31.3 the Egyptians are Flesh and not Spirit And our Saviour gives us the notion of a Spirit to be something above the nature of a Body Luke 24.39 not having flesh and bones extended parts loads of gross matter 'T is also taken for those things which are active and efficacious because activity is of the nature of a Spirit Caleb had another Spirit Num. 14.24 an active affection The vehement motions of sin are called Spirit Hos 4.12 the Spirit of Whoredoms in that sense that Pro. 29.11 a Fool utters all his mind all his Spirit he knows not how to restrain the vehement motions of his mind So that the notion of a Spirit is that it is a fine immaterial substance an active being that acts it self and other things A meer Body cannot act it self as the Body of Man cannot move without the Soul no more than a Ship can move it self without Wind and Waves So God is called a Spirit as being not a Body not having the greatness figure thickness or length of a Body wholly separate from any thing of flesh and matter We find a Principle within us nobler than that of our Bodies and therefore we conceive the Nature of God according to that which is more worthy in us and not according to that which is the vilest part of our Natures God is a most spiritual Spirit more spiritual than all Angels all Souls * Gerhard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As he exceeds all in the nature of Being so he exceeds all in the nature of Spirit He hath nothing gross heavy material in his Essence 2. When we say God is a Spirit 't is to be understood by way of Negation There are two ways of knowing or describing God By way of affirmation affirming that of him in a way of eminency which is excellent in the Creature as when we say God is wise good The other by way of negation when we remove from God in our conceptions what is tainted with imperfection in the Creature * Gamacheus Tom. 1. q. 3. Cap. 1. P. 42. The first ascribes to him whatsoever is excellent the other separates from him whatsoever is imperfect The first is like a Limning which adds one Colour to another to make a comely Picture the other is like a Carving which pares and cuts away whatsoever is superfluous to make a compleat Statue This way of negation is more easie we better understand what God is not than what he is and most of our knowledge of God is by this way As when we say God is infinite immense immutable they are negatives He hath no limits is confined to no place admits of no change * Coccei sum Theol. Cap. 8. When we remove from him what is inconsistent with his Being we do more strongly assert his Being and know more of him when we elevate him above all and above our own capacity And when we say God is a Spirit 't is a negation he is not a Body he consists not of various parts extended one without and beyond another He is not a Spirit so as our Souls are to be the form of any Body A Spirit not as Angels and Souls are but infinitely higher we call him so because in regard of our weakness we have not any other term of excellency to express or conceive of him by We transfer it to God in honour because Spirit is the highest excellency in our nature Yet we must apprehend God above any Spirit since his Nature is so great that he cannot be declared by human speech perceived by human sense or conceived by human understanding The second thing That God is a Spirit * Thes Sedan Part. 2. P. 1â—â—â— Some among the Heathens imagined God to have a Body some thought him to have a Body of Air some a Heavenly Body some a human Body * Vossius Idolol lib. 2. cap. 1. Forbes Instrument l. 1. c. 36. And many of them ascribed bodies to their Gods but bodies without blood without corruption bodies made up of the finest and thinnest Atomes such bodies which if compared with ours were as no bodies The Saddures also who denied all Spirits and yet acknowledged a God must conclude him to be a Body and no Spirit Some among Christians have been of that opinion Tertullian is charged by some and excused by others And some Monks of Egypt were so fierce for this Error that they attempted to kill one Theophilus a Bishop for not being of that Judgment * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the wiser Heathens were of another mind and esteemed it an unholy thing to have such imaginations of God * Plutarch incorporalis ratio divinus spiritus Seneca And some Christians have thought God only to be free from any thing of body because he is omnipresent immutable he is only incorporeal and spiritual all things else even the Angels are clothed with bodies though of a neater matter and a more active frame than ours a pure spiritual Nature they allowed to no Being but God Scripture and Reason meet together to assert the spirituality of God Had God had the Lineaments of a Body the Gentiles had not fallen under that accusation of changing his Glory into that of a Corruptible Man * Rom. 1.23 This is signified by the name God gives himself Exod. 3.14 I am that I am a simple pure uncompounded Being without any created mixture as infinitely above the being of Creatures as above the conceptions of Creatures Job 37.23 Touching the Almighty we cannot find him out He is so much a Spirit that he is the Father of Spirits Heb. 12.9 The Almighty Father is not of a Nature inferior to his Children The Soul is a Spirit it could not else exert actions without the assistance of the body as the act of Understanding it self and its own nature the act of willing and willing things against the incitements and interest of the Body It could not else conceive of God Angels and immaterial substances It could not else be so active as with one glance to fetch a compass from Earth to Heaven and by a sudden motion to elevate the understanding from an earthly thought to the thinking of things as high as the highest Heavens If we have this opinion of our Souls which in the nobleness of their acts surmount the Body without which the Body is but a dull unactive piece of clay we must needs have a higher conception of God than to clogg him with any matter though of a finer temper than ours We must conceive of him by the perfections of our Souls without the vileness of our Bodies If God made Man according to his Image we must raise our thoughts of God according to the noblest part of that Image and imagine the Exemplar or Copy not to come short but to exceed the thing copyed by it God were not the most excellent substance if he were not a Spirit Spiritual substances are more excellent than bodily
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
away our guilt on the Cross and pleads for our Persons at the Throne of Grace That Blood which silenc'd the Curse pacifi'd Heaven and purg'd Earth is given to us for our refreshment This is the Bread sent from Heaven the true Manna The Cup is the Cup of Blessing and therefore a Cup of Goodness †1 Cor. 10.15 'T is true Bread doth not cease to be Bread nor the Wine cease to be Wine neither of them lose their Substance but both acquire a Sanctification by the relation they have to that which they represent and give a nourishment to that Faith that receives them In those God offers us a Remedy for the Sting of Sin and troubles of Conscience He gives us not the Blood of a meer Man or the Blood of an incarnate Angel but of God blessed for ever A Blood that can secure us against the wrath of Heaven and the tumults of our Consciencies A Blood that can wash away our Sins and beautifie our Souls A Blood that hath more strength than our Filth and more prevalency than our Accuser A Blood that secures us against the terrours of Death and purifies us for the Blessedness of Heaven The Goodness of God complies with our senses and condescends to our weakness He instructs us by the Eye as well as by the Ear He lets us see and taste and feel him as well as hear him He vails his Glory under Earthly Elements and informs our understanding in the Mysteries of Salvation by signs familiar to our Senses and because we cannot with our Bodily Eyes behold him in his Glory he presents him to the Eyes of our Minds in Elements to affect our understandings in the representations of his Death The Body of Christ Crucified is more visible to our Spiritual sense than the invisible Deity could be visible in his Flesh upon Earth And the Power of his Body and Blood is as well experimented in our Souls as the power of his Divinity was seen by the Jews in his miraculous actions in his Body in the World 'T is the Goodness of God to mind us frequently of the great things Christ hath purchased That as himself would not let them be out of his mind to communicate them to us so he would give us means to preserve them in our minds to adore him for them and request them of him whereby he doth evidence his own solicitousness that we should not be depriv'd by our own forgetfulness of that Grace Christ hath purchased for us It was to remember the Redeemer and shew his Death till he came * 1 Cor. 1â—â— 25 26. 1. His Goodness is seen in the end of it which is a sealing the Covenant of Grace * Amyral 〈◊〉 p. 16 â—7 The common Nature and End of Sacraments is to seal the Covenant they belong to and the truths of the Promises of it The legal Sacraments of Circumcision and the Passover sealed the legal Promises and the Covenant in the Judaical Administration of it And the Evangelical Sacraments seal the Evangelical Promises as a Ring confirms a contract of Marriage and a Seal the Articles of a Compact By the same reason Circumcision is call'd a Seal of the Righteousnâ—ss of Faith †Rom. 4.11 other Sacraments may have the same Title God doth attest that he will remain firm in his Promise and the Receiver atteâ—ts he will remain firm in his Faith In all Reciprocal Covenants there are mutual Engagements and that which serves for a Seal on the part of the one serves for a Seal also on the part of the other God obligeth himself to the performance of the Promise and Man engageth himself to the performance of his Duty The thing confirm'd by this Sacrament is the perpetuity of this Covenant in the Blood of Christ whence it is called the New Testament or Covenant in the Blood of Christ * Lâ—ke 22.20 In every repetition of it God by presenting confirms his resolution to us of sticking to this Covenant for the Merit of Christs Blood and the Receiver by eating the Body and drinking the Blood engageth himself to keep close to the Condition of Faith expecting a full Salvation and a blessed Immortality upon the Merit of the same Blood alone This Sacrament could not be called the New Testament or Covenant if it had not some relation to the Covenant and what it can be but this I do not understand The Covenant it self was confirm'd by the Death of Christ †Heb. 9.15 and thereby made unchangeable both in the Benefits to us and the Condition requir'd of us but he seals it to our sense in a Sacrament to give us strong consolation Or rather the Articles of the Covenant of Redemption between the Father and the Son agreed on from Eternity were accomplisht on Christs part by his Death on the Fathers part by his Resurrection Christ performed what he promsed in the one and God acknowledgeth the validity of it and performs what he had promised in the other The Covenant of Grace founded upon this Covenant of Redemption is sealed in the Sacrament God owns his standing to the terms of it as sealed by the Blood of the Mediator by presenting him to us under those Signs and gives us a right upon Faith to the enjoyment of the Fruits of it As the right of a House is made over by the delivery of the Key and the right of Land translated by the delivery of a Turf whereby he gives us assurance of his reality and a strong support to our confidence in him Not that there is any vertue and power of sealing in the Elements themselves no more than there is in a Turf to give an Infeoffment in a parcel of Land but as the power of the one is derived from the Order of the Law so the confirming power of the Sacrament is deriv'd from the Institution of God As the Oyl wherewith Kings were anointed did not of it self confer upon them that Royal Dignity but it was a sign of their investiture into Office order'd by Divine Institution We can with no reason imagine that God intended them as naked Signs or Pictures to please our Eyes with the Image of them to represent their own Figures to our Eyes but to confirm something to our understanding by the Efficacy of the Spirit accompanying them * Daille Melâ—â—g part 1. p. 153. They convey to the Believing Receiver what they represent as the great Seal of a Prince fixed to the Parchment doth the Pardon of the Rebel as well as its own Figure Christs Death and the Grace of the Covenant is not only signified but the Fruits and Merit of that Death communicated also Thus doth Divine Goodness evidence it self not only in making a Gracious Covenant with us but fixing Seals to it not to strengthen his own Obligation which stood stronger than the Foundations of Heaven and Earth upon the Credit of his Word but to strengthen our weakness and
several valves or doors for the thrusting the blood forwards to perform its circular motion 3. The Brain fortified by a strong skull to hinder outward accidents a tough membrane or skin to hinder any oppression by the skull the seat of sense that which coins the animal spirits by purifying and refining those which are sent to it and seems like a curious peice of Needlework 4. The Ear framed with windings and turnings to keep any thing from entring to offend the Brain so disposed as to admit sounds with the greatest safety and delight * Eccles 12.4 filled with an air within by the motion whereof the sound is transmitted to the Brain As sounds are made in the Air by diffusing themselves as you see Circles made in the water by the flinging in a stone This is the Gate of knowledge whereby we hear the Oracles of God and the instruction of men for arts T is by this they are exposed to the mind and the mind of another Man framed in our understandings 5. What a curious Workmanship is that of the Eye which is in the body as the Sun in the World set in the head as in a Watch-Tower having the softest nerves for the receiving the greater multitude of Spirits necessary for the act of Vision How is it provided with defence by the variety of Coats to secure and accomodate the little humor and part whereby the vision is made Made of a round figure and convex as most commodious to receive the species of objects shaded by the eye-brows and eye-lids secured by the eye-lids which are its ornament and safety which refresh it when it is too much dried by heat hinder too much light from insinuating it self into it to offend it cleanse it from impurities by their quick motion preserve it from any invasion and by contraction confer to the more evident discerning of things Both the eyes seated in the hollow of the bone for security yet standing out that things may be perceived more easily on both sides And this little Member can behold the earth and in a moment veiw things as high as Heaven 6. * Coccei sum Theol. cap. 8. § 49. The Tongue for speech framed like a Musical instrument the Teeth serving for variety of sounds the lungs serving for Bellows to blow the Organs as it were to cool the Heart by a continual motion transmitting a pure Air to the Heart expelling that which was smoky and superfluous T is by the Tongue that communication of Truth hath a passage among men it opens the sense of the mind there would be no converse and commerce without it Speech among all Nations hath an elegancy and attractive force mastering the affections of men Not to speak of other parts or of the multitude of Spirits that act every part he quick flight of them where there is a necessity of their presence Solomon 12 Ecclesiast makes an elegant description of them in his Speech of old age And Job â—peaks of this formation of the body Job 10.9 10 11 c. Not the least part of the body is made in vain The hairs of the Head have their use as well as are an ornament The whole Symmetry of the body is a ravishing object Every Member hath a Signature and mark of God and his Wisdom He is visible in the formation of the Members the beauty of the parts and the vigor of the body This structure could not be from the body that only hath a passive power and cannot act in the absence of the Soul Nor can it be from the Soul How comes it then to be so ignorant of the manner of its formation The Soul knows not the internal parts of its own body but by information from others or inspection into other bodies It knows less of the inward frame of the body than it doth of it self But he that makes the Clock can tell the number and motions of the wheels within as well as what figures are without This short discourse is useful to raise our admirations of the Wisdom of God as well as to demonstrate that there is an Infinite Wise Creator And the consideration of our selves every day and the wisdom of God in our frame would maintain Religion much in the world Since all are so framed that no man can tell any error in the constitution of him If thus the body of man is fitted for the service of his Soul by an infinite God the body ought to be ordered for the service of this God and in obedience to him 2. In the admirable difference of the features of Men. Which is a great argument that the world was made by a wise Being This could not be wrought by Chance or be the work of meer nature since we find never or very rarely two persons exactly alike This distinction is a part of infinite wisdom otherwise what confusion would be introduced into the World Without this Parents could not know their Children nor Children their Parents nor a Brother his Sister nor a Subject his Magistrate Without it there had been no comfort of Relations no Government no commerce Debtors would not have been known from strangers nor good men from bad Propriety could not have been preserved nor justice executed the innocent might have been apprehended for the nocent wickedness could not have been stopt by any Law The Faces of men are the same for parts not for features A dissimilitude in a likeness Man like to all the rest in the World yet unlike to any and differenced by some mark from all which is not to be observed in any other species of Creatures This speaks some wise Agent which framed man since for the preservation of human society and order in the world this distinction was necessary Secondly II. As mans own nature witnesseth a God to him in the structure of his body so also in the nature of his Soul * Coâ—cei sam Theolog. cap. 8. § 50.51 We know that we have an understanding in us a substance we cannot see but we know it by its operations as thinking reasoning willing remembring And as operating about things that are invisible and remote from sense This must needs be distinct from the body for that being but dust and Earth in its original hath not the power of reasoning and thinking for then it would have that power when the Soul were absent as well as when it is present Besides if it had that power of thinking it could think only of those things which are sensible and made up of matter as it self is This Soul hath a greater excellency it can know it self rejoyce in it self which other Creatures in this world are not capable of The Soul is the greatest glory of this lower world and as one saith * More There seems to be no more difference between the Soul and an Angel than between a Sword in the Scabbard and when it is Out of the Scabbard First I. Consider the vastness
of its capacity The understanding can conceive the whole world and paint in it self the invisible Pictures of all things T is capable of apprehending and discoursing of things superior to its own nature * Culverwel T is suted to all objects as the Eye to all Colours or the Ear to all sounds How great is the Memory to retain such varieties such diversities The Will also can accomodate other things to it self It invents Arts for the use of Man prescribes rules for the Government of States ransacks the bowels of nature makes endless conclusions and steps in reasoning from one thing to another for the knowledge of Truth It can contemplate and form notions of things higher than the world 2. The quickness of its motion * Theodoret. Nothing is more quick in the whole course o◠nature the Sun runs through the World in a day this can do it in a moment It can with one flight of fancy ascend to the battlements of Heaven The mists of the Air that hinder the sight of the Eye cannot hinder the flights of the Soul it can pass in a moment from one end of the World to the other and think of things a thousand miles distant It can think of some mean thing in the world and presently by one cast in the twinkling of an Eye mount up as high as Heaven As its desires are not bounded by sensual objects so neither are the motions of it restrained by them It will break forth with the greatest vigour and conceive things infinitely above it Though it be in the body it acts as if it were ashamed to be Cloystered in it This could not be the result of any material cause Whoever knew meer matter understand think will And what it hath not it cannot give That which is destitute of Reason and Will could never confer Reason and Will * Coccei sum The dog cap. 8. § 51.52 T is not the effect of the Body for the Body is fitted with members to be subject to it T is in part ruled by the activity of the Soul and in part by the Counsel of the Soul T is used by the Soul and knows not how it is used Nor could it be from the Parents since the Souls of the Children often transcend those of the Parents in vivacity acuteness and comprehensiveness One man is stupid and begets a Son with a capacious understanding one is debauched and beastly in morals and begets a Son who from his Infancy testifies some vertuous inclinations which sprout forth in delightful fruit with the ripeness of his age I do not dispute whether the Soul were generated or no Suppose the substance of it was generated by the Parents yet those more excellent qualities were not the result of them Whence should this difference arise a fool begat the wise man and a debauched the vertuous man The wisdom of the one could not descend from the foolish Soul of the other nor the vertues of the Son from the deformed and polluted Soul of the Parent it lies not in the Organs of the Body For if the folly of the Parent proceeded not from their Souls but the ill disposition of the Organs of their bodies how comes it to pass that the bodies of the Children are better Organiz'd beyond the goodness of their immediate cause We must recur to some invisible hand that makes the difference who bestows upon one at his pleasure richer qualities than upon another You can see nothing in the World endowed with some excellent quality but you must imagine some bountiful hand did inrich it with that dowry None can be so foolish as to think that a vessel ever inricht it self with that spritely Liquor wherewith it is filled or that any thing worse than the Soul should indow it with that knowledge and activity which sparkles in it Nature could not produce it That nature is intelligent or not if it be not then it produceth an effect more excellent than it self in as much as an understanding being surmounts a being that hath no understanding If the supream cause of the Soul be intelligent why do we not call it God as well as nature We must arise from hence to the notion of a God a Spiritual nature cannot proceed but from a Spirit higher than it self and of a transcendent perfection above it self If we beleive we have Souls and understand the state of our own faculties we must be assured that there was some invisible hand which bestowed those faculties and the riches of them upon us A man must be ignorant of himself before he can be ignorant of the Existence of God By considering the nature of our Souls we may as well be assured that there is a God as that there is a Sun by the shining of the beams in at our Windows And indeed the Soul is a Statue and representation of God as the Land-Skip of a Country or Map represents all the parts of it but in a far less proportion than the Country it self is The Soul fills the body and God the world the Soul sustains the body and God the World the Soul sees but is not seen God sees all things but is himself invisible How base are they then that prostitute their Souls an image of God to base things unexpressibly below their own nature 3. I might add the union of Soul and Body Man is a kind of compound of Angel and Beast of Soul and body if he were only a Soul he were a kind of Angel if only a body he were another kind of brute Now that a body as vile and dull as earth and a Soul that can mount up to Heaven and rove about the world with so quick a motion should be linkt in so strait an acquaintance that so noble a being as the Soul should be an inhabitant in such a Tabernacle of Clay must be owned to some infinite power that hath so chained it 3. Man witnesseth to a God in the operations and reflections of Conscience Rom. 2.15 Their thoughts are accusing or excusing An inward comfort attends good actions and an inward torment follows bad ones for there is in every mans Conscience fear of punishment and hope of reward There is therefore a sense of some superior Judge which hath the power both of rewarding and punishing If man were his supream rule what need he fear punishment since no man would inflict any evil or torment on himself nor can any man be said to reward himself for all rewards refer to another to whom the action is pleasing and is a conferring some good a man had not before If an action be done by a Subject or Servant with hopes of reward it can not be imagined that he expects a reward from himself but from the Prince or person whom he eyes in that action and for whose sake he doth it 1. There is a Law in the minds of men which is a rule of good and evil There is a Notion
that we might now serve God in a more spiritual manner and with more spiritual frames 6. Proposition The Service and worship the Gospel settles is spiritual and the performance of it more spiritual Spirituality is the Genius of the Gospel as Carnality was of the Law the Gospel is therefore called Spirit We are abstracted from the imployments of Sense and brought neerer to a Heavenly State The Jews had Angels Bread poured upon them we have Angels Service prescribed to us the Praises of God Communion with God in Spirit through his Son Jesus Christ and stronger foundations for spiritual affections 'T is called a reasonable service * Rom. 12.1 t is suted to a rational nature tho it finds no friendship from the Corruption of reason It prescribes a service fit for the reasonable faculties of the Soul and advanceth them while it employs them The word reasonable may be translated word service * V. Hammond in loc as well as reasonable service an Evangelical service in opposition to a Law service All Evangelical service is reasonable and all truly reasonable service is Evangelical The matter of the worship is Spiritual it consists in love of God faith in God recourse to his goodness Meditation on him and Communion with him It lays aside the Ceremonial Spiritualizeth the moral The Commands that concerned our duty to God as well as those that concerned our duty to our Neighbour were reduced by Christ to their Spiritual intention The Motives are Spiritual t is a state of more grace as well as of more truth * John 1.17 supported by Spiritual promises beaming out in Spiritual priviledges heaven comes down in it to Earth to Spiritualize Earth for Heaven The manner of worship is more Spiritual higher flights of the Soul stronger ardours of affections sincerer aims at his glory mists are removed from our minds Cloggs from the Soul more of love than fear faith in Christ kindles the affections and works by them The assistances to Spiritual worship are greater The Spirit doth not drop but is plentifully poured out It doth not light sometimes upon but dwells in the heart Christ suted the Gospel to a Spiritual heart and the Spirit changeth a carnal heart to make it fit for a Spiritual Gospel He blows upon the Garden and causes the spices to flow forth And often makes the Soul in worship like the Chariots of Aminadab in a quick and nimble motion Our blessed Lord and Saviour by his death discovered to us the nature of God and after his ascension sent his Spirit to fit us for the worship of God and converse with him One Spiritual Evangelical believing breath is more delightful to God than millions of Altars made up of the richest pearls and smoaking with the costliest oblations because it is Spiritual And a mite of Spirit is of more worth than the greatest weight of flesh One holy Angel is more excellent than a whole world of meer bodies 7. Proposition Yet the worship of God with our bodies is not to be rejected upon the account that God requires a Spiritual worship Tho we must perform the weightier duties of the Law yet we are not to omit and leave undone the lighter precepts Since both the Magnalia and minutula legis the greater and the lesser duties of the Law have the stamp of Divine authority upon them As God under the Ceremonial Law did not Command the worship of the body and the observation of outward rites without the engagement of the Spirit so neither doth he Command that of the Spirit without the peculiar attendance of the body The Schwelk sendians denied bodily worship And the indecent postures of many in publick attendance intimate no great care either of Composing their bodies or Spirits A morally discomposed body intimates a tainted heart Our Bodies as well as our Spirits are to be presented to God * Rom. 12.1 Our bodies in lieu of the Sacrifices of Beasts as in the Judaical institutions body for the whole man a living Sacrifice not to be slain as the Beasts were but living a new life in a holy posture with Crucified affections This is the inference the Apostle makes of the priviledges of Justification Adoption Coheirship with Christ which he had before discoursed of Priviledges conferred upon the person and not upon a part of man 1. Bodily worship is due to God He hath a right to an Adoration by our bodies as they are his by Creation his right is not diminisht but increased by the blessing of Redemption 1 Cor. 6.20 For you are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and your Spirits which are Gods The Body as well as the Spirit is redeemed since our Saviour suffered Crucifixion in his body as well as Agonies in his Soul Body is not taken here for the whole man as it may be in Rom. 12. But for the material part of our nature it being distinguisht from the Spirit If we are to render to God an obedience with our bodies we are to render him such Acts of worship with our bodies as they are capable of As God is the Father of Spirits so he is the God of all flesh Therefore the flesh he hath framed of the Earth as well as the noble portion he hath breathed into us cannot be denyed him without apalpable in justice The service of the body we must not deny to God unless we will deny him to be the author of it and the exercise of his providential care about it The mercies of God are renewed every day upon our bodies as well as our Souls and therefore they ought to express a fealty to God for his bounty everyday * Sherman's Greek in the Temple pa. 61.62 both are from God both should be for God Man consists of Body and Soul the service of Man is the service of both The body is to be Sanctified as well as the Soul and therefore to be offered to God as well as the Soul Both are to be glorified both are to glorifie As our Saviours Divinity was manifested in his body so should our Spirituality in ours To give God the service of the body and not of the Soul is hypocrisie to give God the service of the Spirit and not of the body is sacriledge to give him neither Atheism If the only part of man that is visible were exempted from the service of God there could be no visible Testimonies of piety given upon any occasion Since not a moiety of man but the whole is Gods Creature he ought to pay a homage with the whole and not only with a moiety of himself 2. Worship in societies is due to God but this cannot be without some bodily expressions The law of nature doth as much direct men to combine together in publick societies for the acknowledgment of God as in Civil Communities for self preservation and order And the notice of a society for Religion is more Ancient than the mention of
