God It was not enough for Jeroboam to say Ye shall worship the God of Israel but it shall be under the resemblance of a Calf and ye shall have the Ordinances of God every way as glorious and as rational at Dan and Bethel as ever you had at Jerusalem what can you desire more there is nothing for matter of worship to be had at Jerusalem but it may also be had here For every thing done in the service of God must not be ex arbitrio Tertullian sed ex imperio and if the reason of man in this perswade him and interpose whatever is set up so is an image of jealousie and will-worship as the Apostle speaks Ezech. 8.3 Jer. 17.31 Col. 2. and that which the Lord will one day return upon you and say Who hath required these things at your hands it's that which I never spake it never came into my mouth nor entred into my heart so far we are from setting up reason or the wisdom of men to have any place in the worship of God and to infer because this is rational therefore it shall be accepted For I know that as the power of Ordinances so the fruit and the acceptation of them come from the institution only and as it 's sinful in the things that God has commanded to dispute his commands in matters of obedience and to examine them by the rule of reason and bring them unto that Bar so it 's also to impose any thing upon God in matters of worship that he has not commanded It 's said Hos 11.14 Israel hath forgotten his Maker and builded Temples Hos 11.14 a man would think surely he that builds Temples has God much in his mind but he that doth build many Temples when the Lord had appointed but one this is to forget God under a pretence of worshipping of God and in vers 11. 't is said Ephraim hath made him Altars to sin and Altars shall be unto him to sin they had multiplied Altars beyond the institution of God therefore that was their great sin as Drusius expounds it or else this was the sin that God did give them up in judgment unto till they had destroyed themselves for vain man would be wise and he loves to shew his wisdom in nothing more than in imposing in the worship of God and this is so far from bringing God near to the soul Ezech. 8. that it 's an image of jealousie that does provoke him to go far from him 3. As for Institutions meerly typical it 's not safe arguing from them that there must be in the externals of Worship something answerable to them in the Ordinances of the New Testament and it will be no good argument to say It was so under the Law therefore by way of Analogy and proportion it must be so under the Gospel and the reason is because they were shadows of good things to come and therefore when the substance came Heb. 10.1 the shadows were to vanish for Joh. 1.17 the truth of all those legal Types and all those shadows came by Christ as well as the grace of them and therefore when he came they were all done away and of this kind are all the fore-mentioned instances the legal holiness upon the people and land was typical in the Priests and high Priests and their ornaments and vestures typical and their Temple a type and their Altar a type all fulfilled in Christ and so abolished he having taken down the partition-wall and taken the hand-writing that consisted in Ordinances out of the way by nailing it unto his Cross Col. 2. of all these Types we may lawfully argue that there remains something spiritual in the days of the Gospel there is a spiritual Temple and there is a great High Priest and there are inferiour Priests that are made Kings and Priests unto God and we have an Altar of which they have no right to eat which serve the Tabernacle Heb. 13.10 we have even under the Gospel a Circumcision without hands putting away the body of the sins of the flesh the inward workings of the Spirit of Christ circumcising our hearts and we have a spiritual Passover also for Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us The Apostle has a distinction Col. 2.11 Heb. 9.23 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 figures and shadows of the true and there are shadows of heavenly things themselves the one remains when the other are done away therefore it is confessed that arguments drawn from typical institutions are not valid so far as that there must something remain to answer them in the days of the Gospel they may justly be denied and rejected because they were shadows of spiritual and heavenly things and nothing external was to come in the place of them But I suppose no man will say that Circumcision was a type of Baptism nor the Passover a type of the Lords Supper they are all of them seals of the same Covenant under different administrations and therefore there may arguments be drawn from these in reference unto the externals of worship which cannot be from the other they being shadows only of heavenly things and spiritual under the Gospel 4. Though no institution of the Old Testament can be the ground of any institution of the New but barely the will of the Law-giver yet in many things the institutions of the Old Testament may give rules and in several particulars afford arguments to regulate those of the New As though I do not say that the Jewish Sabbath was institutive of the Lords day as some do and that it was no new institution but remained by virtue of the fourth Commandment and though the day be changed yet it hath the same institution still yet I suppose that many arguments may be drawn from the Jewish observations as directions for the Christian Sabbath as 1 The Jews in their Sabbath did consecrate to God the whole seventh day that is a natural day consisting of 24 hours and therefore were derided by the Heathen in losing the seventh part of their lives so it 's the duty of Christians to give the same time unto God as great a proportion in their Sabbath as the Jews did 2 The Jews in their Sabbath were to do no servile work only our Lord Christ lets them see that works of piety and of charity and necessity might be done upon that day and so are the Christians to celebrate their Sabbath also by doing no servile work 3 The Jews were not only to take care of the observation of the Sabbath themselves Nehem. 