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A67068 God made visible in his workes, or, A treatise of the externall workes of God first, in generall, out of the words of the Psalmist, Psalm 35, 6 : secondly, in particular of the Creation, out of the words of Moses, Genesis, Chap. 1 and 2 : thirdly, of Gods actuall Providence / by George Walker ... Walker, George, 1581?-1651. 1641 (1641) Wing W358; ESTC R38408 12,999 22

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this use and doe worke this effect we may gather from the dependance and inference of this Text For the Psalmist having professed that he knows the Lord to be great and that he is the onely true God above all gods that is who hath all the essentiall properties of the true God he proves it by and from his workes and sheweth that by meanes of them he knoweth it And other Scriptures and experience confirme the same Psal. 19.1 It is said that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge and Rom. 1.20 The visible things of God are seene from the creation of the world clearly being understood by the things which were made Even his divine Power and God-head So the works of Gods actual providence in governing and upholding the world and in mooving the Heavens and the starres in order doe shew his infinite wisdome and supercelestia●l glory Psal. 8.1 His overthrowing of his enemies and the persecutors of his Church as in the flood of Noah and in the drowning of Pharaoh and his host do shew his power His giving of Christ his Son for a Redeemer aboundantly testifieth his infinite goodnesse and bounty his punishing our sins in Christ to the ●ull shews his infinite Justice and his pardoning of beleevers by Christs satisfaction freely given and communicated to them shewes his infinite mercy and free grace as the Scriptures often testifie and our own consciences within us do witnesse and our daily sense and experience do proove And in our Redemption and application of it we see discovered the Trinity of Persons in one God And while wee in these things as in a glasse behold the glory of God with open face the vaile of ignorance being remooved we are changed into the same Image from glory to glory and so come to have communion with God and the fruition of him 2 Cor. 3.18 The seventh and last Branch sets before us the utmost end of all Gods outward works to wit the eternall blessednesse of the elect by the communion vision and fruition of God in all his glorious attributes as wisedome power goodnesse mercy justice and the rest The Text it selfe intimates this Truth to us saying that all these workes of God proceed from his good will and pleasure For the good pleasure and will of God consists chiefly and principally in willing that his elect shall be brought to perfect communion of himselfe and of his glory for their eternall happinesse And what God willeth according to his owne good pleasure and doth because he is pleased so to do it must needs aime at the blessednesse of his elect by the sight and fruition of him and his glory Now therfore all Gods outward workes proceeding from Gods pleasure must needs tend to this end and this is confirmed Rom. 8.28 1 Cor. 3.21 22 23. where we read that all things worke together for good to them that love God and are the called according to his purpose and that all things are the elects the world life and death things present and things to come and they are Christs and Christ is Gods also Col. 1.16 all things visible and invisible were created as by Christ so for him that they might serve him for the salvation of his elect and for this end and purpose Angells principalities and powers are said to be made subject to Christ 1 Pet. 3.22 And their office and ministery and the great wonders which God doth by them are said to be for them who shall be heires of salvation Heb. 1.14 To these testimonies many reasons might be added I will onely call to mind that which I have else where abundantly declared and prooved to wit that for this end the world is upheld by Christ and for his sake and through his mediation ever since mans fall and for this end the wicked live even the barbarous and savage nations either that they may serve for some use to Gods people or for the elects sake whom God will raise up out of them or that God may shew his justice and power on them being fitted for destruction to the greater glory of his elect even the judgements of God on the wicked and their damnation serve for this end to increase the blessednesse of the Saints The doctrine of this description serves for to stirre us up in imitation of God our Creator not to content our selves with saying purposing and promising or with making a shew of doing good workes but to be reall true constant and faithfull in performance of them For so doth God whatsoever he promiseth or purposeth or is pleased to doe that he doth in Heaven and Earth Sluggards who delight in idlenesse doing nothing and Hypocrites who say and promise and make great shew of doing but are barren of the fruites of good workes as they are most unlike to God and contrary to him so they are hatefull and abhominable in the sight of God and they onely are accepted of God who are active Christians alwayes doing good and abounding in