lie secret in your heart though not form'd into a full conception yet testified by your Actions No you are much mistaken 't is impossible but that I should see and know all things since I am present with all things and am not at a greater distance from the things on earth than from the the things in Heaven for I fill all that vast Fabrick which is divided into those two parts of Heaven and Earth and he that hath such an infinite essence cannot be distant cannot be ignorant nothing can be far from his eyes since every thing is so near to his Essence So that it is an elegant Expression of the Omniscience of God and a strong Argument for it He asserts first the Universality of his Knowledge but lest they should mistake and confine his presence only to Heaven he adds That he fills Heaven and Earth I do not see things so as if I were in one place and the things seen in another as it is with man but whatsoever I see I see not without my self because every corner of Heaven and Earth is fill'd by me He that fills all must needs see and know all And indeed men that question the knowledg of God would be more convinc'd by the Doctrine of his immediate presence with them And this seems to be the design and manner of Arguing in this place Nothing is remote from my knowledg because nothing is distant from my presence I fill Heaven and Earth he doth not say I am in Heaven and Earth but I fill Heaven and Earth i. e. †Tum perspâ—â—â—cia tum effâ—cacia Groâ— say some with my Knowledg others with my Authority or my Power But 1. The word filling cannot properly be referred to the act of understanding and will A presence by knowledg is to be granted but to say such a presence fills a a place is an improper Speech Knowledge is not enough to constitute a presence A man at London knows there is such a City as Paris and knows many things in it can he be concluded therefore to be present in Paris or fill any place there or be present with the things he knows there If I know any thing to be distant from me how can it be present with me For by knowing it to be distant I know it not to be present Besides filling Heaven and Earth is distinguisht here from Knowing or Seeing His presence is render'd as an Argument to prove his Knowledg Now a Proposition and the proof of that Proposition are distinct and not the same It cannot be imagin'd that God should prove idem per idem as we say for what would be the import of the Speech then I know all things I see all things because I know and see all things * Suarez The Holy Ghost here accommodates himself to the Capacity of men because we know that a man sees and knows that which is done where he is corporally present so he proves that God knows all things that are done in the most secret Caverns of the Heart because he is every where in Heaven and Earth as light is every where in the air and air every where in the World Hence the Schools use the term repletivè for the presence of God 2. Nor by filling of Heaven and Earth is meant his Authority and Power It would be improperly said of a King that in regard of the Government of his Kingdom is every where by his Authority that he fills all the Cities and Countrys of his Dominions I do not I fill * Amirald de Trinitate p. 57. That I notes the Essence of God as distinguisht according to our capacity from the perfections pertaining to his Essence and is in reason better referred to the substance of God than to those things we conceive as Attributes in him Besides were it meant only of his Authority or Power the Argument would not run well I see all things because my Authority and Power fills Heaven and Earth Power doth not always rightly infer knowledg no not in a rational agent Many things in a Kingdom are done by the Authority of the King that never arrive to the Knowledg of the King Many things in us are done by the Power of our souls which yet we have not a distinct Knowledg of in our understandings There are many motions in sleep by the virtue of the soul informing the body that we have not so much as a simple knowledg of in our minds Knowledge is not rightly inferr'd from power or power from knowledg By filling Heaven and Earth is meant therefore a filling it with his Essence No place can be imagin'd that is deprived of the presence of God and therefore when the Scripture any where speaks of the presence of God it joyns Heaven and Earth together He so fills them that there is no place without him We do not say a vessel is full so long as there is any space to contain more Not a part of Heaven nor a part of Earth but the whole Heaven the whole Earth at one and the same time If he were only in one part of Heaven or one part of Earth nay if there were any part of Heaven or any part of Earth void of him he could not be said to fill them I fill Heaven and Earth not a part of me fills one place and another part of me fills another but I God fill Heaven and Earth I am whole God filling the Heaven and whole God filling the Earth I fill Heaven and yet fill Earth I fill Earth and yet fill Heaven and fill Heaven and Earth at one and the same time God fills his own works a Heathen Philosopher saith * Seneca de Benefic lib. 4. cap. 8. Ipse opus suum implet Here is then a Description of Gods Presence 1. By Power Am I not a God afar off a God in the extension of his Arm. 2. By Knowledg Shall I not see them 3. By Essence as an undeniable ground for inferring the two former I fill Heaven and Earth Doct. God is Essentially every where present in Heaven and Earth If God be he must be somewhere that which is no where is nothing Since God is he is in the world not in one part of it for then he were circumscrib'd by it if in the world and only there though it be a great space he were also limited * Chrysostom Some therefore said God was every where and no where No where i. e. not bounded by any place nor receiving from any place any thing for his preservation or sustainment He is every where because no creature either Body or Spirit can exclude the presence of his Essence for he is not only near but in every thing * Acts. 17.28 In him we live and move and have our being Not absent from any thing but so present with them that they live and move in him and move more in God than in the air or earth wherein they
Essence of God to be every where as to be always Immensity is as rational as Eternity That indivisible Essence which reaches through all times may as well reach through all places 'T is more excellent to be always than to be every where for to be always in duration is Intrinsical to be every where is Extrinsick If the greater belongs to God why not the less As all times are a Moment to his Eternity so all places are as a Point to his Essence As he is larger than all time so he is vaster than all place The Nations of the World are to him as the Dust of the Ballance or Drop of a Bucket * Isa 40.15 The Nations are accounted as the small Dust the Essence of God may well be thought to be present every where with that which is no more than a grain of Dust to him and in all those Isles which if put together are a very little thing in his hand Therefore saith a Learned Jew * Maimonid If a man were set in the highest Heavens he would not be nearer to the Essence of God than if he were in the Center of the Earth Why may not the Presence of God in the World be as noble as that of the Soul in the Body which is generally granted to be essentially in every part of the body of man which is but a little World and animates every Member by its actual presence though it exerts not the same operation in every part * Ficin the World is less to the Creator than the Body to the Soul and needs more the Presence of God than the Body needs the presence of the Soul That glorious body of the Sun visits every part of the Habitable Earth in 24 hours by its beams which reaches the Troughs of the lowest Valleys as well as the Pinacles of the highest Mountains must we not acknowledg in the Creator of this Sun an infinite greater proportion of Presence Is it not as easy with the Essence of God to over-spread the whole body of Heaven and Earth as it is for the Sun to pierce and diffuse its self through the whole Air between it and the Earth and send up its light also as far to the Regions above Do we not see something like it in Sounds and Voices Is not the same Sound of a Trumpet or any other Musical Instrument at the first breaking out of a Blast in several places within such a compass at the same time Doth not every Ear that hears it receive alike the whole sound of it And fragrant Odors scented in several places at the same time in the same manner and the Organ proper for Smelling takes in the same in every person within the compass of it How far is the noise of Thunder heard alike to every Ear in places something distant from one another And do we daily find such a manner of presence in those things of so low a concern and not imagine a kind of Presence of God greater than all those Is the sound of Thunder the Voice of God as it is call'd every where in such a compass and shall not the Essence of an Infinite God be much more every where Those that would confine the Essence of God only to Heaven and exclude it from the Earth run into great inconveniencies It may be demanded whether he be in one part of the Heavens or in the whole vast body of them If in one part of them his Essence is bounded if he moves from that part he is mutable for he changes a place wherein he was for another wherein he was not If he be always fixed in one part of the Heavens such a notion would render him little better than a living Statue * Hornheck Soun Part 1. p. 303. If he be in the whole Heaven why cannot his Essence possess a greater space than the whole Heavens which are so vast How comes he to be confin'd within the compass of that since the whole Heaven compasseth the Earth If he be in the whole Heaven he is in places farther distant one from another than any part of the Earth can be from the Heavens since the Earth is like a Center in the midst of a Circle it must be nearer to every part of the Circle than some parts of the Circle can be to one another If therefore his Essence possesses the whole Heavens no reason can be render'd why he doth not also possess the Earth since also the Earth is but a little point in comparison of the vastness of the Heavens If therefore he be in every part of the Heavens why not in every part of the Earth The Scripture is plain Psal 139.7.8 9. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Or whither shall I flie from thy Presence If I ascend up to Heaven thou art there If I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall uphold me If he be in Heaven Earth Hell Sea he fills all places with his Presence his Presence is here asserted in places the most distant from one another all the places then between Heaven and Earth are possessed by his Presence 'T is not meant of his Knowledge for that the Psalmist had spoken of before ver 2.3 Thou understandest my thoughts afar off thou art acquainted with all my ways Besides Thou art there not thy wisdom or knowledge but Thou thy Essence not only thy Vertue For having before spoken of his Omniscience he proves that such Knowledg could not be in God unless he were present in his Essence in all places so as to be excluded from none He fills the depths of Hell the extension of the Earth and the heights of the Heavens When the Scripture mentions the Power of God only it expresseth it by Hand or Arm but when it mentions the Spirit of God and doth not intend the Third Person in the Trinity it signifies the Nature and Essence of God And so here when he saith Whither shall I go from thy Spirit he adds exegetically Whither shall I flie from thy Presence or Heb. Face and the Face of God in Scripture signifies the Essence of God †Exod 33.20.23 Thou canst not see my face and my face shall not be seen the effects of his Power Wisdom Providence are seen which are his Back-parts but not his face The effects of his Power and Wisdom are seen in the World but his Essence is invisible and this the Psalmist elegantly expresseth Had I Wings endued with as much quickness as the first Dawnings of the morning light or the first darts of any Sun-beam that spreads its self through the Hemisphere and passes many Miles in as short a space as I can think a Thought I should find thy presence in all places before me and could not flie out of the infinite
various stops to a delightful Harmony So is the Wisdom of God seen in framing the World then in tuning it and afterwards in the motion of the several Creatures The Fabrick of the World is called the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.21 After that in the Wisdom of God the World by Wisdom knew not God i. e. by the Creation the World knew not God the framing Cause is there put for the Effect and the Work framed Because the Divine Wisdom stept forth in the Creatures to a publick appearance as if it had presented it self in a visible shape to Man giving Instructions in and by the Creatures to know and adore him What we translate 1 Gen. 1. In the beginning God Created the Heaven and the earth the Targum expresseth In wisdom God created the Heaven and the Earth Both bear a stamp of this perfection on them * Omne opus naturae est opus intelligentiae And when the Apostle tels the Romans Rom. 1.20 the invisible things of God were clearly understood by the things that are made the word he uses is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this signifies a work of labour but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a work of skill or a Poem The whole Creation is a Poem every Species a Stanza and every individual Creature a Verse in it The Creation presents us with a prospect of the Wisdom of God as a Poem doth the Reader with the wit and fancy of the Composer By wisdom he created the Earth Pro. 3.19 and stretched out the Heavens by discretion Jer. 10.12 There is not any thing so mean so small but Glitters with a beam of Divine skill and the consideration of them would justly make every man subscribe to that of the Psalmist O Lord how manifold are thy works in Wisdom hast thou made them all Psal 104.24 All the least as well as the greatest and the meanest as well as the noblest even those creatures which seem ugly and deformed to us as Toads c. because they fall short of those perfections which are the dowry of other Animals In these there is a footstep of Divine Wisdom since they were not produced by him at random but determin'd to some particular end and design'd to some usefulness as parts of the World in their several natures and stations God could never have had a satisfaction in the review of his works and pronounced them good or comly as he did Gen. 1.31 had they not been agreeable to that eternal original Copy in his own mind 'T is said he was refresh't viz. with that review Exod. 31.17 which could not have been if his piercing eye had found any defect in any thing which had sprung out of his hand or an unsutableness to that end for which he Created them He seems to do as a man that hath made a curious and polite work with exact care to peer about every part and line if he could perceive any imperfection in it to rectify the mistake But no defect was found by the infinitely wise God upon this second examination This Wisdom of the Creation appears 1. In the variety 2. In the beauty 3. The fitness of every Creature for its use 4 The subordination of one Creature to another and the joint concurrence of all to one common end 1. In the Variety Psal 104.24 O Lord how manifold are thy works How great a variety is there 〈◊〉 Animals and Plants with a great variety of forms Shapes Figurations Colours various smels vertues and qualities and this rarity is produced from one and the same Matter as Beasts and Plants from the Earth Gen. 1.11.24 Let the Earth bring forth living Creatures and the Earth brought forth grass and the herb yielding seed after his kind Such diversity of Fowl and Fish from the water Gen. 1.20 Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving Creature that hath life and Fowl that may fly Such a beautiful and active variety from so dul a matter as the Earth so solid a variety from so fluid a matter as the Water so noble a piece as the body of man with such variety of members fit to entertain a more excellent Soul as a guest from so mean a matter as the dust of the ground Gen. 2.7 This extraction of such variety of forms out of one single and dul matter is the Chimistry of Divine wisdom 'T is a greater skill to frame noble Bodies of vile Matter as varieties of precious Vessels of Clay and Earth than of a nobler Matter as Gold and Silver Again all those varieties propagate their kind in every particular and quality of their nature uniformly bring forth exact copies according to the first pattern God made of the kind Gen. 1.11.12.24 Consider also how the same piece of ground is garnisht with Plants and Flowers of several vertues Fruits Colours Scents without our being able to perceive any variety in the Earth that breeds them and not so great a difference in the Roots that bear them Add to this the diversities of Birds of different Colours Shapes Notes consisting of various Parts Wings like Oars to cut the Air Tails as the Rudder of a Ship to guide their motion How various also are the Endowments of the Creatures some have Vegetation and the power of growth others have the addition of Sense and others the excellency of Reason something wherein all agree and something wherein all differ variety in unity and unity in variety The wisdom of the Workman had not been so conspicuous had there been only one degree of goodness The greatest skill is seen in the greatest variety The comliness of the Body is visible in the variety of Members and their usefulness to one another What an inform thing had Man been had he been all Ear or all Eye If God had made all the Stars to be Suns it would have been a demonstration of his Power but perhaps less of his Wisdom No Creatures with the Natures they now have could have continued in being under so much heat There was no less Wisdom went to the frame of the least than to the greatest Creature It speaks more art in a Limner to paint a Landskip exactly than to draw the Sun though the Sun be a more glorious Body I might instance also in the different Characters and Features imprinted upon the Countenances of Men and Women the differences of Voices and Statures whereby they are distinguisht from one another These are the Foundations of Order and of Human Society and Administration of Justice what Confusion would have been if a grown-up Son could not be known from his Father the Magistrate from the Subject the Creditor from the Debtor the Innocent from the Criminal The Laws God hath given to Mankind could not have been put in execution This variety speaks the wisdom of God 2. The wisdom of the Creation appears in the beauty and order and scituation of the several Creatures Eccles 3.11 He hath
of the Body and Service of the Soul What is there in the whole Structure that doth not inform us of the Goodness of God 2. But what is this to that goodness which shines in the Nature of the Soul Who can express the wonders of that Comeliness that is wrapt up in this Mask of Clay A Soul endued with a clearness of Understanding and freedom of Will Faculties no sooner fram'd but they were able to produce the Operations they were intended for A Soul that excelled the whole World that comprehended the whole Creation A Soul that evidenced the extent of its Skill in giving names to all that variety of Creatures which had issued out of the hand of Divine Power * Gen. 2.19 A Soul able to discover the Nature of other Creatures and manage and conduct their Motions In the Ruines of a Palace we may see the Curiosity display'd and the Cost expended in the building of it In the Ruines of this fallen Structure we still find it capable of a mighty Knowledge a Reason able to regulate Affairs govern States order more Mighty and Massy Creatures find out witty Inventions There is still an Understanding to irradiate the other Faculties a Mind to contemplate its own Creator a Judgment to discern the differences between Good and Evil Vice and Vertue which the Goodness of God hath not granted to any lower Creature These Excellent Faculties together with the Power of Self-reflection and the swiftness of the Mind in running over the things of the Creation are astonishing Gleams of the vast Goodness of that Divine Hand which ennobled this Frame To the other Creatures of this World God had given out some small Mites from his Treasury but in the Perfections of Man he hath opened the more secret parts of his Exchequer and liberally bestow'd those Doles which he hath not expended upon the other Creatures on Earth 3. Besides this He did not only make Man so noble a Creature in his Frame but he made him after his own Image in Holiness He imparted to him a Spark of his own Comeliness in order to a communion with himself in Happiness had Man stood his ground in his tryal and used those Faculties well which had been the gift of his Bountiful Creator He made Man after his Image after his own Image †Gen. 1.26 27. That as a Coyn bears the Image of the Prince so did the Soul of Man the Image of God Not the Image of Angels though the speech be in the Plural Number Let us make Man 'T is not to a Creature but to a Creator Let us that are his Makers make him in the Image of his Makers God Created Man Angels did not Create him God Created Man in his own Image not therefore in the Image of Angels The Nature of God and the Nature of Angels are not the same Where in the whole Scripture is Man said to be made after the Image of Angels God made Man not in the Image of Angels to be conformed to them as his Prototype but in the Image of the Blessed God to be conformed to the Divine Nature That as he was conform'd to the Image of his Holiness he might also partake of the Image of his Blessedness which without it could not be attained For as the felicity of God could not be clear without an unspotted Holiness so neither can there be a glorious Happiness without Purity in the Creature This God provided for in his Creation of Man giving him such accomplishments in those two Excellent Pieces of Soul and Body that nothing was wanting to him but his own will to instate him in an invariable Felicity He was possessed with such a Nature by the hand of Divine Goodness such a loftiness of Understanding and purity of Faculties that he might have been for ever Happy as well as the standing Angels And he was placed in such a Condition that moved the envy of fallen Spirits He had as much Grace bestow'd upon him as was proportionable to that Covenant God then made with him The Tenor of which was That his Life should continue so long as his Obedience and his Happiness endure so long as his Integrity And as God by Creation had given him an Integrity of Nature so he had given him a power to persist in it if he would Herein is the Goodness of God display'd that he made Man after his own Image 4. As to the Life of Man in this World God by an immense Goodness Copied out in him the whole Creation and made him an Abridgment of the higher and lower World a little World in a greater one The Link of the two Worlds of Heaven and Earth as the Spiritual and Corporeal Natures are united in him the Earth in the Dust of his Body and the Heavens in the Chrystal of his Soul He hath the upper Springs of the Life of Angels in his Reason and the neather Springs of the Life of Animals in his Sense God display'd those Vertues in Man which he had discover'd in the rest of the lower Creation but besides the communication which he had with Earth in his Nature God gave him a participation with Heaven in his Spirit A meer Bodily Being he hath given to the Heavens Earth Elements a Vegetative Life or a Life of Growth he hath vouchsafed to the Plants of the Ground He hath stretched out his Liberality more to Animals and Beasts by giving them Sense All these hath his Goodness linkt in Man Being Life Sense with a richer Dole than any of those Creatures have receiv'd in a Rational Intellectual Life whereby he approacheth to the Nature of Angels This some of the Jews understood * Gen. 2.7 God breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life and Man became a living Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Breath of Lives in the Hebrew not one sort of Life but that variety of Lives which he had imparted to other Creatures All the Perfections scattered in other Creatures do unitedly meet in Man So that Philo might well call him every Creature the Model of the whole Creation His Soul is Heaven and his Body is Earth †Eugubin lib. 5. cap. 9. So that the Immensity of his Goodness to Man is as great as all that Goodness you behold in Sensitive and Intelligible things 5. All this was free Goodness God Eternally possessed his own Felicity in himself and had no need of the Existence of any thing without himself for his satisfaction Man before his Being could have no good qualities to invite God to make him so Excellent a Fabrick For being nothing he was as unable to allure and merit as to bring himself into Being Nay he Created a Multitude of Men who he foresaw would behave themselves in as ungrateful a manner as if they had not been his Creatures but had bestow'd that rich variety upon themselves without the hand of a Superior Benefactor How great is this Goodness that hath made us Models
or Wisdom to have let Man perpetually wallow in that Sink wherein he had plung'd himself since he was Criminal by his own will and therefore Miserable by his own fault Nothing could necessitate this Reparation If Divine Goodness could not be obliged by the Angelical Dignity to repair that Nature he is further from any Obligation by the meaness of Man to repair Humane Nature There was less necessity to restore Man than to restore the fallen Angels What could Man do to oblige God to a Reparation of him since he could not render him a Recompence for his Goodness manifested in his Creation He must be much more impotent to render him a Debtor for the Redemption of him from Misery Could it be a salary for any thing we had done Alass we are so far from Meriting it that by our daily Demerits we seem ambitious to put a stop to any further Effusions of it We could not have complain'd of him if he had left us in the Misery we had courted since he was bound by no Law to bestow upon us the Recovery we wanted When the Apostle speaks of the Gospel of Redemption he giveth it the Title of the Gospel of the Blessed God †2 Tim. 1.11 It was the Gospel of a God abounding in his own Blessedness which receiv'd no addition by Mans Redemption If he had been blessed by it it had been a goodness to himself as well as to the Creature It was not an Indigent Goodness needing the receiving any thing from us but it was a pure Goodness streaming out of it self without bringing any thing into it self for the Perfection of it There was no Goodness in us to be the Motive of his Love but his Goodness was the Fountain of our Benefit 3. It was a distinct Goodness of the whole Trinity In the Creation of Man we find a general Consultation * Gen. 1.26 without those distinct Labours and Offices of each Person and without those rais'd Expressions and Marks of Joy and Triumph as at Mans Restoration In this there are distinct Functions The Grace of the Father the Merit of the Son and the Efficacy of the Spirit The Father makes the Promise of Redemption the Son Seals it with his Blood and the Spirit applies it The Father Adopts us to be his Children the Son Redeems us to be his Members and the Spirit Renews us to be his Temples In this the Father testifies himself well pleased in a Voice The Son proclaims his own delight to do the will of God and the Spirit hastens with the Wing of a Dove to fit him for his work And afterwards in his apparition in the likeness of Fiery Tongues manifests his zeal for the propagation of the Redeeming Gospel 4. The Effects of it proclaim his great Goodness 'T is by this we are deliver'd from the Corruption of our Nature the Ruine of our Happiness the deformity of our Sins and the punishment of our Transgressions He frees us from the Ignorance wherewith we were darkned and from the Slavery wherein we were fetter'd When he came to make Adams Process after his Crime instead of pronouncing the Sentence of Death he had merited he utters a Promise that Man could not have expected His Kindness swells above his provoked Justice and while he chaseth him out of Paradise he gives him hopes of regaining the same or a better Habitation and is in the whole more ready to prevent him with the Blessings of his Goodness than charge him with the horrour of his Crimes †Gen. 3.17 'T is a Goodness that pardons us more Transgressions than there are Moments in our Lives and overlooks as many Follies as there are Thoughts in our Heart He doth not only relieve our wants but restores us to our Dignity 'T is a greater Testimony of Goodness to instate a Person in the highest Honour than barely to supply his present Necessity 'T is an admirable Pity whereby he was inclin'd to Redeem us and an incomparable Affection whereby he was resolv'd to exalt us What can be desir'd more of him than his Goodness hath granted He hath sought us out when we were lost and Ransom'd us when we were Captives He hath Pardon'd us when we were Condemn'd and rais'd us when we were Dead In Creation he rear'd us from nothing in Redemption he delivers our Understanding from ignorance and vanity and our Wills from impotence and obstinacy and our whole Man from a Death worse than that nothing he drew us from by Creation 5. Hence we may consider the height of this Goodness in Redemption to exceed that in Creation He gave Man a Being in Creation but did not draw him from unexpressible Misery by that act His Liberality in the Gospel doth infinitely surpass what we admire in the Works of Nature His Goodness in the latter is more astonishing to our belief than his Goodness in Creation is visible to our Eye There is more of his Bounty exprest in that one Verse * Joh. 3.16 So God loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son than there is in the whole Volume of the World 'T is an incomprehensible so a so that all the Angels in Heaven cannot Analyze and few Comment upon or understand the dimensions of this so In Creation he form'd an Innocent Creature of the Dust of the Ground in Redemption he restores a Rebellious Creature by the Blood of his Son It is greater than that Goodness manifested in Creation 1. In regard of the difficulty of effecting it In Creation meer nothing was vanquisht to bring us into Being In Redemption sullen Enmity was conquer'd for the enjoyment of our Restoration In Creation he subdued a Nullity to make us Creatures In Redemption his Goodness overcomes his Omnipotent Justice to restore us to Felicity A word from the Mouth of Goodness inspir'd the Dust of Mens Bodies with a living Soul but the Blood of his Son must be shed and the Laws of Natural Affection seem to be overturn'd to lay the Foundation of our renew'd Happiness In the first Heaven did but speak and the Earth was form'd In the second Heaven it self must sink to Earth and be clothed with dusty Earth to reduce Mans Dust to its Original State 2. This Goodness is greater than that manifested in Creation in regard of its Cost This was a more expensive Goodness than what was laid out in Creation The redemption of one Soul is pretious †Psal 49.8 much more costly than the whole Fabrick of the World or as many Worlds as the understandings of Angels in their utmost extent can conceive to be Created For the effecting of this God parts with his dearest Treasure and his Son Eclipses his choicest Glory For this God must be made Man Eternity must suffer Death the Lord of Angels must weep in a Cradle and the Creator of the World must hang like a Slave he must be in a Manger in Bethlehem and die upon a Cross on
