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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88701	The attributes of God unfolded, and applied. Wherein are handled the 1 Life 2 Perfection 3 Holiness 4 Benignitie 5 Mercy 6 Truth 7 Wisdome 8 Power 9 Justice of God. 10 Love 11 Hatred 12 Anger 13 Independencie 14 Simplicitie 15 Eternitie 16 Infiniteness 17 Immutability 18 Immensity of God. / Delivered in sundry sermons, at Tavistocke in Devon: By Thomas Larkham, preacher of the word of God, and pastour of the congregation there. Divided into three parts.	Larkham, Thomas, 1602-1669.	1656 (1656)	Wing L441; Thomason E867_1; Thomason E867_2; Thomason E867_3; ESTC R207649	158,169	180

they are exactly conformable to the rectitude of the eternall law Quia tam perfecte vult rectitudinem quam perfecte illam concipit He works as perfectly as he conceives perfectly As is Gods judgment so is his will And hence it is that the love of the Father is so passing great to Christ for the father loveth the son c. Joh. 5.20 Why should God love the son more then any other creature but because he saw more of himself wrought in the sonne then in any other creature Love is an inclination of the will to that thing which is good and thereupon the soul of God runs out to Christ who was altogether lovely this is formal holinesse in God this is the formality of this attribute in God he loveth himself in his love to the creatures All the actions of God proceede from an holy spirit from a spirit of holines As hath beene said already holiness is to love God to seek Gods glory to love ones selfe in God and in this sence God is certainly holy for he loves none as himselfe and seekes and aimes at his owne glory in every thing he doth And here by the way let me speake a word of the formality of the holines of Saints Is it not their love to God and Christ And the Saints that makes them to delight in beholding him whom their soule loveth Doubtles it is My beloved saith the spouse is whit and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousand Canticles 5.10 As it was said by the Queen of Sheba of Solomon 1 Kings 10.8 Happy are thy men Happy are those thy servants which stand continually before thee and which hear thy wisdom So much more may we say as the spirit of holines maketh us to say Blessed are they that know Christ and have of the graces of his Spirit And here I must needs say once againe if God be holy because he loveth good men which are his choice workmanship then so are the Saints therein holy also for they love wonderfully that choise master piece Christ and all the Saints which are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2.10 And so by the rule of contraryes as it is said Psalme 45.7 by way of prophesy and mystically of Christ Thou lovest righteousnes and hatest wickednes c. God must needs hate sin with an infinite hatred for he loveth the rectitude of the eternall law and therefore hateth what is contrary to it for the sinfullnes of sinne is its contrariety to Gods eternall law And then Secondly God necessarily loveth his own goodnes and perfection and therefore necessarily hateth sinne which is contrary and repugnant to that goodnes Repugnant I say not as one forme to another but as an inordinate thing to its rule and measure Keep sinne up and God must go downe keepe God up and sinne must go down You may as well expect to see the Ocean sea burn to ashes or stones to fly upward as look to see an union betweene God and sinne or that God should not looke upon it with highest indignation What sinne is you should finde in every catechisme almost it is the transgression of the holy law of God even the least sinne doth turne aside Gods love and because he is holy it maketh his very soule to hate the persons in whom it is Sinne is like Coloquintida in the Pot and this I must tell you that when God smels it he cannot but throw away pot and all it is so contrary to his holines Where ever God sees sinne he runs at it presently If his owne son do but stand in the sinners steede though he had no sinne of his owne yet you see how the wrath of God ran out against him And the reason is Gods love of his law which is his holines of which sin is the transgression and upon this account God must needs hate it And this David a man of much acquaintance with God tells us Psalm 5.4 5. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickednes neither shall evill dwell with thee The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all workers of iniquitie and so Isaiah 1.24 Ah saith the Lord I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies By which words the prophet meaneth that God will not be appeased he will ease himselfe here is an allusion to the disposition of men Calv. in loc for even as wrath is nothing else but a desire of revenge so revenge it selfe also is a kind of contentment for when any is revenged he is glad and satisfied Thus the Lord saith that he will satisfie himselfe in chastising his enemies as if it were a kind of recompence And because this holines of God doth so glorious shine-out in his hating of sin which is contrary both to his eternal law workings in both Church and world and also to the actings of Saints acted by the Spirit of