim. 4.10 preserving them from many dangers and relieving and comforting them with the service of his other creatures Math. 5.45 He maketh his sun to rise on the evill and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Thus goodnes is communicated to man as man But Thirdly Gods goodnes is not only generall to all creatures and speciall to mankind but singular to his Church not only in giving them means of salvation and deliverance from the curse but to many of them vouchsafing the sense of his choisest favours in remission of sinnes gifts of the spirit and life everlasting fullnes of joy reserved for us at the right hand of God O what a goodly garden of the goodnes of God is the whole creation Even Devills have a share in regard of their natures it is angelicall such a nature as the best and wisest and most knowing of the sonnes of men can little tell what to make of it In so much that even in Christs time among the Jews it became doubtfull whether there were any such creatures as Angels at all and by a considerable sect viz. the Sadduces was held in the Negative I say
must know that as God only hath immortality essentially and immutably so likwise all kindes of goodness are only in God firme and sure Saints might fall Angels might fall the Saints in heaven might fall and dy also againe were it not that God holds them to their estates he hath brought them unto and will even as the Psalmist saith Psalme 91.4 He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust his truth shall be thy shield and buckler But for more cleare and full answer to the place in Ezekiel You must know that the Holy Ghost meanes not truly gratious neither is it the scope to prove falling from grace but to cleare the Lords justice and my scope is to shew the deadly hatred God beares to sinne And either by righteous in that place we are to understand a moral legal righteous man or else it is a caution to prevent a righteous mans falling if we will understand it of Gospel righteousnes Or lastly as I intimated in the beginning of my Answer to his Question it may be true of a righteous man considered in himselfe not in relation to God or Christ that he may turne from his righteousnes as Angels and Adam did We have a rule conditional suppositions are of things impossible aswell as of possibles therefore make what ye will of the text yee can never necessarily conclude either with Bellarmine that a man may Exuare cor novum put away a new heart that faith may be lost Lib. 3. de Inst c. 14. Quid clareus quomodo quaeso avertitur justus à justicia si fide sola justificatur fides semel concepta extergui non potest or with Arminians that it is so evident that every one may see it that a just man may totally and finally fall away Hominem justum posse totaliter de ficere Ames in antisynod de presen Sanct. c. 2. Christ tells his disciples that he would send the comforter that he might abide with them forever that he might dwell with them and be in them John 14.16.17 But I must end this businesse which is but by the by God must needs hate sin seeing one sin in the evening of a mans age persisted in unto death will make God forget all former services done to him this is the third evidence Fourthly Gods willing the abased incarnation and dolorous death and passion of his sonne that sinne might be abolished is the highest discovery of his hatred towards it If nothing but the blood of his owne son be able to remove sin it shall be laid down rather then God will endure it so hateful is sin and so loathsome in the eyes of God And therefore Soules do but consider this ye that make light of sin see and consider a little what sinne is in the account of God in whose ballance all things must be wayed Yea look upon the readines of Christ to make his soule an offering for sin to lay down his pretious life that this ugly thing sin so hateful to Gods holines might be slain as well as satisfied for and that Gods soul might be eased and comforted justice being satisfied which the holy severitie of God did call for I have beene very long upon the formalitie of Gods holines which as you may remember is the fourth way or manner God is said to be holy in A Fifth and indeed the last way or manner is that God is said to be holy Eminently and causally as the fountain and begining of all sanctitie in creatures As he is the root of all holines the object the example viz. of and unto his own holines and formally holy also as hath largly been demonstrated So likewise to the creator of all creatures holines He is the Efficient Formall Exemplary and final cause He hath first infused all holines into Angels and men which they have he converteth men to himselfe he doth away the spots of their sinnes he plants in them the light of grace and good inclinations All holines comes from him and what have we that we have not received from him who only it is that makes men to differ So that God is causally holy the efficient cause of all holines in the sons of men He it is that rooteth out sin and cleanseth them from filthines and planteth in them holines by his holy spirit And thus our God is holy as he doth effect holines Secondly he gives the very species of holines Holines as I have told you is placed in loving God and his waies Christ and his people Now it is God that forms Christ in us and gives a spirit of conformitie to him in holines He is the formal cause of holines in creatures not informing but in a higher way without imperfection we are transformed by the renewing of our mind Rom. 12.2 The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the new creature the change of the soule as the worke is variously termed is wholy from God And so their people come to be willing in the day of Gods power in the beauties of holines Ps 110.3 Then when they have a holy frame of spirit they being to value ordinances and run too and fro for the increase of their knowledge Daniel 12.4 they cleave unto God and one to another praying in the Holy Ghost Jude ver 20. and submiting themselves one to another in the feare of God Ephes 5.21 Even as the father loveth the sonne and the sonne loveth the father and God loveth himselfe because of the holines in their divine essence so it is with the Saints that are made to be holy and are renewed Thirdly God is exemplarily the cause of holines in creatures he hath laid a coppy before us according to which we should square our lives He is principum exemplare Not only the mind and will of God revealed in the scripture but also the histories of Gods dealings in point of holines who would have us walk as he hath and be holy as he is holy And yet this is not all we have a plaine familiar coppy a demonstration before our eys I mean the behaviour and conversation of Christ in the daies of his flesh he hath left us an example that ye should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2.21 Such as walk according to these coppies and this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Holy Israel of God Gal. 6.16 Fourthly All the holines of the creature is directed unto God and his glory as unto its end Therefore the creature is sanctified and made holy that it may be for God the utmost end and honour him and praise and glorifie him And take this for a truth no action is any further holy then Gods glory is the end of it The Pharises almes fastnings and prayers were materially good but because their owne praise and not Gods glory was that which they aimed at this was that spoild all And therefore Christians well is that we have a Christ for seeing
