the Psalmist Psal 86.2 Preserve my soul for I am holy that is I have an ardent desire to holiness Thou hast separated me from the mass of the corrupted World preserve perfect me with the Assembly of the glorified Quire The more holy any are the more communicative they are God being most holy is most communicative of that which he most esteems in himself and delights to see in his Creature He 〈◊〉 therefore more ready to impart his holiness to them that beg for it than to communicate his knowledge or his power Though he were holy yet he let Adam fall who never petition'd his Holiness to preserve him he let him fall to declare the Holiness of his own Nature which had wanted its due manifestation without it But since that cannot be declar'd in a higher manner than it hath been already in the death of the Surety that bore our Guilt there is no fear he should cast the work out of his hands since the design of the permission of man's Apostacy in the discovery of the perfections of his Nature has been fully answered The finishing the good work he hath begun hath a relation to the glory of Christ and his own glory in Christ to be manifested in the day of his Appearing * Phil. 1.6 wherein the glory both of his own holiness and the holiness of the Mediator are to receive their full manifestation As it is a part of the holiness of Christ to sanctifie his Church †Eph. 5.26 27. till not a wrinkle or spot be left so it is the part of God not to leave that work imperfect which his holiness hath attempted a second time to beautifie his Creature with He will not cease exalting this Attribute which is the Believers by the new Covenant till he utters that applauding Speech of his own work Cant. 4.7 Thou art all fair my Love there is no spot in thee Vse 3. Is for Exhortation Is holiness an eminent perfection of the Divine Nature then 1. Let us get and preserve right and strong apprehensions of this Divine Perfection Without a due sense of it we can never exalt God in our hearts and the more distinct Conceptions we have of this and the rest of his Attributes the more we glorifie him When Moses considered God as his strength and salvation he would exalt him ‖ Exod. 15.2 and he could never break out in so admirable a Doxology as that in the Text without a deep sense of the glory of his Purity which he speaks of with so much admiration Such a sense will be of use to us 1. In promoting genuine Convictions A deep consideration of the holiness of God cannot but be followed with a deep consideration of our impure and miserable Condition by reason of sin We cannot glance upon it without reflections upon our own Vileness Adam no sooner heard the Voice of a holy God in the Garden but he considered his own nakedness with shame and fear * Gen. 3.10 Much less can we fix our Minds upon it but we must be touched with a sense of our own uncleanness The clear beams of the Sun discover that filthiness in our Garments and Members which was not visible in the darkness of the night Impure Metals are discern'd by comparing them with that which is pure and perfect in its kind The sense of guilt is the first natural Result upon a sense of this excellent Perfection and the sense of the Imperfection of our own Righteousness is the next Who can think of it and reflect upon himself as an Object fit for Divine Love Who can have a due thought of it without regarding himself as stubble before a consuming Fire Who can without a confusion of heart and face glance upon that pure Eye which beholds with detestation the foul Motes as well as the filthier and bigger Spots When Isaiah saw his glory and heard how highly the Angels exalted God for this Perfection he was in a cold sweat ready to swoon till a Seraphim with a Coal from the Altar both purg'd and reviv'd him †Isa 6.5 6 7. They are sound and genuine Convictions which have the prospect of Divine Purity for their immediate Spring and not a foresight of our own Misery when it is not the punishment we have deserved but the holiness we have offended most grates our hearts Such Convictions are the first rude Draughts of the Divine Image in our Spirits and grateful to God because they are an acknowledgment of the glory of this Attribute and the first mark of honour given to it by the Creature Those that never had a sense of their own Vileness were alway destitute of a sense of God's holiness And by the way we may observe That those that scoff at any for hanging down the head under the Consideration and Conviction of Sin as is too usual with the World scoff at them for having deeper Apprehensions of the Purity of God than themselves and consequently make a mock of the holiness of God which is the ground of those Convictions a sense of this would prevent such a damnable reproaching 2. A sense of this will render us humble in the possession of the greatest holiness a Creature were capable of We are apt to be proud with the Pharisee when we look upon others wallowing in the Mire of base and unnatural Lusts but let any clap their Wings if they can in a vain boasting and exaltation when they view the holiness of God What Torch if it had reason would be proud and swagger in its own light if it compar'd it self with the Sun Who can stand before this holy Lord God is the just reflection of the holiest Person as it was of those 1 Sam. 6.20 that had felt the marks of his jealousie after their looking into the Ark though likely out of affection to it and triumphant joy at its return When did the Angels testifie by the covering of their Faces their weakness to bear the lustre of his Mâ—jesty but when they beheld his glory When did they signifie by their covering their feet the shame of their own Vileness but when their hearts wer fullest of the applaudings of this Perfection ‖ Isa 6.2 3. Though they found themselves without spot yet not with such a holiness that they could appear either with their faces or feet unvail'd and unmask't in the Presence of God Doth the immense splendor of this Attribute engender shaming reflections in those pure Spirits What will it â—hâ—â— should it do in us that dwell in Houses of Clay and creep up and down with that Clay upon our backs and too much of it in our hearts The Stars themselves which appear beautiful in the night are maskt at the awaking of the Sun What a dimm light is that of a Gloworm to that of the Sun The apprehensions of this made the Elders humble themselves in the midst of their glory by casting down their Crowns before his
this Sentiment when the Jews Educated by God in a wiser School were wedded to that Notion The Pharisees were highly fond of it it was the only Argument they used in Prayer for Divine Blessing You have one of them boasting of his frequency in Fasting and his exactness in paying his Tithes †Luke 19.12 as if God had been beholding to him and could not without manifest wrong deny him his demand And Paul confesseth it to be his own Sentiment before his Conversion he accounted this Righteousness of the Law gain to him * Phil. 3.7 he thought by this to make his Market with God The whole Nation of the Jews affected it †Rom. 10.3 Going about to Establish their own Righteousness compassing Sea and Land to make out a Righteousness of their own as the Pharisees did to make Proselytes The Papists follow their Steps and Dispute for Justification by the Merit of Works and find out another Key of Works of Supererogation to unlock Heavens Gate than what ever the Scripture informed us of 'T is from hence also that Men are so ready to make Faith as a Work the cause of our Justification Man foolishly thinks he hath enough to set up himself after he hath proved Bankrupt and lost all his Estate This Imagination is born with us and the best Christians may find some sparks of it in themselves when there are springings up of joy in their Hearts upon the more close performance of one Duty than of another as if they had wiped off their Scores and given God a satisfaction for their former neglects We have forsaken all and follow'd thee was the boast of his Disciples What shall we have therefore was a Branch of this Root †Mat. 19.27 Eternal Life is a gift not by any Obligation of Right but an abundance of goodness 't is owing not to the dignity of our Works but the magnificent Bounty of the Divine Nature and must be sued for by the Title of God's Promise not by the Title of the Creatures Services We may observe 3. How insufficient are some Assents to Divine Truth and some Expressions of Affection to Christ without the Practice of Christian Precepts This Man Addrest to Christ with a profound Respect acknowledging him more than an ordinary Person with a more Reverential Carriage than we read any of his Disciples paid to him in the day of his Flesh he fell down at his Feet kist his Knees as the Custom was when they would testifie the great Respect they had to any eminent Person especially to their Rabbins All