holines I will a little fasten here and give you some evidence of the bitter hatred which is in God against sinne First Therefore when we shall see an all-mercifull God to deprive men and Angels of such an infinite good as himselfe Evidences of Gods hating sin certainly you must suppose there is some great cause reason for it why the fruition of God is the greatest good and Angells and men were his most excellent creatures yet such is Gods holines causing his hatred of sinne that he tumbles man out of Paradise and Angels out of heaven here is one evidence of Gods hatred of sinne and severitie against sinners But Secondly God doth not only deprive these prime creatures of such a goodnes to wit himself infinitly and eternally but also cast them into extreame sorrows pains and torments And the Angels which kept not their first estate or principalitie but lost their owne habitation he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkenes unto the judgement of the great day Jud. ver 6. And for men who can be ignorant of these misteries sinne hath brought upon all sexes and ages even in this life besides those everlasting burnings to the which all wicked ones are reserved Thirdly God will blot out all the good that ever men did if that fall a sinning once If the righteous turneth away from his righteousnes and committeth iniquitie c. All his righteousnes that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his trespasse Ezek. 18.24 that he hath trespassed and in his sinne that he hath sinned in them he shall die If a man should live many a yeare in serving God and do great things for the people of God Yet if he give out and sin and persist and die in his sinne all his former good should be blotted out Q. A. But here comes a great question can a righteous man fall from his righteousnes To which I answer It is impossible Ratione Decreti promissionis in regard of Gods decree and promise Yet we

experienced an artist is to be taken notice of As if mercy and love were one and the same thing And yet in many places of Scripture we find goodnes mercy taken in the same sense mercy and love somtimes distinguished for satisfaction herein and clearing of this difficultie we must know that if we restraine the word mercy to his proper signification according to the etymon of the word the definition of the vertue to wit to rid one out of a notable distress or misery from an aflicted compassionate heart towards him then mercy hath a narrower object then goodnes or love But yet because usually such workes as we call workes of mercy proceed from the affection of love and that love which we call the love of good will towards our neighbour doth in a sort wholly live in workes of mercy for the love of complacency is of another nature I say for this cause love mercy and goodnes are sometimes used to signifie one and the same readines to do good to all or help any and to be of a loving deportment Howsoever therefore there may be use of destinctions sometimes to wit when we speake particularly of them as vertues in men or graces in saints or attributes in God yet in ordinary popular discourse they come all to one and so are used by the Holy Ghost oftentimes in Scripture in passages both concerning God and also men But that nothing may be left unsaid to give full satisfaction I will give you distinct definitions of these three goodnes or benignity love of goodwill and mercy as they are attributed to God and found in men Goodnes is the will of God whereby he is inclined to do good to creatures and the effects thereof Love is the will of God approving what in his creatures is good and agreeable to his holy mind and manifest●d by sundry effects thereof Mercy is the will of God whereby he is inclined to succour such as are in misery and the manifestation of it in acts accordingly In men goodnes or benignitie is a disposition and indeavour to make the lives of creatures comfortable Amore nihil est aliud quā bonum velle amata by affording all that may any way conduce thereunto And love is a certaine propension of the appetite concupiscible unto what is accounted good and fit for him that loveth and a manifestation of good will and friendship upon occasion both in word and deede to such objects And mercy said Philosophers is a sicknes of mind conceived from the misery of another stirring up to shew pity and compassion and to succour such a one But lastly in saints these come to be graces and so acceptable to God being fruits of the spirit tending to God and having respect to him So we are full of goodnes towards the bodies and soules of others communicating what we have for their good and benefitt Shewing love for Gods sake in both word and deed even to them that wrong us and abuse us And having bowels of mercy towards all that be in misery and being ready to do any thing for their succour Now of all these three vertues in men graces in Saints attributes of God What mercy is in God Miseri cordia est voluntas Dei qua ad succurrendum miseris propensus Sharpius The mercy of God some call the propertie or attribute of his nature inclining him to relieve the misery of his creature some the essenee of God shewing mercy Sclator on the 117. Psalme Ira dicitur esse in Deo non ut turbidus motus