great a care he took of the Poor that they should have the gleanings both of the Vineyard and Field †Lev. 19.10 Lev. 23.22 and not be forced to pay Vsury for the Money lent them * Ex. 22.25 4. His Goodness is seen in taking care of the wickedest Persons The Earth is full of his Goodness * Psal 37.5 The wicked as well as the good enjoy it they that dare lift up their hands against Heaven in the posture of Rebels as well as those that lift up their Eyes in the condition of suppliants To do good to a Criminal far surmounts that goodness that flows down upon an Innocent Object Now God is not only good to those that have some degrees of goodness but to those that have the greatest degrees of wickedness to Men that turn his liberality into affronts of him and have scarce an appetite to any thing but the violation of his Authority and Goodness Though upon the fall of Adam we have lost the pleasant habitation of Paradise and the Creatures made for our use are fall'n from their Original Excellency and Sweetness yet he hath not left the World utterly incommodious for us but yet stores it with things not only for the preservation but delight of those that make their whole lives invectives against this good God Manna fell from Heaven for the Rebellious as well as for the Obedient Israelites Cain as well as Aâ—â—l and Esau as well as Jacob had the influences of his Sun and the benefits of his Showers The World is yet a kind of Paradise to the veriest Beasts among Mankind The Earth affords its Riches the Heavens its Showers and the Sun its light to those that injure and Blaspheme him * Mat. 5.45 He makes his Sâ—n to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust The wickedest breath in his Air walk upon his Earth and drink of his Water as well as the best The Sun looks with as pleasant and bright an Eye upon a rebellious Absalom as a righteous David The Earth yields its Plants and Medicines to one as well as to the other 'T is seldom that he deprives any of the faculties of their Souls or any Members of their Bodies God distributes his Blessings where he might shoot his Thunders and darts his Light on those who deserve an Eternal Darkness and presents the good things of the Earth to those that Merit the Miseries of Hell for the Earth and the fulnâ—ss thereof is the Lords * Psal 24.1 Every thing in it is his in Propriety ours in Trust 'T is his Corn his Wine * Hos 2.8 He never devested himself of the Propriety though he grants us the Use And by those good things he supports multitudes of wicked Men not one or two but the whole Shoal of them in the World For he is the Saviour of all Men i. e. is the Preserver of all Men * 1 Tim. 4.10 And as he Created them when he foresaw they would be wicked so he provides for them when he beholds them in their ungodliness The ingratitude of Men stops not the Current of his Bounty nor tires his liberal hand Howsoever unprofitable and injurious Men are to him he is liberal to them and his Goodness is the more admirable by how much the more the unthankfulness of Men is provoking He sometimes affords to the worst a greater portion of these Earthly Goods they often swim in Wealth when others pine away their lives in Poverty And the Silk-worm yields its bowels to make Purple for Tyrants while the Oppressed scarce have from the Sheep Wool enough to cover their nakedness and though he furnish Men with those good things upon no other account than what Princes do when they nourish Criminals in a Prison till the time of their Execution 't is a Mark of his Goodness Is it not the kindness of a Prince to treat his Rebels deliciously To give them the liberty of the Prison and the enjoyment of the delights of the place rather than to load their Legs with Fetters and lodge them in a dark and loathsom Dungeon till he orders them for their Crime to be conducted to the Scaffold or Gibbet Since God is thus kind to the vilest Men whose meaness by reason of Sin is beyond that of any other Creature as to shoot such rayes of Goodness upon them How unexpressible would be the Expressions of his Goodness if the Divine Image were as pure and bright upon them as it was upon Innocent Adam 2. His Goodness is evident in the preservation of Humane Society It belongs to his Power that he is able to do it but to his Goodness that he is willing to do it 1. This Goodness appears in prescribing Rules for it The Moral Law consists but of Ten Precepts and there are more of them order'd for the support of Humane Society than for the adoration and honour of himself * Exod. 20.1 2. Four for the Rights of God and Six for the Rights of Man and his security in his Authority Relations Life Goods and Reputation Superiours not to be dishonoured Life not to be invaded Chastity not to be stain'd Goods not to be filcht Good Name not to be crackt by False-witness nor any thing belonging to our Neighbour to be coveted And in the whole Scripture not only that which was Calculated for the Jews but compil'd for the whole World he hath fixt Rules for the ordering all Relations Magistrates and Subjects Parents and Children Husbands and Wives Masters and Servants Rich and Poor find their distinct Qualifications and Duties There would be a Paradisical State if Men had a goodness to observe what God hath had a goodness to order for the strengthning the Sinews of Humane Society The World would not groan under oppressing Tyrants nor Princes tremble under discontented Subjects or mighty Rebels Children would not be provok't to anger by the unreasonableness of their Parents nor Parents sink under grief by the Rebellion of their Children Masters would not tyrannize over the meanest of their Servants nor Servants invade the authority of their Masters 2. The Goodness of God in the preserving Humane Society is seen in setting a Magistracy to preserve it Magistracy is from God in its Original the Charter was drawn up in Paradise Civil subordination must have been had Man remained in innocence But the Charter was more explicitly renew'd and enlarg'd at the restoration of the World after the Deluge and giv'n out to Man under the Broad Seal of Heaven * Gen. 9.6 Whoso sheds Mans Blood by Man shall his Blood be shed The Command of shedding the Blood of a Murderer was a part of his Goodness to secure the lives of those that bore his Image Magistrates are the Shields of the Earth but they belong to God * Psal 47.9 They are Fruits of his Goodness in their Original and Authority Were there no Magistracy
succession of propagating For there is no Eternal continuation of time Time is always to be conceived as having one part before another But that perpetuity of Nativities is always after some time wherein it could not be for the weakness of age If no man then can conceive a propagation from Eternity there must be then a beginning of Generation in time and consequently the Creatures were made in time * To express 〈◊〉 in the words of one of our own Wolscley of Atheism pa. 4◠If the World were Eternal it must have been in the same posture as it is now in a state of Generation and Corruption And so Corruption must have been as Eternal as Generation and then things that do generate and corrupt must have Eternally been and Eternally not have been There must be some first way to set Generation on work We must lose our selves in our conceptions we cannot conceive a Father before a Child as well as we cannot conceive a Child before a Father And reason is quite bewildred and cannot return into a right way of Conception till it Conceive one first of every kind One first man one first animal one first Plant from whence others do proceed The argument is unanswerable and the wisest Atheist if any Atheist can be called wise cannot unlose the knot We must come to something that is first in every kind and this first must have a cause not of the same kind but Infinite and Independent otherwise men run into unconceivable Labyrinths and contradictions Man the Noblest Creature upon Earth hath a beginning No Man in the World but was some years ago no man If every man we see had a beginning then the first Man had also a beginning then the World had a beginning For the Earth which was made for the use of man had wanted that end for which it was made We must pitch upon some one man that was unborn that first man must either be Eternal * Petav. ut supr p. 10. that cannot be for he that hath no beginning hath no end or must spring out of the Earth as Plants and Trees do That cannot be Why should not the Earth produce men to this day as it doth Plants and Trees He was therefore made and whatsoever is made hath some cause that made it which is God * Damason If the World were uncreated it were then immutable but every Creature upon the Earth is in a continual flux always changing If things be mutable they were Created if Created they were made by some Author whatsoever hath a beginning must have a maker if the World hath a beginning there was then a time when it was not it must have some cause to produce it That which makes is before that which is made and this is God Secondly II. Which will appear further in this proposition No Creature can make it self The world could not make it self If every man had a beginning every man then was once nothing he could not then make himself because nothing cannot be the cause of something Psa 100.3 The Lord he is God he hath made us and not we our selves whatsoever begun in time was not and when it was nothing it had nothing and could do nothing And therefore could never give to it self nor to any other to be or to be able to do For then it gave what it had not and did what it could not * Petav. Theo. Dog tom 1. lib. 1. cap. 2. pag. 14. Since reason must acknowledge a first of every kind a first Man c. it must acknowledge him Created and made not by himself why have not other men since rise up by themselves not by Chance why hath not Chance produced the like in that long time the World hath stood If we never knew any thing give being to it self how can we Imagine any thing ever could If the chiefest part of this lower World cannot nor any part of it hath been known to give being to it self then the whole cannot be supposed to give any being to it self Man did not forme himself His body is not from himself it would then have the power of moving it self but that is not able to live or act without the presence of the Soul Whilst the Soul is present the body moves when that is absent the body lies as a senseless log not having the least action or motion His Soul could not form it self can that which cannot form the least mote the least grain of dust form it self a nobler substance than any upon the Earth This will be evident to every Mans reason if we consider 1. Nothing can act before it be The first Man was not and therefore could not make himself to be For any thing to produce it self is to act if it acted before it was it was then something and nothing at the same time it then had a being before it had a being it acted when it brought it self into being How could it act without a being without it was So that if it were the cause of it self it must be before it self as well as after it self it was before it was it was as a cause before it was as an effect Action always supposeth a priciple from whence it flows as nothing hath no Existence so it hath no operation there must be therefore something of real Existence to give a Being to those things that are and every cause must be an effect of some other before it be a cause To be and not be at the same time is a manifest contradiction which would be if any thing made it self That which makes is always before that which is made Who will say the House is before the Carpenter or the Picture before the Limbner The world as a Creature must be before it self as a Creature 2. That which doth not understand it self and order it self could not make it self If the first Man fully understood his own nature the excellency of his own Soul the manner of its operations why was not that understanding conveyed to his posterity Are not many of them found who understand their own nature almost as little as a Beast understands it self or a Rose understands its own sweetness or a Tulip it s own Colours The Scripture indeed gives us an account how this came about viz. by the deplorable Rebellion of Man whereby Death was brought upon them a Spiritual Death which includes ignorance as well as an inability to Spritual action * Gen. 2.17 Psal 49.8 Thus he fell from his Honour and became like the Beasts that perish and not retaining God in his knowledge retained not himself in his own knowledge But what reply can an Atheist make to it who acknowledges no higher cause than nature If the Soul made it self how comes it to be so muddy so wanting in its knowledge of it self and of other things If the Soul made its own understanding whence did the defect arise If some
reasonably doubt but that there is some first cause which makes the things appear so to them They cannot be the cause of their own appearance For as nothing can have a being from it self so nothing can appear by it self and its own force Nothing can be and not be at the same time But that which is not and yet seems to be if it be the cause why it seems to be what it is not it may be said to be and not to be But certainly such persons must think themselves to exist If they do not they cannot think and if they do exist they must have some cause of that Existence So that which way soever we turn our selves we must in reason own a first cause of the World Well then might the Psalmist term an Atheist a fool that disowns a God against his own reason Without owning a God as the first cause of the world no man can give any tolerable or satisfactory account of the world to his own reason And this first cause 1. Must necessarily exist * Petav. Theol. Dog Tom. 1. lib. 1. cap. 2. pa. 10. 11. T is necessary that he by whom all things are should be before all things and nothing before him And if nothing be before him he comes not from any other and then he always was and without beginning He is from himself not that he once was not but because he hath not his Existence from another and therefore of necessity he did exist from all Eternity Nothing can make it self or bring it self into being therefore there must be some being which hath no cause that depends upon no other never was produced by any other but was what he is from Eternity and cannot be otherwise and is not what he is by will but nature necessarily existing and always existing without any capacity or possibility ever not to be 2. Must be infinitely perfect Since man knows he is an imperfect being he must suppose the perfections he wants are seated in some other being which hath limited him and upon which he depends Whatsoever we conceive of excellency or perfection must be in God For we can conceive no perfection but what God hath given us a power to conceive And he that gave us a power to conceive a transcendent perfection above whatever we saw or heard of hath much more in himself else he could not give us such a conception Secondly II. As the production of the world so the harmony of all the parts of it declare the being and wisdom of a God Without the acknowledging God the Atheist can give no account of those things The multitude elegancy variety and beauty of all things are steps whereby to ascend to one fountain and orignal of them Is it not a folly to deny the being of a wise Agent who sparkles in the beauty and motions of the Heavens rides upon the wings of the wind and is writ upon the flowers and fruits of Plants As the cause is known by the effects so the wisdom of the cause is known by the elegancy of the work the proportion of the parts to one another Who can imagine the world could be rashly made and without consultation which in every part of it is so Artificially framed * Philo. Judae Petav. Theolog. Dogmat. Tom. 1. lib. 1. cap. 1. pag. 9. No work of Art springs up of its own accord The world is framed by an excellent Art and therefore made by some skilful Artist As we hear not a melodious instrument but we conclude there is a Musitian that touches it as well as some skilful hand that framed and disposed it for those Lessons And no man that hears the pleasant sound of a Lute but will fix his thoughts not upon the Instrument it self but upon the skill of the Artist that made it and the art of the Musitian that strikes it though he should not see the first when he saw the Lute nor see the other when he hears the harmony So a rational Creature confines not his thoughts to his sense when he sees the Sun in its Glory and the Moon walking in its brightness but riseth up in a contemplation and admiration of that infinite Spirit that composed and filled them with such sweetness This appears 1. In the linking contrary qualities together All things are compounded of the Elements Those are endued with contrary qualities driness and moisture heat and cold These would always be contending with and infesting one anothers rights till the contest ended in the destruction of one or both Where fire is predominant it would suck up the water where water is prevalent it would quench the fire The heat would wholly expel the cold or the cold over-power the heat Yet we see them chained and linkt one within another in every body upon the Earth and rendring mutual offices for the benefit of that body wherein they are seated and all conspiring together in their particular quarrels for the publick interest of the body How could those contraries that of themselves observe no order that are always preying upon one another joyntly accord together of themselves for one common end if they were not linkt in a common band and reduced to that order by some incomprehensible wisdom and power which keeps a hand upon them orders their motions and directs their events and makes them friendly pass into one anothers Natures Confusion had been the result of the discord and diversity of their Natures No composition could have been of those conflicting qualities for the frame of any body nor any harmony arose from so many jarring strings if they had not been reduced into concord by one that is supream Lord over them and knows how to dispose their varieties and enmities for the publick good * Athanasius Petav. Theol. Dog Tom. 1. lib. 1. cap. 1. pag. 4. 5. If a man should see a large City or Country consisting of great multitudes of men of different tempers full of Frauds and Factions and Animosities in their natures against one another yet living together in good order and peace without oppressing and invading one another and joyning together for the publick good he would presently conclude there were some excellent Governor who tempered them by his Wisdom and preserved the publick Peace though he had never yet beheld him with his eye T is as necessary to conclude a God who moderates the contrarieties in the world as to conclude a wise Prince who overrules the contrary dispositions in a state making every one to keep his own bounds and confines Things that are contrary to one another subsist in an admirable order 2. In the subserviency of one thing to another * Gassend Physic sect 1. lib. 4. cap. 2. pag. 315. All the Members of living Creatures are curiously fitted for the service of one another destin'd to a particular end and endued with a vertue to attain that end and so distinctly placed that one is no hinderance to the
other in its operations Is not this more admirable than to be the work of chance which is uncapable to settle such an order and fix particular and general ends causing an exact correspondency of all the parts with one another and every part to conspire together for one common end One thing is fitted for another The Eye is fitted for the Sun and the Sun fitted for the Eye Several sorts of food are fitted for several Creatures and those Creatures fitted with Organs for the partaking that food 1. Subserviency of Heavenly bodies * Lessius The Sun the heart of the world is not for it self but for the good of the World as the heart of man is for the good of the body How conveniently is the Sun placed at a distance from the Earth and the upper Heavens to enlighten the Stars above and enliven the Earth below If it were either higher or lower one part would want its influences T is not in the higher parts of the Heavens the Earth then which lives and fructifies by its influence would have been exposed to a perpetual Winter and chilness unable to have produced any thing for the sustenance of man or beast If seated lower the Earth had been parch'd up the world made uninhabitable and long since had been consumed to ashes by the strength of its heat Consider the motion as well as the Situation of the Sun Had it stood still one part of the World had been cherished by its beams and the other left in a desolate Widow-hood in a disconsolate darkness Besides the Earth would have had no shelter from its perpendicular beams striking perpetually and without any remission upon it The same incommodities would have followed upon its fixedness as upon its too great nearness By a constant day the beauty of the Stars had been obscured the knowledge of their motions been prevented and a considerable part of the Glorious wisdom of the Creator in those choice works of his fingers * Psal 8.3 had been vail'd from our eyes It moves in a fixed line visits all parts of the Earth scatters in the day its refreshing blessings in every creeke of the Earth and removes the mask from the other beauties of Heaven in the night which sparkle out to the glory of the Creator It spreads its Light warms the Earth cherisheth the Seeds excites the Spirit in the Earth and brings Fruit to maturity View also the Air the vast extent between Heaven and Earth which serves for a Water-course a Cistern for water to bedew the face of the Sun-burnt Earth to satisfie the desolate ground and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth * Job 38.25 27. Could Chance appoint the Clouds of the Air to interpose as fans between the scorching heat of the Sun and the faint bodies of the Creatures Can that be the Father of the Rain or beget the drops of dew * Job 38.28 Could any thing so blind settle those ordinances of Heaven for the preservation of Creatures on the Earth Can this either bring or stay the bottles of Heaven when the dust grows into hardness and the Clods cleave fast together * Job 38.37.38 2. Subserviency of the lower World the Earth and Sea which was Created to be inhabited Isa 45.18 The Sea affords water to the Rivers the Rivers like so many veins are spread through the whole body of the Earth to refresh and enable it to bring forth fruit for the sustenance of man and beast Psal 104.10.11 He sends the Springs into the Vallies which run among the Hills they give drink to every Beast of the Field the wild Asses quench their thirst He causes the Grass to grow for the Cattle and the herb for the service of man that he may bring forth food out of the Earth v. 14. The Trees are provided for shades against the extremity of heat a refuge for the panting beasts an habitation for Birds wherein to make their nests ver 17. and a Basket for their provision How are the Vallies and Mountains of the Earth disposed for the pleasure and profit of man Every year are the Feilds covered with Harvests for the nourishing the Creatures no part is Barren but beneficial to man The Mountains that are not cloathed with grass for his food are set with stones to make him an Habitation they have their peculiar services of metals and minerals for the conveniency and comfort and benefit of man Things which are not fit for his food are medicines for his cure under some painful sickness Where the Earth brings not forth Corn it brings forth Roots for the service of other Creatures Wood abounds more in those Countries where the cold is stronger than in others Can this be the result of Chance or not rather of an infinite Wisdom Consider the usefulness of the Sea for the supply of Rivers to refresh the Earth Which go up by the Mountains and down by the Vallies into the place God hath founded for them Psal 104.8 A store-house for fish for the nourishment of other Creatures a shop of Medicines for cure and Pearls for ornament The band that ties remote Nations together by giving opportunity of passage to and commerce with one another How should that natural inclination of the Sea to cover the Earth submit to this subserviency to the Creatures Who hath pounded in this fluid mass of Water in certain limits and confin'd it to its own Channel for the accommodation of such Creatures who by its common Law can only be upon the Earth Naturally the Earth was covered with the deep as with a Garment the waters stood above the Mountains Who set a bound that they might not pass over that they return not again to cover the Earth * Psa 104.6.9 Was it blind Chance or an Infinite Power that shut up the Sea with doors and made thick darkness a swadling band for it and said hitherto shall thou come and no further and here shall thy proud waves be staid * Job 38.8.9.11 All things are so ordered that they are not propter se but propter aliud What advantage accrues to the Sun by its unwearied rouling about the World Doth it increase the perfection of its nature by all its Circuits No but it serves the inferior world it impregnates things by its heat Not the most abject thing but hath its end and use There is a strait connexion the Earth could not bring forth fruit without the Heavens the Heavens could not water the Earth without vapours from it 3. All this Subserviency of Creatures centers in man Other Creatures are served by those things as well as our selves and they are provided for their nourishment and refreshment as well as ours * Amirald de Trinitate pa. 13. and pag. 18. yet both they and all Creatures meet in man as lines in their Centers Things that have no life or sense are made for those that have both life and
cap. 1. § 4. Who can behold the Sun rising in the morning the Moon shining in the night increasing and decreasing in its due spaces the Stars in their regular motions night after night for all ages and yet deny a President over them And this motion of the Heavenly bodies being contrary to the nature of other Creatures who move in order to rest must be from some higher cause But those ever since the setling in their places have been perpetually rounding the world * Whether it be the Sun or the Earth that moves it is all one Whence have either of them this constant and uniform motion What nature but one powerful and intelligent could give that perpetual motion to the Sun which being bigger than the Earth a hundred sixty six times runs many thousand miles with a mighty swiftness in the space of an hour with an unwearied diligence performing its dayly task and as a strong man rejoycing to run its race for above five thousand years together without intermission but in the time of Joshuah * Josh 10.13 T is not natures Sun but Gods Sun which he makes to rise upon the just and unjust * Mat. 5.45 So a Plant receives its nourishment from the Earth sends forth its juyce to every branch forms a bud which spreads it into a blossom and flower the leaves of this drop off and leave a fruit of the same colour and tast every year which being ripened by the Sun leaves seeds behind it for the propagation of its like which contains in the nature of it the same kind of buds blossoms fruit which were before and being nourished in the Womb of the Earth and quickened by the power of the Sun discovers it self at length in all the progresses and motions which its predecessor did Thus in all ages in all places every year it performs the same task spinns out fruit of the same colour tast vertue to refresh the several Creatures for which they are provided This setled state of things comes from that God who laid the foundations of the Earth that it should not be removed for ever * Psal 104.5 and set ordinances for them to act by a stated law * Job 38.33 according to which they move as if they understood themselves to have made a Covenant with their Creator * Jer. 33.20 3. Add to this union of contrary qualities and the subserviency of one thing to another the admirable variety and diversity of things in the World What variety of Metals living Creatures Plants what variety and distinction in the shape of their leaves flowers smell resulting from them Who can number up the several sorts of Beasts on the Earth Birds in the Air Fish in the Sea How various are their motions Some Creep some Go some Fly some Swim And in all this variety each Creature hath Organs or members fitted for their peculiar motion If you consider the multitude of Stars which shine like Jewels in the Heavens their different magnitudes Or the variety of colours in the Flowers and Tapestry of the Earth you could no more conclude they made themselves or were made by chance than you can imagine a peice of Arras with a diversity of figures and colours either wove it self or were knit together by hazzard How delicious is the sap of the Vine when turned into Wine above that of a Crab Both have the same Womb of Earth to conceive them both agree in the nature of Wood and Twigs as Channels to convay it into fruit What is that which makes the one so sweet the other so sower or makes that sweet which was a few weeks before unpleasantly sharp Is it the Earth No They both have the same soil the Branches may touch each other the strings of their Roots may under ground entwine about one another Is it the Sun both have the same beams Why is not the tast and colour of the one as gratifying as the other Is it the root The tast of that is far different from that of the fruit it bears Why do they not when they have the same Soil the same Sun and stand near one another borrow something from one anothers natures No reason can be rendred but that there is a God of infinite Wisdom hath determin'd this variety and bound up the nature of each Creature within it self * Amirald de Trinitate pa. 21. Everything follows the Law of its Creation and it is worthy observation that the Creator of them hath not given that power to Animals which arise from different species to propagate the like to themselves As Mules that arise from different species No reason can be rendred of this but the fixt determination of the Creator that those species which were Created by him should not be lost in those mixtures which are contrary to the Law of the Creation This cannot possibly be ascribed to that which is commonly called nature but unto the God of nature who will not have his Creatures exceed their bounds or come short of them Now since among those varieties there are somethings better than other yet all are good in their kind and partake of Goodness * Gen. 1.31 there must be something better and more execellent than all those from whom they derive that goodness which inheres in their nature and is communicated by them to others And this excellent Being must inherit in an eminent way in his own nature the goodness of all those varieties since they made not themselves but were made by another All that goodness which is scattered in those varieties must be infinitely concentred in that nature which distributed those various perfections to them Psal 94.9 He that Planted the Ear shall not he hear he that formed the Eye shall not he see he that teacheth Man knowledge shall not he know The Creator is greater than the Creature and whatsoever is in his effects is but an Impression of some excellency in himself There is therefore some cheif fountain of goodness whence all those various goodnesses in the world do flow From all this it follows if there be an Order and Harmony there must be an Orderer one that made the Earth by his Power established the world by his Wisdom and stretched out the Heavens by his Discretion Jer. 10.12 Order being the effect cannot be the cause of it self Order is the disposition of things to an end and is not intelligent but implies an intelligent Orderer And therefore it is as certain that there is a God as it is certain there is order in the world Order is an effect of Reason and Counsel this reason and Counsel must have its residence in some being before this order was fixed The things ordered are always distinct from that Reason and Counsel whereby they are ordered and also after it as the effect is after the cause No Man begins a peice of work but he hath the Model of it in his own mind No Man