God will no further look upon us then we perfectly aime at his glory in every thing what would become of us had we not a Christ Seeing selfe ends will so mingle themselves with one best performances have we not cause to blesse God for Jesus Christ 't is our duty and let it be our practice to blesse God for Jesus Christ To Summe up all Holy men have holy minds their holy minds are fixed upon God The will word and workes of God and Christ are coppyes before their eies and lastly holy men ayme at Gods glory and not themselves for they are swallowed up in God and know whom they have believed therefore I commend in all these respects God to be eminently and causally holy Now le ts come to make some use and application of this truth Vses of the Attribute of holinesse in God that the Lord our God is holy that holines is an attribute of Gods And first by way of information it teacheth us that holines is not to be contemned nor such as labor after it is not to be set light by nor holy persons despised Wo therefore to those that despise holy persons this must needs be an heynous offence why Sirs what do ye mean Holines is an attribute of God and can that be base or despicable which God takes and makes to be one of his owne attributes one of his names which must not be taken in vaine much lesse not trampled upon Are such to be blamed that desire to be like God to be holy as their father which is in heaven is holy what horrible wickednesse is this to mock at holy people as to twit them with holinesse is to mock at God those that do so are like unto such wretched servants in a house as will dog and misuse a childe in the family because it is like his father whom they yet take wages off and live by and can not live with out little do men think to what a pitch of sinfulnesse their carriage this way doth amount unto though many think it nothing to mock at holy people yet is it a very great sinne And yet what is more in disgrace then holynesse who more despised then pure and holy soules Oh these are your pure folkes these are the holy sect and the like scoffing speeches If a man do but looke towards the wayes of holynes he is streightway had in derision by prophane people How do parents abuse their owne children even among us in this place if they do but looke towards Sion and even weep for mad Alas poore soules Oh that I had but bowells to pitty you as there is cause Do ye know what ye do Let me tell you yee mock at that which must be in your selves or ye shall not see God Heb. 12.14 and holynesse without which no man shall see the Lord yea ye mock at that without which ye cannot serve the Lord. Josh 24 19. Ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God c. Such as despise holynesse cannot serve God so this is the first use If you should have thoughts of indignation against people because they be holy ye would plainly declare that ye are none of Gods servants none of his worshippers and as first I said that ye shall not see his face in mercy so much for that they that labour to be holy are not to be condemned nor holynesse which is an attribute of God contemned Secondly If holinesse be an attribute of God then it further Vse 2 teacheth us that God must needs like of holinesse and delight in holy persons For all Gods attributes are pleasing to him and this being one of them he must needs take pleasure in this This clearly follows where God doth finde but a sparkle of himself he must delight necessarily in it because of his holiness as hath been abundantly manifested in the foregoing part of this discourse he runs with joy to his the workmanship of his own spirit And this is not onely a Use of information but of comfort also exceeding great comfort to those that are taken out of this widâ— world and set into Christ the root of Jesse the root of holinesse The spirit of glory and of God resteth on you saith the Apostle Peter 1 Epist c. 4.14 which may rejoyce under their reproaches for the name of Christ when a soul loves God and is seeking to set up his glory this is matter of great joy because they are partakers of his holinesse O well shall it be with such and happy shall they be Psal 128.2 The Apostles Acts 5.46 Departed from the presence of the Council rejoycing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name And so may all holy ones be their outward condition what it will Vse 3 Thirdly Such as would become acceptable to God must labour to become holy persons for this is that which the Lord calleth for Lev. 11.44 45. and cap. 19.2 Ye shall be holy for I am holy this is that the Lord calleth for from all persons nothing will give him content but this you know the saying likenesse makes love And here it takes place if you will have God to love you you must labour to be like him Nothing will please him but holinesse if you would give the fruit of your body for the sin of your soul yet that will not give him content But ye must be holy the reason is given because the Lord your God is holy Be exhorted therefore to labour for holinesse To move you consider first the excellency of this grace Motives to labour for holines it is of the divine nature it is most excellent The excellency of a thing will make a man to labour for it excellent things are the objects of wise mens desires and labours Now there is nothing so excellent as holinesse for that is to be like God And therefore why do ye spend your money for that which is not bread and for that which will not profit you but is vain and like a shadow Riches get wings and flie away labour therefore for that which when once you have will never forsake you in life or death or judgment And therefore the excellency herof thus considred should never let us be quiet til we have gotten some evidence that we have in some measure attained unto this holines even holines which is one of Gods attributes Secondly consider this too holines is a thing which every man is without There is not so much as one sparkle of holines in any man by nature for we are wholy defiled with sin Ever imagination of the thoughts of mans heart is only evil continually Gen. 6 5. How can man be cleane that is borne of a Woman Job 25.4 the interrogation there is a vehement negation How can that is it cannot be But we are all as an uncleane thing and all our righteousnes are as filthy rags Isaiah 64.6 There is none righteous no not one there is