the worke of the Lord their labour shall not be in vaine but every one shall receive reward according to his workes which are evidences of his communion with Christ and of his faith justification and sanctification wherefore seeing God is alwayes reaching forth his mighty hand to worke in Heaven in Earth in the Sea and all deep places for our profit let us be alwayes doing and studying to do good for his glory Secondly it serves to move and direct us in and through the outward workes of God to see and behold the infinite eternall and omnipotent God and his divine power and God-head and in the unity of Gods essence the sacred Trinity of persons because all the persons have a hand in every worke and that one God who is three persons is the author and worker of every divine outward worke as this doctrine teacheth It is a common custome among men when they see and behold the handy worke of any person to remember the person to bee put in minde of him by the worke especially if he have knowne the person before and beare the love and affection to him of a friend and a beloved one So let it be with us so often as we see and behold the visible outward workes of God let us in them behold the face of God and remember his glorious attributes Let us in the great workes of Creation behold the wisedome and power of God the Creator in the worke of Redemption the mercy bounty and love of God in our Sanctification the love and the holinesse of God and in them all let us behold the three glorious Persons in that one God who worketh all things after the counsell of his owne will The Father by his eternall Word and Spirit creating all things The Sonne sent forth by the Father in our nature and sanctified by the Spirit redeeming
us and paying our ransome The Holy Ghost shed on us by God the Father through the Sonne Christ in our regeneration And all three conspiring together to purge sanctifie and justifie us and to make us eternally blessed in our communion with them and in our fruition of God in grace and glory And let us take heed and beware of idle and vaine speculation of Gods great workes which shew his glory and proclaime his glorious Attributes Wisdome Power and Goodnesse lest by such idle negligence wee become guilty of taking the name of the Lord our God in vaine Thirdly from this description we may easily gather and conclude that sinnefull actions as they are evill and sinnefull are not Gods workes for God is pleased with those things which he doth and his workes are according to his pleasure but God is not pleased with sinnefull actions and evill workes he hath no pleasure in iniquity Psal. 5.4 If any aske How then can it be done if he will not and be not pleased I answer That in them there is to be considered 1. A naturall motion or action proceeding from some created power and so from God the Creator and this is good and of God and according to his will as it willeth things properly 2. There is a corruption perversenesse and crookednesse of the action this is of the Divell and mans corruption this God hateth but because actions thus corrupted and stayned make way for God and give him occasion to shew his wisedome and power in ouer-ruling them and disposing them by his hand to a good end and his justice in punishing them therefore God is pleased to continue that naturall power to the wicked which they pervert and abuse and to over-rule such wicked workes and to raise light out of that darkenesse And therefore let us not impute any evill and sinfull workes to God as they are evill and sinfull nor wickedly imagine that he is the author of sin His hand is never in any sinfull work otherwise then to over-rule order and dispose the sinfulnesse and evill thereof to some good end and purpose Fourthly we are hereby admonished not to impute any worke done in the world to fortune or chance as worldly Epicures do but to ascribe all workes and every thing which comes to passe to the certaine will purpose and determinate counsell of ●od It is true that in respect of second causes and purposes of men many things come to passe accidentally and by chance no man purposing or intending any such thing but in respect of God they are certaine and infallible they all happen according to his will and without it not an haire can fall from our heads nor a Sparrow fall to the earth all power and motion is of him and the abuse of the power and motion which is from the Divell and mans corruption he willingly permitted and doth over-rule and dispose by his wisedome and providence to a good end And therefore in all casualties and accidents let us comfort our selves and rest content and bee patient knowing that they come not but by his will and pleasure Lastly let us rejoyce in all the great workes which we see done in the world and honour them as meanes tending to our salvation if we be Gods faithfull people and with care and conscience walke before him according to his word and let the sight of them put us in mind for our comfort that our God in whom we trust doth not lie idle nor slumber or sleep but by a mighty hand and stretched out arme hath done all these great things and is continually doing and working for us to bring us at length out of all troubles and dangers and to set us and establish