this some think to be included in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †Vers 17. Lightfoot in loc He seems to acknowledge him the Messiah by giving him the Title of Good a Title they did not give to their Doctors of the Chair He breaths out his opinion that he was able to instruct him beyond the ability of the Law He came with a more than ordinary Affection to him and expectation of advantage from him evident by his departing sad when his expectations were frustrated by his own perversity it was a sign he had a high esteem of him from whom he could not part without marks of his Grief What was the cause of his refusing the instructions he pretended such an affection to receive He had Possessions in the World How soon do a few drops of Wordly advantages quench the first Sparks of an ill grounded love to Christ How vain is a complemental and cringing devotion without a supream preference of God and valuation of Christ above every outward allurement We may observe this 4. We should never admit any thing to be ascrib'd to us which is proper to God Why callest thou me Good There is none Good but One that is God If you do not acknowledge me God ascribe not to me the Title of Good It takes off all those Titles which fawning Flatterers give to Men Mighty Invincible to Princes Holiness to the Pope We call one another Good without considering how Evil and Wise without considering how Foolish Mighty without considering how Weak and Knowing without considering how Ignorant No man but hath more of Wickedness than Goodness of Ignorance than Knowledge of Weakness than Strength God is a jealous God of his own Honour he will not have the Creature share with him in his Royal Titles 'T is a part of Idolatry to give Men the Titles which are due to God a kind of a Worship of the Creature together with the Creator Worms will not stand out but assault Herod in his Purple when he Usurps the Prerogative of God and prove stiff and invincible Vindicators of their Creators Honor when summoned to Arms by the Creators Word †12 Acts 22.23 The Observation which I intend to prosecute is this Doct. Pure and Perfect Goodness is only the Royal Prerogative of God Goodness is a choice Perfection of the Divine Nature This is the true and genuine Character of God He is Good He is Goodness Good in Himself Good in his Essence Good in the Highest Degree possessing whatsoever is Comely Excellent Desirable the Highest Good because the First Good whatsoever is perfect Goodness is GOD whatsoever is truly Goodness in any Creature is a resemblance of God * Ficin in Dionys. de divin nom cap 511. All the Names of God are comprehended in this one of Good All Gifts all variety of Goodness are contained in him as one common Good He is the efficient cause of all Good by an over-flowing Goodness of his Nature He refers all things to Himself as the end for the representation of his own Goodness Truly God is Good †Psal 73.1 Certainly it is an undoubted Truth 't is written in his Works of Nature and his Acts of Grace * Exod. 34.6 He is abundant in Goodness And every thing is a Memorial not of some few Sparks but of his greater Goodness †Psal 145.7 This is often celebrated in the Psalms and Men invited more than once to Sing forth the Praises of it * Psal 107.8.15.21.31 It may better be admired than sufficiently spoken of or thought of as it Merits 'T is discovered in all his Works as the Goodness of a Tree in all its Fruits 't is easie to be seen and more pleasant to be contemplated In General 1. All Nations in the World have acknowledged GOD Good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was one of the Names the Platonists exprest him by and Good and God are almost the same words in our Language All as readily consented in the Notion of his Goodness as in that of his Deity Whatsoever divisions or disputes there were among them in the other Perfections of God they all agreed in this without dispute saith Synesius * Empedocles One calls him Venus in regard of his Loveliness †Hesiod Another calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Love as being the Band which tyes all things
than Men have reason to complain for the exercise of Justice in the vindication of it If God established all things in Order with Infinite Wisdom and Goodness and God silently behold for ever this Order broken would he not either charge himself with a want of Power or a want of Will to preserve the Marks of his own Goodness Would it be a kindness to himself to be careless of the breaches of his own Orders His Throne would shake yea sink from under him if Justice whereby he Sentenceth and Judgment whereby he Executes his Sentence were not the supports of it †Ps 89.14 Justice and Judgment are the habitation of thy Throne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Stability or Foundation of thy Throne So Psal 92.2 Man would forget his Relation to God God would be unknown to be Soveraign of the World were he careless of the breaches of his own Order * Psal 9.16 The Lord is known by the Judgments which he Executes Is it not a part of his Goodness to preserve the indispensible Order between himself and his Creatures His own Soveraignty which is good and the subjection of the Creature to him as Soveraign which is also good The one would not be maintained in its due place nor the other restrained in due limits without Punishment Would it be a goodness in him to see Goodness it self trampled upon constantly without some time or other appearing for the relief of it Is it not a Goodness to secure his own Honour to prevent further Evil Is it not a Goodness to discourage Men by Judgments sometimes from a contempt and ill use of his Bounty as well as sometimes patiently to bear with them and wait upon them for a Reformation Must God be bad to himself to be kind to his Enemies And shall it be accounted an unkindness and a Mark of Evil in him not to suffer himself to be always outrag'd and defy'd The World is wrong'd by Sin as well as God is injur'd by it How could God be good to himself if he righted not his own Honour Or be a good Governour of the World if he did not sometimes witness against the Injuries it receives sometimes from the works of his hands Would he be good to himself as a God to be careless of his own Honour Or good as the Rector of the World and be regardless of the Worlds Confusion That God should give an Eternal good to that Creature that declines its Duty and despiseth his Soveraignty is not agreeable to the goodness of his Wisdom or that of his Righteousness 'T is a part of Gods Goodness to love himself Would he love his Soveraignty if he saw it dayly slighted without sometimes discovering how much he values the Honour of it Would he have any esteem for his own Goodness if he beheld it trampled upon without any will to vindicate it Doth Mercy deserve the name of Cruelty because it pleads against a Creature that hath so often abused it and hath refused to have any pity exercised towards it in a Righteous and Regular way Is Soveraignty destitute of Goodness because it preserves its Honour against one that would not have it Reign over him Would he not seem by such a regardlesness to renounce his own Essence undervalue and undermine his own Goodness if he had not an implacable aversion to whatsoever is contrary to it If Men turn Grace into Wantonness is it not more reasonable he should turn his Grace into Justice All his Attributes which are parts of his Goodness engage him to punish Sin without it his Authority would be vilified his Purity stain'd his Power derided his Truth disgraced his Justice scorn'd his Wisdom slighted He would be thought to have dissembled in his Laws and be judged according to the Rules of Reason to be void of true Goodness 4. Punishment is not the primary Intention of God 'T is his Goodness that he hath no mind to Punish and therefore he hath put a bar to Evil by his Prohibitions and Threatnings that he might prevent Sin and consequently any occasions of severity against his Creature * Zarnovecius de satisfact Part. 1. cap. 1. p. 3 4. The principal Intention of God in his Law was to encourage Goodness that he might reward it And when by the commission of Evil God is provoked to Punish and takes the Sword into his hand he doth not act against the Nature of his Goodness but against the first intention of his Goodness in his Precepts which was to Reward As a good Judge principally intendeds in the Exercise of his Office to protect good Men from Violence and maintain the honour of the Laws yet consequently to punish bad men without which the Protection of the good would not be secured nor the Honour of the Law be supported And a good Judge in the Exercise of his Office doth principally intend the incouragement of the good and wisheth there were no wickedness that might occasion Punishment and when he doth Sentence a Malefactor in order to the