dead 1 Pet. 4.5 God will never be wanting to his church The gates of hell much less poore worms breathing skind earth shall not be able to prevaile against it Thirdly Seeing God is infinitely and incomprehensibly holy Vse 3 Then they that will imitate God must never stand at a stay in holines they must still go on with the motto of Charl's the fifth plus ultra Once we can never be too holy I am sure of that There is one wo and feare gone of an extream in holines O if we could as well avoid the danger of being too dull and slow and backward It were well I therefore will provide some spurs Motives to labour for more holinesse some pregnant motives to stirre you up to labour to be holy yet more and more First know this for your encouragement the more holines ye have on earth the more protection may ye expect from this holy God Those Saints that have beene eminent for holines have beene also eminent for salvations God hath made such see his salvation As the three Saints Daniel the third Daniel himselfe chap. the sixth and many others Secondly Take this too the more holines the more comfort surely while men ly under sinne the face of God is hid from them our comforts usually do fall and rise together with our holines God sups and dines with his holy ones Consolation is measured to us according to our holines God and a Saint do keep one table God cannot smile upon us while we are under the breach of any one of his lawes Ye may see what became of Davids comfort upon his fall Psalme 51.11 He there cries Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me And in the foregoing tenth verse he cries for a new creation He hath so farre lost his comfort that he thought he had lost his grace Carelest walking may cause us to be dealt with all as if we were reprobates and not the elect of God For this however some idle heads may prattle I appeale to the experience of all the Saints of God whether ever they found so much comfort and enjoyment of God in their loose as in their close walking with him certainly the clouds of sinne where ever they be will make the beames of Gods favour disappeare unto the sence of that soule Thirdly The more holines the more boldnes I remember I have read a story of a Conjurer that would have the devill affright an old exact Christian But the devill told him againe T was but in vaine to meddle with him he feared nothing Holy soules feare not death though it be the King of terrours They can looke it in the face and with Mr. Lawrance Saunders cry out welcome life when they are at the stake The righteous is bold as a lion Holy Moses talks with God face to face The more holines the lesse feare A holy man knoweth that nothing can come amisse to him Fourthly The more holines the more acquaintance with God Holines makes men great favourities in the court of heaven T is but aske and have for a holy soule As it was said of Luther he could do any thing with God Surely ye cannot imagine what power holy soules have in heaven Hic vir potest quicquid vult apud Deum Elias by reason of his holines had great power he prayed that it might not rain and it rained not and he prayed again that it might raine and it did raine Holy Moses holds the hands of God Ezek. 14.14 and and God begs him to let him go If any in the world can prevaile with God it must be such as Noah Daniel and Job 5. The more holines on earth the more glory shall ye have in heaven Though God save us not for our works yet he will reward us according to them The garland there wil be greater or lesser according as the flowers we send before thither be more or lesse We must have Esaus hands if we expect Jacobs blessing Esau signifies working No good is to be expected by us without doing good He that expects to carry earth to heaven must first strive to bring heaven downe to earth It is noted by some that the same word signifieth reward and working to signifie they cannot be separated Holy souls shall dwell in Gods holy hill Holines it called by some the Suburbs of heaven and he that will enter into the City must passe through the Suburbs To conclude this motive if we be eminently holy here we shall be eminently glorious hereafter Summe up all God will protect his holy ones Comfort and peace shall be their portion even here as Psalme 119.165 Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them And great shall be the peace of thy children Isaiah 54.13 No names shall be to them Psalme 39.9 If we be all for God God will be all for us If we dedicate our selves to God we shall find that he will be ours in the sweetest injoyments His special providences shall be over us others are under generall providences only Extra mundum sanctus perigrinalitur cum Domino He may carry them on his back but you shall be sure to ly in his bosome His eye his heart both are alwayes upon his holy ones for God And at last fulnes of joy at his right-hand and pleasure for evermore Quest Ans But how shall I do to thrive in holines to lanch out into his deepes I answer By daily applying your selves unto the meanes which God hath appointed be diligent in the faithfull use of Gods sacred ordinances If ye plow with these heifers ye shall find out Gods riddles of holines But when once they are slighted or abused and come to be ours and none of his as one wittily observes out of Isaiah 1.11 and 14. verses then vertue commeth not from them We should therefore labour to be lift up out of our selves and above our selves when we are about holy exercises we shall be exact in them So shall we more and more come towards that perfection of holines which is still to be laboured for though never to be attained So much for the morall goodnes of God to wit his holines The other goodnesses follow The end of the attribute of holines The benignity or Usefull Goodness of GOD. Psalm 100. v. 5. For the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all Generations WE have under the good hand of our living good and holy Lord God gone through those three attributes of life goodnes naturall or perfection and morall goodnes or holines which was the last This verse is not chosen to be handled and to be spoken of for the sake of three other attributes mentioned therein viz. goodnes that is to say benignitie mercy a fourth sort as I may call it of goodnes and truth which at last will come to be spoken of also out of this