made whither stone or brass this nature therefore must have some superior by whose influx it is preserved Since therefore we see a stable order in the things of the world that they conspire together for the good and beauty of the universe that they depend upon one another There must be some principle upon which they do depend somthing to which the first link of the chain is fastened which himself depends upon no superior but wholly rests in his own essence and being T is the title of God to be the preserver of man and beast * Psa 36.6 The Psalmist elegantly describeth it Psal 104.24 c. The Earth is full of his riches all wait upon him that he may give them their meat in due season when he opens his hand he fills them with good when he hides his face they are troubled if he take away their breath they die and return to dust he sends forth his Spirit and they are Created and renews the face of the Earth the glory of the Lord shall endure for ever and the Lord shall rejoyce in his works Upon the consideration of all which the Psalmist v. 34. takes a pleasure in the Meditation of God as the cause and manager of all those things which issues into a joy in God and a praising of him And why should not the consideration of the power and wisdom of God in the Creatures produce the same effect in the hearts of us if he be our God Or as some render it my Meditation shall be sweet or acceptable to him whereby I find matter of praise in the things of the world and offer it to the Creator of it Thirdly III. Reason The third Reas. T is a folly to deny that which a mans own nature witnesseth to him The whole frame of bodies and Souls bears the impress of the infinite power and wisdom of the Creator A body framed with an admirable Architecture a Soul endowed with Understanding Will Judgment Memory Imagination Man is the Epitome of the World contains in himself the substance of all natures and the fulness of the whole universe not only in regard of the universalness of his knowledge whereby he comprehends the reasons of many things but as all the perfections of the several natures of the world are gathered and united in man for the perfection of his own in a smaller volum In his Soul he partakes of Heaven in his body of the earth There is the life of Plants the sense of beasts and the intellectual nature of Angels * Gen. 2.7 The Lord breathed into his Nostril the breath of life and man c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of lifes Not one sort of lifes but several not only an Animal but a Rational life a Soul of a Nobler extract and nature than what was given to other Creatures So that we need not step out of doors or cast our eyes any further than our selves to behold a God He shines in the capacity of our Souls and the vigour of our Members We must flie from our selves and be stript of our own humanity before we can put off the Notion of a Deity He that is ignorant of the Existence of God must be possessed with so much folly as to be ignorant of his own make and frame 1. In the parts whereof he doth consist Body and Soul First I. Take a prospect of the Body The Psalmist counts it a matter of praise and admiration Psal 139.15 16. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth in thy book all my Members were written The Scheme of man and every Member was drawn in his book All the Sinews Veins Arteries Bones like a peice of Embroidery or Tapestry were wrought by God as it were with deliberation like an Artificer that draws out the model of what he is to do in writing and sets it before him when he begins his work And indeed the Fabrick of mans Body as well as his Soul is an argument for a Divinity The artificial structure of it the Elegancy of every part the proper Situation of them their proportion one to another the fitness for their several functions drew from Galen * Lib. 3. de usu partium Petav. Theol. Dog Tom. 1. lib. 1. cap. 1. pa. 6. a Heathen and one that had no raised sentiments of a Deity a confession of the admirable Wisdom and Power of the Creator and that none but God could frame it 1. In the order fitness and usefulness of every part The whole model of the body is grounded upon reason Every member hath its exact proportion distinct office regular motion Every part hath a particular comliness and convenient temperament bestowed upon it according to its place in the Body The Heart is hot to enliven the whole The Eye clear to take in objects to present them to the Soul Every member is fitted for its peculiar service and action Some are for sense some for motion some for preparing and others for dispensing nourishment to the several parts They mutually depend upon and serve one another What small strings fasten the particular members together as the Earth that hangs upon nothing * Job 26.7 Take but one part away and you either destroy the whole or stamp upon it some mark of deformity All are knit together by an admirable Symmetry all orderly perform their functions as acting by a setled Law none swerving from their rule but in case of some predominant humor And none of those in so great a multitude of parts stifled in so little a Room or justling against one another to hinder their mutual actions none can be better disposed And the greatest wisdom of man could not imagine it till his eyes present them with the sight and connexion of one part and member with another 1. The Heart * Theod. de providentiâ Orat. 3. How strongly it is guarded with ribs like a Wall that it might not be easily hurt It draws blood from the Liver through a channel made for that purpose Rarifies it and makes it fit to pass through the Arteries and Veins and to carry heat and life to every part of the body And by a perpetual motion it sucks in the blood and spouts it out again which motion depends not upon the command of the Soul but is pure natural 2. The Mouth takes in the meat the teeth grind it for the stomack the stomack prepares it nature strains it through the milky veins the liver refines it and mints it into blood separates the purer from the drossy parts which go to the heart circuites through the whole body running through the Veins like Rivers through so many channels of the world for the watering of the several parts Which are framed of a thin skin for the straining the blood through for the supply of the members of the body and framed with
He Created the world for his glory a people for himself that he might have the Honour of his works That since we live and move in him and by him we should live and move to him and for him It was the condemnation of the Heathen world that when they knew there was a God they did not give him the Glory due to him * Rom. 1.21 He that denyes his being is an Atheist to his essence He that denyes his worship is an Atheist to his Honour 5. If it be a folly to deny the being of God It will be our Wisdom then since we acknowledge his being often to think of him Thoughts are the first issue of a Creature as reasonable * Pro. 4.23 He that hath given us the faculty whereby we are able to think should be the principal object about which the power of it should be exercised T is a Justice to God the Author of our understandings a Justice to the nature of our understandings that the noblest faculty should be imployed about the most excellent object Our minds are a beam from God and therefore as the Beams of the Sun when they touch the Earth should reflect back upon God As we seem to deny the being of God not to think of him we seem also to unsoul our Souls in misimploying the activity of them any other way like Flies to be oftner on Dunghils than Flowers T is made the black mark of an ungodly Man or an Atheist that God is not in all his thoughts Psal 10.4 What comfort can be had in the being of God without thinking of him with Reverence and delight A God forgotten is as good as no God to us A DISCOURSE UPON PRACTICAL ATHEISM Psalm 14.1 Doct. 2. PRACTICAL Atheism is natural to Man in his depraved state and very frequent in the hearts and lives of Men. The Fool hath said in his heart there is no God He regards him as little as if he had no being He said in his heart not with his tongue nor in his head He never firmly thought it nor openly asserted it Shame put a Bar to the first and natural reason to the second Yet perhaps he had sometimes some doubts whether there were a God or no He wished there were not any and sometimes hoped there were none at all He could not rase out the Notion of a Deity in his mind but he neglected the fixing the sence of God in his heart and made it too much his business to deface and blot out those Characters of God in his Soul which had been left under the ruines of original nature Men may have Atheistical hearts without Atheistical heads Their reasons may defend the Notion of a Deity while their hearts are empty of affection to the Deity Jobs Children may curse God in their hearts tho not with their lips * Job 1.5 There is no God Most understand it of a denial of the Providence of God as I have said in opening the former Doctrine He denies some essential Attribute of God or the exercise of that Attribute in the world * So the Chalde reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non potestas denying the authority of God in the world He that denies any essential Attribute may be said to deny the being of God Whosoever denies Angels or men to have Reason and Will denies the human and Angelical nature because Understanding and Will are essential to both those Natures there could neither be Angel nor Man without them No Nature can subsist without the perfections essential to that Nature nor God be conceived of without His The Apostle tells us Eph. 2.12 that the Gentiles were without God in the World So in some sence all unbelievers may be termed Atheists for rejecting the Mediator appointed by God they reject that God who appointed him But this is beyond the intended scope Natural Atheism being the only subject Yet this is deducible from it That the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not only belong to those who deny the Existence of God or to those who contemn all sence of a Deity and would root the Conscience and Reverence of God out of their Souls But it belongs also to these who give not that Worship to God which is due to him Who Worship many Gods or who Worship one God in a false and superstitious manner when they have not right conceptions of God nor intend an adoration of him according to the excellency of his Nature All those that are unconcerned for any particular Religion fall under this Character Though they own a God in general yet are willing to acknowledge any God that shall be coined by the powers under whom they live The Gentiles were without God in the world without the true Notion of God not without a God of their own framing This general or practical Atheism is natural to men 1. Not natural by Created but by corrupted Nature T is against nature as nature came out of the hand of God But universaly natural as nature hath been sophisticated and infected by the Serpents breath Inconsideration of God or misrepresentations of his nature are as agreeable to corrupt nature as the disowning the being of a God is contrary to common reason God is not denied naturâ sed vitiis * Augustin de Civit. Dei 2. T is universally natural The wicked are estranged from the Womb Psa 58.3 They go astray as soon as they be born their poyson is like the poyson of a Serpent The wicked And who by his birth hath a better title They go astray from the dictates of God and the rule of their Creation as soon as ever they be born Their poyson is like the poyson of a Serpent which is radically the same in all of the sames species T is seminally and fundamentally in all men though there may be a stronger restraint by a Divine hand upon some men than upon others This principle runs through the whole stream of Nature The natural bent of every mans heart is distant from God When we attempt any thing pleasing to God t is like the climbing up a Hill against nature when any thing is displeasing to him t is like a Current running down the Channel in its natural course When we attempt any thing that is an acknowledgment of the Holiness of God we are fain to rush with Armes in our hands through a multitude of natural passions and fight the way through the oppositions of our own sensitive appetite How softly do we naturally sink down into that which sets us at a greater distance from God There is no active potent efficacious sence of a God by nature The heart of the Sons of men is fully set in them to do evil Eccl. 8.11 The heart in the singular number as if there were but one Common heart beat in all mankind and bent as with own pulse with a joynt consent and force to wickedness without a sence of the Authority
Essence as in his Veracity and Faithfulness They are perfections belonging to his Nature But if he were not a pure Spirit he could not be immutable by Nature 7. If God were not a pure Spirit He could not be omnipresent He is in Heaven above and the Earth below * Deut. 4.39 He fills Heaven and Earth * Jer. 23.24 The Divine Essence is at once in Heaven and Earth but it is impossible a Body can be in two places at one and the same time Since God is every where he must be spiritual Had he a Body he could not penetrate all things he would be circumscribed in place He could not be every where but in parts not in the whole one member in one place and another in another for to be confined to a particlar place is the property of a Body But since he is diffused through the whole World higher than Heaven deeper than Hell longer than the Earth broader than the Sea * Job 11.8 he hath not any corporeal matter If he had a Body wherewith to fill Heaven and Earth there could be no Body besides his own 'T is the Nature of Bodies to bound one another and hinder the extending of one another Two Bodies cannot be in the same place in the same point of Earth one excludes the other And it will follow hence that we are nothing no substances meer illusions there could be no place for any Body else * Gamacheus Theol. Tom. 1. Quos 3. C. 1. If his Body were as bigg as the World as it must be if with that he filled Heaven and Earth there would not be room for him to move a hand or a foot or extend a finger for there would be no place remaining for the motion 8. If God were not a Spirit he could not be the most perfect Being The more perfect any thing is in the rank of Creatures the more spiritual and simple it is as Gold is the more pure and perfect that hath least mixture of other Metals If God were not a Spirit there would be Creatures of a more excellent Nature than God as Angels and Souls which the Scripture calls Spirits in opposition to Bodies There is more of perfection in the first notion of a Spirit than in the notion of a Body God cannot be less perfect than his Creatures and contribute an excellency of being to them which he wants himself If Angels and Souls possess such an excellency and God want that excellency he would be less than his Creatures and the excellency of the Effect would exceed the excellency of the Cause But every Creature even the highest Creature is infinitely short of the perfection of God for whatsoever excellency they have is finite and limited 't is but a spark from the Sun a drop from the Ocean but God is unboundedly perfect in the highest manner without any limitation and therefore above Spirits Angels the highest Creatures that were made by him An infinite sublimity a pure act to which nothing can be added from which nothing can be taken In him there is light and no darkness * 1 John 1.5 spirituality without any matter perfection without any shadow or taint of imperfection Light pierceth into all things preserves its own purity and admits of no mixture of any thing else with it Question It may be said If God be a Spirit and it is impossible he can be otherwise than a Spirit how comes God so often to have such Members as we have in our Bodies ascribed to him not only a Soul but particular bodily parts as heart arms hands eyes ears face and back-parts And how is it that he is never called a Spirit in plain words but in this Text by our Saviour Answ 'T is true many parts of the Body and natural affections of the human nature are reported of God in Scripture Head * Dan. 7.9 Eyes and Eye-lids * Psal 11.4 Apple of the Eye Mouth c. our Affections also Grief Joy Anger c. But it is to be considered 1. That this is in condescension to our weakness God being desirous to make himself known to Man * Loquitur lex secund ling. filiorum hominum was the H. saying whom he created for his Glory humbles as it were his own Nature to such representations as may sute and assists the capacity of the Creature Since by the condition of our nature nothing erects a notion of it self in our understanding but as it is conducted in by our sence God hath served himself of those things which are most exposed to our sence most obvious to our understandings to give us some acquaintance with his own Nature and those things which otherwise we were not capable of having any notion of As our Souls are linkt with our Bodies so our knowledge is linkt with our sence that we can scarce imagin any thing at first but under a corporeal form and figure till we come by great attention to the Object to make by the help of reason a separation of the spiritual substance from the corporeal fancy and consider it in its own nature We are not able to conceive a Spirit without some kind of resemblance to something below it nor understand the actions of a Spirit without considering the operations of a human Body in its several Members As the Glories of another Life are signified to us by the pleasures of this so the Nature of God by a gracious condescension to our capacities is signified to us by a likeness to our own The more familiar the things are to us which God uses to this purpose the more proper they are to teach us what he intends by them Answ 2. All such representations are to signifie the acts of God as they hear some likeness to those which we perform by those members he ascribes to himself So that those members ascribed to him rather note his visible operations to us than his invisible Nature and signifie that God doth some works like to those which men do by the assistance of those Organs of their Bodies * Amyral de Trin. p. 218. 219. So the wisdom of God is called his Eye because he knows that with his mind which we see with our eyes The efficiency of God is called his Hand and Arm because as we act with our hands so doth God with his Power The divine Efficacies are signified By his eyes and ears we understand his Omniscience by his face the manifestation of his Favour by his mouth the revelation of his Will by his nostrils the acceptation of our Prayers by his bowels the tenderness of his Compassion by his heart the sincerity of his Affections by his hand the strength of his Power by his feet the ubiquity of his Presence And in this he intends instruction and comfort By his eyes he signifies his watchfulness over us By his ears his readiness to hear the crys of the oppressed * Psal 34.15 By his Arm his
understanding So we are not able to conceive of spiritual Beings in the purity of their own nature without such a temperament and such shadows to usher them into our minds And therefore we find the Spirit of God accommodates himself to our contracted and teddered capacities and uses such expressions of God as are suted to us in this state of flesh wherein we are And therefore because we cannot apprehend God in the simplicity of his own Being and his undivided Essence he draws the representations of himself from several Creatures and several actions of those Creatures As sometimes he is said to be angry to walk to sit to fly not that we should rest in such conceptions of him but take our rise from this foundation and such perfections in the Creatures to mount up to a knowledge of Gods nature by those several steps and conceive of him by those divided Excellencies because we cannot conceive of him in the purity of his own Essence * Lessius We cannot possibly think or speak of God unless we transfer the names of created perfections to him yet we are to conceive of them in a higher manner when we apply them to the Divine Nature than when we consider them in the several Creatures formally exceeding those perfections and excellencies which are in the Creature and in a more excellent manner * Towerson on the Commandments P. 112. as one saith though we cannot comprehend God without the help of such resemblances yet we may without making an Image of him so that inability of ours excuseth those apprehensions of him from any way offending against his Divine Nature These are not notions so much suted to the nature of God as the weakness of man They are helps to our meditations but ought not to be formal conceptions of him We may assist our selves in our apprehensions of him by considering the subtilty and spirituality of Air and considering the members of a body without thinking him to be air or to have any corporeal member Our reason tells us that whatsoever is a body is limited and bounded and the notion of infiniteness and bodiliness cannot agree and consist together And therefore what is offered by our fancy should be purified by our reason 4. Therefore we are to elevate and refine all our notions of God and spiritualize our conceptions of him Every man is to have a conception of God therefore he ought to have one of the highest elevation Since we cannot have a full notion of him we should endeavour to make it as high and as pure as we can Though we cannot conceive of God but some corporeal representations or images in our minds will be conversant with us as motes in the Air when we look upon the Heavens yet our conceptions may and must rise higher As when we see the draught of the Heavens and Earth in a Globe or a Kingdom in a Map it helps our conceptions but doth not terminate them We conceive them to be of a vast extent far beyond that short description of them So we should endeavour to refine every representation of God to rise higher and higher and have our apprehensions still more purified separating the perfect from the imperfect casting away the one and greatning the other conceive him to be a Spirit diffused through all containing all perceiving all All the perfections of God are infinitely elevated above the excellencies of the Creatures above whatsoever can be conceived by the clearest and most piercing understanding The Nature of God as a Spirit is infinitely superior to whatsoever we can conceive perfect in the notion of a created Spirit Whatsoever God is he is infinitely so He is infinite Wisdom infinite Goodness infinite Knowledge infinite Power infinite Spirit infinitely distant from the weakness of Creatures infinitely mounted above the excellencies of Creatures As easie to be known that he is as impossible to be comprehended what he is Conceive of him as excellent without any imperfection A Spirit without parts great without quantity perfect without quality every where without place Powerful without members understanding without ignorance wise without reasoning light without darkness infinitely more excelling the beauty of all Creatures than the light in the Sun pure and unviolated exceeds the splendor of the Sun dispersed and divided through a cloudy and misty Air And when you have risen to the highest conceive him yet infinitely above all you can conceive of Spirit and acknowledge the infirmity of your own minds And whatsoever conception comes into your minds say this is not God God is more than this If I could conceive him he were not God for God is incomprehensibly above whatsoever I can say whatsoever I can think and conceive of him 4. Inference If God be a Spirit no corporeal thing can defile him Some bring an Argument against the Omnipresence of God that it is a disparagement to the Divine Essence to be every where in nasty Cottages as well as beautiful Palaces and garnisht Temples What place can defile a Spirit Is Light which approaches to the nature of Spirit polluted by shining upon a Dung-hill or a Sun-beam tainted by darting upon a Quag-mire Doth an Angel contract any soyl by stepping into a nasty Prison to deliver Peter What can steam from the most noysom body to pollute the spiritual nature of God As he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity * Heb. 1.13 so he is of a more spiritual substance than to contract any physical pollution from the places where he doth diffuse himself Did our Saviour who had a true body derive any taint from the Lepers he touched the diseases he cured or the Devils he expell'd God is a pure Spirit plungeth himself into no filth is dasht with no spot by being present with all bodies Bodies only receive defilement from bodies 5. Inference If God be a Spirit he is active and communicative He is not clogg'd with heavy and sluggish matter which is cause of dulness and inactivity The more subtil thin and approaching neerer the Nature of a Spirit any thing is the more diffusive it is Air is a gliding substance spreads it self through all Regions peirceth into all bodies it fills the space between Heaven and Earth there is nothing but partakes of the vertue of it Light which is an emblem of Spirit insinuates it self into all places refresheth all things As Spirits are fuller so they are more overflowing more piercing more operative than bodies The Egyptian Horses were weak things because they were Flesh and not Spirit * Isay 31.3 The Soul being a Spirit conveys more to the Body than the Body can to it What cannot so great a Spirit do for us What cannot so great a Spirit work in us God being a Spirit above all Spirits can pierce into the Center of all Spirits make his way into the most secret recesses stamp what he pleases 'T is no more to him to turn our Spirits than to make