Execution of him he doth not act against the goodness of his Nature but pursuant to the Duty of his Place but wisheth he had no occasion for such severity Thus God seems to speak of himself †Isaiah 28.21 He calls the act of his Wrath his Strange Work his Strange Act A work not against his Nature as the Governor of the World but against his first Intention as Creator which was to manifest his Goodness Therefore he moves with a slow pace in those Acts brings out his Judgments with relentings of heart and seems to cast out his Thunderbolts with a trembling hand He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men * Lam. 3.33 And therefore he delights not in the death of a Sinner †Ezek. 33.11 Not in Death as Death in Punishment as Punishment but as it reduceth the suffering Creature to the Order of his Precept or reduceth him into order under his Power or reforms others who are Spectators of the Punishment upon a Criminal of their own Nature God only hates the Sin not the Sinner He desires only the destruction of the one * Suarez Vol. 1. de Deo lib. 3. cap. 7. p. 146. not the misery of the other The Nature of a Man doth not displease him because it is a work of his own Goodness but the Nature of the Sinner displeaseth him because it is a work of the Sinners own extravagance Divine Goodness pitcheth not its hatred primarily upon the Sinner but upon the Sin But since he cannot punish the Sin without punishing the Subject to which it cleaves the Sinner falls under his lash Who ever regards a good Judge as an Enemy to the Malefactor but as an Enemy to his Crime when he doth Sentence and Execute him 5. Judgments in the World have a goodness in them therefore they are no Impeachments of the Goodness of God 1. A Goodness in their preparations He
but because it is good and by a Communicated Goodness fitted for such a Production If God had been the Creating Principle of things only as he was a Living Being or as he was an Understanding Being then all things should have partaken of Life and Understanding because all things were to bear some Characters of the Deity upon them If by Understanding solely God were the Creator of all things all things should have born the Mark of the Deity upon them and should have been more or less Understanding but he Created things as he was Good and by Goodness he renders all things more or less like himself Hence every thing is accounted more noble not in regard of its Being but in regard of the beneficialness of its Nature The Being of things was not the End of God in Creating but the Goodness of their Being God did not rest from his Works because they were his Works i. e. because they had a Being but because they had a Good Being * Gen. 1. because they were naturally useful to the Universe Nothing was more pleasing to him than to behold those Shadows and Copies of his own Goodness in his Works 2. Creation was the first act of Goodness without himself †Petav. Theclog Dogmat. Tom. 1. p. 401. When he was alone from Eternity he contented himself with himself abounding in his own Blessedness delighting in that abundance He was incomprehensively rich in the possession of an unstain'd Felicity * Lessius de Perfect div p. 100. This Creation was the first Efflux of his Goodness without himself For the work of Creation cannot be called a work of Mercy Mercy supposeth a Creature miserable but that which hath no Being is subject to no Misery For to be Miserable supposeth a Nature in Being and deprived of that Good which belongs to the pleasure and felicity of Nature but since there was no Being there could be no Misery The Creation therefore was not an act of Mercy but an act of sole Goodness And therefore it was the Speech of an Heathen That when God first set upon the Creation of the World he transform'd himself into Love and Goodness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †Pherecyâ—es This led forth and animated his Power the first moment it drew the Universe out of the Womb of Nothing And 3. There is not one Creature but hath a Character of his Goodness The whole World is a Map to Represent and a Herald to proclaim this Perfection 'T is as difficult not to see something of it in every Creature with the Eye of our Minds as it is not to see the Beams of the Shining Sun with those of our Bodies * Psal 145.9 He is good to all He is therefore good in all Not a drop of the Creation but is a drop of his Goodness These are the Colours worn upon the Heads of every Creature As in every Spark the light of the Fire is manifested so doth every grain of the Creation wear the visible Badges of this Perfection In all the Lights the Father of Lights hath made the riches of Goodness apparent No Creature is silent in it 't is legible to all Nations in every work of his hands That as it is said of Christ †Psal 40.7 In the Volume of thy Book it is written of me In the Volume of the Book of the Scripture 't is written of me and my Goodness in Redemption So it may be said of God In the Volume of the Book of the Creature 't is written of me and my Goodness in Creation Every Creature is a Page in this Book whose Line is gone through all the Earth and their Words to the end of the World * Psal 19.4 Though indeed the less Goodness in some is obscur'd by the more resplendent Goodness he hath imparted unto others What an admirable piece of Goodness is it to communicate Life to a Fly How should we stand gazing upon it till we turn our Eye inwards and view our own Frame which is much more ravishing But let us see the Goodness of God in the Creation of Man 1. In the Being and Nature of Man God hath with a liberal hand conferr'd upon every Creature the best Being it was capable of in that Station and Order and conducing to that end and use in the World he intended it for But when you have run over all the measures of Goodness God hath poured forth upon other Creatures you will find a greater fulness of it in the Nature of Man whom he hath placed in a more Sublime Condition and endued with choicer Prerogatives than other Creatures He was made but little lower than the Angels and much more loftily crown'd with glory and honour than other Creatures †Psal 8 5. Had it not been for Divine Goodness this Excellent Creature had lain wrapt up in the Abyss of nothing Or if he had call'd it out of nothing there might have been less of Skill and less of Goodness display'd in the forming of it and a lesser kind of Being imparted to it than what he hath conferr'd 1. How much of Goodness is visible in his Body God drew out some part of the Dust of the Ground and Copy'd out this Perfection as well as that of his Power on that mean Matter by erecting it into the form of Man quickning that Earth by the Inspiration of a living Soul * Gen. 2.7 Of this Matter he composed an Excellent Body in regard of the Majesty of the Face Erectness of its Stature and Grace of every Part How neatly hath he wrought this Tabernacle of Clay this Earthly House as the Apostle calls it †2 Cor. 5.1 A curious wrought piece of Needle-work a Comely Artifice * Ps 139.15 an Embroyder'd Case for an Harmonious Lute What variety of Members with a due proportion without confusion beautiful to sight excellent for use powerful for strength It hath Eyes to conduct its Motion to serve in Matter for the Food and and delight of the Understanding Ears to let in the pleasure of Sounds to convey Intelligence of the Affairs of the World and the Counsels of Heaven to a more noble Mind It hath a Tongue to Express and sound forth what the learn'd Inhabitant in it thinks and Hands to act what the inward Counsellor directs and Feet to support the Fabrick 'T is temper'd with a kindly Heat and an Oyly Moisture for Motion and endued with conveyances for Air to qualifie the fury of the Heat and Nourishment to supply the decays of Moisture 'T is a Cabinet fitted by Divine Goodness for the enclosing a rich Jewel a Palace made of Dust to lodge in it the Viceroy of the World An Instrument dispos'd for the operations of the Nobler Soul which he intended to unite to that Refined Matter What is there in the situation of every part in the proportion of every Member in the usefulness of every Limb and String to the Offices