the participation of them He that believeth not is condemned already Joh. 3.18 He that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him vers 36. If any man have not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8.9 And he that committeth sin is of the Devill 1 Joh. 3.8 But to return and so draw to an end Let us take notice of wonderfull condiscension in God to make a Covenant with any and of the unspeakable happinesse of such as be enabled to come into this Covenant To doubt of mercy and professe our selves Christians is a very great sin God that cannot ly hath promised eternall life before these ages even from the beginning Know therefore that he is faithfull which hath called you who also will do it 1 Thess 5.24 Gods mercifulnesse is continued upon the account of his truth and faithfulnesse which Attribute is next to be spoken of out of this very Text. The end of the Attribute of Mercy Of the Truth of God Psalme 100. Verse the last For the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting And his truth endureth to all generations WE are come now to the third property mentioned in this Text the sixth in order of the communicable attributes of God And this truth indureth to all generations In handling of which I purpose to keepe my selfe to those three propositions or rules which I have observed in the other five that have beene spoken off This word Truth hath diverse acceptations and no marvell for in the originall Hebrew there are more words then one rendered in our english tongue by this word Truth The usual word in the Bible which signifies truth is Kosht or Keshet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the word here used is Emunatho by reason of the pronoune affix His truth it is It comes from the same roote that that common word among us doth viz. Amen Which in the forme Niphal signifieth to be true firme or stable And here in my text it denotes the truth firmness and faithfulness of God as ye shall God-willing hereafter heare Truth Generally signifieth the conformity of any thing with its measure or rule according to which it ought to be formed or made as true Gold true Silver true Water Veritas est conformitas seu adaequatio rei ad missam Vig. gra p. 8. because it is conformable according to its kind and agreeable to the appointed proportion or allay and is not false The measure of each created thing is that which is somtimes called an Idea to wit the divine conception of God in himselfe of each thing according to which as a rule by vertue of this conception of his he gave being in time For in the wisdome of God from everlasting hath the form of every thing not only specifically from the highest Seraphim to the lowest Ant but in their particular individuum's If a creature should be otherwise Veritas est proprietas entis creati sicut bonitas Less then is so conceived in the mind of God it should not be true but false And as each thing is said to be true by its conformity to its exemplary cause so to be good by its agreement unto its finall cause And therefore we say truth is one although goodnes be manifold as there are many ends subordinate one to another yet neverthelesse there is but one utmost end and in that regard but one goodnes neither There is nothing which God hath made concerning which we may say Natura nihil fecit frustra it is good for nothing For what the heathens according to their skill say of nature that it made nothing in vain we may much more truly say of God It is agreed upon in the Church of Christ that God made all things and all persons in particular for certain ends whereby he may be glorified So Solomon saith Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for himselfe yea even the wicked for the day of evill And look as a thing serves more to declare the excellencies of God so it is said to have in it more goodnesse Take all the jewells in the world they have not in them that goodnes in a true consideration that hath one blade of grasse which hath life though of the lowest sort yet it hath life Grasse and plants not so good as sensitives that have a better kind of life Lions and Eagles nothing comparable to the poorest man And to speake in the words of Chrysostome Take all the men in the world and they are not worth one Saint or gracious soule though never so meane in regard of outwards And what 's the reason of this surely because they are they by whom God attaines his end of making the world and from them alone hath his glory in the world And therefore I conclude the righteous is more excellent then his neighbour Duae proprietates entis verum bonum There is a greater goodnes better a greater conformity to the end of being Ye see the two positive properties of an entitie the trueth of it and the goodnes of it But it may be demanded whether onenes or unitie be not another propertie of an entitie or being To which I answer No. Because the onenesse of a thing addes nothing unto the being of that thing Unitas suprà rationem entis nihil dicit nisi divisionis negationem Less veritas uniuscujusque rei est proprietas sui esse Avicen vigue Grav Instituit f. 8. neither doth it affirme any thing save onenesse which is a negation of division For that which is one is a thing undivided divided from all other things And therefore hath no place among properties But I hasten from these notions lest I should offend the judicious I have spoken of the property of goodnes as it is attributed to God and now to speak of truth though this be not that acceptation of the word which I purpose most to insist upon Yet take this by the way Our God is a true God that is he is truly God But here it may be objected if truth be a conformity of a being unto its rule or as Augustine saith a true similitude of the beginning which is without any dissimilitude what rule is there for God to be conformed unto To which I answer Truth as it is in this first acceptation attributed to God is not in him a conformity of being to a rule or pattern for then God should not be eternall Veritas est vera similitudo principii quae sine ulla dissimilitudine est Aug. de vera religione and something should be before God according to which his entitie being conforme should make him a true God but in this that his nature is such as that it ought to be the exemplary cause and measure of all things This being of God then is veritas fundamentalis as the Schoolmen call it In this sence he is the