13.19 but also that all that were under their charge the Magistrate in his place as Nehemiah did give forth a commandment he did set his servants to observe that it was done and he did threaten even the strangers that if they did not reform he would lay hands on them which he would surely have done had the sin been continued in
meanest and smallest things Mat. 10.29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing Mat. 10.29 Luk. 12.6 A sparrow is put for the vilest and the most contemptible of all birds partly for their short life for Pliny saith that they do not live above one year negat anno diutiùs vivere and partly for their price for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est moneta minutissima and yet these things which are of so little worth and value amongst men they are not forgotten by God they are under the care of God and they fall not upon the ground that is either in respect of their motion they do not pitch upon the ground but it is by the direction of God or else of their destruction they are not taken and killed neither do they die but it is by the Soveraignty of God and by his appointment there is not one of them that is turned out of life but it is by the command of him that gave it life c. yea Mat. 10.30 The hairs of your head are numbred Mat. 10.30 so that the Providence of God extends not only to the souls of men that he takes care for them but even unto their bodies and not only unto the chief and principal part of them but even unto their very superfluities and parts that are excrementitious the very hairs of their head and therefore he saith Luk. 21.18 That there shall not a hair of their head perish Luk. 21.18 that is quidpiam vestrum quod non sit cum gloria Dei vestrâ utilitate conjunctum Itáne perit anima cujus capillus non perit August Can the soul perish if not one hair He it is that feeds the Ravens he gives them their meat in due season they gather it for he doth hear the young Ravens when they cry Aristotle saith l. 6. in Animal c. 11. 5. that the Ravens when they had many young ones more than they were able to feed did commonly leave and desert some of them but even those that were deserted by their dam they are provided for by God and he doth hear them when they cry he it is that cloaths the lilies also and the grass of the field which doth flourish to day and to morrow is cut down and cast into the oven Providentia à summo ad ima pertingit flosculorum atque foliorum pulchritudo comprobat 3. They do work for ends which they themselves understand not and yet they do accomplish them as the Flyes and the Frogs and the Locusts against Pharaoh which one wind brought and another carried away and so for the Quails with which the Israelites were fed in the Wilderness c. and the she-Bears that came out of the Wood and destroy'd the Children and the Lyon that slew the Prophet that came from Judah but did neither devour the Carkass nor rent the Ass but the Ass and the Lyon stand by the Carkass that the hand of God in a more than an ordinary manner might appear therein and Amos 9.3 If they go down to the bottom of the Sea I will command the Serpent and he shall bite them all that is done is done at his Command If we see many Arrowes shot and all of them hit the mark we know that the Arrowes could not direct themselves there must be the hand of a skilfull Archer that did direct them though we see it not and so it is here also for all the Creatures are as so many Arrowes shot at a Mark and they do all of them attain an end which they understand not and therefore they come under the Government of an higher hand It is a vain conceit of proud men ignorant of the Scripture to say It is a dishonour to God to take care of these small things Non vacat exiguis c. Si non est Dei probrum minutissimas fecisse multò minùs factas regere Nay it is infinitely unto the glory of God and his honour that he has a Wisdom and a Power that can reach ad conservationem gubernationem minutissimorum That he is so absolute a Lord as that nothing subsists and hath a being without him so every thing that has a being is ordered by him and he that hath created it to an end doth also order and direct it to that end for which he did create it 2. All these small things the Lord doth order and govern for the good of his People they have a benefit by them all which will appear in two things 1 As he did create all things below for man so he doth rule and govern them all for mans sake and now man is fallen he doth preserve the World for the Saints and it is for their sake that he doth govern the World 1 Cor. 9.9 Doth God take care for Oxen or speaks he this for our sakes Yea verily for our sakes Non curat Deus de pecoribus propter ipsa sed propter nos quorum causâ creavit Ambros A statu consummatione Ecclesiae finis omnium pendet tolle hanc frustra inferior â—â—eatura revelationem filiorum Dei expectat c. Bern. in Cant. Serm. 