us for ever in eternall rest glory and blessednesse The next thing which in order followeth after the description of Gods outward workes in generall is the unfolding and distinct handling of the severall sorts and kindes of them And because the right dividing of them into heads and the reducing of all the particulars unto their proper and naturall heads is a maine ground of light and a sure way to the distinct handling and understanding of them I will therefore before I proceed any further labour to divide them aright into their naturall heads according to the ru●es of reason and truth and so will proceed to that which is the first in time and by the course and order of nature namely the creation of the world and all things in it The learned though they all acknowledge every kind of Gods outward workes and doe not differ in the kindes and numbers of them yet they are at variance about the true division of them into their first and principall heads Some divide the works of God into the works of Creation and the works of Redemption But this is no perfect division the two members of it do not containe all the outward works of God for over and besides them there are works of preservation and of judgement and revenge Others divide all Gods outward workes into the works of nature and the workes of grace The workes of nature they divide into two sortes 1. The workes which concerne the first beginning of nature that is the workes of creation 2. The workes which concerne the preservation which they call the works of Gods providence The works of grace they hold to be the works of Redemption and restauration of man-kind by which God brings supernaturall blessings to men But this division failes in divers respects First It makes a difference betweene works of nature and works of grace wheras indeed creation and preservation which they account works of nature are in some sense works of grace For God of his owne free grace created man in his own Image And now and ever since the first sin of Adam which brought death and destruction into the world all works of preservation by which God preserveth men in being and life are works of free grace and the preserving of his Elect unto his heavenly Kingdome is a worke of supernaturall grace in Christ Second●● they erre in distinguishing between the works of Gods providence and the works of Redemption and rest●uration wheras Redemption and restauration are principall works of Gods providence by which God provides for his elect in Christ such things as neither eye hath seen nor eare heard neither have entred into the heart of man 1 Cor. 2.9 A third sort there are who divide all Gods outward works into these two heads only namely the works of Creation and the works of actuall providence This I take to be the best and most perfect division First because under these heads are all Gods outward works contained and there is not any one which may not be reduced under one of these two For whatsoever God doth or hath done or can doe for the giving of the first being to all things may be reduced to Creation And whatsoever God doth or can do for the ordering preserving and disposing of things created and of their being and wel-being may be brought under the works of his actuall providence Secondly there is a perfect distinction and difference between the works of creation and the works of actuall providence So far as mans substance differs from mans misery and mans felicity so farre doth every proper worke of Creation differ from the works of Gods actuall providence in their objects And although God in the creating of things in order did shew his providence for man in that he first made a place of habitation for him and all things which may serve for his use as plants trees fruits light and other necessaries before he created him yet this breeds no confusion between the works of creation and the works of preservation for two things may go together in time and place and may be in the same subject as we see sense and understanding hearing and seeing in one man at the same time and heat and light in fire and yet they may be different in themselvs This order therfore I do purpose to follow hereafter by Gods assistance in prosecuting the body of Divinity First I will begin with the Creation and will labour to unfold the nature of it in generall And then I will proceed to the handling of all the speciall works therof every one distinctly by it self in particular Secondly I will passe from thence to the works of Gods actuall providence under which comes the government and preservation of the world and of al things created and the ordering and disposing of every thing to the proper end of it More especially the fall of man into sin misery and guilt of damnation And the Redemption of man from misery and his Restauration to grace and glory by the application and fruition of Redemption and by true spirituall union and communion with Christ the Redeemer and with God the Father in him by the inhabitation of the Holy Ghost Thus much for the generall Doctrin of Gods outward works laid down in this Text and for the division of them in their severall heads and kinds unto which all the particular outward works may be reduced FINIS Vse 1. Vse 2. Vse 3. Vse 4. Vse 5.