petty Kingdomes and Lordshipps and that one title more honourable So we see David starving and famishing all the gods Psal 4.7 Thou hast put gladnesse in my heart more then in the time that their corne and their wine increased Thus he makes the leannesse of the gods of worldlings and foolish people that know not the true God to appeare And so much for the first acceptation of the word True and the application of it to Jehovah who is the only true God and that fundamentally without conformity to a rule But neither the word in my Text used Emunatho nor the scope of the place nor indeed the subject I intend in my descourse is for this acceptation of the word truth Therefore we must seeke another Therefore Secondly leaving this object and fundamentall verity this cheif intelligible among all intelligibles the first supream measure of all measurables in whom every intelligible and measurable is most eminently contained as in the bottomlesse depth of all truth and the first determinating and modifying rule of all things We have another truth to wit formall truth This is the conformity of knowledge with the object as with its measure when a thing is judged such as indeed it is when our knowledge obtaines its object this is truth This truth also is attributed to God whose knowledge attaines it due object and his wisdom infinitely surpasseth all created wisdome The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men that they are vaine Vaine and false thoughts lodg in men none in God we may say of men ye misse thinke and ye say false we cannot say so of God I speake not of lying against conscience but of comming short of the truth of mistaking truth and taking falsehood for it we make use of two words concerning learned men and opinions which will help much to the understanding of this logical truth Orthodox and Heterodox an Orthodox man is one that is sound in his judgement and holds the truth and doth not take errours instead of truth When there is a conformitie of the concâ—ptions of the mind with things as they are this makes a man Orthodox But a Heterodox man is one that apprehendeth otherwise of things then they are I take it that place Rom. 3.4 Is to be understood of this truth Yea let God be true but every man a lyer Who then is an Orthodox divine surely such a one as thinkes of things held forth to be known as they are Thus ye have a second use of the word truth as it is the English of the Hebrew word Keshet or Kosht In which acceptation also God is true truly conceiving and ennunciating things as they are That ye may be full of this in your understanding consider that if all the holy and excellent men that ever were in the world or are or shall be were brought together we might say of many thousands as was said of John Baptist John 5.35 he was a burning and a shining lamp They were and are Orthodox and true judging men but we cannot say of so much as one all that he holds or beleeveth or sayeth is true For this only is proper to God who only is compleatly Orthodoxe of men we must say as James the Apostle doth in many things we offend all In many things we erre and do not hold the truth even every one even the most sound and most knowing Christian or Minister that ever was The first kind of truth was as I may call it Metaphysicall truth whereby things are truly what they seem or are conceived or reputed to be having the reality of that essence which they have the name of But this truth which I have called logicall is the knowing and saying of things in mind and tongue as the truth is In this sence the Scriptures are the Scriptures of truth and in them is no ly nor errour And so God only I say is the true God or the God of truth But although God be in this regard the only true God and the God of all truth from the truth of whose divine wisdome all truths descend to men and Angels Yet the truth of things which he knoweth do not passe from the things into his knowledge as the measure thereof as in men ye know things are true and therefore afterwards known so to be But in God from the objective verity of his essence two manner of wayes do the knowledge of things true in themselves come to be said to be true in regard of God First by Creation for by wisdome all things are made and formed their truth doth consist in their conformity with that wisdome and divine art Psal 104.24 O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdome hast thou made them all Now to endeavour to make you understand somwhat of this comming of things to be true ye must know that in regard of us truth passeth into our knowledge because the truth of things as I said before is the measure of the truth of our knowledge Therefore what thing is Metaphysically false an enunciation logicall thereof cannot be true But there is necessarily required a truth of the thing before I come to know it to be so And so after truth passeth from my knowledge into my affections and so into my manners and conversation in as much as they are subject to the judgement wisdome and knowledge of the divine law And lastly it passeth for truth into our words and writings in which are beheld the least footsteps the smallest sound and as it were the last farwell of truth Now in God whose wisdome infinitely surpasseth all wisdome every notion of truth is most eminently contained his wisdome and knowledge attaining and penetrating most perfectly and most distinctly every objective truth And this formall truth in God as well as we can conceive it ariseth in God from the objective truth of his essence which is the measure of divine wisdome and the truth of wisdome standeth in conformity or adequation with his essence and consequently with all things which in it are eminently contained Secondly Whereas truth descends from God unto creatures by revelation and divine illustration for this truth is not drawn from the objects but directly communicated by the infusion of light in which manner the truth of faith and the blessed vision of God is derived unto us In God it is not so For he is not only the first object and fundamentall truth but also the formall truth the very universalitie and fullnes of wisdome and so he comprehends without revelation all truths by reason of his infinite knowledge For more then twenty yeares I could not perceive how a man could be in judgement an Arminian and in truth an understanding Christian as ye will confesse I am perswaded with me that are not unreasonably engaged in those controversies or miserably entangled in those snares of unsanctified witts the desciples of Pelagius and Plato Not of Augustine or Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ Faine would