58. Therefore he ruling all things for the sake of the Saints they must be all order'd for the good of the Saints 2 All these things come not only under a providence but under a promise and that surely doth belong to none but to them that are heirs of salvation Hos 2.18 heirs of promise he will make a covenant for you with the beasts of the field the fowls of heaven and the creeping things of the ground no creature is properly capable of a Covenant but the reasonable creatures but the meaning is that the Lord will in his providence so order all the motions of these things that they shall all of them work for the good of the Church as if they were bound in Covenant so to doe for a firm Establishment in their creation is called a Covenant Jer. 33.20 Jer. 33.20 if you can break my Covenant of the day and my Covenant of the night that is an establishment by a sure and setled decree c. they shall do you no hurt they shall do you good for the enmity and cross-working of the creatures came in by sin and that Covenant which takes away sin shall take away all contrariety in the creatures also in their working so that they shall do you good and no hurt all your dayes Job 5.23 Job 5.23 Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the Field it is a Covenant of Gods making men cannot make a Covenant with them they will not be bound by mans Covenant it is not an actual but a vertual Covenant that they shall do a mâ—n good and no hurt it is a league offensive and defensive c. There is a threefold interpretation of it and all of them fit to this purpose 1 In thy walking the Stones of the field shall not offend thee
live not by bread only and therefore if God do withdraw his acting or withhold it the second cause is of no value it is but as an axe in the hand of a man or as a pen it is but as it were a dead instrument as the Apostle says of himself 2 Cor. 3.2 3. and therefore the people of God put no confidence in them I will not trust in my bow and it is not my sword that shall save me it is thou O Lord that savest us from our enemies this is the language of a true Saint and therefore it is only the Lords withdrawing and then all second causes work not whence it is said That they shall eat and they shall not be nourished and they shall put on cloaths but not be warmed there is a natural aptitude in these means to produce such effects but yet if the Lord do but suspend his influx they can do nothing And therefore in the Babylonish Furnace Divines do commonly say that the Lord did not take away the nature of the fire it remained to be fire still only in reference unto such an object he did suspend his own concurrence so that though it remained in actu primo yet it was not able to produce actum secundum because the immediate concurrence of the first cause was denied so it is in all means and this is the reason of their want of efficacy the same Ordinances would be as effectual at one time as at another and unto one man as unto another there is no difference in the means only in the concurrence of the first cause with the means and so it is with creatures also the same land would be as fruitful at one time as at another and there is no difference only when thou tillest thy land it shall not yield its strength says the Lord there is not the same concurrence of God with it which is his blessing upon it and that is the true reason of all the difference in the use and the success of means whatsoever 3. Though the Lord doth in the administration of all things in the providential Kingdom use means and therefore hath made all things in a due order and subordination yet he doth delight sometimes to work without means by his own immediate hand not by power nor by might but by my Spirit Zac. 4.7 if there be none to help yet his own arm shall bring salvation And the Lord doth this 1 that he may sometimes shew forth some special discoveries of his own power The heart of man would be wholly terminated in the creature as we are very apt to be and we would look no further therefore the Lord is pleased sometimes to shew forth something more than the power of the creature and sometimes he will go in an ordinary way of nature sometimes in a miraculous way to shew that there is a higher hand that rules all things that he may not be forgotten by us 2 To shew that he doth not use the creature necessarily but voluntarily and therefore he can use it or lay it aside at his pleasure work by it or work without it that the souls of his people may depend upon him alone both in the want and in the injoyments of the creature and the good effect is never the further off when they want it nor ever the nearer when they do injoy it whether they have it or not it is all one they can rejoyce in the Lord and glory in the God of their salvation Hab. 3.17 18. 