is the mysterious and manifold Wisdom of God 3. The end of this Vnion 1. He was hereby fitted to be Mediator He hath something like to Man and something like to God If he were in all things only like to Man he would be at a distance from God If he were in all things only like to God he would be at a distance from Man He is a true Mediator between Mortal Sinners and the Immortal Righteous One. He was near to us by the Infirmities of our Nature and near to God by the Perfections of the Divine as near to God in his Nature as to us in ours as near to us in our Nature as he is to God in the Divine Nothing that belongs to the Deity but he possesses nothing that belongs to the Human Nature but he is clothed with He had both the Nature which had offended and that Nature which was offended a Nature to please God and a Nature to pleasure us A Nature whereby he experimentally knew the excellency of God which was injured and understood the Glory due to him and consequently the Greatness of the Offence which was to be measur'd by the Dignity of his Person And a Nature whereby he might be sensible of the Miserie 's contracted by and endure the calamities due to the Offender that he might both have Compassion on him and make due Satisfaction for him * Gomb de relig p. 42. He had two distinct Natures capable of the Affections and Sentiments of the two Persons he was to accord he was a just Judge of the Rights of the one and the demerit of the other He could not have this full and perfect Understanding if he did not possess the Perfections of the one and the Qualities of the other The one fitted him for things appertaining to God Heb. 5.1 and the other furnisht him with a sense of the Infirmities of man Heb. 4.15 2. He was hereby fitted for the working out the happiness of man A Divine Nature to communicate to man and a Human Nature to carry up to God 1. He had a Nature whereby to suffer for us and a Nature whereby to be meritorious in those Sufferings A Nature to make him capable to bear the Penalty and a Nature to make his Sufferings sufficient for all that embraced him A Nature capable to be exposed to the flames of Divine Wrath and another Nature uncapable to be crusht by the weight or consum'd by the heat of it A Human Nature to suffer and stand a Sacrifice in the stead of Man a Divine Nature to sanctifie these Sufferings and fill the Nostrils of God with a sweet savour and thereby atone his wrath The one to bear the stroak due to us and the other to add merit to his Sufferings for us Had he not been Man he could not have filled our place in suffering and could he otherwise have suffered his sufferings had not been applicable to us and had he not been God his Sufferings had not been meritoriously and fruitfully applicable Had not his Blood been the Blood of God it had been of as little advantage as the Blood of an ordinary Man or the Blood of the Legal Sacrifices †Heb. 9.12 Nothing less than God could have satisfied God for the injury done by Man Nothing less than God could have countervail'd the Torments due to the offending Creature Nothing less than God could have rescued us out of the hands of the Jaylor too powerful for us 2. He had therefore a Nature to be compassionate to us and victorious for us A Nature sensibly to compassionate us and another Nature to render those Compassions effectual for our Relief he had the Compassions of our Nature to pity us and the Patience of the Divine Nature to bear with us He hath the affections of a Man to us and the power of a God for us A Nature to disarm the Devil for us and another Nature to be sensible of the working of the Devil in us and against us If he had been only God he would not have had an experimental sense of our Misery and if he had been only Man he could not have vanquish'd our Enemies Had he been only God he could not have died and had he been only Man he could not have conquered Death 3. A Nature efficaciously to instruct us As Man he was to instruct us sensibly as God he was to instruct us infallibly A Nature whereby he might converse with us and a Nature whereby he might influence us in those Converses A Human Mouth to minister Instruction to Man and a Divine Power to imprint it with efficacy 4. A Nature to be a pattern to us A Pattern of Grâ—ce as Man as Adam was to have been to his Posterity ‖ Amyrant morals Tom. 5. p. 468 469. A Divine Nature shining in the Human the Image of the invisible God in the glass of our Flesh that he might be a perfect Copy for our Imitation Col. 1.15 The Image of the invisible God and the first-born of every Creature in conjunction The Vertues of the Deity are sweetned and tempered by the Union with the Humanity as the Beams of the Sun are by shining through a colour'd Glass which condescends more to the weakness of our eye Thus the Perfections of the invisible God breaking through the first-born of every Creature glittering in Christ's created state became more sensible for Contemplation by our Mind and more imitable for Conformity in our practise 5. A Nature to be a ground of confidence in our approach to God A Nature wherein we may behold him and wherein we may approach to him A Nature for our comfort and a Nature for our confidence Had he been only Man he had been too feeble to assure us and had he been only God he had been too high to attract us But now we are allured by his Human Nature and assured by his Divine in our drawing near to Heaven Communion with God was desired by us but our Guilt stifled our hopes and the Infinite Excellency of the Divine Nature would have dampt our hopes of speeding but since these two Natures so far distant are met in a Marriage-knot we have a ground of hope nay an earnest that the Creator and believing Creature shall meet and converse together And since our sins are expiated by the Death of the Human Nature in conjunction with the Divine our Guilt upon believing shall not hinder us from this comfortable approach Had he been only Man he could not have assured us an approach to God Had he been only God his Justice would not have admitted us to approach to him he had been too terrible for guilty Persons and too holy for polluted Persons to come near to him But by being made Man his Justice is tempered and by his being God and Man his Mercy is ensured A Human Nature he had one with us that we might be related to God as one with him 6. A Nature to
together be too hard for his Invincible Power and Strength the uniting all those parts into a Body with new dispositions to receive their several Souls be too big and bulky for that Power which never yet was acquainted with any bar Was not the Miracle of our Saviours multiplying the Loaves suppose it had not been by a new Creation but a collection of Grain from several parts very near as stupendous as this Had any one of us been the only Creatures made just before the matter of the World and beheld that inform Chaos covered with a thick darkness mentioned Gen. 1.2 would not the Report that from this dark deep next to nothing should be rais'd such a multitude of comely Creatures with such innumerable varieties of Members Voices Colours Motions and such Numbers of shining Stars a bright Sun one uniform Body of Light from this Darkness that should like a Giant rejoyce to run a race for many thousands of years together without stop or weariness Would not all these have seemed as incredible as the Collection of scattered Dust What was it that erected the innumerable Host of Heaven the glorious Angels and glittering Stars for ought we know more numerous than the Bodies of Men but an act of the Divine Will and shall the Power that wrought this sink under the Charge of gathering some dispers'd Atoms and compacting them into a Human Body †Lingend Tom. 3. p. 779 780. Can you tell how the Dust of the ground was kneaded by God into the Body of Man and changed into Flesh Skin Hair Bones Sinews Veins Arteries and Blood and fitted for so many several Activities when a Human Soul was breath'd into it Can you imagine how a Rib taken from Adam's side a lifeless Bone was formed into Head Hands Feet Eyes Why may not the matter of men which have been be restor'd as well as that which was not be first erected Is it harder to repair those things which were than to create those things which were not Is there not the same Artificer Hath any Disease or Sickliness abated his Power Is the Ancient of days grown feeble or shall the Elements and other Creatures that alway yet obeyed his Command russle against his raising Voice and refuse to disgorge those remains of Human Bodies they have swallowed up in their several Bowels Did the whole World and all the parts of it rise at his word and shall not some parts of the World the Dust of the dead stand up out of the Graves at a word of the same mighty Efficacy Do we not annually see those Marks of Power which may stun our Incredulity in this Concern Do you see in a small Acorn or little Seed any such sights as a Tree with Body Bark Branches Leaves Flowers Fruit where can you find them Do you know the invisible Corners where they lurk in that little Body And yet these you afterwards view rising up from this little Body when sown in the Ground that you could not possibly have any prospect of when you rould it in your hand or opened its Bowels And why may not all the particulars of our Bodies however dispos'd as to their distinct Natures invisibly to us remain distinct as well as if you mingle a thousand Seeds together they will come up in their distinct kinds and preserve their distinct Vertues Again Is not the Making Heaven and Earth