sometimes rewarded in this World and domineering and outragious Wickedness is very often remarkably checkt and chastised All which Instances of God's Providence as they are greatly for the advantage and comfort of Mankind so are they an effectual declaration of that Goodness which governs all things and of God's kind care of the affairs and concernments of Men so that if we look no farther than this World we may say with David Verily there is a reward for the Righteous verily there is a God that judgeth the earth I know this Argument hath been perverted to a quite contrary purpose that if goodness govern'd the World and administred the Affairs of it good and evil would not be so carelesly and promiscously dispensed good Men would not be so great sufferers nor wicked Men so prosperous as many times they are But this also if rightly considered is an Effect of God's goodness and infinite Patience to Mankind That he causeth his Sun to rise and his Rain to fall upon the just and unjust That upon the Provocations of Men he does not give over his care of them and throw all things into confusion and ruin this plainly shews that he designs this Life for the tryal of Men's Virtue and Obedience in order to the greater reward of it and therefore he suffers Men to walk in their own ways without any great check and controle and reserves the main bulk of Rewards and Punishments for another World So that all this is so far from being any Objection against the goodness of God that on the contrary it is an Argument of God's immense Goodness and infinite Patience that the World subsists and continues and that he permits Men to take their course for the fuller tryal of them and the clearer and most effectual declaration of his Justice in the Rewards and Punishments of another life Fourthly and Lastly The Goodness of God to Mankind most gloriously appears in the provision he hath made for our Eternal Happiness What the happiness of Man should have been had he continued in Innocency is not particularly revealed to us but this is certain that by willful transgression we have forfeited all that happiness which our Natures are capable of In this lapsed and ruinous condition of Mankind the Goodness and Mercy of God was pleased to employ his Wisdom for our Recovery and to restore us not only to a new but a greater capacity of Glory and Happiness And in order to this the Son of God assumes our Nature for the recovery and redemption of Man and the pardon of Sin is purchased for us by his Blood Eternal Life and the Way to it are clearly discover'd to us God is pleased to enter into a New and better Covenant with us and to afford us inward grace and assistance to enable us to perform the Conditions of it and graciously to accept of our Faith and Repentance of our sincere Resolutions and Endeavours of Holiness and Obedience for Perfect and Compleat Righteousness for his sake who fullfilled all righteousness This is the great and amazing goodness of God to Mankind that when we were in open Rebellion against him he should entertain thoughts of Peace and Reconciliation and when he past by the fall'n Angels he should set his Affection and Love upon the sinful and miserable Sons of Men. And herein is the love of God to men perfected that as he hath made all Creatures both above us and below us subservient and instrumental to our subsistence and preservation so for the ransom of our Souls from eternal Ruin and Misery he hath not spared his own Son but hath given him up to death for us him whom he hath commanded all the Angels of God to worship and to whom he hath made subject all Creatures in Heaven and Earth Him who made the World and who upholds all things by the word of his power who is the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person And after such a stupendious Instance as this what may we not reasonably hope for and promise our selves from the Divine Goodness So the Apostle hath taught us to reason Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things SERMON III. Vol. VII The Goodness of God PSAL. CXLV 9 The Lord is Good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works IN handling this Argument I proceeded in this Method First To consider what is the proper Notion of Goodness Secondly To shew that this Perfection of Goodness belongs to God Thirdly I considered the Effects of the Divine Goodness under these Heads I. The universal Extent of it in the number variety order end and design of the things created by him and his preservation and providing for the welfare and happiness of them II. I considered more particularly the Goodness of God to Mankind of which I gave these four Instances 1. That he hath given us such noble Beings and placed us in so high a rank and order of his Creatures 2. In that he hath made and ordained so many things chiefly for us 3. In that he exerciseth so peculiar a Providence over us above the rest that tho he is said to be good to all he is only said to love the Sons of Men. 4. In that he hath provided for us eternal Life and Happiness There only now remains the Fourth and last particular to be spoken to which was to answer some Objections which may seem to contradict and bring in question the Goodness of God and they are many and have some of them especially great difficulty in them and therefore it will require great consideration and care to give a clear and satisfactory answer to them which undoubtedly they are capable of the Goodness of God being one of the most certain and unquestionable Truths in the World I shall mention those which are most considerable and obvious and do almost of themselves spring up in every Man's Mind and they are these Four the first of them more general the other three more particular First If God be so exceeding good whence comes it to pass that there is so much Evil in the World of several kinds Evil of Imperfection Evil of Affliction or Suffering and which is the greatest of all others and indeed the cause of them Evil of Sin Secondly The Doctrine of absolute Reprobation by which is meant the decreeing of the greatest part of Mankind to eternal Misery and Torment without any consideration or respect to their Sin or Fault this seems notoriously to contradict not only the Notion of infinite Goodness but any competent measure and degree of Goodness Thirdly The eternal Misery and Punishment of Men for temporal Faults seems hard to be reconciled with that excess of Goodness which we suppose to be in God Fourthly The Instances of God's great severity to Mankind upon occasion in those great Calamities which by the