I have answeres to these few ensuing questions that I may have a better opinion if it be meete I should of that ruffling generation that are gotten into these Arminian tenents First whether God Foreknew this truth from eternity of each Sonne and Daughter of Adam numerically personally and by name that such a one and such a one should beleeve and be saved and such and such remaine in unbeliefe and be damned Secondly according to the matter in hand which put me upon this digression whether this were first a truth before God knew it and so passed into the foreknowledge of God Tam impossibile est Deum falli circa rem minutissimam verbi gratia circa cogitationes aut intentiones cordis humani minimus ejus circumstantias quam est ipso scribite illum falli circa propriam essentiam Less de perf div 50. as the Metaphysicall truth of the thing to cause a logicall truth in Gods understanding Thirdly in general whether the intitive knowledge of God extending it selfe to creatures may in any sort be said or thought to depend and draw truth from them so as to move the divine mind and to forme knowledge in it Fourthly what difference is in God betweene his foreknowledge and purpose Fifthly whether it can stand with the wisdom of God to purpose salvation alike to all and yet to know that only such and such as he foreknew should receive it Sixthly What difference there is in God between knowledge and foreknowledge And when I shall be satisfied about these quaeries which I suppose wil not soon be done I shall perhaps encline to think Pelagians Arminians Generalists as they now would be called have taken paines to know God according to Scripture discoveries concerning his infinite al-knowing al-ordering al-wise Quid est praescientia futurorum quid autem futurum est Deo quia omnia supergreditur tempora Si enim res ipsas in scientia habet non sunt ei futurae sed praesentes at per hoc non jam praescientia sed tantum scientia dici potest August lib. 2. ad simplician al-powerfull al-just al-good and al-mercifull essence But to go on a little more upon this logicall sort of truth in things that are not in esse there is not properly truth but it may be there before the world was made man was not in himselfe true man nor substance nor being but only he might be these that is it was not contrary to that objective conception which is apprehended in the formall notion of a man and abstracted from both esse actu non esse But in the divine intellect and by his eternall notion by which all things are apprehended and formed the totum esse of all things was no other thing but to be understood to be fashioned and formed in the divine intellect But things may be said to be possible or in posse esse in a double respect First as it were from an intrinsecall potentialitie which is no other thing but a non-repugnancy by meanes hereof although there be nothing and that it have in it nothing of entity yet it is not repugnant to them to be and to have a true entitie shape and form Secondly a thing may be said to be possible by extrinsecall denomination from the divine power and wisdom by which they may be brought forth in to beeing Therefore as in these there is no actuall entitie but only possible so no actual truth but one possible and this wholy how little-soever dependeth upon divine veritie For that the objective conceptions of things or the things which are said to be possible may be truly things and have a true entitie and form commeth herehence that the divine essence is imitable in those manners and measures and by the same wisdome with which they were conceived they may be made and formed Ye see then truth in God is the first root from whence all truth is hatched and derived to all other things whether existing or not existing and that divine wisdom is the measure of all objective veritie in created things In oculis divinae sapientiae noÌ„minus lucient possibilia quam existentia Yet doth not the evidence of things or any efficacy from them form knowledge in God but by reason of Gods comprehending essence Yet we may say it is a condition sive qua non For Gods knowledge would not be terminated or directed to particular existences if this will had not beene they should have beene I have but a word more and I have done Divine knowledge is not terminated to things existing but extended to futuritiones yea to possibles that neither are in praesenti nor ever shall be hereafter Of all logicall truthes take this for a most certaine rule Note That the Lord truly and according to the very truth of things avoucheth whatsoever he avoucheth and that without any the least errour or mistake whatsoever All the teachings of God are teachings of truth And therefore John saith 1 Ep. 4.2 Beloved Vse 1 believe not every spirit but trie the spirits whether they be of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world We must take heed how we receive doctrines hand over head from those that stand in the place of Gods ministers and professe their zeal in seeking our salvation The Beraeans are justly commended because they did not instantly believe those things which they heard from the Apostles themselves but first searched the Scriptures to see whether they were so or no. What folly and madnesse is it to believe the Devill and our flesh who are notorious lyers that seldome speake the truth and when they do it is with a purpose to deceive And so also we had need take heed as of false doctrines so of misapplied doctrines whereby truths in themselves become lies to us As if Sathan Suggest that we are in a good estate when we are not or that we be hypocrites when we are sincere or that we may be negligent in holy duties as many poore soules now adayes are deluded by the Devill to the laying aside of divine ordinances to the great perill of their souls But our word is Emunatho his truth or verassitie his stabilitie and firmnesse in all that he saith His ethicall truth as I may call it This heere only at least principally David meanes It is most true that in men ethicall truth is either to speake truth without lying Or to promise with their mouth what they intâ—nd without dissimulation or to fulfill what they have promised and said they will do This latter I purpose to treate of the answerablenesse of Gods doings and dealings Doct. to all that he saith he will do Hence learne That truth and faithfullnes is an attribute of God And this said to be to all generations That is for ever and without alteration God is faithfull and true and unalterably in all times makes good whatsoever he hath said and promised If it be objected