the Union of the Divine and Human Nature Eternity and Infirmity to make a Virgin conceive a Son bear the Creator and bring forth the Redeemer to form the Blood of God of the Flesh of a Virgin a greater Work than the Calling together and Uniting the scattered parts of our Bodies which are all of one Nature and Matter And since the Power of God is manifested in pardoning innumerable sins is not the scattering our Transgressions as far as the East is from the West as the expression is Psal 103.12 and casting such numbers into the Depths of the Sea which is Gods Power over himself a greater Argument of Might than the recalling and repairing the Atoms of our Bodies from their various receptacles 'T is not hard for them to believe this of the Resurrection that have been sensible of the weight and force of their Sins and the Power of God in pardoning and vanquishing that mighty resistance which was made in their Hearts against the power of his renewing and sanctifying Grace The consideration of the Infinite Power of God is a good ground of the belief of the Resurrection 8. Since the Power of God is so great and Incomprehensible How strange is it that it should be contemned and abused by the Creatures as it is The Power of God is beaten down by some outraged by others blasphemed by many under their Sufferings The stripping God of the honour of his Creation and the glory of his Preservation of the World falls under this charge Thus do they that deny his framing the World alone or thought the first matter was not of Gods creation and such as fancied an Evil Principle the Author of all Evil as God is the Author of all good and so exempt from the Power of God that it could not be vanquisht by him These things have formerly sound Defenders in the World but they are in themselves ridiculous and vain and have no sooting in common Reason and are not worthy of debate in a Christian Auditory In General All Idolatry in the World did arise from the want of a due Notion of this Infinite Power The Heathen thought one God was was not sufficient for the managing all things in the World and therefore they feign'd several gods that had several charges As Ceres presided over the Fruits of the Earth Esculapius over the Cure of Distempers Mercury for Merchandize and Trade Mars for War and Battles Apollo and Minerva for Learning and Ingenious Arts and Fortune for Casual things Whence doth the other sort of Idolatry the adoring our Bags and Gold our dependencies on and trusting in Creatures for help arise but from Ignorance of God's Power or mean and slender Apprehensions of it First There is a Contempt of it Secondly An Abuse of it 1. 'T is contemn'd in every sin especially in obstinacy in Sin All Sin whatsoever is built upon some false Notion or monstrous Conception of one or other of Gods Perfections and in particular of this It includes a secret and lurking Imagination that we are able to grapple with Omnipotence and enter the lists with Almightiness what else can be judged of the Apostles expression 1 Cor. 10.22 Do we provoke the Lord to jealousie are we stronger than he Do we think we have an Arm too powerful for that Justice we provoke and can repel that Vengeance we exasperate Do we think we are an even match for God and are able to despoil him of his Divinity To despise his Will violate his Order practise what he forbids with a severe Threatning and pawns his Power
in its Brightness we may behold it through a colour'd Glass whereby the lustre of it is moderated without dazling our eyes The sense of it will furnish us with a greatness of mind that little things will be contemned by us Motives of a greater alloy would have little influence upon us we should have the highest Motives to every Duty and Motives of the same strain which influence â—he Angels above It would change us not only into an Angelical Nature but a Divine Nature We should act like men of another Sphere as if we had received our Original in another World and seen with Angels the ravishing Beauties of Heaven How little would the mean Imployments of the World sink us into dirt and mud How often hath the Meditation of the Courage of a Valiant Man or Acuteness and Industry of a Learned Person spur'd on some men to an imitation of them and transform'd them into the same Nature As the looking upon the Sun imprints an Image of the Sun upon our eye that we seem to behold nothing but the Sun a while after The view of the Divine Purity would fill us with a holy generosity to imitate him more than the Examples of the best men upon Earth It was a saying of a Heathen That if Vertue were visible it would kindle a noble flame of Love to it in the heart by its ravishing beauty Shall the Infinite Purity of the Author of all Vertue come short of the strength of a Creature Can we not render that visible to us by frequent Meditation which though it be invisible in his Nature is made visible in his Law in his Ways in his Son It would make us ready to obey him since we know he cannot Command any thing that is sinful but what is holy just and good It would put all our Aff ctions in their due place elevate them above the Creature and subject them to the Creator 6. It would make us patient and contented under all God's Dispensations All penal Evils are the Fruits of his Holiness as he is Judge and Governour of the World He is not an Arbitrary Judge nor doth any Sentence pronounc'd nor Warrant for Execution issue from him but what bears upon it a Stamp of the Righteousness of his Nature he doth nothing by Passion or Unrighteousness but according to the Eternal Law of his own unstained Nature which is the Rule to him in his Works the Basis and Foundation of his Throne and Soveraign Dominion Psal 89.14 Justice or Righteousness and Judgment are the Habitation of thy Throne upon these his Soveraign Power is established So that there can be no just Complaint or Indictâ—â—â—t brought against any of his Proceedings with men How doth our Saviour who had the highest Apprehensions of God's Holiness justifie God in his deepest Distresses when he cried and was not answered in the particular he desired in that Prophetick Psalm of him Psal 22.2 3. I cry day and night but thou hearest not Thou seemest to be deaf to all my Petitions afar off from the words of my roaring but thou art holy I cast no blame upon thee All thy dealings are squar'd by thy holiness this is the only Law to thee in this I acquiesce 'T is part of thy holiness to hide thy face from me to shew thereby thy detestation of sin Our Saviour adores the Divine Purity in his sharpest Agony and a like sense of it would guide us in the same steps to acknowledge and glorifie it in our greatest desertions and afflictions especially since as they are the fruit of the holiness of his Nature so they are the means to impart to us clearer stamps of holiness according to that in himself which is the original Copy * Heb. 12.10 He melts us down as Gold to fit us for the receiving a new Impression to mortifie the Affections of the Flesh and clothe us with the Graces of his Spirit The due sense of this would make us to submit to his stroke and to wait upon him for a good issue of his dealings 2. Exhortation Is holiness a Perfection of the Divine Nature Is it the glory of the Deity Then let us glorifie this holiness of God Moses glorifies it in the Text and glorifies it in a Song which was a Copy for all Ages The whole Corporation of Seraphims have their Mouths fill'd with the praises of it The Saints whither Militant on Earth or Triumphant in Heaven are to continue the same Acclamation Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts †Rev. 4.8 Neither Angels nor glorified Spirits exalt at the same rate the Power which formed them Creatures nor Goodness which preserves them in a blessed Immortality As they do holiness which they bear some beams of in their own Nature and whereby they are capacitated to stand before his Throne Upon the account of this a Debt of Praise is demanded of all Rational Creatures by the Psalmist Psal 99.3 Let them praise thy great and terrible Name for it is holy Not so much for the greatness of his Majesty or the treasures of his Justice but as they are considered in conjunction with his holiness which renders them beautiful for it is holy Grandeur and Majesty simply in themselves are not Objects of Praise nor do they merit the Acclamations of men when destitute of Righteousness This only renders every thing else adorable and this adorns the Divine Greatness with an amiableness Isa 12.6 Great is the holy One of Israel in the midst of thee and makes his Might worthy of Praise Luke 1.49 In honouring this which is the soul and spirit of all the rest we give a glory to all the Perfections which constitute and beautifie his Nature And without the glorifying this we glorifie nothing of them though we should extoll every other single Attribute a thousand times He values no other Adoration of his Creatures unless this be interested nor accepts any thing as a glory from them Levit. 10.3 I will be sanctified in them that come near me and I will be glorified As if he had said in manifesting my Name to be holy you truly you only honour me And as the Scripture seldom speaks of this Perfection without a particular Emphasis it teaches us not to think of it without a special Elevation of heart By this act only while we are on Earth can we joyn consort with the Angels in Heaven he that doth not honour it delight in it and in the meditation of it hath no resemblance of it he hath none of the Image that delights not in the Original Every thing of God is glorious but this most of all If he built the World principally for any thing it was for the communication of his Goodness and display of his Holiness He formed the Rational Creature to manifest his Holiness in that Law whereby he was to be governed Then deprive not God of the design of his own Glory We honour this Attribute 1. When we make it