and by derivation from God who is the fountain and original of goodness which is the meaning of our Saviour Luke 18.19 when he says there is none good save one that is God But tho' the degrees of Goodness in God and the Creatures be infinitely unequal and that Goodness which is in us be so small and inconsiderable that compared with the Goodness of God it does not deserve that name yet the essential Notion of Goodness in both must be the same else when the Scripture speaks of the Goodness of God we could not know the meaning of it and if we do not at all understand what it is for God to be good it is all one to us for ought we know whether he be good or not for he may be so and we never the better for it if we do not know what Goodness in God is and consequently when he is so and when not Besides that the Goodness of God is very frequently in Scripture propounded to our imitation but it is impossible for us to imitate that which we do not understand what it is from whence it is certain that the goodness which we are to endeavour after is the same that is in God because in this we are commanded to imitate the Perfection of God that is to be good and merciful as he is according to the rate and condition of Creatures and so far as we whose Natures are imperfect are capable of resembling the Divine Goodness Thus much for the Notion of goodness in God it is a propension and disposition in the Divine Nature to communicate being and happiness to his Creatures Secondly I shall endeavour to shew in the next place that this Perfection of Goodness belongs to God and that from these three heads I. From the Acknowledgments of Natural Light II. From the Testimony of Scripture and Divine Revelation And III. From the Perfection of the Divine Nature I. From the Acknowledgments of Natural Light The generality of the Heathen agree in it and there is hardly any Perfection of God more universally acknowledged by them I always except the Sect of the Epicureans who attribute nothing but Eternity and Happiness to the Divine Nature and yet if they would have considered it Happiness without Goodness is impossible I do not find that they do expresly deny this Perfection to God or that they ascribe to him the contrary but they clearly take away all the Evidence and Arguments of the Divine Goodness for they supposed God to be an immortal and happy Being that enjoyed himself and had no regard to any thing without himself that neither gave Being to other things nor concerned himself in the happiness or misery of any of them so that their Notion of a Deity was in truth the proper Notion of an idle Being that is called God and neither does good nor evil But setting aside this atheistical Sect the rest of the Heathen did unanimously affirm and believe the Goodness of God and this was the great foundation of their Religion and all their Prayers to God and Praises of him did necessarily suppose a perswasion of the Divine Goodness Whosoever prays to God must have a perswasion or good hopes of his readiness to do him good and to praise God is to acknowledge that he hath received good from him Seneca hath an excellent passage to this purpose He says he that denies the Goodness of God does not surely consider the infinite number of Prayers that with hands lifted up to Heaven are put up to God both in private and publick which certainly would not be nor is it credible that all Mankind should conspire in this madness of putting up their Supplications to deaf and impotent Deities if they did not believe that the Gods were so good as to confer benefits upon those who prayed to them But we need not to infer their belief of God's Goodness from the acts of their devotion nothing being more common among them than expresly to attribute this Perfection of Goodness to him and among the Divine Titles this always had the preeminence both among the Greeks and Romans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deus optimus maximus was their constant stile and in our Language the name of God seems to have been given him from his Goodness I might produce innumerable passages out of the Heathen Authers to this purpose but I shall only mention that remarkable one out of Seneca primus deorum cultus est deos credere deinde reddere illis majestatem suam reddere bonitatem sine quâ nulla majestas The first act of Worship is to believe the Being of God and the next to ascribe Majesty or greatness to him and to ascribe Goodness without which there can be no Greatness II. From the testimony of Scripture and Divine Revelation I shall mention but a few of those many Texts of Scripture which declare to us the Goodness of God Exod. 34.6 where God makes his Name known to Moses the Lord the Lord God gracious and merciful long suffering abundant in goodness and truth Psal 86.5 Thou Lord art good and ready to forgive Psal 119.68 Thou art good and dost good And that which is so often repeated in the Book of Psalms O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good and his mercy endureth for ever Our blessed Saviour attributes this Perfection to God in so peculiar and transcendent a manner as if it were incommunicable Luke 18.19 There is none good save one that is God The meaning is that no Creature is capable of it in that excellent and transcendent degree in which the Divine Nature is possest of it To the same purpose are those innumerable Testimonies of Scripture which declare God to be gracious and merciful and long suffering for these are but several Branches of his Goodness his Grace is the freeness of his Goodness to those who have not deserved it his Mercy is his Goodness to those who are in misery his Patience is his Goodness to those who are guilty in deferring the Punishment due to them III. The Goodness of God may likewise be argued from the Perfection of the Divine Nature these two ways 1. Goodness is the chief of all Perfections and therefore it belongs to God 2. There are some Footsteps of it in the Creatures and therefore it is much more eminently in God 1. Goodness is the highest Perfection and therefore it must needs belong to God who is the most perfect of Beings Knowledge and Power are great Perfections but separated from Goodness they would be great Imperfections nothing but craft and violence An Angel may have Knowledge and Power in a great degree but yet for all that be a Devil Goodness is so great and necessary a Perfection that without it there can be no other it gives Perfection to all other excellencies take away this and the greatest excellencies in any other kind would be but the greatest imperfections And therefore our Saviour speaks of the