animi sed simplex voluntas ad ultionem we are to speake of mercy now as it is to him attributed One thing is very necessary to be premised in this discourse to wit that mercy in God is not as it is defin'd by Philosophers as hath beene before hinted A sicknes of mind conceived from the misery of another For sadnes and afliction of mind cannot be in God though in Scripture there are such metaphors used But mercy in God is his very essence whereby he is infinitely disposed to helpe succour and comfort such as be in any miserable condition Those expressions in Scripture In their afflictions he was afflicted And mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together Are borrowed Phrases As from the turning of the bowells in men at the fight of an object of pitty And yet in men this is not mercy it selfe but a companion of pitty Yet because by it our mercy is made known we call it by the name of mercy We call rowling of bowells mercy and mercy rowling of bowells which yet is but a companion of it and that in men only and not in God Mercy may be without it and in God allwaies is because God hath no bowels to be turned God is one most simple essence and hath no qualities And therefore when we say God is merciful we speak of him metaphorically as when we say God is angry Anger is a turbulency of spirit but there is no such thing in God The effects of that which is called anger in God are often put for ang●r as when we see the punishment and scourges on the backes of wicked men we conclude that God is angry There is no real difference between his essence and attributes save only in our manner of conceiving Sclater In like manner when we see the rod taken of and cast into the fire which is an effect of mercy we say God is mercifull But mercy in God signifi●th two things First an inclination in his heavenly Majesty to shew mercy Secondly the effects of his supposed affection which is his helping of the miserable creature or a making out of God to such as have need of helpe and pitty The affection of mercy in men is knowne by that griefe that accompanies it Tanquam à nobis notiori vertus ipsa nomen traxit but such a companion of mercy cannot be in God O mercy is a glorious attribute of God he is a very sea of mercy he is never dry Amongst men he that is fullest of pitty is but a drop of it Their pitty falls infinitly short of what is in God And this mercy of God is either generall to all his creatures or speciall unto mankind or more speciall and peculiar that whereby he is said to be mercifull to his elect unto eternall life and freedom from the wrath to come Let us view the generall mercy of God to all his creatures Three things present themselves to be looked upon First the raising up of all creatures out of nothing Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth Secondly The extension of tender mercies of providence towards all creatures wraped up in misery of which see Psalme 145.9 The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his workes His mercy is over and upon all his workes as the warmth of the hen

none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God Rom. 3.10.11 Holines you see by nature Every man saith one is borne with his face to sin and his backe to holines And yet this holines is of absolute necessitie Riches life health freinds are good things But yet they are not of no such necessity but holines is Without it no man shall see the Lord Heb 12 14. A man may see the Lord without peace with out wealth but not without holines be sure of that No holines no heaven Rev. 21.27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth Those that are without holines must abide without heaven Heaven Gates are shut against all unholy persons They that do looke for salvation must be holy must be washed as saith the Prophet Jer 4. cap. 14. O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickednes that thou maist be saved This is the second motive to move us with earnestnes to seeke after holines considering the absolute necessitie of it The third motive is an encouraging one to wit that holines is to be had if you will but take pain for it I do not presse you upon impossibilities It is true holines is an attribute of God and some of his attributes be incommunicable but this is communicable to man And so I come unto the next to wit the second proposition to be spoken of in this attribute according to my methode observed in dispatching all the other that have formerly beene handled and it is That holines is communicable to mankind Doct. that it is a communicable atribute But that I be not mistaken or misunderstood you must know that I mean not holines or any other attribute is communicated as it is an attribute of God For God cannot part with any thing that is essentially his or rather himselfe as all Gods attributes are But this is it that I mean that here is something like holines in God which God communicateth That like dispositions are to be found in men and Angels that are in God That as God is said to be holy so there is a holines in men But whereas in men holines is finite imperfect mutable neither that nor any other attribute is such in God who is one most simple essence and not made up of several ingredients There is