a Wilderness become Waters and speak a Chaos into a beautiful frame of Heaven and Earth He can act our souls with infinite more ease than our souls can act our bodies he can fix in us what motions frames inclinations he pleases he can come and settle in our hearts with all his Treasures 'T is an encouragement to confide in him when we petition him for spiritual Blessings As he is a Spirit he is possessed with spiritual Blessings * Eph. 1.3 A Spirit delights to bestow things sutable to its Nature do Bodies are to communicate what is agreeable to theirs As he is a Father of Spirits we may go to him for the Welfare of our Spirits he being a Spirit is as able to repair our Spirits as he was to create them As he is a Spirit he is indefatigable in acting The members of the body tire and flagg but whoever heard of a Soul wearied with being active Whoever heard of a weary Angel In the purest Simplicity there is the greatest Power the most efficacious Goodness the most reaching Justice to affect the Spirit that can insinuate it self every where to punish wickedness without weariness as well as to comfort goodness God is active because he is Spirit and if we be like to God the more spiritual we are the more active we shall be 6. Inference God being a Spirit is immortal His being immortal and being invisible are joyned together * 1 Tim. 1.17 Spirits are in their nature incorruptible they can only perish by that hand that framed them Every compounded thing is subject to mutation but God being a pure and simple Spirit is without corruption without any shadow of change * James 1.17 Where there is composition there is some kind of repugnancy of one part against the other and where there is repugnancy there is a capability of dissolution God in regard of his infinite spirituality hath nothing in his own nature contrary to it can have nothing in himself which is not himself The world perishes friends change and are dissolved bodies moulder because they are mutable God is a Spirit in the highest excellency and glory of Spirits nothing is beyond him nothing above him no contrariety within him This is our comfort if we devote our selves to him this God is our God this Spirit is our Spirit this is our all our immutable our incorruptible support a Spirit that cannot die and leave us 7. Inference If God be a Spirit we see how we can only converse with him by our Spirits Bodies and Spirits are not sutable to one another We can only see know embrace a Spirit with our Spirits He judges not of us by our corporeal actions nor our external devotions by our masks and disguises He fixes his eye upon the frame of the heart bends his ear to the groans of our Spirits He is not pleased with outward pomp He is not a Body therefore the beauty of Temples delicacy of Sacrifices fumes of Incense are not grateful to him by those or any external action we have no communion with him A Spirit when broken is his delightful Sacrifice * Psal 51.17 We must therefore have our Spirits fitted for him be renewed in the spirit of our minds * Eph. 4.23 that we may be in a posture to live with him and have an intercourse with him We can never be united to God but in our Spirits Bodies unite with Bodies Spirits with Spirits The more spiritual any thing is the more closely doth it unite Air hath the closest union nothing meets together sooner than that when the parts are divided by the interposition of a body 8. Inference If God be a Spirit he can only be the true satisfaction of our Spirits Spirit can only be fill'd with Spirit Content flows from likeness and sutableness As we have a resemblance to God in regard of the spiritual nature of our Soul so we can have no satisfaction but in him Spirit can no more be really satisfied with that which is corporeal than a beast can delight in the company of an Angel Corporeal things can no more fill a hungry Spirit than pure Spirit can feed an hungry Body God the highest Spirit can only reach out a full content to our spirits Man is Lord of the Creation nothing below him can be fit for his converse nothing above him offers it self to his converse but God We have no correspondence with Angels The influence they have upon us the protection they afford us is secret and undiscern'd but God the highest Spirit offers himself to us in his Son in his Ordinances is visible in every Creature presents himself to us in every providence to him we must seek in him we must rest God had no rest from the Creation till he had made Man and Man can have no rest in the Creation till he rests in God * Psal 90.1 God only is our dwelling place our Souls should only long for him our Souls should only wait upon him * Psal 63.1 The Spirit of Man never riseth to its original glory till it be carried up on the wings of Faith and Love to its original Copy The face of the Soul looks most beautiful when it is turned to the face of God the Father of Spirits when the derived Spirit is fixed upon the original Spirit drawing from it Life and Glory Spirit is only the receptacle of Spirit God as Spirit is our Principle we must therefore live upon him God as Spirit hath some resemblance to us as his Image we must therefore only satisfie our selves in him 9. Inference If God be a Spirit we should take most care of that wherein we are like to God Spirit is nobler than Body we must thererefore value our Spirits above our Bodies The Soul as Spirit partakes more of the Divine Nature and deserves more of our choycest cares If we have any love to this Spirit we should have a real affection to our own Spirits as bearing a stamp of the spiritual Divinity the chiefest of all the works of God as it is said of Behemoth Job 40.19 .. That which is most the Image of this immense Spirit should be our Darling So David calls his Soul Psal 35.17 Shall we take care of that wherein we partake not of God and not delight in the Jewel which hath his own Signature upon it God was not only the Framer of Spirits and the End of Spirits but the Copy and Exemplar of Spirits God partakes of no corporeity he is pure Spirit But how do we act as if we were only matter and body We have but little kindness for this great Spirit as well as our own if we take no care of his immediate offspring since he is not only Spirit but the Father of Spirits * Heb. 12.9 10. Inference If God be a Spirit let us take heed of those sins which are spiritual Paul distinguisheth between the filth of the Flesh and that of
will to please him longings to enjoy him as a holy and sanctifying God in his Ordinances as well as a blessed and glorified God in Heaven What do we expect in our approaches from him That which may make divine impressions upon us and more exactly conform us to the divine nature Or do we design nothing but an empty formality a rowling eye and a filling the Air with a few words without any openings of heart to receive the incomes which according to the nature of the duty might be conveyed to us Can this be a spiritual worship The Soul then closely waits upon him when its expectation is only from him Psal 62.6 Are our hearts seasoned with a sense of sin a sight of our spiritual wants raised notions of God glowing affections to Him strong appetite after a spiritual fulness Do we rouze up our sleepy Spirits and make a Covenant with all that is within us to attend upon him So much as we want of this so much we come short of a spiritual worship In Psal 57.7 My heart is fixed oh God my heart is fixed David would fix his heart before he would engage in a praising act of worship He appeals to God about it and that with doubling the expression as being certain of an inward preparedness Can we make the same appeals in a fixation of Spirit 2. How are our hearts fixed upon him How do they cleave to him in the duty Do we resign our Spirits to God and make them an intire Holocaust a whole burnt-offering in his worship Or do we not willingly admit carnal thoughts to mix themselves with spiritual duties and fasten our minds to the Creature under pretences of directing them to the Creator Do we not pass a meer complement on God by some superficial act of devotion while some covetous envious ambitious voluptuous imagination may possess our minds Do we not invert Gods Order and worship a Lust instead of God with our Spirits that should not have the least service either from our Souls or Bodies but with a spiritual disdain be sacrificed to the just indignation of God How often do we fight against his Will while we cry hail Master instead of crucifying our own thoughts crucifying the Lord of our Lives Our outward carriage plausible and our inward stark naught Do we not often regard iniquity more than God in our hearts in a time of worship Roul some filthy imagination as a sweet morsel under our tongues and taste more sweetness in that than in God Do not our Spirits smell rank of Earth while we offer to Heaven and have we not hearts full of thick Clay as their hands were full of blood * Isa 1.15 When we sacrifice do we not wrap up our Souls in communion with some sordid fancy when we should entwine our Spirits about an amiable God While we have some fear of him may we not have a love to something else above him This is to worship or swear by the Lord and by Malchom * Zeph. 1.5 How often doth an Apish-fancy render a service inwardly ridiculous under a grave outward posture skipping to the Shop Ware-house Compting-house in the space of a short Prayer And we are before God as a Babel a confusion of internal languages and this in those parts of worship which are in the right use most agreeable to God profitable for our selves ruinous to the Kingdom of Sin and Satan and means to bring us into a closer communion with the Divine Majesty Can this be a spiritual worship 3. How do we act our graces in worship Though the Instrument be strung if the strâ—ngs be not wound up what melody can be the issue All readiness and alacrity discover a strength of nature and a readiness in Spirituals discovers a spirituality in the heart As unaffecting thoughts of God are not spiritual thoughts so unaffecting addresses to God are not spiritual addresses Well tâ—en what awakenings and elevations of Faith and Love have we What strong outflowings of our Souls to him What indignation against Sin What admirations of redeeming Grace How low have we brought our corruptions to the foot-stool of Christ to be made his conquered Enemies How straitly have we claspt ouâ— Faith about the Cross and Throne of Christ to become his intimate Spouse Do we in hearing hang upon the lips of Christ in prayer take hold of God and wil not let him go in confessions rent the Caul of our hearts and indite our Souls before him with a deep humility Do we act more by a soaring love than a drooping fear So far as our Spitits are servile so far they are legal and carnal so much as they are free and spontaneous so much they are evangelical and spiritual As men under the Law are subject to the constraint of Bondage * Heb. 2.15 all their life-time in all their worship so under the Gospel they are under a constraint of love * 2 Cor. 5.14 How then are believing affections exercised which are alway accompanied with holy fear a fear of his goodness that admits us into his presence and a fear to offend him in our act of worship So much as we have of forced or feeble affection so much we have of carnality 4. How do we find our hearts after worship By an after carriage we may judge of the spirituality of it 1. How are we as to inward strength When a worship is spiritually performed grace is more strengthened corruption more mortified The Soul like Sampson after his awakening goes out with a renewed strength As the inward man is renewed day by day that is every day so it is renewed in every worship Every shower makes the grass and fruit grow in good ground where the root is good and the weeds where the ground is naught The more prepared the heart is to obedience in other duties after worship the more evidence there is that it hath been spiritual in the exercise of it 'T is the end of God in every dispensation as in that of John Baptist To make ready a People prepared for the Lord * Luke 1 17. When the heart is by worship prepared for fresh acts of obedience and hath a more exact watchfulness against the incroachments of Sin As carnal men after worship sprout up in spiritual wickedness so do spiritual Worshippers in spiritual graces Spiritual fruits are a sign of a spiritual frame When men are more prone to sin after duty 't is a sign there was but little communion with God in it and a greater strength of sin because such an act is contrary to the end of worship which is the subduing of Sin 'T is a sign the Physick hath wrought well when the stomach hath a better appetite to its appointed food and worship hath been well performed when we have a stronger inclination to other acts well pleasing to God and a more sensible distaste of those temptations we too much relisht before 'T is a sign of
circumstances We honour the Majesty of God when we consider him with due reverence according to the greatness and perfection of his works and in this reverence of his Majesty doth worship chiefly consist Low thoughts of God will make low frames in us before him If we thought God an infinite glorious Spirit how would our hearts be lower than our knees in his presence How humbly how believingly pleading is the Psalmist when he considers God to be without comparison in the Heavens to whom none of the Sons of the Mighty can be likened when there was none like to him in strength or faithfulness round about * Psal 89.6 7 8. We should have also deep impressions of the Omniscience of God and remember we have to deal with a God that searcheth the heart and tryeth the reins to whom the most secret temper is as visible as the loudest words are Audible that though man judges by outward expressions God judges by inward affections As the Law of God regulates the inward frames of the heart so the eye of God pitches upon the inward intentions of the Soul If God were visibly present with us should we not approach to him with strong affections summon our Spirits to attend upon him behave our selves modestly before him Let us consider he is as really present with us as if he were visible to us let us therefore preserve a strong sense of the presence of God No man but one out of his wits when he were in the presence of a Prince and making a Speech to him would break off at every Period and run after the catching of Butter-flyes Remember in all worship you are before the Lord to whom all things are open and naked Direction 4. Let us take heed of inordinate desires after the world As the world steals away a mans heart from the Word so it doth from all other worship It chokes the Word * Mat. 13.27 it stifles all the spiritual breathings after God in every duty The edge of the Soul is blunted by it and made too dull for such sublime exercises The Apostles rule in Prayer when he joyns sobriety with watching unto Prayer 1 Pet. 4.7 is of concern in all worship sobriety in the pursuite and use of all wordly things A man drunk with worldly fumes cannot watch cannot be heavenly affectionate spiritual in service There is a magnetick force in the Earth to hinder our flights to Heaven Birds when they take their first flights from the Earth have more flutterings of their wings than when they are mounted further in the Air and got more without the Sphear of the Earths attractiveness the motion of their wings is more steady that you can scarce perceive them stir they move like a Ship with a full Gale The world is a clog upon the Soul and a bar to spiritual frames 'T is as hard to elevate the heart to God in the midst of a hurry of worldly affairs as it is difficult to meditate when we are near a great noise of waters falling from a Precipice or in the midst of a Volly of Muskets Thick claiy affections bemire the heart and make it unfit for such high flights it is to take in worship Therefore get your hearts clear from worldly thoughts and desires if you would be more spiritual in worship 5. Let us be deeply sensible of our present wants and the supplies we may meet with in worship Cold affections to the things we would have will grow cooler Weakness of desire for the communications in worship will freez our hearts at the time of worship and make way for vain and foolish diversions A Begger that is ready to perish and knows he is next door to ruin will not slightly and dully began Alms and will not be diverted from his importunity by every slight call or the moving of an Atom in the Air. Is it Pardon we would have Let us apprehend the blackness of sin with the aggravations of it as it respects God Let us be deeply sensible of the want of pardon and worth of mercy and get our affections into such a frame as a condemned man would do Let us consider that as we are now at the Throne of Gods grace we shall shortly be at the Bar of Gods Justice and if the Soul should be forlorn there how fixedly and earnestly would it plead for mercy Let us endeavour to stir up the same affections now which we have seen some dying men have and which we suppose despairing Souls would have done at Gods Tribunal * Guliel Paris Rhetor. Divin cap. 26. p. 350. Col. 1. We must be sensible that the life or death of our Souls depends upon worship Would we not be ashamed to be ridiculous in our carriage while we are eating and shall we not be ashamed to be cold or garish before God when the Salvation of our Souls as well as the Honour of God is concerned If we did see the heaps of sins the eternity of punishment due to them If we did see an angry and offended Judge If we did see the riches of mercy the glorious outgoings of God in the Sanctuary the blessed Doles he gives out to men when they spiritually attend upon him both the one and the other would make us perform our duties humbly sincerely earnestly and affectionately and wait upon him with our whole Souls to have misery averted and mercy bestowed Let our sense of this be encouragâ—d by the consideration of our Saviour presenting his merits With what affection doth he present his merits his blood shed upon the Cross now in Heaven And shall our hearts be cold and frozen flitting and unsteady when his affectioâ—s are so much concerned Christ doth not present any Mans case and duties without a sense of hiâ— wants and shall we have none of our own Let me add this let us affect our hearts with a sense of what supplies we haâ—â— met with in former worship The delightful remembrance of what converâ—â— we have had with God in former worship would spiritualize our hearts for the present worship Had Peter had a view of Christs glory in the Mount fresh in his thoughts he would not so easily have turned his back upon his Master Nor would the Israelites have been at leasure for their Idolatry had they preserved the sense of the Majesty of God discovered in his late Thunders from Mount Sinai 6. If any thing intrudes that may choak the Worship cast it speedily out We cannot hinder Satan and our own Corruption from presenting Coolers to us but we may hinder the success of them We cannot hinder the Gnats from buzzing about us when we are in our business but we may prevent them from setling upon us A man that is running on a considerable Errand will shun all unnecessary discourse that may make him forget or loyter in his business What though there may be something offered that is good in it self yet if it hath a
the Creature as Being is the title of God Nothing is so holy as God because nothing hath being as God * 1 Sam. 2.2 There is none holy as the Lord for there is none besides thee Mans life is an Image a dream which are next to nothing and if compar'd with God worse than nothing a nullity as well as a vanity Because with God only is the fountain of life * Psal 36.9 The Creature is but a drop of life from him dependent on him A drop of water is a nothing if compar'd with the vast conflux of waters and numberless drops in the Ocean How unworthy is it for dust and ashes kneaded together in time to strut against the Father of Eternity Much more unworthy for that which is nothing worse than nothing to quarrel with that which is only being and equal himself with him that Inhabits Eternity 2. What being we have had a beginning After an unaccountable Eternity was run out in the very dregs of time a few years ago we were created and made of the basest and vilest dross of the world the slime and dust of the Earth made of that wherewith Birds build their nests made of that which Creeping things make their habitation and beasts trample upon How monstrous is pride in such a Creature to aspire as if he were the Father of Eternity and as Eternal as God and so his own Eternity 3. What being we have is but of a short duration in regard of our life in this World Our life is in a constant change and flux we remain not the same an intire day youth quickly succeeds Child-hood and age as speedily treads upon the heels of youth there is a continual defluxion of minutes as there is of sands in a glass He is as a Watch wound up at the beginning of his life and from that time is running down till he comes to the bottom some part of our lives is cut off every day every minute Life is but a moment what is past cannot be recalled what is future cannot be ensured If we enjoy this moment we have lost that which is past and shall presently lose this by the next that is to come The short duration of men is set out in Scripture by such Creatures as soon disappear A worm * Job 25.6 that can scarce out live a winter Grass that withers by the summer Sun Life is a flower soon withering * Job 14.2 a vapour soon vanishing * James 4.14 a smoak soon disappearing * Psal 102.3 The strongest man is but compacted dust the fabrick must moulder the highest Mountain falls and comes to nought Time gives place to Eternity we live now and die to morrow Not a Man since the world began ever lived a day in Gods sight For no man ever lived a thousand years The longest day of any mans life never amounted to twenty four hours in the account of divine Eternity A life of so many hundred years with the addition he dyed makes up the greatest part of the History of the Patriarchs * Gen. 5. And since the life of man hath been curtaild if any be in the world eighty years he scarce properly lives sixty of them since the fourth part of time is at least consumed in sleep A greater difference there is between the duration of God and that of a Creature than between the life of one for a minute and the life of one that should live as many years as the whole globe of Heaven and Earth if changed into papers could contain figures And this life tho but of a short duration according to the period God hath determined is easily cut off the treasure of life is deposited in a brittle vessel A small stone hitting against Nebuchadnezzars Statue will tumble it down into a poor and nasty grave A Grape stone the bone of a fish a small fly in the throat a moist damp are enough to destroy an Earthly Eternity and reduce it to nothing What a Nothing then is our shortness if compared with Gods Eternity Our frailty with Gods duration How humble then should perishing Creatures be before an Eternal God with whom our days are as a hands breadth and our age as nothing * Psal 39 5. The Angels that have been of as long a duration as Heaven and Earth tremble before him the Heavens melt at his presence and shall we that are but of yesterday approach a Divine Eternity with unhumbled Souls and offer the Calves of our lips with the pride of Devils and stand upon our terms with him without falling upon our faces with a sense that we are but dust and ashes and Creatures of time How easily is it to reason out mans humility but how hard is it to reason man into it 3. Let the consideration of Gods Eternity take off our love and confidence from the world and the things thereof The Eternity of God reproaches a pursuit of the world as preferring a momentary pleasure before an everlasting God as tho a temporal world could be a better supply than a God whose years never fail Alas what is this Earth men are so greedy of and will get tho by blood and sweat What is this whole Earth if we had the entire possession of it if compared with the vast Heavens the seat of Angels and blessed Spirits T is but as an Atome to the greatest Mountain or as a drop of dew to the immense Ocean How foolish is it to prefer a drop before the Sea or an Atome before the world The Earth is but a point to the Sun the Sun with its whole Orb but a little part of the Heavens if compared with the whole Fabrick If a man had the possession of all those there could be no comparison between those that have had a beginning and shall have an end and God who is without either of them Yet how many are there that make nothing of the divine Eternity and imagine an Eternity of nothing 1. The world hath been but a of short standing T is not yet six thousand years since the foundations of it were laid and therefore it cannot have a boundless excellency as that God who hath been from everlasting doth possess If Adam had liv'd to this day and been as absolute Lord of his posterity as he was of the other Creatures had it been a competent object to take up his heart had he not been a mad man to have prefer'd this little created pleasure before an everlasting uncreated God A thing that had a dependent Beginning before that which had an independent Eternity 2. The beauties of the world are transitory and perishing The whole world is nothing else but a fluid thing the Fashion of it is a Pageantry passing away * 1 Cor. 7.31 tho the glories of it might be conceived greater than they are yet they are not consistent but transient There cannot be an entire enjoyment of them because they grow up
was so as that he never began Is to come so as that he never shall end By whom all things are what they are who hath both eternal knowledge to remember our service and eternal goodness to reward It. A DISCOURSE UPON THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD. Psalm 102.26 27. They shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old as a Garment as a Vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed But thou art the same and thy years shall have no end THIS Psalm contains a Complaint of a People pressed with a great Calamity some think of the Jewish Church in Babylon others think the Psalmist doth here personate Mankind lying under a state of corruption because he wishes for the coming of the Messiah to accomplish that Redemption promised by God and needed by them Indeed the title of the Psalm is a Prayer of the Afflicted when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the Lord Whether afflicted with the sense of corruption or with the sense of oppression And the Redemption by the Messiah which the ancient Church looked upon as the fountain of their Deliverance from a sinful or a servile Bondage is in this Psalm spoken of A set time appointed for the discovery of his mercy to Sion v. 13. An appearance in glory to build up Sion v. 16. The loosing of the Prisoner by Redemption and them that are appointed to Death v. 20. The calling of the Gentiles v. 22. And the latter part of the Psalm wherein are the verse I have read are applied to Christ Heb. 1. Whatsoever the design of the Psalm might be many things are intermingled that concern the Kingdom of the Messiah and Redemption by Christ Some make three parts of the Psalm 1. A Petition plainly delivered v. 1.2 Hear my Prayer oh Lord and let my cry come unto thee c. 2. The Petition strongly and argumentatively enforced and pleaded v. 3. from the misery of the Petitioner in himself and his reproach from his Enemies 3. An acting of Faith in the expectation of an Answer in the general Redemption promised v. 12 13. But thou oh Lord shalt endure for ever thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion The Heathen shall fear thy Name The first part is the Petition pleaded the second part is the Petition answered in an assurance that there should in time be a full deliverance * Pareus The design of the Pen-man is to confirm the Church in the truth of the Divine Promises that though the foundations of the World should be ript up and the Heavens clatter together and the whole Fabrick of them be unpinn'd and fall to pieces the firmest parts of it dissolved yet the Church should continue in its stability because it stands not upon the changeableness of Creatures but is built upon the immutable Rock of the truth God which is as little subject to change as his Essence They shall perish thou shalt change them As he had before ascribed to God the foundation of Heaven and Earth * verse 25. so he ascribes to God here the destruction of them Both the beginning and end of the World are here ascertained There is nothing indeed from the present appearance of things that can demonstrate the cessation of the world The Heaven and Earth stand firm the motions of the heavenly Bodies are the same their beautie is not decayed Individuals corrupt but the Species and Kinds remain The Successions of the Year observe their due order but the Sin of Man renders the change of the present appearance of the world necessary to accomplish the design of God for the glory of his Elect. The Heavens do not naturally perish as some fancied an old age of the world wherein it must necessarily decay as the Bodies of Animals do or that the parts of the Heavens are broken off by their rubbing one against another in their motion and falling to the Earth are the Seeds of those things that grow among us * Plin. Hist lib. 2. cap. 3. The Earth and Heavens He names here the most stable parts of the world and the most beautiful parts of the Creation those that are freest from corruptibility and change to illustrate thereby the Immutability of God that though the Heavens and Earth have a Prerogative of fixedness above other parts of the world and the Creatures that reside below the Heavens remain the same as they were created and the Center of the Earth retains its fixedness and are as beautiful and fresh in their age as they were in their youth many years ago notwithstanding the change of the Elements Fire and Water being often turned into Air so that there may remain but little of that Air which was first created by reason of the continual transmutation yet this firmness of the Earth and Heavens is not to be regarded in comparison of the unmoveableness and fixedness of the Being of God As their beauty comes short of the glory of his Being so doth their firmness come short of his stability Some by Heavens and Earth understand the Creatures which reside in the Earth and those which are in the Air which is called Heaven often in Scripture but the ruin and fall of these being seen every day had been no fit illustration of the unchangeableness of God They shall perish they shall be changed 1. They may perish say some they have it not from themselves that they do not perish but from thee who didst endue them with an incorruptible nature They shall perish if thou speakest the word Thou canst with as much ease destroy them as thou didst create them But the Psalmist speaks not of their possibility but the certainty of their perishing 2. They shall perish in their qualities and motion not in their substance say others They shall cease from that motion which is designed properly for the generation and corruption of things in the Earth but in regard of their substance and beauty they shall remain As when the strings or Wheels of a Clock or Watch are taken off the material parts remain though the motion of it and the use for discovering the time of the day ceaseth * Coccei in loc To perish doth not signify alway a falling into nothing an annihilation by which both the matter and the form are destroyed but a ceasing of the present apearance of them a ceasing to be what they now are as a man is said to perish when he dies whereas the better part of man doth not cease to be The figure of the Body moulders away and the matter of it returns to Dust but the Soul being immortal ceaseth not to act when the Body by reason of the absence of the Soul is uncapable of acting So the Heavens shall perish the appearance they now have shall vanish and a more glorious and incorruptible frame be erected by the power and goodness of God The dissolution of Heaven and Earth is meant by the