wisdom or goodness of God to make a Creature of such a frame as to be capable of having its obedience tryed in order to the reward of it which could not be unless such a Creature were made mutable and by the good or bad use of its liberty capable of obeying or disobeying the Laws of his Creator for where there is no possibility of sinning there can be no tryal of our Virtue and Obedience and nothing but Virtue and Obedience are capable of reward The goodness of God towards us is sufficiently vindicated in that he made us capable of happiness and gave us sufficient direction and power for the attaining of that end and it does in no wise contradict his goodness that he does not by his Omnipotency interpose to prevent our sin for this had been to alter the nature of things and not to let Man be the Creature he made him capable of reward or punishment according to the good or bad use of his own free choice It is sufficient that God made Man good at first tho mutable and that he had a power to have continued so tho he wilfully determined himself to evil this acquits the goodness of God that he made Man upright but he found out to himself many inventions 2. If there had not been such an order and rank of Creatures as had been in their nature mutable there had been no place for the manifestation of God's goodness in a way of mercy and patience so that tho God be not the Author of the sins of Men yet in case of their willful transgression and disobedience the goodness of God hath a fair opportunity of discovering it self in his patience and long-suffering to Sinners and in his merciful care and provision for their recovery out of that miserable state And this may suffice for answer to the first Objection if God be so good whence then comes evil The Second Objection against the Goodness of God is from the Doctrine of absolute reprobation by which I mean the decreeing the greatest part of Mankind to eternal misery and torment without any consideration or respect to their sin and fault This seems not only notoriously to contradict the Notion of infinite Goodness but to be utterly inconsistent with the least measure and degree of Goodness Indeed if by reprobation were only meant that God in his own infinite Knowledge foresees the sins and wickedness of Men and hath from all eternity determined in himself what in his Word he hath so plainly declared that he will punish impenitent Sinners with everlasting destruction or if by reprobation be meant that God hath not elected all Mankind that is absolutely decreed to bring them infallibly to Salvation neither of these Notions of reprobation is any ways inconsistent with the goodness of God for he may foresee the wickedness of Men and determine to punish it without any impeachment of his goodness He may be very good to all and yet not equally and in the same degree if God please to bring any infallibly to Salvation this is transcendent goodness but if he put all others into a capacity of it and use all necessary and fitting means to make them happy and after all this any fall short of happiness through their own wilful fault and obstinacy these Men are evil and cruel to themselves but God hath been very good and merciful to them But if by reprobation be meant either that God hath decreed without respect to the sins of Men their absolute ruin and misery or that he hath decreed that they shall inevitably sin and perish it cannot be denied but that such a reprobation as this doth clearly overthrow all possible Notion of goodness I have told you that the true and only Notion of goodness in God is this that it is a propension and disposition of the Divine Nature to communicate Being and Happiness to his Creatures But surely nothing can be more plainly contrary to a disposition to make them happy than an absolute decree and a peremptory resolution to make them miserable God is infinitely better than the best of Men and yet none can possibly think that Man a good Man who should absolutely resolve to disinherit and destroy his Children without the foresight and consideration of any fault to be committed by them We may talk of the Goodness of God But it is not an easie matter to devise to say any thing worse than this of the Devil But it is said reprobation is an act of soveraignty in God and therefore not to be measured by the common rules of goodness But it is contrary to goodness and plainly inconsistent with it and we must not attribute such a soveraignty to God as contradicts his goodness for if the soveraignty of God may break in at pleasure upon his other Attributes then it signifies nothing to say that God is good and wise and just if his soveraignty may at any time act contrary to these Perfections Now if the Doctrine of absolute reprobation and the goodness of God cannot possibly stand together the Question is Which of them ought to give way to the other What St. Paul determines in another case concerning the truth and fidelity of God will equally hold concerning his goodness Let God be good and every Man a lyar The Doctrine of absolute reprobation is no part of the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures that ever I could find and there 's the Rule of our Faith If some great Divines have held this Doctrine not in opposition to the goodness of God but hoping they might be reconciled together let them do it if they can but if they cannot rather let the Schools of the greatest Divines be call'd in question than the goodness of God which next to his Being is the greatest and clearest truth in the world Thirdly It is farther objected that the eternal punishment of Men for temporal Faults seems hard to be reconciled with that excess of Goodness which we suppose to be in God This Objection I have fully answer'd in a Discourse upon S. Matth. 25.46 and therefore shall proceed to the Fourth and last Objection against the goodness of God from sundry Instances of God's severity to Mankind in those great Calamities which by the Providence of God have in several Ages either befaln Mankind in general or particular Nations And here I shall confine my self to Scripture Instances as being most known and most certain and remarkable or at least equally remarkable with any that are to be met with in any other History such are the early and universal degeneracy of all Mankind by the sin and transgression of our first Parents the destruction of the World by a general deluge the sudden and terrible destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities about them by Fire and Brimstone from Heaven the cruel extirpation of the Canaanites by the express command of God and lastly the great Calamities which befel the Jewish Nation especially the final ruin