nothing in God which is not God His wisdome power goodnesse holines is one and the same most simple infinite and immutable essence But to returne whence I digressed Holines is a communicable attribute it doth not so abide in God as for man to have no such propertie Reasons It is communicated as may be seen first in the creation of both Angels and men When God made Adam he was a holy man And therefore we may well argue that holines is to be had Ab esse ad posse valet argumentum because it hath been had Secondly God hath likewise communicated it in regeneration Ephes 4.24 And that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnes and true holines So then if God made man holy at first and make many holy again daily by renewing them in the spirit of their minds Ephes 4.23 Then it stands for an unquestionable truth in both these respects that holines is to be had Vse that it is a communicable thing And therefore we may hence conclude the true cause that so many men do want holines to be in themselves and not in God What is the reason that so many are altogether destitute of this grace that they have not so much as one graine of it in their hearts or the least signe of it in their lives Surely it is because people do not give themselves to use the meanes to obtaine it they will not walke in those waies in which it is to be had The fault is not in God but in themselves Soules God call's you to be holy and sends his messengers to invite you to come to him that ye may be holy he calls upon you to turn from your evill waies he sometimes allures he would you should be holy but ye will not God hath done his part He may say of you as once he did of Israel Isaiah 5.4 What could be done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it There hath been nothing wanting in God and yet insteed of the sweete and pleasant grapes of holines he hath had nothing else but wilde grapes from us insteed of holines profanesse and wickednes And that which is sad to consider the more God calls men to holines the further do they run from him into all sin and wickednes Of what punishment suppose ye shall such be thought worthy that tread under-foot the Son of God and count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing and do despite unto the spirit of grace Heb. 10 29. How will men be able to answer this before our God who is a consuming fire How do ye thinke to stand in the judgment O yee sinners and in the congregation of the righteous in that day How can ye ever expect to rest in Gods holy hill and continue in unholines What desperate madnes is this Surely Christ will come and he will separate between the sheep and the goates he will devide the holy from the unholy you shall answer for your prophanes and base carriage towards the Lord and his people This is the first use the fault is not in God that people are not holy but the fault is in themselves If now ye be damned ye may thank your selves your destruction will be of your selves For God would have you holy he stands at the doore and knocks The Lord grant that this may be thought on that hath been said So much for the first use Secondly it teacheth us for our everlasting comfort that such as do desire holines may have it from the hands of God Vse If ye will be holy ye may If ye will say each one of ye Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me holy as it is written of the Leaper Mat. 8.2 Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean That Jesus put forth his hand and touched him saying I will be thou clean v. 3. So will he put forth his hand and say I will be thou holy Ye cannot be more willing nor so much neither to have holines as God is to give it We reade of Paul 2 Cor. 12 89. How be sought the Lord when the thorne in the flesh was sent him and what answer he had viz. to wit that God's grace was sufficient for him Now have you bad natures bad hearts remember God is both able and willing to give you new natures and to creat in you cleane hearts If you will cry unto him and complaine of your stony hearts he can take away these hearts of stone and give you hearts of flesh If you groane under sinne with a desire to be rid of it know this for your eternal

comfort that the worke of grace is begun in you already The work I say is begun and he that hath begun that good work will perfect it unto the day of Jesus Christ Never was there a soule that groaned after holines sincerity that ever perished for the want of it These groanes could not be but by the spirit of Christ and where the Spirit of Christ is there is Christs dwelling and where Christ dwelleth there is true faith You that desire holines that hunger and thirst after righteousnes are pronounced blessed You are in Christs schoole though but in the lowest forme Vse 3 Motives Thirdly this may provoke you to holy desires and endeavours seeing holines is to be had and God both commands it Motive 1 and directs you what to do to obtaine it Lev. 20.7.8 Sanctifie Motive 2 your selves therefore and be ye holy for I am the Lord your God And ye shall keep my Statutes and do them I am the Lord which sanctifie Motive 3 you And moreover the Lord hath promised that they that ask shall have that they that seeke shall finde and that to them that knock