word perish the raising a new frame is signified by the word changed as if the Spirit of God would prevent any wrong meaning of the word perish by alleviating the sense of that by another which signifies only a mutation and change as when we change a Habit and Garment we quit the old to receive the new As a Garment as a Vesture Thou shalt change them * Septuag 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt fold them up The Heavens are compared to a Curtain * Psal 104.2 and shall in due time be folded up as Clothes and Curtains are As a Garment encompasseth the whole body so do the Heavens encircle the Earth * Estius in Heb. 1. Some say as a Garment is folded up to be laid aside that when there is need it may be taken again for use so shalt thou fold up the Heavens like a Garment that when they are repaired thou mayest again stretch them out about the Earth Thou shalt fold them up so that what did appear shall not now appear It may be illustrated by the metaphor of a Scrole or Book which the Spirit of God useth Isa 34.4 Rev. 6.14 The Heavens departed as a Scrole when it is rouled together When a Book is rouled up or shut nothing can be read in it till it be opened again so the Face of the Heavens wherein the Stars are as Letters declaring the Glory of God shall be shut or rouled together so that nothing shall appear till by its renovation it be opened again As a Garment it shall be changed not to be used in the same fashion and for the same use again It seems indeed to be for the worse an old Garment is not changed but into raggs to be put to other uses and afterwards thrown upon the Dung-hill But Similitudes are not to be pressed too far and this will not agree with the new Heavens and new Earth physically so as well as metaphorically so 'T is not likely the Heavens will be put to a worse use than God designed them for in Creation However a change as a Garment speaks not a total corruption but an alteration of qualities as a Garment not to be used in the same fashion as before We may observe 1. That 〈◊〉 probable the world shall not be annihilated but refin'd It shall lose its present form and fashion but not its foundation Indeed as God raised it from nothing so he can reduce it into nothing yet it doth not appear that God will annihilate it and utterly destroy both the matter and form of it part shall be consumed and part purified 2 Pet. 3.12 13. The Heavens shall be on fire and dissolved nevertheless we according to his promise look for a new Heaven and a new Earth They shall be melted down as Gold by the Artificer to be refined from its Dross and wrought into a more beautiful fashion that they may serve the design of God for those that shall reside therein a new world wherein Righteousness shall dwell The Apostle opposing it thereby to the old world wherein wickedness did reside The Heavens are to be purged as the Vessels that held the Sin-offering were to be purified by the fire of the Sanctuary God indeed will take down this Scaffold which he hath built to publish his Glory As every Individual hath a certain term of its duration so an end is appointed for thâ— universal nature of Heaven and Earth Isa 51.6 The Heavens shall vanish like Smoke which disappears As Smoke is resolved and attenuated into Air not annihilated So shall the world assume a new face and have a greater clearness and splendor As the Bodies of Men dissolved into Dust shall have more glorious qualities at their Resurrection As a Vessel of Gold is melted down to remove the batterings in it and receive a more comely Form by the Skill of the Workman 1. The world was not destroyed by the Deluge It was rather washed by water than consumed So it shall be rather refined by the last fire than lie under an irrecoverable ruin 2. 'T is not likely God would liken the everlastingness of his Covenant and the perpetuity of his spiritual Israel to the duration of the ordinances of the Heavens as he doth in Jer. 21.35 36. if they were wholly to depart from before him* Though that place may only tend to an assurance of a Church in the world while the world endures yet it would be but small comfort if the happiness of Believers should endure no longer than the Heavens and Earth if they were to have a total period 3. Besides the Bodies of the Saints must have place for their support to move in and glorious objects suted to these glorious senses which shall be restored to them Not in any carnal way which our Saviour rejects when he saith there is no eating or drinking or marrying c. in the other world but whereby they may glorify God though how or in what manner their senses shall be used would be rashness to determine only something is necessary for the corporeal state of men that there may be an employment for their Senses as well as their Souls 4. Again How could the Creature the world or any part of it be said to be delivered from the bondage of Corruption * Rom. 8.21 into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God if the whole Frame of Heaven and Earth were to be annihilated Rom. 8.21 The Apostle saith also that the Creature waits with an earnest expectation for this manifestation of the Sons of God v. 19. which would have no foundation if the whole frame should be reduced to nothing What joyful expectation can there be in any of a total ruin How should the Creature be capable of partaking in this glorious liberty of the Sons of God * Hâ—per in Heb. 1. As the World for the sin of man lost its first dignity and was cursed after the fall and the beauty bestowed upon it by creation defaced So it shall recover that ancient glory when he shall be fully restored by the Resurrection to that dignity he lost by his first sin As Man shall be freed from his corruptibility to receive that glory which is prepared for him so shall the Creatures be freed from that imperfection or corruptibility those stains and spots upon the face of them to receive a new glory suted to their nature and answerable to the design of God when the glorious liberty of the Saints shall be accomplisht * Mestraezat sur Heb. 1. As when a Princes Nuptials are solemnized the whole Country eccho's with joy So the inanimate Creatures when the time of the Marriage of the Lamb is come shall have a delight and pleasure from that renovation The Apostle sets forth the whole world as a person groaning and the Scripture is frequent in such Metaphors as when the Creatures are said to wait upon God and to be troubled * Psal 104.27 29. the
the Creation till this day and are of so great antiquity yet they must bow down to a change before the Will and Word of their Creator and shall we rest upon that which shall vanish like Smoke Shall we take any Creature for our support like Ice that will crack under our feet and must by the order of their Lord Creator deceive our hopes Perishing things can be no support to the Soul If we would have rest we must run to God and rest in God How contemptible should that be to us whose fashion shall pass away which shall not endure long in its present form and appearance contemptible as a rest not contemptible as the work of God contemptible as an end not contemptible as a means to attain our end If these must be changed how unworthy are other things to be the Center of our Souls that change in our very using of them and slide away in our very enjoyment of them Thou art the same The Essence of God with all the perfections of his nature are pronounced the same without any variation from Eternity to Eternity So that the Text doth not only assert the eternal duration of God but his Immutability in that duration his Eternity is signified in that expression thou shalt endure his Immutability in this thou art the same 〈…〉 â—eb To endure argues indeed his Immutability as well as Eternity For what endures is not changed and what is changed doth not endure But thou art the same 〈◊〉 â—â—om 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth more fully signifie it He could not be the same if he could be changed into any other thing than what he is The Psalmist therefore puts not thou hast been or shalt be but thou art the same without any alteration thou art the same that is the same God the same in Essence and Nature the same in Will and Purpose Thou dost change all other things as thou pleasest but thou art immutable in every respect and receivest no shadow of change though never so light and small * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above all change Theodor. The Psalmist here alludes to the name Jehovah I am and doth not only ascribe Immutability to God but exclude every thing else from partaking in that perfection All things else are tottering God sees all other things in continual motion under his feet like Water passing away and no more seen while he remains fixed and immoveable His Wisdom and Power his Knowledge and Will are alway the same His Essence can receive no alteration neither by it self nor by any external Cause whereas other things either naturally decline to destruction pass from one term to another till they come to their period or shall at the last day be wrapped up after God hath compleated his Will in them and by them as a man doth a Garment he intends to repair and transform to another use So that in the Text God as immutable is opposed to all Creatures as perishing and changeable Doct. God is unchangeable in his Essence Nature and Perfections Immutability and Eternity are linkt together and indeed true Eternity is true Immutability whence Eternity is defin'd the Possession of an immutable Life Yet Immutability differs from Eternity in our conception Immutability respects the Essence or Existence of a thing Eternity respects the duration of a Being in that State or rather * Gamacheus Immutability is the State it self Eternity is the measure of that State A thing is said to be changed when it is otherwise now in regard of Nature State Will or any Quality than it was before when either something is added to it or taken from it when it either loses or acquires But now it is the essential property of God not to have any accession to or diminution of his Essence or Attributes but to remain entirely the same He wants nothing He loses nothing but doth uniformly exist by himself without any new nature new thoughts new will new purpose or new place * Amyraut sur Heb. 9. p. 153. This unchangeableness of God was anciently represented by the figure of a Cube a piece of Metal or Wood framed four-square when every side is exactly of the same equality cast it which way you will it will always be in the same posture because it is equal to it self in all its dimensions He was therefore said to be the Center of all things and other things the Circumference the Center is never moved while the Circumference is it remains immoveable in the midst of the Circle There is no variableness nor shadow of turning with him * James 1.17 The Moon hath her Spots so hath the Sun there is a mixture of Light and Darkness it hath its changes sometimes it is in the increase sometimes in the wane it is always either gaining or losing and by the turnings and motions either of the heavenly-Heavenly-bodies or of the Earth 't is in its Eclipse by the interposition of the Earth between that and the Sun The Sun also hath its diurnal and annual motion it riseth and sets and puts on a different Face It doth not alway shine with a noon-day light 't is sometimes vail'd with Clouds and Vapours it is always going from one Tropick to another whereby it makes various shadows on the Earth and produceth the various seasons of the year 't is not always in our Hemisphere nor doth it always shine with an equal force and brightness in it Such shadows and variations have no place in the eternal Father of Lights He hath not the least spot or diminution of Brightness nothing can cloud him or eclipse him For the better understanding this Perfection of God I shall Premise three things 1. The Immutability of God is a Perfection Immutability considered in it self without relation to other things is not a Perfection 'T is the greatest misery and imperfection of the evil Angels that they are immutable in malice against God But as God is infinite in Essence infinitely good wise holy so it is a Perfection necessary to his Nature that he should be immutably all this all excellency goodness wisdom immutably all that heis without this he would be an imperfect Being Are not the Angels in Heaven who are confirmed in a holy and happy state more perfect than when they were in a possibility of committing evil and becoming miserable Are not the Saints in Heaven whose Wills by Grace do unalterably cleave to God and goodness more perfect than if they were as Adam in Paradise capable of losing their Felicity as well as preserving it We count a Rock in regard of its stability more excellent than the Dust of the Ground or a Feather that is tossed about with every Wind Is it not also the perfection of the Body to have a constant tenor of health and the glory of a man not to warp aside from what is just and right by the perswasions of any temptations 2. Immutability is a
the means and circumstances whereby it should be brought about As the Determination of our Saviour to suffer was not a new Will but an eternal Counsel and wrought no change in God * Acts 2.23 2. There is no change in God by the act of Creation because there was no new Power in God Had God had a Will at the time of the Creation which he had not before there had been a moral change in him so had there been in him a Power only to create then and not before there had been a physical change in him from weakness to ability There can be no more new Power in God than there can be a new Will in God for his Will is his Power and what he willeth to effect that he doth effect As he was unchangeably Holy so he was unchangeably Almighty which was and is and is to come * Rev. 4.8 which was Almighty and is Almighty and ever will be Almighty The Work therefore makes no change in God but there is a change in the thing wrought by that Power of God Suppose you had a Seal engraven upon some Metal a Hundred years old or as old as the Creation and you should this day so many Ages after the engraveing of it make an impression of that Seal upon Wax would you say the Engravement upon the Seal were changed because it produced that stamp upon the Wax now which it did not before No the change is purely in the Wax which receives a new figure or form by the impression not in the Seal that was capable of imprinting the same long before God was the same from Eternity as he was when he made a Signature of himself upon the Creatures by Creation and is no more changed by stamping them into several forms than the Seal is changed by making impression upon the Wax As when a house is enlightned by the Sun or that which was cold is heated by it there is a change in the house from darkness to light from coldness to heat but is there any change in the light and heat of the Sun There is a change in the thing enlightned or warmed by that light and heat which remains fixed and constant in the Sun which was as capable in it self to produce the same effects before as at that instant when it works them So when God is the Author of a new Work he is not changed because he works it by an eternal Will and an eternal Power 3. Nor is there any new relation acquired by God by the Creation of the World There was a new relation acquired by the Creature as when a Man sins he hath another relation to God than he had before he hath relation to God as a Criminal to a Judge But there is no change in God but in the Malefactor The Being of Men makes no more change in God than the Sins of Men. As a Tree is now on our right hand and by our turning about it is on our left hand sometimes before us sometime behind us according to our motion neer it or about it and the turning of the Body There is no change in the Tree which remains firm and fixed in the Earth but the change is wholly in the posture of the Body whereby the Tree may be said to be before us or behind us or on the right hand or on the left hand * Petav. Theo. Dogmat. Tom. 1. lib. God gained no new relation of Lord or Creator by the Creation for though he had created nothing to rule over yet he had the Power to create and rule though he did not create and rule As a Man may be called a skillful Writer though he does not write because he is able to do it when he pleases or a Man skilful in Physick is called a Physitian though he doth not practice that Skill or discover his Art in the distribution of Medicines because he may do it when he pleases it depends upon his own will to shew his Art when he has a mind to it So the Name Creator and Lord belongs to God from Eternity because he could create and rule though he did not create and rule But howsoever if there were any such change of relation that God may be called Creator and Lord after the Creation and not before 't is not a change in Essence nor in Knowledge nor in Will God gains no perfection nor diminution by it his Knowledge is not increased by it He is no more by it than he was and will be if all those things ceased and therefore Austin illustrates it by this similitude as a piece of Mony when it is given as the price of a thing or deposited only as a pledge for the security of a thing borrowed the Coyn is the same and is not changed though the relation it had as a pledge and as a price be different from one another so that suppose any new relation be added yet there is nothing happens to the Nature of God which may infer any change 2. The second Proposition There was no change in the Divine Nature of the Son when he assumed Human Nature There was an Union of the two Natures but no change of the Deity in to the Humanity or of the Humanity into the Deity both preserved their peculiar Properties The Humanity was changed by a Communication of excellent Gifts from the Divine Nature not by being brought into an Equality with it for that was impossible that a Creature should become equal to the Creator He took the Form of a Servant but he lost not the Form of God he despoiled not himself of the Perfections of the Deity He was indeed emptied and became of no reputation * Phil. 2.7 but he did not cease to be God though he was reputed to be only a Man and a very mean one too The Glory of his Divinity was not extinguisht nor diminisht though it was obscur'd and darkned under the vail of our infirmities but there was no more change in the hiding of it than there is in the Body of the Sun when it is shadowed by the interposition of a Cloud His blood while it was pouring out from his Veins was the blood of God * Acts 20.28 and therefore when he was bowing the Head of his Humanity upon the Cross he had the Nature and Perfections of God for had he ceased to be God he had been a meer Creature and his sufferings would have been of as little value and satisfaction as the sufferings of a Creature He could not have been a sufficient Mediator had he ceased to be God and he had ceased to be God had he lost any one Perfection proper to the Divine Nature and losing none he lost not this of unchangeableness which is none of the meanest belonging to the Deity Why by his Union with the Human Nature should he lose this any more than he lost his Omniscience which he discovered by his knowledge of the
good evil is present with me * Rom. 7.21 Never more present than when we have a mind to do good and never more present than when we have a mind to do the best and greatest good How hard is it to make our thoughts and affections keep their stand place them upon a good Object and they will be frisking from it as a Bird from one bough one fruit to another We vary postures according to the various objects we meet with The course of the World is a very airy thing suted to the uncertain motions of that Prince of the power of the Air which works in it * Eph. 2.2 This ought to be bewail'd by us Tho we may stand fast in the truth tho we may spin our resolutions into a firm web tho the Spirit may triumph over the flesh in our practice yet we ought to bewail it because inconstancy is our nature and what fixedness we have in good is from grace What we find practised by most men is natural to all * Lawrence of Faith p. 262. As face answers to face in a glass so doth heart to heart * Pro. 27.19 a face in the glass is not more like a natural face whose image it is than one mans heart is naturally like another 1. 'T is natural to those out of the Church Nebuchadnezzar is so affected with Daniels prophetick Spirit that he would have none accounted the true God but the God of Daniel * Dan. 2.47 How soon doth this notion slip from him and an image must be set up for all to worship upon pain of almost cruel painful death Daniels God is quite forgotten The miraculous deliverance of the three Children for not worshipping his Image makes him settle a Decree to secure the Honour of God from the reproach of his Subjects * Dan. 3.29 yet a little while after you have him strutting in his Palace as if there were no God but himself 2. 'T is natural to those in the Church The Israelites were the only Church God had in the World and a notable Example of inconstancy After the Miracles of Aegypt they murmured against God when they saw Pharaoh marching with an Army at their Heels They desired food and soon nauseated the Manna they were before fond of when they came into Canaan They sometimes worshipped God and sometimes Idols not only the Idols of one Nation but of all their Neighbours In which regard God calls this his Heritage a Speckled Bird * Jer. 12.9 a Peacock saith Hierom inconstant made up of varieties of Idolatrous colours and Ceremonies This levity of Spirit is the root of all mischeif it scatters our thoughts in the Service of God it is the cause of all revolts and Apostacies from him it makes us unfit to receive the communications of God whatsoever we hear is like words writ in sand ruffled out by the next gale whatsoever is put into us is like precious liquor in a palsie hand soon spilt It breeds distrust of God when we have an uncertain judgment of him we are not like to confide in him an uncertain judgment will be followed with a distrustful heart In fine where it is prevalent it is a certain sign of ungodliness to be driven with the wind like chaffe and to be ungodly is all one in the judgment of the Holy Ghost Psal 1.4 the ungodly are like the chaff which the wind drives away which signifies not their destruction but their disposition for their destruction is inferred from it ver 5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment How contrary is this to the unchangeable God who is alwayes the same and would have us the same in our religious Promises and Resolutions for good 4. If God be immutable 't is sad news to those that are resolved in wickedness or careless of returning to that duty he requires Sinners must not expect that God will alter his will make a breach upon his nature and violate his own Word to gratifie their lusts No 't is not reasonable God should dishonour himself to secure them and cease to be God that they may continue to be wicked by changing his own nature that they may be unchanged in their vanity God is the same goodness is as amiable in his sight and Sin as abominable in his eyes now as it was at the beginning of the world Being the same God he is the same Enemy to the Wicked as the same Friend to the Righteous He is the same in Knowledge and cannot forget sinful acts He is the same in Will and cannot approve of unrighteous Practices Goodness cannot but be alway the Object of his Love and Wickedness cannot but be alway the Object of his Hatred And as his aversion to Sin is alway the same so as he hath been in his Judgments upon Sinners the same he will be still for the same perfection of Immutability belongs to his Justice for the punishment of Sin as to his Holiness for his disaffection to Sin Though the Covenant of Works was changeable by the crime of man violating it yet it was unchangeable in regard of Gods justice vindicating it which is inflexible in the punishment of the breaches of his Law The Law had a preceptive part and a minatory part When man changed the observation of the Precept the righteous nature of God could not null the execution of the threatning He could not upon the account of this perfection neglect his just word and countenance the unrighteous transgression Tho there were no more rational Creatures in being but Adam and Eve yet God subjected them to that death he had assured them of and from this immutability of his Will ariseth the necessity of the suffering of the Son of God for the relief of the apostate Creature His Will in the second Covenant is as uncâ—aâ—â—eable as that in the first only repentance is settled as the condition of the second which was not indulged in the first and without repentance the sinner must iâ—â—voâ—â—bly pâ—rish or God must change his nature There must be a change in man there can be nâ—â—â—e in God his bow is bent his arrows are ready if the wicked do not turn * Psal 7.11 There is not an Atheist an hypocrite a prophane person that ever was upon the Earth but Gods Soul abhorred him as such and the like he will abhor for ever While any therefore continue so they may sooner expect the Heavens should roul as they please the Sun stand still at their order the Stars change their course at their beck than that God should change his nature which is opposite to prophaness and vanity Who hath hardned himself against him and hath prospered * Job 9.4 Use 2. Of comfort The immutability of a good God is a strong ground of consolation Subjects wish a good Prince to live for ever as being loath to change him but care not how soon they are rid of an Oppressor
righteous person to keep the truth Isa 26.2 And it is as positively said that he that abides not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God 2 Epist John 9. but he that doth hath both the Father and the Son So much of uncertainty so much of nature so much of firmness in duty so much of Grace We can never honour God unless we finish his work as Christ did not glorifie God but in finishing the work God gave him to do * John 17.4 The nearer the world comes to an end the more is Gods immutability seen in his promises and predictions and the more must our unchangeableness be seen in our obedience Heb. 10.23 25. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering and so much the more as you see the day approaching The Christian Jews were to be the more tenacious of their faith the nearer they saw the day approaching the day of Jerusalems destruction prophesied of by Daniel * Dan. 9.26 which accomplishment must be a great argument to establish the Christian Jews in the profession of Christ to be the Messiah because the destruction of the City was not to be before the cutting off the Messiah Let us be therefore constant in our profession and service of God and not suffer our selves to be driven from him by the ill usage or flatter'd from him by the Caresses of the world 1. T is reasonable If God be unchangeable in doing us good it is reason we should be unchangeable in doing him service If he assure us that he is our God our I am he would also that we should be his people His we are If he declare himself constant in his promises he expects we should be so in our obedience As a spouse we should be unchangeably faithful to him as a Husband As subjects have an unchangeable allegiance to him as our Prince He would not have us faithful to him for an hour or a day but to the death * Rev. 2.10 And it is reason we should be his and if we be his Children imitate him in his constancy of his holy purposes 2. T is our glory and interest To be a reed shaken with every wind is no commendation among men and t is less a ground of praise with God It was Jobs glory that he held fast his integrity * Job 1.22 In all this Job sinned not In all this which whole Cities and Kingdoms would have thought ground enough of high exclamations against God And also against the temptation of his Wife he retained his integrity Job 2.9 Dost thou still retain thy integrity The Devil who by Gods permission stript him of his goods and health yet could not strip him of his grace As a Traveller when the wind and snow beats in his face wraps his cloak more closely about him to preserve that and himself Better we had never made profession than afterwards to abandon it such a withering profession serves for no other use than to aggravate the crime if any of us fly like a coward or revolt like a Traytor What profit will it be to a Souldier if he hath withstood many assaults and turn his back at last If we would have God Crown us with an immutable glory we must Crown our beginnings with a happy perseverance Rev. 2.10 Be faithful to the Death and I will give thee a Crown of life Not as tho this were the cause to merit it but a necessary condition to possess it Constancy in good is accompanied with an immutability of Glory 3. By an unchangeable disposition to good we should begin the happiness of Heaven upon Earth This is the perfection of blessed Spirits those that are nearest to God as Angels and glorified Souls they are immutable Not indeed by nature but by grace yet not only by a necessity of grace but a liberty of Will Grace will not let them change and that grace doth animate their Wills that they would not change an immutable God fills their understandings and affections and gives satisfaction to their desires The Saints when they were below tried other things and found them deficient But now they are so fully satisfied with the beatifick vision that if Satan should have entrance among the Angels and Sons of God 't is not likely he should have any influence upon them he could not present to their understandings any thing that could either at the first glance or upon a deliberate view be preferrable to what they enjoy and are fixed in Well then let us be immoveable in the Knowledge and Love of God 'T is the delight of God to see his Creatures resemble him in what they are able Let not our Affections to him be as Jonah's Goard growing up in one Night and withering the next Let us not only fight a good Fight but do so till we have finished our course and imitate God in an unchangeableness of holy purposes and to that purpose examin our selves daily what fixedness we have arrived unto And to prevent any temptation to a revolt let us often possess our minds with thoughts of the immutability of Gods Nature and Will which like Fire under Water will keep a good matter boiling up in us and make it both retain and increase its heat 4. Let this Doctrin teach us to have recourse to God and aim at a near conjunction with him When our Spirits begin to flag and a cold aguish temper is drawing upon us let us go to him who can only fix our hearts and furnish us with a Ballast to render them stedfast As he is only immutable in his Nature so he is the only Principle of Immutability as well as Being in the Creature Without his Grace we shall be as changeable in our appearances as a Chamelion and in our turnings as the Wind. When Peter trusted in himself he changed to the worse It was his Masters recourse to God for him that preserved in him a reducing Principle which changed him again for the better and fixed him in it * Luke 22.32 It will be our Interest to be in conjunction with him that moves not about with the Heavens nor is turned by the force of Nature nor changed by the accidents in the world but sits in the Heavens moving all things by his powerful Arm according to his infinite Skill While we have him for our God we have his Immutability as well as any other Perfection of his Nature for our advantage The nearer we come to him the more stability we shall have in our selves the further from him the more lyable to change The Line that is nearest to the place where it is first fixed is least subject to motion the further it is stretched from it the weaker it is and more liable to be shaken Let us also affect those things which are nearest to him in this perfection the righteousness of Christ that shall never wear out and the graces of the Spirit that shall never burn