3 That he may still keep up in the remembrance of his people a creating power when there was nothing but himself immediately there was no means used It hath been disputed by the School-men Whether the ministry of Angels were not used in the creation of the world and it is commonly answered No it was not it could not be because in the exercise of almighty power there can be no concurrence of the creature no creature can be raised by the power of God unto such an elevation as to be made capable to put forth any act of omnipotence and therefore that this power of the Creation of God may be kept up he doth do the like often in the world that as he hath appointed a day to remember the Creation and would have us to remember our Creator so he doth works that he may keep it continually in our remembrance providence is said to be nothing but a continued Creation therefore the Lord will do something that shall be as a Creation still that this great work may never be forgotten he that doth create grace in the souls of men daily doth put forth other acts answerable thereunto 4 The Lord doth it that he may train up his people by it unto a remembrance of Heaven where all means shall cease for God shall be all in all that is he shall be all unto his people immediately It is true that the Saints do injoy God here and they injoy all in God he is their portion and their hope but all this is in the use of means as they see him in a glass so they shall injoy him also but there is a time that will shortly come when all means shall be done away and he that now governs the world and so dispenses himself by second causes will do all by his own immediate hand there shall be immediate therefore pure mercy and pure wrath and pure power and pure acts of Omnipotence In this life we are by the creatures refreshed and when he comforts us by the creature those comforts lose much by reason of the vessel and so when he doth teach us by the creature that treasure is in earthen vessels it is much otherwise when he teaches himself immediately and so when he doth punish by the creature it is but as a mighty man correcting a man with a straw it 's true that he is mighty but it is but a small thing that is in his hand which is nothing in comparison of that which shall be hereafter it shall be all immediate and that keeps up in his people an expectation of this that they may have herein a kind of foretaste of Heaven by beholding the immediate working of God without the help of creatures or their concurrence Now this immediate acting of Providence is wholly for the good of his people and is so managed sometimes he will use means for their good and sometimes he will for their good work without means but still so as his Soveraignty is made over unto them in these his actings and herein we are to observe 1. The Scripture speaking of a creating power which the Lord doth often put forth for the good of his people Esa 4.5 Esa 4.5 there 't is said I create upon every dwelling place a cloud c. Upon every dwelling place there is a protection that which is immediate and beyond the power of second causes when there is no defence in them yet their succour
might cause his power to be acknowledged 2. God hath made over his attributes to his people that they may take from them all grounds of faith with an assurance that they shall be all exercised for them according unto their necessities Psal 13.5 so the Mercy of God I have trusted in thy mercy my heart shall rejoyce in thy salvation Here is mercy the object of faith and an assurance that this attribute shall shew forth it self in a work of salvation and deliverance for him I have trusted in the mercy of God for the bringing me out of this and another affliction and I have been delivered Psal 52.8 therefore I will always exalt the mercy of God So for the Power of God the soul can argue from thence Dan. 3. when men threaten and Devils rage and the fiery furnace may be heated seven times hotter to consume the soul that has no help amongst creatures yet says Daniel and the three Children the God whom we serve is able to deliver us And the Lord encourages the soul from the assurance of his power Is my arm shortned that I cannot save is any thing too hard for the Lord is there any restraint to omnipotence And so also Christ puts them upon it in this With man it 's impossible but with God all things are possible it 's spoken in reference to a work of Sanctification when the Disciples said Who then can be saved Esay 26.4 Esay 27.5 So for the Eternity of God Trust in the Lord for ever for the Lord Jehovah is a Rock of Ages and so men are said to take hold of the strength of God And so of the Holiness of God I have sworn by my holiness that I will not lye unto David and therefore Psal 23.6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life And so Abraham believed God was able to raise him up again from the dead if it might stand with his glory he did not question his will but that his power should be put forth for the accomplishment of his promise We know that the ultimate object of faith is God through Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.21 our faith and hope is in God now the highest object of faith in God is the attributes of God that he has discovered for we can believe in him no otherwise than we know him and as he has revealed himself and the way of Gods revealing himself unto his people in this life is only by his back parts which are his attributes and therefore this is the way of the acting of faith in this life and all the promises of God and the precepts and the threatnings of God are all of them founded on his attributes and in these doth the strength and stability of them lye because the Lord Jehovah is a rock of ages As it is in ends all intermediate ends work in the strength and the power of the utmost end so it is in objects also Objectum mediatum fidei movet in virtute objecti ultimati ab eo perfectionem accipit The mediate object of faith moves in the virtue of the ultimate object and receives perfection from it Eph. 4.18.23.24 3. That from these the soul may receive all principles of grace grace is called the Life of God and the Divine Nature the Image of God created in the soul