Estimation When the Excellency of his Nature and the Expressions of his Bounty are in conjunction the Excellency of his own Nature renders him estimable in a way of Justice and the greatness of his Benefits renders him valuable in a way of Gratitude The first ravisheth and the other allures and melts He hath enough in his Nature to attract and sufficient in his Bounty to engage our Affections The Excellency of his Nature is strong enough of it self to blow up our Affections to him were there not a Malignity in our hearts that represents him under the Notion of an Enemy therefore in regard of our Corrupt State the consideration of Divine Largesses comes in for a share in the Elevation of our Affections For indeed 't is a very hard thing for a Man to love another though never so well qualified and of an eminent Vertue while he believes him to be his Enemy and one that will severely handle him though he hath before received many good turns from him The Vertue Valour and Courtesie of a Prince will hardly make him affected by those against whom he is in Arms and that are daily pilfer'd by his Souldiers unless they have hopes of a Reparation from him and future security from injuries Christ in the Repetition of the Command to love God with all our mind with all our heart and with all our Soul i. e. with such an ardency above all things which glitter in our Eye or can be Created by him considers him as our God * Mat. 22.37 And the Psalmist considers him as one that had kindly employ'd his power for him in the eruption of his love Psal 18.1 I will love thee Oh Lord my strength And so in Psal 116.1 I love the Lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplications An esteem of the Benefactor is inseparable from gratitude for the received Benefits And should not then the unparallell'd kindness of God advance him in our thoughts much more than slighter Courtesies do a Created Benefactor in ours 'T is an obligation on every Mans Nature to answer Bounty with gratitude and Goodness with love Hence you never knew any Man nor can the Records of Eternity produce any Man or Devil that ever hated any Person or any thing as good in it self 'T is a thing absolutely repugnant to the Nature of any Rational Creature The Devils hate not God because he is good but because he is not so good to them as they would have him because he will not unlock their Chains turn them into liberty and restore them to Happiness i. e. because he will not desert the Rights of abus'd Goodness But how should we send up flames of love to that God since we are under his direct Beams and enjoy such plentiful influences If the Sun is comely in it self yet 't is more amiâ—ble to us by the light we see and the warmth we feel 1. The greatness of his Benefits have reason to affect us with a love to him The Impress he made upon our Souls when he extracted us from the darkness of nothing The Comeliness he hath put upon us by his own Breath The Care he took of our Recovery when we had lost our selves The Expence he was at for our Regaining our defac'd Beauty The gift he made of his Son The Affectionate Calls we have heard to over-master our Corrupt Appetites move us to Repentance and make us disaffect our beloved Misery The loud sound of his Word in our Ears and the more inward knocking 's of his Spirit in our Heart The offering us the Gift of himself and the Everlasting Happiness he Courts us to besides those common favours we enjoy in the World which are all the Streams of his rich Bounty The voice of all is loud enough to sollicite our love and the Merit of all ought to be strong enough to engage our love There is none like the God of Jesurun who rides upon the Heaven in thy help and in his Excellency on the Sky * Deut. 33.26 2. The unmeritedness of them doth inhance this 'T is but reason to love him who hath loved us first * 1 John 4.19 Hath he placed his delight upon were nothing and after they were Sinful and shall he set his delight upon such vile Persons and shall not we set our love upon so Excellent an Object as himself How base are we if his goodness doth not constrain us to affect him who hath been so free in his favour to us who have merited the quite contrary at his hands If his tender Mercies are over all his Works * Psal 145.9 He ought for it to be esteem'd by all his Works that are capable of a Rational Estimation 3. Goodness in Creatures makes them estimable much more should the Goodness of God render him lovely to us If we love a little spark of goodness in this or that Creature if a drop be so delicious to us shall not the immense Sun of Goodness the ever-flowing Fountain of all be much more delightful The Original Excellency always out-strips what is deriv'd from it If so mean and contracted an Object as a little Creature deserves Estimation for a little Mite communicated to it so great and extended a goodness as is in the Creator much more merits it at our hands He is good after the infinite methods of a Deity A weak Resemblance is lovely much more amiable then must be the incomprehensible Original of that Beauty We love Creatures for what we think to be good in them though it may be hurtful And shall we not love God who is a real and unblemisht Goodness And from whose hand are pour'd out all those Blessings that are conveyed to us by second Causes The Object that delights us the Capacity we have to delight in it are both from him Our love therefore to him should transcend the Affection we bear to any Instruments he moves for our welfare Among the Gods there is none like thee O Lord neither are there any Works like unto thy Works * Psal 86.8 Among the pleasantest Creatures there is none like the Creator nor any Goodness like unto his Goodness Shall we love the Food that Nourisheth us and the Medicine that Cures us and the Silver whereby we furnish our selves with useful Commodities Shall we love a Horse or Dog for the benefits we have by them And shall not the Spring of all those draw our Souls after it and make us aspire to the honour of loving and embracing him who hath stor'd every Creature with that which may pleasure us But instead of endeavouring to parallel our Affection with his Kindness we endeavour to make our Disingenuity as extensive and towring as his Divine Goodness 4. This is the true end of the manifestation of his Goodness that he might appear amiable and have a Return of Affection Did God display his Goodness only to be thought of or to be loved 'T is the want of
we be to approve of his actions and not have an ill will towards him for his Goodness or towards those he is pleased to make the Subjects of it Since all his Doles are given to invite Man to Repentance * Rom. 2.4 to envy them those Goods God hath bestow'd upon them is to envy God the Glory of his own Goodness and them the felicity those things might move them to aspire to 'T is to wish God more contracted and thy Neighbour more miserable But a deep sense of his Soveraign Goodness would make us rejoyce in any marks of it upon others and move us to bless him instead of censuring him 7. It would make us thankful What can be the most proper the most natural Reflection when we behold the most magnificent Characters he hath imprinted upon our Souls the conveniency of the Members he hath compacted in our Bodies but a Praise of him Such Motion had David upon the first Consideration * Psal 139.14 I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made What could be the most natural Reflection when we behold the rich Prerogatives of our Natures above other Creatures the provision he hath made for us for our delight in the beauties of Heaven for our support in the Creatures on Earth What can reasonably be expected from uncorrupted Man to be the first motion of his Soul but an extolling the bountiful hand of the invisible Donor who ever he be This would