are nearer to us than our flesh to our bones than the air to our breath he cannot be far from them that live and have every motion in him The Apostle doth not say By him but in him to shew the inwardness of his Presence As Eternity is the perfection whereby he hath neither beginning nor end Immutability is the perfection whereby he hath neither increase nor diminution so Immensity or Omnipresence is that whereby he hath neither bounds nor limitation As he is in all time yet so as to be above time so is he in all places yet so as to be above limitation by any place It was a good Expression of a Heathen to illustrate this That God is a Sphere or Circle whose Center is every where and Circumference no where His meaning was that the Essence of God was indivisible i. e. could not be divided It cannot be said here and there the lines of it terminate 't is like a line drawn out in infinite spaces that no point can be conceived where its length and breadth ends The Sea is a vast mass of waters yet to that it is said Hitherto shalt thou go and no further But it cannot be said of Gods Essence hitherto it reaches and no further here it is and there it is not 'T is plain that God is thus immense because he is infinite we have Reason and Scripture to assent to it though we cannot conceive it We know that God is eternal though Eternity is too great to be measured by the short line of a created understanding We cannot conceive the Vastness and Glory of the Heavens much less that which is so great as to fill Heaven and Earth yea * 1 King 8.27 not to be contained in the Heaven of Heavens Things are said to be present or in a place 1. Circumscriptivè as circumscribed This belongs to things that have quantity as bodies that are encompass'd by that place wherein they are and a body fills but one particular space wherein it is and the space is commensurate to every part of it and every member hath a distinct place The hand is not in the same particular space that the foot or head is 2. Definitivè which belongs to Angels and Spirits which are said to be in a point yet so as that they cannot be said to be in another at the same time 3. Repletivè filling all places this belongs only to God As he is not measured by time to he is not limited by place A Body or Spirit because finite fills but one space God because infinite fills all yet so as not to be contained in them as Wine and Water is in a Vessel He is from the height of the Heavens to the bottom of the Deeps in every point of the World and in the whole Circle of it yet not limited by it but beyond it Now this hath been acknowledged by the wisest in the world Some indeed had other Notions of God The more ignorant sort of the Jews confin'd him to the Temple * Hierom. on Isa 66.1 And God intimates that they had such a thought when he asserts his presence in Heaven and Earth in opposition to the Temple they built as his House and the place of his Rest * Hammond on Matth. 6.7 And the Idolaters among them thought their Gods might be at a distance from them which Elias intimates in the scoff he puts upon them * 1 King 18.17 Cry aloud for he is a God meaning Baal either he is talking or he is pursuing or he is in a journey and they follow his advice and cried louder v. 28. whereby it is evident they looked not on it as a mock but as a truth And the Syrians call'd the God of Israel the God of the hills as though his presence were fixed there and not in the valleys * 1 King 20.23 and their own Gods in the Valleys and not in the Mountains they phansied every God to have a particular Dominion and presence in one place and not in another and bounded the Territories of their Gods as they did those of their Princes * Med. Diatrib vol. 1. p 71 72. And some thought him tied to and shut up in their Temples and Groves wherein they worshipped him * Dought Analec excurs 61. 113. Some of them thought God to be confined to Heaven and therefore sacrificed upon the highest Mountains that the steam might ascend nearer Heaven and their Praises be heard better in those places which were nearest to the Habitation of God But the wiser Jews acknowledged it and therefore call'd God place * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grot. upon Mat. 5.16 Mares contra Volk lib. 1. cap. 27. p. 494 whereby they denoted his immensity he was not contain'd in any place every part of the World subsists by him He was a place to himself greater than any thing made by him And the wiser Heathens acknowledged it also †Vide Minut. Fel. p. 20. One calls God a mind passing through the universal nature of things Another That he was an infinite and immense Air * Plotia Enead 6. lib 5. cap 4. Another That it is as natural to think God is every where as to think that God is Hence they call'd God the Soul of the World that as the Soul is in every part of the Body to quicken it so is God in every part of the World to support it And there are some resemblances of this in the World though no Creature can fully resemble God in any one perfection for then it would not be a Creature but God But Air and Light are some weak resemblances of it Air is in all the spaces of the World in the Pores of all Bodies in the Bowels of the Earth and extends it self from the lowest Earth to the highest Regions and the Heavens themselves are probably nothing else but a refin'd kind of Air and Light diffuseth it self through the whole Air and every part of it is truly Light as every part of the Air is truly Air and though they seem to be mingled together yet they are distinct things and not of the same Essence so is the Essence of God in the whole World not by diffusion as Air or Light not mixed with any Creature but remaining distinct from the Essence of any Created Being Now when this hath been own'd by men instructed only in the School of Nature 't is a greater shame to any acquainted with the Scripture to deny it For the understanding of this there shall be some Propositions premis'd in general 1. This is Negatively to be understood Our Knowledge of God is most by withdrawing from him or denying to him in our conceptions any weaknesses or imperfections in the Creature As the infiniteness of God is a denial of limitation of Being so Immensity or Omnipresence is a denial of limitation of place And when we say God is totus in every place we must understand it
every thing * Maccor loc commun cap. 19. p. 153. He is really out of the World in himself as he was in himself before the Creation of the World As because God was before the Foundation of the World we conclude his Eternity so because he is without the bounds of the World we conclude his Immensity and from thence his Omnipresence The World cannot be said to contain him since it was Created by him it cannot contain him now who was contained by nothing before the World was as there was no place to contain him before the World was there can be no place to contain him since the World was God might create more Worlds circular and round as this and those could not be so contiguous but some spaces would be left between as take three round Balls lay them as close as you can to one another there will be some spaces between none would say but God would be in these spaces as well as in the World he had created tho' there were nothing real and positive in those spaces Why should we then exclude God from those imaginary spaces without the World God might also create many Worlds and separate them by distances that they might not touch one another but be at a great distance from one another and would not God fill them as well as he doth this if so he must also fill the spaces between them For if he were in all those Worlds and not in the spaces between those Worlds his Essence would be divided there would be gaps in it his Essence would be cut into parts and the distance between every part of his Essence would be as great as the space between each World The Essence of God may be conceived then well enough to be in all those infinite spaces where he can erect new Worlds I shall give one place more to prove both these Propositions viz. That God is Essentially in every part of the World and Essentially above ours without the World * Isa 66.1 The Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my Foot-stool He is Essentially in every part of the World he is in Heaven and Earth at the same time as a man is upon his Throne and his Foot-stool God describes himself in a Human Shape accommodated to our Capacity as if he had his Head in Heaven and his Feet on Earth doth not his Essence then fill all intermediate spaces between Heaven and Earth as when the head of a man is in the upper part of a Room and his Feet upon the floor his body fills up the space between the Head and his Feet this is meant of the Essence of God 't is a Similitude drawn from Kings sitting upon the Throne and not their Power and Authority but the Feet of their persons are supported by the Foot-stool so here it is not meant only of the Perfections of God but the Essence of God Besides God seems to tax them with an erroneous conceit they had as tho' his Essence were in the Temple and not in any part of the World therefore God makes an Opposition between Heaven and Earth and the Temple Where is the House that you built unto me and where is the place of my Rest Had he understood it only of his Providence it had not been any thing against their mistake for they granted his Providence to be not only in the Temple but in all parts of the World Where is the House that you Build to me to Me not to my Power or Providence but think to include Me within those Walls Again It shews God to be above the Heavens if the Heavens be his Throne he sits upon them and is above them as Kings are above the Thrones on which they sit so it cannot be meant of his Providence because no Creature being without the Sphere of the Heavens there is nothing of the Power and the Providence of God visible there for there is nothing for him to employ his Providence about For Providence supposeth a Creature in actual being It must be therefore meant of his Essence which is above the world and in the world And the like proof you may see Job 11.7 8. 'T is as high as heaven what canst thou do deeper than Hell what canst thou know the measure thereof is longer than the Earth and broader than the Sea Where he intends the unsearchableness of Gods wisdom but proves it by the infiniteness of his Essence Hebr. He is the height of the Heavens he is the top of all the Heavens so that when you have begun at the lowest part and traced him through all the Creatures you will find his Essence filling all the Creatures to be at the top of the World and infinitely beyond it 5. Fifth Proposition This is the property of God incommunicable to any Creature As no Creature can be eternal and immutable so no Creature can be immense because it cannot be infinite nothing can be of an infinite nature and therefore nothing of an immense Presence but God It cannot be communicated to the Humane Nature of Christ tho' in Union with the Divine * Rivet 110. Psal p. 301. Col. 2. some indeed argue that Christ in regard of his humane nature is every where because he sits at the right hand of God and the right hand of God is every where His fitting at the right hand of God signifies his Exaltation and cannot with any reason be extended to such a kind of arguing The Hearts of Kings are in the hand of God are the heart of Kings every where because Gods hand is every where The Souls of the Righteous are in the hand of God is the Soul therefore of every Righteous man every where in the World The right hand of God is from Eternity is the Humanity of Christ therefore from Eternity because it sits at the right hand of God The right hand of God made the World did the Humanity of Christ therefore make Heaven and Earth the Humanity of Christ must then be confounded with his Divinity be the same with it not united to it All Creatures are distinct from their Creator and cannot inherit the Properties Essential to his Nature as Eternity Immensity Immutability Omnipresence Omniscience no Angel no Soul no Creature can be in all places at once before they can be so they must be Immense and so must cease to be Creatures and commence God this is impossible II Reasons to prove Gods Essential Presence 1st Reason Because he is infinite As he is infinite he is every where as he is Simple his whole Essence is every where for in regard of his Infiniteness he hath no bounds in regard of his Simplicity he hath no parts And therefore those that deny Gods Omnipresence tho' they pretend to own him Infinite must really conceive him Finite 1. God is Infinite in his Perfections None can set bounds to terminate the greatness and excellency of God * Psal 145.3 His greatness
cannot be sever'd from his Power nor his Power from his Essence for the Power of God is nothing but God acting and the wisdom of God nothing but God knowing As the power of God is always so is his Essence as the power of God is every where so is his Essence whatsoever God is he is alway and every where To confine him to a place is to measure his Essence as to confine his actions is to limit his power his Essence being no less infinite than his Power and his Wisdom can be no more bounded than his Power and Wisdom but they are not separable from his Essence yea they are his Essence if God did not fill the whole World he would be determin'd to some place and excluded from others and so his substance would have bounds and limits and then something might be conceived greater than God for we may conceive that a Creature may be made by God of so vast a greatness as to fill the whole World for the power of God is able to make a body that should take up the whole space between Heaven and Earth and reach to every corner of it but nothing can be conceived by any Creature greater than God he exceeds all things and is exceeded by none God therefore cannot be included in Heaven nor included in the Earth cannot be contained in either of them for if we should imagine them vaster than they are yet still they would be finite and if his Essence were contain'd in them it could be no more infinite than the World which contains it As water is not of a larger compass than the Vessel which contains it If the Essence of God were limited either in the Heavens or Earth it must needs be finite as the Heaven and Earth are But there is no proportion between finite and infinite God therefore cannot be contain'd in them If there were an infinite body that must be every where certainly then an infinite Spirit must be every where Unless we will account him finite we can render no reason why he should not be in one Creature as well as in another if he be in Heaven which is his Creature why can he not be in the Earth which is as well his Creature as the Heavens 2. Reason Because of the continual operation of God in the World This was one reason made the Heathen believe that there was an infinite Spirit in the vast body of the World acting in every thing and producing those admirable motions which we see every where in Nature That cause which acts in the most perfect manner is also in the most perfect manner present with its effects God preserves all and therefore is in all the Apostle thought it a good induction Acts 17.27 He is not far from us for in him we live For being as much as because shews that from his operation he concluded his real presence with all 'T is not his vertue is not far from every one of us but He his Substance himself for none that acknowledge a God will deny the absence of the vertue of God from any part of the World He works in every thing every thing lives and works in him therefore he is present with all * Pont. or rather if things live they are in God who gives them life If things live God is in them and gives them life If things move God is in them and gives them motion If things have any Being God is in them and gives them Being if God withdraws himself they presently lose their Being and therefore some have compar'd the Creature to the impression of a Seal upon the water that cannot be preserved but by the Presence of the Seal As his Presence was actual with what he Created so his Presence is actual with what he preserves since Creation and Preservation do so little differ if God creates things by his Essential Presence by the same he supports them If his substance cannot be disjoyn'd from his preserving Power his power and wisdom cannot be separated from his Essence where there are the marks of the one there is the presence of the other for it is by his Essence that he is powerful and wise no man can distinguish the one from the other in a simple Being God doth not preserve and act things by a vertue diffus'd from him N.B. It may be demanded whether that vertue be distinct from God if it be not 't is then the Essence of God if it be distinct 't is a Creature and then it may be ask't how that vertue which preserves other things is preserved it self it must be ultimately resolv'd into the Essence of God or else there must be a running in infinitum or else * Amyrald de Trinitat p. 106. 107. is that vertue of God a substance or not Is it endued with understanding or not If it hath understanding how doth it differ from God If it wants understanding can any imagine that the support of the World the guidance of all Creatures the wonders of Nature can be wrought preserv'd manag'd by a vertue that hath nothing of understanding in it If it be not a substance it can much less be able to produce such excellent Operations as the preserving all the kinds of things in the World and ordering them to perform such excellent ends this Vertue is therefore God himself the infinite Power and Wisdom of God and therefore wheresoever the effects of these are seen in the World God is essentially present some Creatures indeed act at a distance by a vertue diffus'd but such a manner of acting comes from a limitedness of nature that such a nature cannot be every where present and extend its substance to all parts To act by a vertue speaks the Subject finite and it is a part of indigence Kings act in their Kingdoms by Ministers and Messengers because they cannot act otherwise but God being infinitely perfect works all things in all immediately 1 Cor. 12.6 Illumination Sanctification Grace c. are the immediate Works of God in the heart and immediate Agents are present with what they do 't is an Argument of the greater Perfection of a Being to know things immediately which are done in several places than to know them at the second hand by Instruments 't is no less a Perfection to be every where rather than to be tyed to one place of action and to act in other places by Instruments for want of a Power to act immediately it self God indeed acts by means and second causes in his Providential Dispensations in the World but this is not out of any Defect of Power to Work all immediately himself but he thereby accommodates his way of acting to the nature of the Creature and the Order of Things which he hath setled in the World And when he Works by means he acts with those means in those means sustains their faculties and vertues in them concurs with them by his Power so
than this and Millions of Heavens greater than this Heaven he hath already Created if so he is then in unconceivable spaces beyond this World for his Essence is not less and narrower than his Power and his Power is not to be thought of a further extent than his Essence he cannot be excluded therefore from those vast spaces where his Power may fix those Worlds if he please if so 't is no wonder that he should fill this World and there is no reason to exclude God from the narrow space of this World that is not contain'd in infinite spaces beyond the World God is wheresoever he hath a Power to act but he hath a power to act every where in the World every where out of the World he is therefore every where in the World every where out of the World Before this World was made he had a Power to make it in the space where now it stands Was he not then unlimitedly where the World now is before the World received a Being by his powerful Word Why should he not then be in every part of the World now Can it be thought that God who was immense before should after he had Created the World contract himself to the limits of one of his Creatures and tie himself to a particular place of his own Creation and be less after his Creation than he was before This might also be prosecuted by an Argument from his Eternity What is eternal in duration is immense in essence the same reason which renders him eternal renders him immense That which proves him to be always will prove him to be every where The third thing is Propositions for the further clearing this Doctrine from any exceptions 1. This truth is not weakned by the expressions in Scripture where God is said to dwell in Heaven and in the Temple 1. He is indeed said to sit in heaven * Psal 2.4 and to dwell on high * Psal 113 5. but he is no where said to dwell only in the heavens as confin'd to them 'T is the Court of his Majestical presence but not the Prison of his Essence For when we are told that the heaven is his throne we are told with the same breath that the earth is his footstool Isa 66. â— He dwells on high in regard of the excellency of his nature but he is in all places in regard of the diffusion of his presence The soul is essentially in all parts of the body but it doth not exert the same operations in all the more noble discoveries of it are in the Head and Heart In the Head where it exerciseth the chiefest senses for the enriching the understanding In the Heart where it vitally resides and communicates life and motion to the rest of the body It doth not understand with the foot or toe tho' it be in all parts of the body it informs And so God may be said to dwell in Heaven in regard of the more excellent and majestick representations of himself both to the Creatures that inhabit the place as Angels and blessed spirits and also in those marks of his greatness which he hath planted there those spiritual natures which have a nobler stamp of God upon them and those excellent bodies as Sun and Stars which as so many Tapers light us to behold his glory Psal 19.1 and astonish the minds of men when they gaze upon them 'T is his Court where he hath the most solemn Worship from his Creatures all his Courtiers attending there with a pure love and glowing zeal He reigns there in a special manner without any opposition to his government 't is therefore call'd his holy dwelling-place 2 Chron 3.27 The Earth hath not that title since sin cast a stain and a ruining curse upon it The Earth is not his Throne because his government is oppos'd But Heaven is none of Satan's precinct and the Rule of God is uncontradicted by the Inhabitants of it 'T is from thence also he hath given the greatest discoveries of himself Thence he sends the Angels his Messengers his Son upon Redemption his Spirit for Sanctification From Heaven his gifts drop down upon our heads and his grace upon our hearts James 3.15 From thence the chiefest blessings of Earth descend The motions of the heavens fatten the earth and the heavenly bodies are but stewards to the earthly comforts for man by their influence Heaven is the richest vastest most stedfast and majestick part of the visible Creation 'T is there where he will at last manifest himself to his people in a full conjunction of grace and glory and be for ever open to his people in uninterrupted expressions of goodness and discoveries of his presence as a reward of their labour and service And in these respects it may peculiarly be call'd his Throne And this doth no more hinder his essential presence in all parts of the earth than it doth his gracious presence in all the hearts of his people God is in heaven in regard of the manifestation of his glory in hell by the expressions of his justice in the earth by the discoveries of his Wisdom Power Patience and Compassion in his people by the monuments of his grace and in all in regard of his substance 2. He is said also to dwell in the Ark and Temple 'T is called Psal 26.8 The habitation of his house and the place where his honour dwells and to dwell in Jerusalem as in his holy Mountain The Mountain of the Lord of Hosts Zec. 8.3 in regard of publishing his Oracles answering their prayers manifesting more of his goodness to the Israelites than to any other Nation in the world erecting his true Worship among them which was not setled in any part of the world besides and his worship is principally intended in that Psalm The Ark is the place where his honour dwells the worship of God is called the glory of God They changed the glory of God into an image made like to corruptible man Rom. 1.23 i. e. they changed the worship of God into dolatry and to that also doth the place in Zechary refer Now because he is said to dwell in heaven is he essentially only there Is he not as essentially in the Temple and Ark as he is in Heaven since there are as high expressions of his habitation there as of his dwelling in heaven If he dwell only in heaven how came he to dwell in the Temple both are asserted in Scripture one as much as the other If his dwelling in heaven did not hinder his dwelling in the Ark it could as little hinder the presence of his essence on the earth To dwell in heaven and in one part of the earth at the same time is all one as to dwell in all parts of heaven and all parts of earth If he were in Heaven and in the Ark and Temple it was the same essence in both tho' not the same kind of
before it was Immense before it had no bounds and would God make a World that he would be ashamed to be present with and continue it to the diminution and lessening of himself rather than annihilate it to avoid the disparagement This were to impeach the Wisdom of God and cast a blemish upon his infinite Understanding that he knows not the consequences of his Work or is well contented to be impaired in the immensity of his own Essence by it No man thinks it a dishonour to Light a most excellent Creature to be present with a Toad or Serpent and tho' there be an infinite disproportion between Light a Creature and the Father of Lights the Creator Yet * Gassend God being a Spirit knows how to be with Bodies as if they were not Bodies And being jealous of his own Honor would not could not do any thing that might impair it 4. Nor will it follow That because God is Essentially every where that every thing is God God is not every where by any conjunction composition or mixture with any thing on Earth when Light is in every part of a Chrystal Globe and encircles it close on every side do they become one No the Chrystal remains what it is and the Light retains its own nature God is not in us as a part of us but as an efficient and preserving Cause 't is not by his Essential Presence but his efficacious Presence that he brings any person into a likeness to his own Nature God is so in his Essence with things as to be distinct from them as a Cause from the Effect as a Creator different from the Creature preserving their Nature not communicating his own his Essence touches all is in conjunction with none Finite and Infinite cannot be joyn'd he is not far from us therefore near to us so near that we live and move in him * Acts 17.27 Nothing is God because it moves in him any more than a Fish in the Sea is the Sea or a part of the Sea because it moves in it Doth a man that holds a thing in the hollow of his hand Amyrald de Trinit p. 99. 100. transform it by that action and make it like his hand The Soul and Body are more straitly united than the Essence of God is by his Presence with any Creature The Soul is in the Body as a form in matter and from their Union doth arise a man yet in this near conjunction both Body and Soul remain distinct the Soul is not the Body nor the Body the Soul they both have distinct natures and essences the Body can never be changed into a Soul nor the Soul into a Body no more can God into the Creature or the Creature into God Fire is in heated Iron in every part of it so that it seems to be nothing but Fire yet is not Fire and Iron the same thing But such a kind of arguing against Gods Omnipresence that if God were Essentially present every thing would be God would exclude him from Heaven as well as from Earth By the same reason since they acknowledge God essentially in Heaven the Heaven where he is should be chang'd into the nature of God and by arguing against his Presence in Earth upon this ground they run such an inconvenience that they must own him to be no where and that which is no where is nothing Doth the Earth become God because God is Essentially there any more than the Heavens where God is acknowledged by all to be Essentially present Again if where God is Essentially that must be God then if they place God in a Point of the Heavens not only that Point must be God but all the World because if that point be God because God is there then the Point touched by that Point must be God and so consequently as far as there are any Points touched by one another We live and move in God so we live and move in the Air we are no more God by that than we are meer Air because we breathe in it and it enters into all the Pores of our Body Nay where there was a straiter Union of the Divine Nature to the Humane in our Saviour yet the Nature of both was distinct and the Humanity was not chang'd into the Divinity nor the Divinity into the Humanity 5. Nor doth it follow that because God is every where therefore a Creature may be worshipt without Idolatry Some of the Heathens who acknowledged Gods Omnipresence abus'd it to the countenancing Idolatry because God was resident in every thing they thought every thing might be Worshipped and some have usd it as an Argument against this Doctrine the best Doctrines may by mens corruption be drawn out into unreasonable and pernicious conclusions Have you not met with any That from the Doctrine of Gods Free Mercy and our Saviours satisfactory Death have drawn Poyson to feed their Lusts and consume their Souls a Poyson compos'd by their own corruption and not offer'd by those Truths The Apostle intimates to us that some did or at least were ready to be more lavish in sinning because God was abundant in Grace Rom. 6.1 2.15 Shall we Sin because we are not under the Law but under Grace Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound when he prevents an Objection that he thought might be made by some But as to this Case since tho' God be present in every thing yet every thing retains its nature distinct from the Nature of God therefore it is not to have a Worship due to the Excellency of God As long as any thing remains a Creature 't is only to have the respect from us which is due to it in the rank of Creatures When a Prince is present with his Guard or if he should go Arm in Arm with a Peasant is therefore the Veneration and Honor due to the Prince to be paid to the Peasant or any of his Guard would the Presence of the Prince excuse it or would it not rather aggravate it he acknowledged such a person equal to me by giving him my Rights even in my Sight Tho' God dwelt in the Temple would not the Israelites have been accounted guilty of Idolatry had they Worshipped the Images of the Cherubims or the Ark or the Altar as objects of Worship which were erected only as means for his Service Is there not as much reason to think God was as Essentially present in the Temple as in Heaven since the same Expressions are used of the one and the other the Sanctuary is called the Glorious High Throne * Jer. 17.13 and he is said to dwell between the Cherubims †Psal 80.1 i. e. the two Cherubims that were at the two ends of the Mercy Seat appointed by God as the two sides of his Throne in the Sanctuary Exod. 25.18 where he was to dwell ver 8. and meet and commune with his people ver 22. Could this excuse Manasseh's Idolatry