it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according unto God Now in an image there are two things required 1 Proportion or similitude and resemblance 2 There is a deduction or a derivation it must be taken from it As there is a resemblance of the nature of God so there is a derivation of it from God Now though the incommunicable attributes of God are so called because there are in the creatures no footsteps or resemblances yet there are of the attributes that are communicable from them the image of God is derived unto us and we are made partakers of his holiness holy as he is holy Heb. 12.10 Jam. 1.5 and merciful as he is merciful and wise as he is wise If any man want wisdom let him ask it of God as all of them shall be employed for man without him so all of them shall work in man an image or a resemblance of himself within him that a man beholding the glory of the Lord is transformed thereby into the same image And this is to be made the rule to judge the measure of our graces by for primum est mensura reliquorum c. The first is the measure of the rest in that kind So far as they do come short of bearing a resemblance with the communicable attributes of God I say of bearing a resemblance for they are in God by nature but in us by grace and by new creation they are nature in him they are not so in us so far we are to bewail the defects of our graces and so far grace is the image of God in us but in part a good work begun and no more and it is a discovery of his attributes which are the original pattern that doth perfect his image in us which is but the counterpane and therefore we shall be perfectly like him when we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.3 4. God hath in Covenant made over his Attributes that from these the soul may take all rules of duty and as the highest objects of faith are in God so from him are the highest rules of duty and therefore Eph. 5.1 the exhortation is Be ye imitators of God 1 Pet. 1.15 and be you holy in all manner of conversation because he is holy and so from the Soveraignty of God it 's the ordinary argument thou shalt do thus and thus for I am Jehovah thy God And David takes his rule from this in the preparation he made for the Temple the house must be exceeding magnificent and therefore all his preparation though the wealth of a Kingdom was but an act of his poverty for it is for the Lord who is a great God and dwells not in Temples made with hands c. And it 's the argument that he himself useth as the rule unto them in their performances Mal. 1.13 I am a great King and my name is dreadful amongst the Heathen As the soul is never rightly bottomed upon a promise till it is carried out into that attribute upon which the promise doth depend so the soul is never grounded in duty till it looks beyond the precept and sees the attributes in God which are the foundation of the duty and this is properly to walk worthy of God Col. 1.10 That ye may walk worthy c. It doth not note exactam proportionem Daven sed quandam decentiam convenientiam not an exact proportion but a certain decence and convenience when a mans duties are done by rules taken from so great a God and proportionable unto the nature holiness and excellency of that God God is a Spirit
a restless life is a miserable life it was that which David did groan under Psal 55.6 Oh that I had wings like a dove then I would flye away and be at rest and there is no unquietness like to that of the soul a restless spirit is one of the greatest miseries that can befal a man Eccles 2.23 speaking of men labouring in the creatures he saith his heart takes no rest at night even when he is taken out of the mill of his calling and his body is laid down to rest yet has the man a restlesness all the while and therefore it is that Christ speaks Mat. 11.29 and promises as the great inducement Come unto me all that are weary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and you shall find rest unto your souls Psal 38.8 I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart A mans heart trades up and down amongst the creatures and he is always driving on such troublesom trades that he is never at rest in his own spirit and therefore a man by believing is said to enter into rest and the greatest judgment that can befal a man is Heb. 4.3 that God should swear in his wrath against him that he should never enter into his rest it is not spoken of Heaven any otherwise than as faith gives a man an interest here for we that believe are entred into it because it is faith gives a man an interest in God and bottomes his soul upon him and upon nothing else for there is a threefold rest there spoken of in that Chapter 1 A rest of the Sabbath that men did enter into according to Gods institution when he ended his works which is one of the strongest places against the imaginary anticipation of the Law of the Sabbath that is in the Scripture for then men entred into this Sabbath when God ended his works but that was from the foundation of the world 2 There is a rest of Canaan into which Joshua brought them and they were entred in Davids time therefore that cannot be meant for then he would not have spoken of another rest Now 3 what rest is it then that remains yet for the people of God That rest is a ceasing from their own works from all their sinful cares labours practices and supplies which are to be had in the creature and a quieting and resting the soul in God which is our salvation and answerable unto a mans enjoyment of God Inquietum est cor donec requiescat