the Divine Attributes are very awful but goodness is amiable and without this nothing else is so Power and Wisdom may command Dread and Admiration but nothing but Goodness can challenge our Love and Affection Goodness is amiable for it self tho' no benefit and advantage should from thence redound to us but when we find the comfortable Effects of it when the riches of God's goodness and long-suffering and forbearance are laid out upon us when we live upon that goodness and are indebted to it for all that we have and hope for this is a much greater endearment to us of that excellency and perfection which was amiable for it self We cannot but love him who is good and does us good whose goodness extends to all his Creatures but is exercised in so peculiar a manner towards the Sons of Men that it is called Love and if God vouchsafe to love us well may this be the first and great Commandment Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind 2. The consideration of God's goodness is likewise an argument to us to fear him not as a Slave does his Master but as a Child does his Father who the more he loves him the more afraid is he to offend him There is forgiveness with thee saith the Psalmist that thou mayest be feared because God is ready to forgive we should be afraid to offend Men shall fear the Lord and his goodness saith the Prophet Hosea 3.5 And indeed nothing is more to be dreaded than despised Goodness and abused Patience which turns into Fury and Vengeance despisest thou the riches of his goodness and long-suffering and forbearance says the Apostle and treasurest up to thy self wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God 3. The consideration of God's goodness is a powerful motive to obedience to his Laws and as the Apostle expresseth it to walk worthy of the Lord unto all well pleasing being fruitful in every good work This Argument Samuel useth to the People of Israel to perswade them to obedience 1 Sam. 12.24 Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart for consider what great things all he hath done for you And indeed the Laws which God hath given us are one of the chief Instances of his goodness to us since they all tend to our good and are proper Causes and Means of our Happiness so that in challenging our obedience to his Laws as acknowledgments of our obligation to him for his Benefits he lays a new obligation and confers a greater benefit upon us All that his Laws require of us is to do that which is best for our selves and does most directly conduce to our own welfare and happiness Considering our infinite obligations to God he might have challenged our obedience to the severest and harshest Laws he could have imposed upon us so that as the Servants said to Naaman Had the Prophet bid thee do some great thing wouldst thou not have done it how much more when he hath only said wash and be clean If God had required of us things very grievous and burthensome in love and gratitude to him we ought to have yielded a ready and chearful obedience to such Commands how much more when he hath only said do this and be happy In testimony of your love to me do these things which are the greatest kindness and benefit to your selves 4. The goodness of God should lead Men to Repentance One of the greatest aggravations of our Sins is that we offend against so much goodness and make so bad a requital for it Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish People and unwise The proper tendency of God's goodness and patience to Sinners is to bring them to a sense of their miscarriage and to a resolution of a better course When we reflect upon the blessings and favours of God and his continual goodness to us can we chuse but be ashamed of our terrible ingratitude and disobedience Nothing is more apt to make an ingenuous Nature to relent than the sense of undeserved kindness that God should be so good to us who are evil and unthankful to him that tho' we be Enemies to him yet when we hunger he feeds us when we thirst he gives us to drink heaping as it were coals of fire on our heads on purpose to melt us into Repentance and to overcome our evil by his goodness 5. The consideration of God's goodness is a firm ground of trust and confidence What may we not hope and assuredly expect from immense and boundless goodness If we have right apprehensions of the goodness of God we cannot possibly distrust him or doubt of the performance of those gracious promises which he hath made to us the same goodness which inclined him to make such promises will effectually ingage him to make them good If God be so good as he hath declared himself why should we think that he will not help us in our need and relieve us in our distress and comfort us in our afflictions and sorrows If we may with confidence rely upon any thing to confer good upon us and to preserve and deliver us from Evil we may trust infinite goodness 6. The goodness of God is likewise an argument to us to patience and contentedness with every condition If the Hand of God be severe and heavy upon us in any Affliction we may be assured that it is not without great cause that so much goodness is so highly offended and displeased with us that he designs our good in all the Evils he sends upon us and does not chasten us for his pleasure but for our profit that we are the cause of our own Sufferings and our Sins separate between God and us and with-hold good things from us that in the final issue and result of things all things shall work together for good to us and therefore we ought not to be discontented at any thing which will certainly end in our Happiness 7. Let us imitate the goodness of God The highest Perfection of the best and most perfect Being is worthy to be our Pattern This the Scripture frequently proposeth to us Math. 5.48 Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect How is that in being good and kind and merciful as God is But I say unto you says our Lord Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despightfully use you and persecute you that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven for he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust And then it follows Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is heaven is perfect The same Pattern St. Paul proposeth to us Eph. 4.32 and Ch. 5.1 Be ye kind one to