that after this life when all promises are fulfilled Obj. there is no use of fidelity I Answer that we may distinguish the property from the exercise of it or else and rather This I say Sol. to all eternity there is use of Gods fidelity for that his saints continue in their blessednes is by vertue of his promise and fidelity where some also have said there is some kind of faith that lasts in heaven which they call the faith of depency This truth I say will stand when all that oppose it or slight it shall fall and such as doubt of it shall be without Fides depenetiae Numb 23.19 God is not a man that he should ly nor the sonne of man that he should repent shall he say and not do or shall he speake and not make it good Malachy 3.6 For I am the Lord I change not therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed And the Apostle James saith with him is no varablenesse nor shadow of turning Deut. 7.9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithfull God which keepeth Covenant mercy with them that love him c. Proofs are plentifull in the history of the Scriptures Gods truth and faithfullnes is the ground of the Saints security and the sinners destruction And this must needs be in God who first knows what hee saies to be good and fit and truth in a logicall sence of which ye have already heard and therefore he need not repent he hath no after thoughts And Secondly He hates and threatens and punisheth the want of faithfulnes in others Ezekiell 17.15 16. Shall he prosper shall he escape that doth such things or shall he breake the covenant and be delivered As I live saith the Lord God surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king whose oath he despised and whose covenant he brake even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall dy Now put these two together First What God saith is so good and true according to the just rule as that he hath no cause to alter the thing that is gone out of his mouth Secondly that he hates and punisheth faithfullnes and want of truth in others and it will be surely concluded that God is a God of truth and faithfullnes Now what God saith is either by way of menace or promise as may be abundantly read in Scripture and of both it is true as it is written of the law Mat. 5.18 One jot or title shall in no wise passe from it till all be fulfilled God watcheth over his word to perform it It is a note of Mr. Capel upon the fifth verse of the first of Zachary Your fathers where are they and the Prophets do they live for ever That the power of Truth of Gods word depends not on any mens persons nor is limited to one age Their Fathers were dead that were threatned and the Prophets were dead too that did threaten them but the truth of their prophesies was not buried with them but was in every point fulfilled according to their preaching That follows v. 6. But my words and my statutes which I commanded my servants the Prophets did they not take hold of your Fathers And they returned and said like as the Lord of hoasts thought to do unto us according to our ways according to our doings so hath he dealt with us It is confessed by them selves the hand of God upon them did draw a confession from them that they were punished as God had threatned as they had deserved and they returned that is were convinced better advised as Mal. 3.18 Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not Men will know one day to their sorrow that God is a God of truth not a word goes out of his mouth but is exactly performed Yea circumstances exactly observed ye find Gen. 15.13 a promise made to Abram that after foure hundred yeares his seed should be freed and come out of the land of Bondage with great substance And compare that place with Exod. 12.41 And ye shall find great exactnes And it came to passe at the end of the foure hundred and thirty yeares even the selfe same day it came to passe that all the hosts of the Lord went out of the land of Aegypt The Lord is most true yea truth it selfe And all his promises in Christ are yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 He is a faithfull witnes and whatsoever he hath spoken shall be accomplished so that though the heavens decay and wax old like a garment though the sunne lose his light and the moone be turned into blood though the earth tremble and quake and the foundations of the mountaines be moved and shake yea though heaven and earth and all things therein contained perish and pass a way yet all that God hath threatned or promised shall be accomplished God is Jehovah he hath his essence and beeing in and from himselfe alone giveth beeing unto all things else especially to his word and promises And therefore for the First Use Let the people of God be confident upon this truth of God Light is sowen for the righteous and Vse 1 joyfull gladnesse for the upright in heart Psalme 97.11 And Gods Testimonies are very sure Psalme 93.5 He hath promised to all beleevers and repentant sinners that he will in Christ Jesus pardon all their sinnes and will receive them into his grace and favour and that he will be a sunne and shield to them and that no good thing will he withhold from them And therefore let us believe and rest upon our Saviour Christ alone for salvation truly repenting us of all our sinnes and build upon Gods truth that though our sinnes be never so many and grievious yet the Lord will pardon and forgive them and though our distresses and misery be never so great and woefull yet he can and therefore will because he is a God of truth deliver us from all Truth and faithfulnes is one of Gods names a part of his title let us not therfore call it into question it is a great dishonor to God It is an errour in the foundation to subsistitute fals objects either in religion or in christian conversation We must not build upon works but rely upon promises made by the God of truth God can neither endure fals objects nor a double object His faithfulnes or truth must be our shield buckler And therefore in the second place Ps 91.4 this reproves our doubtings somtimes churlish enough concerning the truth faithfulnes Vse 2 of our gratious God who yet is ever will be without falshood Titus 1.2 A God that cannot ly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet is often charged with breach of promise to his children by his very children 2 Pet. 3.4 5. If only scoffers walking after their owne lusts should say where is the promise of his