make us venture at some endeavours of a grateful acknowledgment though we should despair of rendring any thing proportionable to the greatness of the Benefit and such an acknowledgment of our own weakness would be an acceptable part of our gratitude Without a due and deep sense of Divine Goodness our praise of it and thankfulness for it will be but cold formal and customary our Tongues may bless him and our Heart slight him And this will lead us to the third Exhortation 3. Which is that of thankfulness for Divine Goodness The absolute Goodness of God as it is the Excellency of his Nature is the Object of Praise The Relative Goodness of God as he is our Benefactor is the Object Thankfulness This was always a Debt due from Man to God he had Obligations in the time of his Integrity and was then to render it he is not less but more oblig'd to it in the State of Corruption The Benefits being the greater by how much the more unworthy he is of them by reason of his Revolt The Bounty bestow'd upon an Enemy that merits the contrary ought to be received with a greater Resentment than that bestow'd on a Friend who is not unworthy of Testimonies of Respect Gratitude to God is the Duty of every Creature that hath a sense of it self The more Excellent Being any enjoy the more devout ought to be the acknowledgment How often doth David stir up not only himself but summon all Creatures even the insensible ones to joyn in the Consort * Psal 148. He calls to the Deeps Fire Hail Snow Mountains and Hills to bear a part in this work of Praise Not that they are able to do it actively but to shew that Man is to call in the whole Creation to assist him passively and should have so much Charity to all Creatures as to receive what they offer and so much affection to God as to present to him what he receives from him Snow and Hail cannot bless and praise God but Man ought to praise God for those things wherein there is a mixture of trouble and inconvenience something to molest our sense as well as something that improves the Earth for Fruit. This God requires of us for this he instituted several Offerings and requir'd a little Portion of Fruits to be presented to him as an acknowledgment they held the whole from his Bounty And the end of the Festival Days among the Jews was to revive the memory of those signal acts wherein his Power for them and his Goodness to them had been extraordinarily evident 'T is no more but our Mouths to Praise him and our Hand to Obey him that he exacts at our hands He commands us not to expend what he allows us in the Erecting stately Temples to his Honour all the Coyn he requires to be paid with for his Expence is the offering of Thanksgiving * Psal 50.14 And this we ought to do as much as we can since we cannot do it as much as he Merits for who can shew forth all his praise Psal 106.2 If we have the Fruit of his Goodness 't is fit he should have the Fruit of our Lips * Heb. 13.15 The least Kindness should inflame our Souls with a kindly Resentment Though some of his Benefits have a brighter some a darker aspect towards us yet they all come from this common Spring His Goodness shines in all there are the footsteps of Goodness in the least as well as the smiles of Goodness in the greatest the meanest therefore is not to pass without a regard of the Author As the Glory of of God is more illustrious in some Creatures than in others yet it glitters in all and the lowest as well as the highest administers matter of Praise But they are not only little things but the choicer favours he hath bestow'd upon us How much doth it deserve our acknowledgment that he should contrive our Recovery when we had plotted our Ruine That when he did from Eternity behold the Crimes wherewith we would incense him he should not according to the Rights of Justice cast us into Hell but prize us at the Rate of the Blood and Life of his only Son in value above the Blood of Men and Lives of Angels How should we bless that God that we have yet a Gospel among us that we are not driven into the utmost Regions that we can attend upon him in the face of the Sun and not forced to the secret obscurities of the Night Whatsoever we enjoy whatsoever we receive we must own him as the Donor and read his Hand in it Rob him not of any Praise to give to an Instrument No Man hath wherewithal to do us good nor a heart to do us good nor opportunities of benefiting us without him When the Cripple received the soundness of his Limbs from Peter he praised the Hand that sent it not the Hand that brought it * Acts 3.6 Verse 8. He praised God When we want any thing that is good let the goodness of Divine Nature move us to Davids practice to thirst after God * Psal 42.1 And when we feel the motions of his Goodness to us let us imitate the Temper of the same Holy Man * Psal 103.2 Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits 'T is an unworthy Carriage to deal with him as a Traveller doth with a Fountain kneel down to drink of it when he is thirsty and turn his back
he please and exact what he will of his Creature without promising any Rewards May he not use his own for his own honour as well as men use for their credit what they do possess by his indulgence 5. Affliction is an act of his Soveraignty By this right of Soveraignty may not God take away any man's Goods since they were his doles As he was not indebted to us when he bestow'd them so he cannot wrong us when he removes them He takes from us what is more his own than it is ours and was never ours but by his gift and that for a time only not for ever By this right he may determine our times put a period to our days when he pleases strip us of one member and lop off another Man's being was from him and why should he not have a Soveraignty to take what he had a Soveraignty to give Why should this seem strange to any of us since we our selves exercise an absolute Dominion over those things in our possession which have sense and feeling as well as over those that want it Doth not every man think he hath an absolute Authority over the Utensils of his house over his Horse his Dog to preserve or kill him to do what he please with him without rendring any other reason than 't is my own May not God do much more Doth not his dominion over the work of his hands transcend that which a man can claim over his Beast that he never gave life unto He that dares dispute against God's absolute right fancies himself as much a God as his Creator understands not the vast difference between the Divine nature and his own between the Soveraignty of God and his own which is all the theam God himself discourseth upon in those stately Chapters Job 38 39. c. Not mentioning a Word of Job's sin but only vindicating the rights of his own Authority Nor doth Job in his reply Job 40.4 speak of his sin but of his natural vileness as a Creature in the presence of his Creator By this right God unstops the Bottles of Heaven in one place and stops them in another causing it to Rain upon one City and not upon another Amos 4.7 Ordering the Clouds to move to this or that quarter where he hath a mind to be a Benefactor or a Judge 6. Vnequal dispensations are acts of his Soveraignty By this right he is patient toward those whose sins by the common voice of men deserve speedy Judgments and pours out pain upon those that are patterns of vertue to the World By this he gives sometimes the worst of men an Ocean of wealth and honor to swim in and reduceth an useful and exemplary grace to a scanty poverty By this he Rules the Kingdoms of men and sets a Crown upon the head of the basest of men Dan. 4.17 While he deposeth another that seem'd to deserve a weightier Diadem This is as he is the Lord of the Ammunition of his Thunders and the Treasures of his Bounty 7. He may inflict what torments he pleases Some say by this right of Soveraignty he may inflict what torments he pleaseth upon an innocent person which indeed will not bear the nature of a punishment as an effect of Justice without the supposal of a crime but a torment as an effect of that Soveraign right he hath over his Creature which is as absolute over his work as the Potters power is over his own Clay Jerem. 18.6 Rom. 9.21 * Lessius de perfect Divin p. 66. 