good earnest Doth Christ weep over impenitent Sinners because they will not know the things of their peace and canst thou think he will not pardon thee upon thy repentance Is he grieved that Men will undo themselves and will not be saved and canst thou think that he is unwilling to forgive We cannot honour and glorifie God more than by entertaining great thoughts of his Mercy As we are said to glorifie God by our repentance because thereby we acknowledge God's holiness and justice so we glorifie him by believing his mercy because we conceive a right opinion of his goodness and truth we set to our Seal that God is merciful and true Psal 147.11 't is said That God taketh pleasure in them that hope in his mercy As he delights in mercy so in our acknowledgments of it that Sinners should conceive great hopes of it and believe him to be what he is Provided thou dost submit to the terms of God's mercy thou hast no reason to despair of it and he that thinks that his sins are more or greater than the mercy of God can pardon must think that there may be more evil in the Creature than there is goodness in God Vse 5. By way of Caution against the presumptuous Sinner If there be any that trespass upon the goodness of God and presume to encourage themselves in sin upon the hopes of his mercy let such know that God is just as well as merciful A God all of mercy is an Idol such a God as Men set up in their own imaginations but not the true God whom the Scriptures describe To such persons the Scripture describes him after another manner Nah. 1.2 God is jealous the Lord revengeth and is furious the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and reserveth wrath for his enemies If any Man abuse the mercy of God to the strengthning of himself in his own wickedness and bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace tho' I walk in the imagination of my own heart and add drunkeness to thirst The Lord will not spare him but the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against that man and all the curses that are written in this book shall lye upon him and he will blot out his name from under heaven Deut. 29.19 20. Though it be the nature of God to be merciful yet the exercise of his mercy is regulated by his Wisdom he will not be merciful to those that despise his mercy to those that abuse it to those that are resolved to go on in their sins to tempt his mercy and make bold to say Let us sin that grace may abound God designs his mercy for those that are prepared to receive it Is 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts and turn unto the Lord and he will have mercy and to our God for he will abundantly pardon The mercy of God is an enemy to sin as well as his justice and 't is no where offer'd to countenance sin but to convert the sinner and is not intended to encourage our impenitency but our repentance God hath no where said that he will be merciful to those who upon the score of his mercy are bold with him and presume to offend him but the mercy of the Lord is upon them that fear him and keep his covenant and remember his commandments to do them There is forgiveness with him that he may be feared but not that he may be despised and affronted This is to contradict the very end of God's mercy which is to lead us to repentance to engage us to leave our sins not to encourage us to continue in them Take heed then of abusing the mercy of God we cannot provoke the justice of God more than by presuming upon his mercy This is the time of God's mercy use this opportunity if thou neglectest it a day of justice and vengeance is coming Rom. 2.4 5. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness not knowing that the goodness of God leads to repentance And treasurest up to thy self wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God Now is the manifestation of God's mercy but there is a time a coming when the righteous Judgment of God will be revealed against those who abuse his mercy not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth to repentance To think that the goodness of God was intended for any other end than to take us off from sin is a gross and affected ignorance that will ruin us and they who draw any conclusion from the mercy of God which may harden them in their sins they are such as the Prophet speaks of Is 27.11 A people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not save them and he that formed them will have no mercy on them Mercy it self will rejoyce in the ruin of those that abuse it and it will aggravate their Condemnation There is no person towards whom God will be more severely just than toward such The justice of God exasperated and set on by his injured and abused mercy like a Razor set in Oyl will have the keener edge and be the sharper for its smoothness Those that have made the mercy of God their Enemy must expect the worst his justice can do unto them SERMON VI. Vol VII The Patience of God 2 PET. III. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise as some Men count slackness but is long-suffering not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance IN the beginning of this Chapter the Apostle puts the Christians to whom he writes in mind of the Predictions of the ancient Prophets and of the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour concerning the general Judgment of the World which by many and perhaps by the Apostles themselves had been thought to be very near and that it would presently follow the destruction of Jerusalem but he tells them that before that there would arise a certain Sect or sort of Men that would deride the expectation of a future Judgment designing probably the Carpocratians a branch of that large Sect of the Gnosticks of whom St. Austin expressly says That they denied the Resurrection and consequently a future Judgment These St. Peter calls Scoffers v. 3 4. Knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying Where is the promise of his coming The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a Declaration in general whether it be by way of Promise or Threatning What is become of that Declaration of Christ so frequently repeated in the Gospel concerning his coming to Judgment For since the Fathers fell asleep or saving that the Fathers are fallen asleep except only that Men die and one Generation succeeds another all things continue as they were from the creation of the world that is the World continues still as it was from the