it shall be opened Math. 7.7 And yet again consider the Motive 4 great danger if we dy without holines Without it we cannot see God Heb. 12.14 no holines no heaven And therefore upon these and such like considerations we should be stirred up to put to it to the purpose and labour to be holy as God is holy I am loath to leave this point therefore for an other motive Motive 5 consider that man that desires to do a thing and hath probable means as a good rule a good coppie hath great ground of hope that he shall obtaine what he would have and attaine unto that which he laboureth for Now Beloved what a copy have we to walke by Even the Lord Jesus Christ who is sent from heaven to us that we might writ after him God its true is a coppy Be ye holy for I am holy But that indeed was a very hard one for us to writ by But now he hath given us a living law in the Lord Jesus who is made unto us of him wisdome and righteousnes and sanctification c. 1 Cor. 1.30 Now he hath given us his owne son to draw out every letter before our eies that so we might the better write after him Good men be blessings whose examples are to be followed but there is no man so good but hath his faylings and defects But now Christ hath neither spot nor wrinckle nor any such thing in him for he is full of knowledge and likewise of the feare of the Lord. All sorts may learne of him how to behave themselves Children may learn of him how to behave themselves towards their parents subjects and people to Princes and Magistrates in him we have a coppy for prayer how also to be doing of good upon all occasions to love our enemies not to revile again when we are reviled In things both concerning this life and the life to come we have patterns in Christ to immitate In Christ I say not as God but as man indued with the graces of the Holy Ghost And this is that living ooppie which the holy God hath provided for us that we might be holy too Sixtly And yet this is not all The Scriptures are left to be Motive 6 a standing rule and blessed meanes of sanctification John 15.3 Now ye are cleane through the words which I have spoken unto you The word of the gospel is that which cleanseth people By it they are sanctified as it is expressed in that heavenly prayer of Christ John 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy trueth thy word is trueth And so also Ephes 5.26.27 That he might sanctifie it speaking of the Church with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himselfe a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle of any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish 7ly We have many outward favours whereby God doth allure us into holines Every outward blessing mercy should Motive 7 invite us to holines As Luke 1.74.75 That he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without feare in holines and righteousnes all the dayes of our life God would by his blessings as it were get into our bookes his love tokens are sent to woe us to holines And therefore when we are tempted to sinne let us say as Joseph did Gen. 39.9 How can I do this great wickednes and sin against God O let the minds of God engage us unto holines let his loving kindnesse constraine us to labour after it Q. But how should we seeke unto God for this grace A. I answer first by faithfull prayer as you find David did Psalme 51.7 purge me with Hyssope and I shall be cleane wash me and I shall be whiter then snow And againe ver 10. Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me And to Paul praies for the Thessalonians That the God of peace would sanctifie them wholly and that their whol spirit and soule and body might be preserved blamless c. 1 Thes 5.23 This is the first means to be used for the obtaining of holines 2. Let us study the Doctrine of holines or the new creature or the new man that we may know what it is and when we have it It is an alluring Doctrine It is called the image of God Ephes 4.24 And that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnes and true holines Such as would have money must learn how to tell it Then are divers sorts of moneys and coines abroad in the world and therefore labour to know the King of heavens coyne And learne to try it too from counterfeit there is much false money going I will a litle speake of this holines which I am now perswading you to labour for and to seeke after It standeth 1. in the renovation of the whol man both in the spirits of our minde and in the affections of our hearts When our spirits and affections are renewed then we become holy Secondly it stands in giving up our selves wholy by a dedication to the use of the Almighty So that we do not longer live unto our selves but to him that died for us and rose again We shall the better see what this holines is by its contrary to wit the old man and the former conversation thereof Vertues appeare the better and shine the more gloriously by those vices that are contrary to them A faire beauty is the more lovely in a comely woman when a blackmore stands by A soile sets forth a Diamond What the old man is And therefore that we may the better see the lovelinesse of the new man we will looke a little upon the old man That therefore which is called the old man is want of knowledg in