67. May not the Potter after his labour either set his vessel up to adorn his House or knock it in peices and fling it upon the Dunghill separate it to some noble use or condemn it to some sordid service Is the right of God over his Creatures less than that of the Potter over his Vessel since God contributed all to his Creature but the Potter never made the Clay which is the substance of the Vessel nor the water which was necessary to make it tractable but only moulded the substance of it into such a shape The Vessel that is fram'd and the Potter that frames it differ only in Life the body of the Potter whereby he executes his Authority is of no better a mould than the Clay the matter of his Vessel shall he have so absolute a power over that which is so near him and shall not God over that which is so infinitely distant from him The Vessel perhaps might plead for its self that it was once part of the Body of a man and as good as the Potter himself whereas no Creature can plead it was part of God and as good as God himself Though there be no man in the World but deserves affliction yet the Scripture sometimes layes affliction upon the score of God's dominion without any respect to the sin of the afflicted person James 5.15 Speaking of a sick person if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him whereby is implyed that he might be struck into sickness by God without any respect to a particular sin but in a way of Tryal and that his affliction sprung not from any exercise of Divine Justice but from his absolute soveraignty And so in the case of the blind man when the Disciples askt for what sin it was whether for his own or his Parents sin he was born blind John 9.3 Neither hath this man sinned nor his Parents which speaks in its self not against the whole current of Scripture but the words import thus much that God in this blindness from the birth neither respected any sin of the mans own nor of his Parents but he did it as an absolute soveraign to manifest his own Glory in that miraculous cure which was wrought by Christ Though afflictions do not happen without the desert of the Creature yet some afflictions may 〈◊〉 sent without any particular respect to that desert meerly for the manifestation of God's Glory since the Creature was made for God himself and his honour and therefore may be used in a serviceableness to the Glory of the Creator 2. His Dominion is absolute in regard of unlimitedness by any Law without him He is an absolute Monarch that makes Laws for his Subjects but is not bound by any himself nor receives any rules and Laws from his Subjects for the management of his Government But most Governments in the World are bounded by Laws made by common consent But when Kings are not limited by the Laws of their Kingdoms yet they are bounded by the Law of Nature and by the Providence of God But God is under no Law without himself his rule is within him the rectitude and Righteousness of his own nature he is not under that Law he hath prescribed to man The Law was not made for a Righteous man 1 Tim. 1.9 Much less for a Righteous God God is his own Law his own nature is his rule as his own Glory is his end
of a spiritual life Did not all lie wallowing in their own filthy blood and what could the steam and noysomness of that deserve at the hands of a pure Majesty but to be cast into a sink furthest from his sight Were they not all considered in this deplorable posture with an equal proportion of poyson in their nature when God first took his pen and singled out some Names to write in the Book of life It could not be merit in any one peice of this abominable Mass that should stir up that resolution in God to set apart this person for a Vessel of Glory while he permitted another to putrifie in his own gore He loved Jacob and hated Esau though they were both parts of the common Mass the Seed of the same Loyns and lodg'd in the same Womb. 2. Nor could it â—e any foresight of works to be done in time by them or of Faith that might determine God to choose them What good could he foresee resulting from extream corruption and a nature alienated from him What could he foresee of good to be done by them but what he resolved in his own will to bestow an ability upon them to bring forth His choice of them was to a Holiness not for a Holiness preceding his determination Eph. 1.4 He hath chosen us that we might be Holy before him he ordained us to good works not for them Eph. 2.10 What is a Fruit cannot be a moving cause of that whereof it is a fruit Grace is a stream from the spring of electing love the branch is not the cause of the Root but the Root of the Branch nor the stream the cause of the spring but the spring the cause of the stream Good works suppose Grace and a good and right habit in the person as rational acts suppose reason Can any man say that the rational acts man performs after his Creation were a cause why God Created him This would make Creation and every thing else not so much an act of his will as an act of his Understanding God foresaw no rational act in man before the act of his will to give him reason nor foresees faith in any before the act of his will determining to give him Faith Eph. 2.8 Faith is the gift of God In the Salvation which grows up from this first purpose of God he regards not the works we have done as a principal motive to settle the top-stone of our happiness but his own purpose and the Grace given in Christ 2 Timothy 1.9 Who hath saved us and call'd us with a holy Calling not according to our own works but according to his own purpose and Grace which was given to us in Christ before the World began The honour of our Salvation cannot be challeng'd by our works much less the honour of the Foundation of it It was a pure gift of Grace without any respect to any spiritual much less natural perfection Why should the Apostle mention that circumstance when he speaks of God's loving Jacob and hating Esau when neither of them had done good or evil Rom. 9.11 if there were any foresight of mens works as the moving cause of his love or hatred God regarded not the works of either as the first cause of his choice but acted by his own Liberty without respect to any of their actions which were to be done by them in time If Faith be the fruit of Election the prescience of Faith doth not influence the Electing act of God Tit. 1.1 'T is called the Faith of Gods Elect. Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ according to the Faith of Gods Elect. i. e. Setled in this Office to bring the Elect of God to Faith If men be chosen by God upon the foresight of Faith or not chosen till they have Faith they are not so much God's Elect as God their Elect they choose God by Faith before God chooseth them by love It had not been the Faith of Gods Elect i. e. Of those already chosen but the Faith of those that were to be chosen by God afterwards * Dalle in loc Election is the cause of Faith and not Faith the cause of Election Fire is the cause of heat and not the heat of Fire the Sun is the cause of the day and not the day the cause of the rising of the Sun Men are not chosen because they beleive but they beleive because they are chosen The Apostle did ill else to appropriate that to the Elect which they had no more interest in by vertue of their Election than the veriest Reprobate in the World If the foresight of what works might be done by his Creatures was the motive of his choosing them why did he not choose the Devils to Redemption who could have done him better service by the strength of their Nature than the whole Mass of Adam's posterity Well then there is no possible way to lay the original Foundation of this act of Election and preterition in any thing but the absolute Soveraignty of God Justice or Injustice comes not into consideration in this case There is no debt which Justice or Injustice always respects in its acting If he had pleased he might have chosen all if he had pleased he might have chosen none It was in his supream power to have resolved to have left all Adam's posterity under the rack of his Justice if he determined to snatch out any it was a part of his dominion but without any injury to the Creatures he leaves under their own guilt Did he not pass by the Angels and take man And by the same right of Dominion may he pick out some men from the common Mass and lay aside others to bear the punishment of their Crimes Are they not all his Subjects All are his Criminals and may be dealt with at the pleasure of their undoubted Lord and Soveraign This is a work of arbitrary power Since he might have chosen none or chosen all as he saw good himself 'T is at the liberty of the Artificer to determine his Wood or Stone to such a figure that of a Prince or that of a Toad and his materials have no right to complain of him since it lies wholly upon his own liberty They must have little sence of their own vileness and God's infinite excellency above them by right of Creation that will contend that God hath a lesser right over his Creatures than an Artificer over his Wood or Stone If it were at his liberty whither to redeem Man or send Christ upon such an undertaking 't is as much at his liberty and the prerogative is to be allow'd him what persons he will resolve to make capable of enjoying the fruits of that Redemption One Man was as fit a subject for Mercy as another as they all lay in their orginal guilt Why would not Divine Mercy cast its eye upon this Man as well as upon his Neighbour There was no cause in the Creature but all in God it