beginning and there is no sign of any such change and alteration as is foretold To this he answers two things 1. That these Scoffers tho' they took themselves to be Wits did betray great Ignorance both of the condition of the World and of the nature of God They talk'd very ignorantly concerning the World when they said All things continued as they were from the Creation of it when so remarkable a change had already hapned as the destruction of it by Water and therefore the Prediction concerning the destruction of it by Fire before the great and terrible day of Judgment was no ways incredible And they shewed themselves likewise very ignorant of the Perfection of the Divine Nature to which being eternally the same a thousand years and one day are all one and if God make good his word some thousand of Years hence it will make no sensible difference considering his eternal duration it being no matter when a duration begins which is never to have an end v. 8. Be not ignorant of this one thing that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day This it seems was a common saying among the Jews to signifie that to the Eternity of God no finite duration bears any proportion and therefore with regard to Eternity it is all one whether it be a thousand Years or one Day The Psalmist hath an Expression much to the same purpose Psal 90.4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past and as a watch in the night And the Son of Sirach likewise Ecclus. 18.10 As a drop of water to the sea and as a grain of sand to the sea shore so are a thousand years to the days of eternity The like Expression we meet with in Heathen Writers To the Gods no time is long saith Pythagoras And Plutarch The whole space of a Man's life to the Gods is as nothing And in his excellent Discourse of the slowness of the Divine Vengeance the very Argument St. Peter is here upon he hath this Passage That a thousand or ten thousand years are but as an indivisible point to an infinite duration And therefore when the Judgment is to be eternal the delay of it though it were for a thousand Years is an Objection of no force against either the certainty or the terror of it for to Eternity all time is equally short and it matters not when the punishment of Sinners begins if it shall never have an end 2. But because the distance between the Declaration of a future Judgment and the coming of it tho' it be nothing to God yet it seemed long to them therefore he gives such an account of it as doth not in the least impeach the truth and faithfulness of God but is a clear argument and demonstration of his goodness Admitting what they said to be true that God delays Judgment for a great while yet this gives no ground to conclude that Judgment will never be but it shews the great goodness of God to sinners that he gives them so long a space of repentace that so they may prevent the terror of that day whenever it comes and escape that dreadful ruin which will certainly overtake sooner or later all impenitent sinners The Lord is not slack concerning his promise that is as to the Declaration which he hath made of a future Judgment as some Men account slackness That is as if the delay of Judgment were an argument it would never come This is a false inference from the delay of punishment and an ill interpretation of the goodness of God to sinners who bears long with them and delays Judgment on purpose to give men time to repent and by repentance to prevent their own eternal ruin God is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance In the handling of these words I shall do these three things First I shall consider the patience and long-suffering of God as it is an Attribute and Perfection of the Divine Nature God is long-suffering to us-ward Secondly I shall shew that the Patience of God and the delay of Judgment is no just ground why sinners should hope for Impunity as the Scoffers here foretold by the Apostle argued That because our Lord delayeth his coming to Judgment so long therefore he would never come God is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness Thirdly I will consider the true Reason of God's Patience and long-suffering towards Mankind which the Apostle here gives He is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance First I will consider the Patience and long-suffering of God towards Mankind as it is an Attribute and Perfection of the Divine Nature God is long-suffering to us-ward In the handling of this I shall do these three things I. I shall shew what is meant by the Patience and long-suffering of God II. That this is a Perfection of the Divine Nature III. I shall give some proof and demonstration of the great Patience and long-suffering of God to Mankind I. What is meant by the Patience and long-suffering of God The Hebrew word signifies one that keeps his anger long or that is long before he is angry In the New Testament it is sometimes exprest by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies God's forbearance and patient waiting for our repentance some times by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies God's holding in his wrath and restraining himself from punishing and sometimes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the extent of his patience his long-suffering and forbearing for a long time the punishment due to sinners So that the patience of God is his goodness to sinners in deferring or moderating the punishment due to them for their sins the deferring of deserved punishment in whole or in part which if it be extended to a long time it is properly his long-suffering and the moderating as well as the deferring of the punishment due to sin is an instance likewise of God's patience and not only the deferring and moderating of temporal punishment but the adjourning of the eternal misery of sinners is a principal instance of God's patience so that the patience of God takes in all that space of repentance which God affords to sinners in this life nay all temporal judgments and afflictions which befal sinners in this life and are short of cutting them off and turning them into Hell are comprehended in the patience of God Whenever God punisheth it is of his great mercy and patience that we are not consumed and because his compassions fail not I proceed to the II. Thing I proposed which was to shew that Patience is a Perfection of the Divine Nature It is not necessarily due to us but it is due to the