in te such will this rest of his soul be and when he doth perfectly enjoy God then shall his rest and the Sabbath of the soul in glory be fully perfected 2. He that hath not the Lord for his portion will chuse unto himself any thing else and set his heart upon it and it 's the greatest misery of all unregenerate men that they have their portion in this life Now what is a mans portion Psal 14. but that which he chuses unto himself and that in which his soul rests and receives satisfaction that is the mans portion and this all men that are unregenerate have in the things below something that is not God though it be the works of God it 's not the Essence of God and the greatest spiritual judgment that can befal a man in this life is this to be given up to the ungodliness of a mans own spirit to have his portion in any thing else in that which is not God this is to lay out his money for that which is not bread whereas a gracious heart saith Thou art my portion O Lord. And Esay 57.6 Lam. 3.24 Esay 57.6 Amongst the smooth stones of the streets is thy portion They did use by the rivers to worship their Idols and to build Altars to them there as well as upon the mountains and under every green tree and because they could not all of them have smoothed stones fitted for it therefore they made choice of the fittest they could find the smooth stones of the brook which the water by its continual running had smoothed and in these you have placed your portion and the happiness that you expect is to come in by these and seeing you have chosen it you shall be sure to have it and Ipsi erunt sors tua ut non nisi lapides inutilia saxa possideas Forer They shall be thy portion thou shalt possess nothing but stones And by this means a man turns his glory into shame Phil. 3.19 God is a mans glory and it is highest honour to have an interest in him or have any relation to him though it be but by way of office much more is it an honour to have a portion in his Essence and therefore the Lord calls himself their ornament as Jer. 2.32 Can a maid forget her ornaments but they have forgotten me their ornament days without number and they turned it into shame all Idols are so called they offered sacrifice unto that shame it 's spoken of Baal-Peor that which is filthy in it self and so is matter of shame Hos 9.10 which is malum turpe and that which is dishonourable unto the man and therefore truly his shame which is nothing else but the apprehension of an excellency abased Now the greater the excellency the greater must the shame be and the confusion in the apprehension of the abasement thereof 3. For a man to have no recompence for all his labours but barely creatures and the comforts of them is a great misery It 's true that the Saints may lawfully have respect to the recompence of reward Heb. 11.26 so had Moses and so had Paul We make says he things not seen our scope and aim in all our labours and endeavours 2 Cor. 4.18 and so did Christ For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross and despised the shame It 's true there is a recompence in obedience Psal 19.11 in the keeping of Gods commandment is great reward the excellency and honour of the work is a sufficient reward for the worker though there were no reward afterwards to come Now Christ having bought all the services of the creatures he doth imploy them all in his Kingdom they are all sent by him to work in his Vineyard and there is no man shall labour for Christ one hour in vain but as ungodly men do perform to him unsanctified services so they shall have unsanctified rewards and as their services be seemingly services but really sins so shall their rewards be seemingly blessings but really curses And as Christ said of the Pharisees they fasted and they prayed and gave alms but they had a reward here below only they did it to be seen of men to be well spoken of for it which they obtained now to have a mans reward in any thing that is below God that 's a mans misery But the recompence of the Saints reward lies in God himself when he will take from
have fancied but it is Gods dispensing himself in wrath Heb 12. ult for our God is a consuming fire It 's disputed amongst the School-men Whether the Devils who were unto men incensores in culpa abettors in the sin shall be also tortores in poena c. tormentors in the punishment And it 's denied by some of them solidly upon these grounds 1 The Devils ministery shall last no longer than the time of the ministery of good Angels and that shall be but for the time of this life for Satan shall be the God of this world no more after this life and the good Angels shall be Principalities and Powers no more for all rule and all authority shall be put down whether good or evil and therefore what power soever Satan has over wicked men while they are here for he works effectually in them he shall have no power over them hereafter 2 The Devil himself being the greatest in sin shall be the deepest in torment for Hell is prepared chiefly for the Devil and his Angels Now who shall torment the Devils who can have power over them this must be by God immediately it must be done by his own hand Therefore man being appointed to partake with the Devil in the same torment and by the same fire look what it is that torments the Devil that also must be the torment of those that in a way of sinning have given themselves unto him 3 No creature can make a man perfectly miserable there is no creature that can deprive the soul of God and shut out all hope of mercy