bore witnesse from heaven against falsehood The story is obvious It is also storied of the ancient Romans that they were very conscientious in observing their leagues covenants and oathes And such as violated them saith mine author were held for damned and cursed creatures and accounted worthy to live in humane society Be carefull of your promises and covenants that ye make with men God is a God of truth do ye be men of truth It is a communicable attribute it is to be had and this must now be spoken of in the second place c. Ye know we have done in handling the other attributes this is the second proposition That truth is a communicable attribute For God did communicate it to Adam in his innocency it was a part of that uprightnesse mentioned Eccles 7.29 And it is again vouchsafed and communicated in the worke of regeneration for God maketh such to be as he requireth they should be Rev. 2.10 to be faithfull to the death And he saith his people will not ly Isaiah 63 8. For God lookes and causeth the conversation of his servants to be answerable to their vocation he maketh them to be men of truth and faithfulnes And such as are otherwise be of the devill John 8.44 Who abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him Such are not for Sion nor heaven Psalm 15. For they speake the truth from their heart that shall abide in Gods tabernacle and dwell in his holy hill and verse 4. He that sweareth to his own heart and changeth not By all which places and passages and many more that might be named and observed we see that truth and faithfullnes is communicated by God unto men which is the point that we have in hand to make good unto you Object But it may be objected out of Rom. 3.4 Let God be true and every man a lyer and out of the 13. verse With their tongues they have used deceit Sol. In both which places all men without exception are spoken off For answer ye must know that the first place shews the certainty of Gods truth in opposition to all men that doubt thereof Gods faithfulnes and truth is alwaies accompanied with stedfastnes and assurance Calvin on Isa 22.23 And for that cause as Mr. Calvin notes the Hebrewes take truth for a thing sure and certaine Wherefore this being the scope of the former verse that God will be as good as his word and true and faithfull in all his sayings it maketh nothing against the point we have in hand And for the other passage in the 13. verse of the same chapter It shewes as well as the former mans naturall inclination until he be regenerated But it may be further objected Truth may be found among heathens that were no christians Object To which I Answer It is true of a vertue but not of a grace Sol. and therefore not acceptable to God and sometimes turned into a vice when ill circumstantiated and alwaies a sinne because not acted upon a good principle nor to a good end viz. Gods glory And therefore we must take the extent of this communicated attribute or property and we shall find that no man hath it since the fall of Adam in every respect in its extent but only such as are regenerated For it signifieth and comprehendeth three things Sinceritie a due proportion of a thing and stability and firmenesse In hoc genere tria potissimum hujus vocabuli significata esse videri que aut alias enim significat animum ejusque cogitationes actiones sinceras minique fucatas alias plenae seu justae cujusdam quantitatis alias denique certas ratas ac permanentes Flac Illyric Clav. Script 1575. So God doth not only do what he saith but loveth the truth and hateth hypocrisie God is truly and sincerely and constantly all that he is in his excellencies Now it is impossible for the compleatest morall man in the world that hath not the work of the new birth to walke before God in truth in this sence This is proper to Saints such as Hezekiah Isaiah 38.3 Remember O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart And so much for that objection And now for Application The fault is not in God that men are so Vse 1 false and faithlesse that they deale trecherously that a brother will deceive a brother This contrary propertie is to be had from God if men had a mind to it And it is an evident signe that there is but little true religion going because there is so little truth and honesty going But where there is deceitfull dealing and want of truth and honesty men may take it for a truth that they have no religion and that they have not sought to God from whom this good gift and all others come Vse 2 And therefore in the next place ye must learne to seeke for this qualitie at the hand of God by prayer as in the former attributes ye have been directed And to that end that ye may be stirred up the more to pray for it do but consider how ill it becomes christians to be more false then heathens and to be like to the devill and to overthrow humane society what in them lyeth and to procure inevitable wrath upon themselves As we have two famous examples in scripture The first of Saul mentioned in the 2 Sam. 21.2 Who sought to slay the Gibeonites in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah and so to violate the oath which the children of Israel had sworne to them Ye see God was angry a famine of three yeares came upon the people and an attonement must be made by the hanging up of seven of Sauls sonnes unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul ver 6. And the other place is Ezekiel 17.15 16. Where grievously doth the Lord threaten the rebellious house as he calls Jerusalem and their king for falsenes and covenant breaking We have touched upon this before Vse 3 now and therefore shall say the lesse of it now The third and last use to be made is That honest men may take comfort though they be thought too honest to live in the world and have not the trick of dishonest false and unfaithfull dealing whereby so many get estates for their posterity to ruffle in while they lye in Hâ—ll yet they shall be no looser by it at last God will blesse the house and seed of such as are like unto him Men of truth hating coveteousnesse and dealing truly are Gods delight for such fear God whereas knaves and false men are odious both to God and men And so much briefly for the second Proposition that truth is a communicable attribute 3. Propos The third comes in hand that God in this as in the rest is infinite and incomprehensible His faithfullnes reacheth to the clouds Psal 36.5 He never broke with any in his life