will be in a more especial manner severe towards those who take encouragement from his Mercy to disbelieve and despise his threatnings And this God hath as plainly told us as words can express any thing Deut. 29.19 20. And if it come to pass that when he heareth the words of this curse he bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace tho' I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst The Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against that man and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven What ever right and power God hath reserved to himself about the execution of his threatnings he hath plainly declared that of all others those who encourage themselves in a sinful course from the hopes of God's Mercy notwithstanding his threatnings shall find no favour and mercy at his hand whatever he may remit of his threatnings to others he will certainly not spare those who believe so largely concerning the Mercy of God not with a mind to submit to the terms of it but to presume so much the more upon it 4. God hath not been wanting to shew some remarkable Instances of his severity towards Sinners in this World As he is pleased sometimes to give good Men some fore-tastes of Heaven and earnests of their future happiness so likewise by some present stroke to let Sinners feel what they are to expect hereafter some sparks of Hell do now and then fall upon the Consciences of Sinners That fear which is sometimes kindled in Men's Consciences in this life that horrible anguish and those unspeakable terrors which some Sinners have had experience of in this World may serve to forewarn us of the wrath which is to come and to convince us of the reality of those expressions of the Torments of Hell by the worm that dies not and the fire that is not quenched That miraculous Deluge which swallowed up the old World that Hell which was rained down from Heaven in those terrible showers of Fire and Brimstone to consume Sodom and Gomorrah the Earth opening her mouth upon Corah and his seditious company to let them down as it were quick into Hell these and many other remarkable Judgments of God in several Ages upon particular Persons and upon Cities and Nations may satisfie us in some measure of the severity of God against sin and be as it were Pledges to assure Sinners of the insupportable Misery and Torments of the next Life 5. The Argument is much stronger the other way that because the punishment of Sinners is delayed so long therefore it will be much heavier and severer when it comes that the wrath of God is growing all this while and as we fill up the measure of our sins he fills the vials of his wrath Rom. 2.5 And according to thy hard and impenitent heart treasurest up to thy self wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God God now keeps in his dis-pleasure but all the while we go on in an impenitent course the wrath of God is continually increasing and will at last be manifested by the righteous Judgment of God upon Sinners God now exerciseth and displayeth his milder Attributes his Goodness and Mercy and Patience but these will not always hold out there is a dreadful day a coming wherein as the Apostle speaks God will shew his wrath and make his power known after he hath endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction All this long time of God's patience and forbearance his wrath is kindling and he is whetting his glittering sword and making sharp his arrows and this long preparation doth portend a much more dreadful Execution so that we should reason thus from the long-suffering of God God bears with us and spares us at present and keeps in his anger therefore if we go on to provoke him time will come when he will not spare but his anger will flame forth and his jealousie smoak against us This is but reasonable to expect that they who in this World forsake their own mercies the mercy of God in the next should forsake them 4. Another false conclusion which Men draw from the delay of punishment is that because it is delayed therefore it is not so certain the Sinner escapes for the present and tho' he have some misgivings and fearful apprehensions of the future yet he hopes his fears may be greater than his danger 'T is true indeed we are not so certain of the misery of wicked Men in another World as if it were present and we lay groaning under the weight of it such a certainty as this would not only leave no place for doubting but even for that which we properly and strictly call Faith for faith is the evidence of things not seen But sure we have other Faculties besides Sense to judge of things by we may be sufficiently certain of many things which are neither present nor sensible of many things past and future upon good ground and testimony we are sure that we were born and yet we have no remembrance of it we are certain that we shall dye tho' we never had the experience of it Things may be certain in their causes as well as in their present existence if the causes be certain The truth of God who hath declared these things to us is an abundant ground of assurance to us tho' they be at a great distance The certainty of things is not shaken by our wavering belief concerning them Besides the very light of Nature and the common Reason of Mankind hath always made a contrary inference from the long-suffering of God and the delay of present punishment Tho' Men are apt to think that because Judgment is deferr'd therefore it is not certain yet the very light of Nature hath taught Men to reason otherwise that because God is so patient to Sinners in this life therefore there will a time come when they shall be punisht that because this life is a time of tryal and forbearance therefore there shall be another state after this life which shall be a season of recompences And by this argument chiefly it was that the wisest of the Heathen satisfied themselves concerning another state after this life and answer'd the troublesome Objection against the Providence of God from the unequal administration of things in this World so visible in the afflictions and sufferings of good Men and the prosperity of the wicked viz. That there would be another state that would adjust all these matters and set them streight when good and bad Men should receive the full recompence of their deeds The 5 th and last false conclusion which Men draw from the long-suffering of God and the delay of Punishment is this that it is however probably at some distance and