make it utter darkness if the soul did not apprehend it to come from Gods hand his hope in God would still be continued but as God hides his face in mercy sometimes here from his own people so he shall shew the wicked his face in wrath for ever and therefore as in Heaven he is immediately the happiness and the glory of the Saints so in Hell he is immediately the torment of the wicked and the Lord Christ as he is man shall pronounce the sentence against them but it is as God that he shall inflict the punishment As the sufferings of Christ here upon earth the greatness of them lay in this that God hid his face and it pleased the Father to bruise him so the same way will God t◠with all unregenerate men and therefore cursed art thou O man if thy portion be 〈◊〉 in the Essence of God for good and for blessedness it shall lie in the Essence of God for misery and torment for ever Vse 2 § 3. Therefore let your hearts and thoughts rise unto this height to seek God for himself and be satisfied with nothing else for all the creatures and the good things of this life are but given by the Lord to try men whether they will prove baits to them and to see whether they will rest satisfied in them without God and herein lies the power of godliness when a man is carried towards God for himself and when there is nothing that comes from God will satisfie without God for a regenerate mans happiness lies in the Essence of God and in the vision thereof and in this lies the happiness of Christ as Mediator Psal 16. that the Lord is the portion of his inheritance and of his cup. It 's true that Christ hath a great deal of satisfaction in seeing the travel of his soul and is satisfied in the Saints they are his friends and his Spouse and his brethren c. but yet the happiness of Christ as Mediator doth not consist therein but only in the enjoyment of God himself the vision of his Essence and in this is the sincerity of a mans heart made manifest when his heart is right with God and he can say Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee And truly in God a soul shall have all things he that gives himself will deny thee nothing Oh the height of the happiness of the Saints that that which is the happiness of Christ and the blessedness of God himself that shall be thy blessedness also and therefore we may cry out O the blessedness of that man whose God is Jehovah Now the ways of attaining of this blessedness are these 1 Pet. 2.21 1. By way of Vnion with Christ for God is first Christs God and then our God Christs end is to bring us unto God and it must be by entring into Covenant and there is no way of coming into Covenant but by Union be one with Christ and then God is thine in Covenant Joh. 3.3 2. By a work of Regeneration Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Grace is above nature and grace is a principle that doth qualifie a man for the enjoying of God there is no beatifical vision without a fiducial vision no seeing God without holiness no man shall see the Lord for it is by this that a man is made a meet inheritor with the Saints in light Rom. 12.1 3. There must be Self-resignation to God Give your selves unto the Lord for he that will have Christ to be his must be Christs he that will have the Lord for his portion must also himself be the Lords portion and therefore the Scripture speaks it reciprocally The Lord is the portion of his people Vse 3 3. See the riches of the Love of God under the second Covenant called the riches of his grace Eph. 1.7 Indeed it was great Love that the Lord was pleased to shew to man in his Creation when he did make over all his creatures to him for his use even all the works of his hands and great was his bounty therein but all this is nothing in comparison to the second Covenant for so bountiful is his love that he gives himself that he will not only act for you but he will be yours truly wholly entirely yours so as your happiness shall consist in him and not in your self he will be your chief good and your utmost end and the bottom of free grace lies in this the ground of his giving his Son and of all the great things in the new Covenant is this they were the men of his good will that should be happy in himself and he will bestow himself upon them And that he may do so he gives them his Son to bring them to God all tends but to this end Vse 4 4. It 's the highest ground of comfort and assurance unto faith in the world if God give his Son if he give himself therefore he will give them all spiritual and temporal blessings There is unto the Saints all things in God therefore when the Lord desires to give unto his people full assurance Heb. 6.17 as if he were in dispute about it it 's said When he could swear by no greater he swore by himself as if the Lord had been solicitous