much nearer to thee than thou art aware at the best thy Life is uncertain and Death will infallibly put a period to this day of God's Grace and Patience Repentance is a work so necessary that methinks no Man should lose so much time as to deliberate whether he should set about it or not de necessariis nulla est deliberatio no man deliberates about what he must do or be undone if he do it not 'T is a work of so great consequence and concernment and the delay of it so infinitely dangerous that one would think no wise Man could entertain a thought of deferring it What greater folly and stupidity can there be than for Men to venture their immortal Souls and to run an apparent hazard in matters of everlasting consequence This day of God's Patience is the great opportunity of our Salvation and if we let it slip it is never to be recovered If we mis-improve this time of our life we shall not be permitted to live it over again to improve it better Our state of tryal ends with this life after that God will prove us no more then we shall wish O that I had known in that my day the things which belonged to my peace but now they are hid from mine eyes therefore to day whilst it is called to day harden not your hearts make no tarrying to turn to the Lord and put not off from day to day for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord break forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed exercise repentance in the time of health and defer not till death to be justified SERMON X. Vol. VII· The Power of God PSAL. LXII 11 God hath spoken once twice have I heard this that power belongeth unto God IN treating of the Attributes of God I have consider'd those which relate to the Divine Vnderstanding to which I referr'd his Knowledge and Wisdom those also which relate to the Divine Will viz. God's Justice Truth Holiness and Goodness I come now to consider his Power of acting which is his Omnipotency this I shall speak to from these words In the beginning of this Psalm David declares that God was the great Object of his trust and confidence and that all his hopes and expectation of safety and deliverance were from him v. 1 2. And this makes him challenge his Enemies for all their mischievous qualities and devices against him as vain attempts v. 3 4. Hereupon he chargeth himself to continue his trust and confidence in God from whom was all his expectation and who was able to save and deliver him v. 5 6 7. And from his Example and Experience he encourageth and exhorts all others to trust in God v. 8. and that from two Arguments 1. Because all other Objects of our trust and confidence are vain and insufficient and will fail those that rely upon them If we will rely upon any thing in this World it must either be Persons or Things but we cannot safely repose our trust in either of these Not in Persons They may be reduced to one of these two Heads either high or low Those that are of a mean condition it would be in vain to trust them they that cannot secure themselves from meanness cannot secure others from mischief Men of low degree are vanity But great ones of the World they seem to promise something of assistance and security to us but if we depend upon them they will frustrate us Men of high degree are a lie As for the Things of the World that which Men usually place their confidence in is Riches these are either got by unlawful or lawful means if they be ill gotten by Oppression or Robbery they will be so far from securing us from Evil that they will bring it upon us if they be well gotten they are of an uncertain nature that we have little reason to place our hopes in them If riches increase set not your hearts upon them that is your hope for heart in Scripture signifies any of the Affections 2. Because God is the proper Object of our trust and confidence We may safely rely upon any one in whom these two things concur a Power to help us and Goodness to incline him so to do Now David tells us that both these are eminently in God and do in a peculiar manner belong to him Power v. 11. and Goodness v. 12. I shall speak to that which David makes the first ground of our confidence the Power of God Power belongs to God For which he brings the testimony of God himself once hath God spoken yea twice have I heard this Some Interpreters trouble themselves about the meaning of this Expression as if it did refer to some particular Revelation of God and then again they are troubled how to reconcile God's speaking this but once with David's hearing it twice but I do not love to spie Mysteries in these Expressions which are capable of a plain Sense for I understand no more by it but this that God hath several times revealed this he frequently declared himself by this Attribute once yea twice that is he hath spoken it often and David had heard it often This is answerable to that Phrase of the Latins Semel atque iterum and it is usual in all Writers to use a certain number for an uncertain and particularly among Poets Felices ter amplius Hor. And so in the Poetical Writers of Scripture Job 5.19 He hath delivered thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evil â—ouch thee that is in several and various troubles Eccles 11.2 Give a portion to seven and also to eight that is distribute thy Charity to many and which is nearest to this Job 40.5 Once have I spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I will proceed no further that is I have had several Discourses with my Friends and 33.14 God speaketh once yea twice in a dream in a vision of the night that is God reveals himself in several ways and manners to Men so here God hath spoken once yea twice that is God hath often declared this And if I would be so curious to refer to a particular declaration of God I should think that it related either to the Preface to the Law I am the Lord thy God that is the great and powerful God that brought thee out of the land of Egypt or rather to the declaration which God made of himself to Abraham Isaac and Jacob by the name of the Almighty God Gen. 17.1 Concerning which revelation of God it is said expresly Ex. 6.3 I appeared unto Abraham and Isaac and Jacob by the Name of God Almighty but by my Name Jehovah was I not known to them But that which I design to speak to is the Proposition it self that Power belongs to God that is that the excellency of Power Power in its highest degree and perfection all Power belongs to God that is that Omnipotence is a Property or Perfection of