the Lord shall so lead thee that thou shalt not dash thy foot against a stone tibi nocere non possunt sed coguntur inservire 2 Stones were for bounds and Land-marks and they shall not be removed but you shall continually enjoy the bounds of your own habitation they shall not be removed it shall be as sure as if you were in league with the Stones that they shall not depart from your bounds 3 Cocceius hath out of Vlpian a certain punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellant whence they did use to heap stones upon a ground that it might never be plowed to hinder its fruitfulness Thus the sense is The Stones shall be at league with thee that none of them shall hinder the fruitfulness of thy land and make it lye barren and untilled as in judgment they might doe Now if there be a Covenant by God made with all these for his people then surely the Motions and the Actings of all these shall be for the good of his People But you will say In what particular do all these little things work for the good of the Saints It will clearly appear in these particulars 1. In the smallest things the people see God and their spirits are elevated and raised up to behold him in them for not only the Heavens declare the Glory of God Psal 19.1 but even the meanest Creatures in all their motions do it Repraesentat quaelibet herba Deum Now there is a threefold Vision of God in this World in his Works and in his Word and in his Son and it is of special use that the works of God are unto the Saints in all their being and motions that they can see something of God in them Our Communion with God depends upon our Vision of God and the more we see God in all things the more we converse with him Now there is not the least of all the Creation of God but it doth represent him to us and we look upon it as a footstep of God it is that which doth raise up our hearts unto Heaven while we are upon Earth and causeth us to look upon nothing small that hath so glorious a Creator and so wise a Disposer in minimis lauda magnum says Austin when he speaks de culice there is much of God to be seen and the heart is much to be over-aw'd not only in the lesser things of the Word but also of the Works of God 2. It is unto the people of God matter of praise even in the actings of the meanest of the creatures to see how they work unto an end that they know not but the wise disposer of them knows all their motions and directs them unto his end the out-goings of the morning and evening do praise thee that is objectivè and occasionaliter as they give unto his people matter and occasion of praise In the creation the Morning Stars did sing Job 38.7 and so they do in all the Executions of Providence also fitting them for this end and guiding them to this end c. Austin in Psal 148. blames those that dislike and find fault with the works of God In officina non audent vituperare fabrum tamen audent reprehendere in mundo Deum Perdidisti Hallelujah A man doth lose his praise and the matter and occasion of it which is unto a Saint a great loss for praise is his delight and he loves the occasion of it 3. There is great matter of Meditation even in these ordinary things such as do mightily affect the Souls of the Saints it was so to David Psal 148.7 8 9 10. Praise the Lord from the earth ye Dragons and all deeps fire and hail snow and vapours stormy wind fulfilling his Word mountains and all hills fruitful trees and all cedars Beasts and all cattel creeping things and flying fowls and how can this be Nudae creaturae Deum celebrant Moller dum ad mirandam ejus sapientiam potentiam quotidie ostendunt The dangers prevented and the good things conferred such as are secrets unto us and we know not we consider not of as Luther saith of himself in the like case Somnia nostra observat quando nescimus nos vivere c. equidem odi carnem meam quòd haec scio vera esse iis tamen non seriò afficior c. It gives the Soul high matter of Meditation puts it into the Mount with God 4. It is unto the People of God a great ground of exercising their Faith and that in two things 1 Upon the word of Promise that all these creatures are his by Covenant in all their motions and therefore he has not a common interest in them with the rest of the world but they come unto him from another hand and he receives them by another tenure Now any mercy that has the respect of the Covenant put upon it is infinitely heightned unto them the smallest mercy enjoy'd by Covenant is better than the greatest without the Covenant it is better be as low as Hell with a promise than in Paradise without it therefore it is true that other men walk upon the Stones and they hurt them not and the Beasts break not in upon them the Sun shines and the Rain falls upon them yet here is the sweetness to a Believer This I enjoy as a fruit of an everlasting Covenant as an heir of Promise and as a Pledge of an eternal Inheritance 2 It will be a ground to exercise a mans Faith for a support if the Lord cloath the grass of the field how much more will he cloath you and if he feeds the Ravens he will surely not starve his Children nay if the supply of all the Creatures will be a Provision for you you shall not want it they shall all act for you and if it were possible to put a Saint of God in this life in such a condition as he should want the supply of all the creatures at once they should surely all work for his good for the Lord provides them of purpose and for that very end that they may work for you and therefore are they continued in their being and to that end are govern'd by him 5. The Love of the People of God is drawn out by them exceedingly even by small Mercies for it is not the greatness of the Blessing but the abundance of Love discovered to the soul in it that takes a gracious heart for we love him because he loved us first And as his love is discovered such are the outgoings of our love to him again Now these small things may be magni amoris indicium an ordinary turn of the creature may testifie a great deal of love from God to the Soul as when Israel came out of Egypt Joh. 19.36 not a Dog did move his tongue Exod. 11.7 if they had the matter had not been great for in the night they use to bark but though there was a great cry amongst the Egyptians