in bringing in a Carved Image into the House of God 1 Chron. 33.7 had it been a good Answer to the Charge God is present here and therefore every thing may be Worshipped as God if he be only Essentially in Heaven would it not be Idolatry to direct a Worship to the Heavens or any part of it as a due object because of the Presence of God there Though we look up to the Heavens where we Pray and Worship God yet Heaven is not the object of Worship the Soul abstracts God from the Creature 6. Nor is God defil'd by being present with those Creatures which seem filthy to us Nothing is filthy in the Eye of God as his Creature he could never else have pronounced all good whatsoever is filthy to us yet as it is a Creature it ows it self to the Power of God His Essence is no more defild by being present with it than his Power by producing it No Creature is foul in it self tho' it may seem so to us Doth not an Infant lye in a Womb of filthiness and rottenness yet is not the Power of God present with it in working it curiously in the lower parts of the Earth are his eyes defil'd by seeing the Substance when it it is yet imperfect or his hand defiled by writing every Member in his Book †Psal 139.15 16. Have not the vilest and most noisom things excellent Medicinal Vertues How are they endued with them How are those qualities preserved in them by any thing without God or no every Artificer looks with Pleasure upon the work he hath wrought with Art and Skill can his Essence be defil'd by being present with them any more than it was in giving them such vertues and preserving them in them God measures the Heaven and the Earth with his hand is his hand defil'd by the evil influences of the Planets or the Corporeal Impurities of the Earth nothing can be filthy in the Eye of God but Sin since every thing else owes its Being to him What may appear deform'd and unworthy to us is not so to the Creator he sees Beauty where we see Deformity finds goodness where we behold what is nauseous to us All Creatures being the effects of his Power may be the objects of his Presence Can any place be more foul than Hell if you take it either for the Hell of the Damned or for the Grave where there is rottenness yet there he is †Psal 139.8 When Satan appear'd before God and God spake with him †Job 1.7 Could God contract any impurity by being present where that filthy Spirit was more impure than any corporeal noysom and defiling thing can be No God is purity to himself in the midst of noysomness a Heaven to himself in the midst of Hell Who ever heard of a Sun-beam stain'd by shining upon a Quag mire any more than sweetned by breaking into a Perfum'd Room Shelford of the Attributes p. 170. Tho' the Light shines upon pure and impure things yet it mixes not its self with either of them so tho' God be present with Devils and Wicked men yet without any mixture he is present with their essence to sustain it and support it not in their defection wherein lies their defilement and which is not a Physical but a Moral evil Bodily filth can never touch an incorporeal substance Spirits are not present with us in the same manner that one body is present with another bodies can by a touch only defile bodies Is the Glory of an Angel stained by being in a Coal-mine or could the Angel that came into the Lions Den to deliver Daniel be any more disturb'd by the stench of the place * Dan. 6.22 than he could be scratcht by the Paws or torn by the Teeth of the Beasts their Spiritual nature secures them against any infection when they are ministring Spirits to Persecuted Believers in their nasty Prisons * Acts 12.7 The Soul is straitly united with the Body but it is not made white or black by the whiteness or blackness of its habitation is it infected by the corporeal impurities of the Body while it continually dwells in a Sea of filthy Pollution If the Body be cast into a Common-shore is the Soul defil'd by it Can a Diseased body derive a Contagion to the Spirit that animates it Is it not often the purer by Grace the more the body is infected by nature Hezekiah's Spirit was scarce ever more fervent with God than when the Sore which some think to be a Plague Sore was upon him * Isa 38.3 How can any Corporeal filth impair the purity of the Divine Essence it may as well be said That God is not present in Battels and Fights for his People Joshua 23.10 because he would not be disturbed by the noise of Canons and clashing of Swords as that he is not present in the World because of the ill scents Let us therefore conclude this with the Expression of a Learned man of our own Dr. More To deny the Omnipresence of God because of ill scented places is to measure God rather by the nicety of Sense than by the sagacity of Reason IV. VSE I. Of Information 1. Christ hath a divine nature As Eternity and Immutability two incommunicable properties of the Divine nature are ascrib'd to Christ so also is this of Omnipresence or Immensity John 3.13 No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man which is in heaven Not which was but which is He comes from heaven by incarnation and remains in heaven by his Divinity He was while he spake to Nicodemus locally on earth in regard of his humanity but in heaven according to his Deity as well as upon earth in the union of his divine and human nature He descended upon earth but he left not heaven He was in the World before he came in the flesh John 1.10 He was in the world and the world was made by him He was in the world as the light that enlightens every man that comes into the world In the world as God before he was in the world as man He was then in the world as man while he discoursed with Nicodemus yet so that he was also in heaven as God No creature but is bounded in place either circumscribed as body or determin'd as Spirit to be in one space so as not to be in another at the same time to leave a place where they were and possess a place where they were not But Christ is so on earth that at the same time he is in heaven he is therefore infinite To be in heaven and earth at the same moment of time is a property solely belonging to the Deity wherein no creature can be a partner with him He was in the world before he came to the world and the world was made by him * John 1.10 His coming was
not as the coming of Angels that leave heaven and begin to be on earth where they were not before but such a presence as can be ascribed only to God who fills heaven and earth Again If all things were made by him then he was present with all things which were made for where there is a presence of power there is also a presence of essence and therefore he is still present for the right and power of Conservation follows the power of Creation And according to this divine nature he promiseth his presence with his Church * Mat. 18.20 There am I in the midst of them And †Mat. 28.20 I am with you alway even to the end of the world i. e. by his Divinity for he had before told them * Mat. 26.11 that they were not to have him alway with them i. e. according to his Humanity but in his Divine nature he is present with and walks in the midst of the golden Candlesticks If we understand it of a presence by his spirit in the midst of the Church doth it invalidate his essential presence No he is no less than the Spirit whom he sends and therefore as little confin'd as the Spirit is who dwells in every believer and this may also be inferr'd from Joh. 10.30 My father and I are one not one by consent tho' that be included but one in power for he speaks not of their consent but of their joint power in keeping his people Where there is a Unity of Essence there is a Unity of Presence 2. Here is a confirmation of the spiritual nature of God If he were an infinite body he could not fill heaven and earth but with the exclusion of all creatures Two bodies cannot be in the same space they may be near one another but not in any of the same points together A body bounded he hath not for that would destroy his Immensity he could not then fill heaven and earth because a body cannot be at one and the same time in two different spaces but God doth not fill heaven at one time and the earth at another but both at the same time Besides a limited body cannot be said to fill the whole earth but one particular space in the earth at a time A body may fill the earth with its vertue as the Sun but not with its substance Nothing can be every where with a corporeal weight and mass but God being infinite is not tied to any part of the World but penetrates all and equally acts by his infinite power in all 3. Here is an argument for Providence His presence is mention'd in the Text in order to his government of the affairs of the world Is he every where to be unconcern'd with every thing Before the World had a being God was present with himself since the World hath a being he is present with his creatures to exercise his Wisdom in the ordering as he did his Power in the production of them As the Knowledg of God is not a bare contemplation of a thing so his Presence is not a bare inspection into a thing Were it an idle careless Presence it were a Presence to no purpose which cannot be imagin'd of God Infinite Power Goodness and Wisdom being every where present with his Essence are never without their exercise He never manifests any of his perfections but the manifestation is full of some indulgence and benefit to his Creatures It cannot be supposed God should neglect those things wherewith he is constantly present in a way of efficiency and operation He is not every where without acting every where Cyri◠Wherever his Essence is there is a power and virtue worthy of God every where dispens'd He governs by his presence what he made by his power and is present as an Agent with all his works His Power and Essence are together to preserve them while he pleases as his Power and his Essence were together to create them when he saw good to do it Every creature hath a stamp of God and his presence is necessary to keep the impression standing upon the creature As all things are his works they are the objects of his cares and the wisdom he employ'd in framing them will not suffer him to be careless of them His presence with them engageth him in honour not to be a negligent Governour His Immensity fits him for government and where there is a fitness there is an exercise of government where there are objects for the exercise of it He is worthy to have the Universal rule of the World he can be present in all places of his Empire there is nothing can be done by any of his subjects but in his sight As his Eternity renders him King alway so his Immensity renders him King every where If he were only present in heaven it might occasion a suspicion that he minded only the things of heaven and had no concern for things below that vast Body but if he be present here his Presence hath a tendency to the government of those things with which he is present We are all in him as Fish in the Sea and he bears all creatures in the womb of his Providence and the arms of his Goodness 'T is most certain that his Presence with his people is far from being an idle one for when he promises to be with them he adds some special Cordial as I will be with thee and bless thee * Gen. 26.3 Jer. 15.20 I am with thee and I will strengthen thee I will help thee I will uphold thee †Isa 41.10.14 Infinite goodness will never countenance a negligent Presence 4. The Omnipotence of God i◠inferr'd from hence If God be present every where he must needs know what is done every where 'T is for this end he proclaims himself a God filling heaven and earth in the Text. Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord I have heard what the Prophets say that prophesie lyes in my Name If I fill heaven and earth the most secret thing cannot be hid from my sight An Intelligent Being cannot be every where present and more intimate in every thing than it can be in it self but he must know what is done without what is thought within Nothing can be obscure to him who is in every part of the world in every part of his creatures Not a thought can start up but in his sight who is present in the souls and minds of every thing How easie is it with him to whose Essence the world is but a point to know and observe every thing done in this world as any of us can know what is done in one point of place where we are present If Light vvere an understanding being it vvould behold and knovv every thing done vvhere it diffuseth it self God is light as light in a Chrystal glass all vvithin it all vvithout it and is not
to do a dishonest action in the sight of a grave and holy man one of great reputation for Wisdom and Integrity how much more should we lift up our selves in the ways of God who is Infinite and Immense is every where and infinitely superior to man and more to be regarded We could not seriously think of his Presence but there would pass some entercourse between us we should be putting up some Petition upon the sense of our Indigence or sending up our Praises to him upon the sense of his Bounty The actual thoughts of the Presence of God is the Life and Spirit of all Religion we could not have sluggish Spirits and a careless Watch if we consider'd that his Eye is upon us all the day 3. It will quell Distractions in Worship The actual thoughts of this would establish our thoughts and pull them back when they begin to rove The mind could not boldly give God the slip if it had lively thoughts of it the consideration of this would blow off all the Froth that lies on the top of our Spirits An eye taken up with the presence of one object is not at leisure to be fill'd with another He that looks intently upon the Sun shall have nothing for a while but the Sun in his Eye Oppose to every intruding Thought the Idea of the Divine Omnipresence and put it to silence by the awe of his Majesty When the Master is present Scholars mind their Books keep their Places and run not over the Forms to play with one another The Masters Eye keeps an idle Servant to his Work that otherwise would be gazing at every Straw and prating to every Passenger How soon would the remembrance of this dash all extravagant fancies out of Countenance just as the News of the approach of a Prince would make the Courtiers bustle up themselves huddle up their vain sports and prepare themselves for a Reverent Behaviour in his sight We should not dare to give God a piece of our heart when we apprehended him present with the whole we should not dare to mock one that we knew were more inwards with us than we are with our selves and that beheld every motion of our mind as well as action of our body 2. Let us endeavour for the more special and influential Presence of God Let the Essential Presence of God be the ground of our Awe and his gracious influential Presence the Object of our Desire The Heathen thought themselves secure if they had their little petty Houshold-Gods with them in their Journeys such seem to be the Images Rachel stole from her Father Gen. 31.19 to company her Travel with their Blessings she might not at that time have cast off all respect to those Idols in the acknowledgment of which she had been Educated from her Infancy and they seem to be kept by her till God called Jacob to Bethel after the Rape of Dinah Gen. 35.4 when Jacob called for the strange Gods and hid them under the Oak The â—â—â—â—cious Presence of God we should look after in our actions as Travellers that 〈◊〉 a Charge of Money or Jewels desire to keep themselves in Company that may protect them from High-way men that would rifle them Since we have the concerns of the Eternal Happiness of our Souls upon our hands we should endeavour to have Gods Merciful and Powerful Presence with us in all our ways Psal 14 In all thy ways acknowledg him and he shall direct thy Paths acknowledg him before any action by imploring acknowledg him after by rendring him the Glory acknowledg his Presence before Worship in Worship after Worship 'T is this Presence makes a kind of Heaven upon Earth causeth affliction to put off the nature of misery How much will the Presence of the Sun out-shine the Stars of lesser Comforts and fully answer the want of them The Ark of God going before us can only make all things successful It was this led the Israelites over Jordan and setled them in Canaan Without this we signify nothing tho' we live without this we cannot be distinguisht for ever from Devils his Essential Presence they have and if we have no more we shall be no better 'T is the enlivening fructifying presence of the Sun that revives the languishing Earth and this only can repair our ruin'd Soul Let it be therefore our desire That as he fills Heaven and Earth by his Essence he may fill our Understandings and Wills by his Grace that we may have another kind of Presence with us than Animals have in their brutish state or Devils in their Chains His Essential Presence maintains our Beings but his gracious Presence confers and continues a Happiness A DISCOURSE UPON Gods Knowledg Psal 147.5 Great is our Lord and of great Power his Vnderstanding is Infinite 'T IS uncertain who was the Author of this Psalm and when it was Penn'd some think after the return from the Babylonish Captivity 'T is a Psalm of Praise and is made up of matter of Praise from the beginning to the end Gods benefits to the Church his Providence over his Creatures the Essential excellency of his Nature The Psalmist doubles his Exhortation to Praise God v. 1. Praise ye the Lord sing Praise to our God to praise him from his Dominion as Lord from his Grace and Mercy as our God from the Excellency of the Duty it self 't is good 't is comely some read it comely some lovely or desirable from the various derivation of the Word Nothing doth so much delight a gracious Soul as an opportunity of Celebrating the Perfections and Goodness of the Creator The highest Duties a Creature can render to the Creator are pleasant and delight-lightful in themselves 't is comely Praise is a Duty that affects the whole Soul The Praise of God is a decent thing the Excellency of Gods nature deserves it and the Benefits of Gods grace requires it 'T is comely when done as it ought to be with the Heart as well as with the Voice a Sinner Sings ill tho' his Voice be good the Soul in it is to be elevated above Earthly things The first matter of Praise is Gods erecting and preserving his Church v. 2. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem he gathers together the out-casts of Israel The Walls of demolish'd Jerusalem are now re-edified God hath brought back the Captivity of Jacob and reduced his People from their Babylonish Exile and those that were disperst into strange Regions he hath restor'd to their Habitations Or it may be Prophetick of the calling of the Gentiles and the gathering the out-casts of the Spiritual Israel that were before as without God in the World and strangers to the Covenant of Promise Let God be praised but especially for Building up his Church and gathering the Gentiles before counted as out-casts * Isaâ— 11.12 he gathers them in this World to the Faith and hereafter to Glory Obs 1. From the two first Verses observe 1.
Human Nature tho' it obscur'd yet it did not disparage the Deity or bring any disgrace to it Is Gold the worse for being formed into the Image of a Fly doth it not still retain the nobleness of the Metal When men are despis'd for descending to the knowledg of mean and vile things 't is because they neglect the knowledg of the greater and Sin in their enquiries after lesser things with a neglect of that which concerns more the Honour of God and the Happiness of themselves to be ambitious of such a Knowledg and careless of that of more concern is criminal and contemptible But God knows the greatest as well as the least mean things are not known by him to exclude the knowledg of the greater nor are vile things govern'd by him to exclude the order of the better The Deformity of Objects known by God doth not deform him nor defile him he doth not view them without himself but within himself wherein all things in their Ideas are Beautiful and Comely Our knowledg of a Deformed thing is not a Deforming of our Understanding but is beautiful in the Knowledg tho' it be not in the object nor is there any fear that the Understanding of God should become material by knowing material things any more than our Understandings lose their Spirituality by knowing the nature of Bodies 't is to be observed therefore that only those senses of men as seeing hearing smelling which have those qualities for their objects that come nearest the nature of spiritual things as Light Sounds fragrant Odours are ascrib'd to God in Scripture not Touching or Tasting which are senses that are not exercis'd without a more immediate commerce with gross matter and the reason may be because we should have no gross thoughts of God as if he were a body and made of matter like the things he knows 2. As he knows all Creatures so God knows all the actions of Creatures He counts in particular all the ways of men Doth he not see all my ways and count all my steps Job 31.4 He tells their wandrings as if one by one Psal 56.8 His eyes are upon all the ways of man and he sees all his goings Job 34.21 a Metaphor taken from men when they look wistly with fixed Eyes upon a thing to view it in every circumstance whence it comes whether it goes to observe every little motion of it Gods Eye is not a wandring but a fixed Eye and the ways of man are not only before his eyes but he doth exactly ponder them Prov. 5.21 as one that will not be ignorant of the least Mite in them but weigh and examine them by the Standard of his Law he may as well know the motions of our Members as the Hairs of our Heads the smallest actions before they be whether Civil Natural or Religious fall under his Cognizance what meaner than a man carrying a Pitcher yet our Saviour foretels it Luke 22.10 God knows not only what men do but what they would have done had he not restrained them what Abimelech would have done to Sarah had not God put a Bar in his way Gen. 20.6 What a man that is taken away in his Youth would have done had he lived to a riper Age yea he knows the most secret words as well as actions the words spoken by the King of Israel in his Bed-Chamber were revealed to Elisha 2 Kings 6.12 and indeed how can any action of man be conceal'd from God Can we view the various actions of a heap of Ants or a Hive of Bees in a glass without turning our Eyes and shall not God behold the actions of all men in the World which are less than Bees or Ants in his Sight and more visible to him than an Ant-Hill or Bee-Hive can be to the acutest eye of man 3. As God knows all the actions of Creatures so he knows all the Thoughts of Creatures The thoughts are the most closetted acts of man hid from men and Angels unless disclos'd by some outward Expressions but God descends into the depths and abysses of the Soul discerns the most inward contrivances nothing is impenetrable to him the Sun doth not so much enlighten the Earth as God understands the Heart all thoughts are as visible to him as Flies and Motes enclos'd in a body of transparent Chrystal this man naturally allows to God Men often speak to God by the motions of their minds and secret Ejaculations which they would not do if it were not naturally implanted in them that God knows all their inward motions the Scripture is plain and positive in this He tries the Heart and the Reins Psal 7.9 as men by the use of Fire discern the drossy and purer parts of Metals The secret intentions and aims the most lurking affections seated in the Reins he knows that which no man no Angel is able to know which a man himself knows not nor makes any particular reflection upon yea he weighs the Spirit Prov. 16.2 he exactly numbers all the devices and inclinations of men as men do every piece of Coyn they tell out of a heap He discerns the Thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4.12 all that is in the mind all that is in the affections every stirring and purpose so that not one thought can be withheld from him Job 42.2 yea Hell and Destruction are before him much more then the Hearts of the Children of men Prov. 15.11 he works all things in the Bowels of the Earth and brings forth all things out of that Treasure say some but more naturally God knows the whole state of the dead all the receptacles and Graves of their bodies all the bodies of men consumed by the Earth or devoured by living Creatures things that seem to be out of all Being he knows the Thoughts of the Devils and Damned Creatures whom he hath cast out of his care for ever into the arms of his Justice never more to cast a delightful glance towards them not a secret in any Soul in Hell which he hath no need to know because he shall not judg them by any of the Thoughts they now have since they were condemned to punishment is hid from him much more is he acquainted with the Thoughts of living men the counsels of whose hearts are yet to be manifested in order to their Tryal and Censure yea he knows them before they spring up into actual being Psal 139.2 thou understandest my Thoughts afar off my Thoughts that is every Thought tho' innumerable Thoughts pass through me in a day and that in the Sourse and Fountain when it is yet in the Womb before it is our Thought if he knows them before their Existence before they can be properly called ours much more doth he know them when they actually spring up in us he knows the tendency of them where the Bird will light when it is in flight he knows them exactly he is therefore called a discerner or criticizer of the Heart
him * Petavius changed Did he create he knew not what and knew not before what he should Create Was he ignorant before he acted and in his acting what his operation would tend to or did he not know the nature of things and the ends of them till he had produced them and saw them in Being Creatures then did not arise from his Knowledg but his Knowledg from them he did not then Will that his Creatures should be for he had then willed what he knew not and knew not what he willed they therefore must be known before they were made and not known because they were made he knew them to make them and he did not make them to know them By the same reason that he knew what Creatures should be before they were he knows still what Creatures shall be before they are Bradward lib. 3. cap. 14. for all things that are were in God not really in their own nature but in him as a cause so the Earth and Heavens were in him as a Model is in the mind of a Work man which is in his Mind and Soul before it be brought forth into outward act 2. The Predictions of future things evidence this There is not a Prophecy of any thing to come but is a spark of his fore-knowledg and bears Witness to the Truth of this assertion in the punctual accomplishment of it this is a thing challenged by God as his own peculiar wherein he surmounts all the Idols that mans inventions have Godded in the World Isa 41.21 22. Let them bring forth speaking of the Idols and shew us what shall happen or declare us things to come shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that you are Gods Such a fore-knowledg of things to come is here ascribed to God by God himself as a distinction of him from all false Gods such a Knowledg that if any could prove that they were possessors of he would acknowledg them Gods as well as himself that we may know that you are Gods He puts his Deity to stand or fall upon this account and this should be the point which should decide the controversy whether he or the Heathen Idols were the true God the dispute is managed by this medium He that knows things to come is God I know things to come ergo I am God the Idols know not things to come therefore they are not Gods God submits the Being of his Deity to this Tryal If God know things to come no more than the Heathen Idols which were either Devils or men he would be in his own account no more a God than Devils or men no more a God than the Pagan Idols he doth scoff at for this defect If the Heathen Idols were to be stript of their Deity for want of this foreknowledg of things to come would not the true God also fall from the same excellency if he were defective in Knowledg he would in his own judgment no more deserve the Title and Character of a God than they How could he reproach them for that if it were wanting in himself It cannot be understood of future things in their causes when the effects necessarily arise from such causes as Light from the Sun and Heat from the Fire many of these men know more of them Angels and Devils know if God therefore had not a higher and farther Knowledg than this he would not by this be proved to be God any more than Angels and Devils who know necessary effects in their causes The Devils indeed did predict some things in the Heathen Oracles but God is differenced from them here by the infiniteness of his Knowledg in being able to predict things to come that they knew not or things in their particularities things that depended on the liberty of mans Will which the Devils could lay no claim to a certain knowledg of Were it only a conjectural knowledg that is here meant the Devils might answer they can conjecture and so their Deity were as good as Gods for tho' God might know more things and conjecture nearer to what would be yet still it would be but conjectural and therefore not a higher kind of Knowledg than what the Devils might challenge How much then is God beholden to the Socinians for denying the knowledg of all future things to him upon which here he puts the trial of his Deity God asserts his knowledg of things to come as a manifest evidence of his Godhead those that deny therefore the Argument that proves it deny the conclusion too for this will necessarily follow that if he be God because he knows future things then he that doth not know future things is not God and if God knows not future things but only by conjecture then there is no God because a certain knowledg so as infallibly to predict things to come is an inseparable Perfection of the Deity It was therefore well said of Austin that it was as high a madness to deny God to be as to deny him the foreknowledg of things to come The whole Prophetick part of Scripture declares this Perfection of God every Prophets Candle was lighted at this Torch they could not have this foreknowledg of themselves Why might not many other men have the same insight if it were by nature it must be from some superior Agent Pacuvius said Siqui quae eventura sunt provident aeqâ—â— parent Gell. lib. 14. c. 1. and all Nations owned Prophecy as a Beam from God a fruit of Divine Illumination Prophecy must be totally expunged if this be denyed for the subjects of Prophecy are things future and no man is properly a Prophet but in Prediction now Prediction is nothing but foretelling and things foretold are not yet come and the foretelling of them supposeth them not to be yet but that they shall be in time several such Predictions we have in Scripture the event whereof hath been certain The years of Famine in Egypt foretold that he would order second causes for bringing that Judgment upon them the Captivity of his People in Babylon the calling of the Gentiles the rejection of the Jews Daniels Revelation of Nebuchadnezzars Dream that Prince refers to God as the revealer of Secrets Dan. 2.47 By the same reason that he knows one thing future by himself and by the infiniteness of his Knowledg before any causes of them appear he doth know all things future 3. Some future things are known by men and we must allow God a greater Knowledg than any Creature Future things in their Causes may be known by Angels and men as I said before whosoever knows necessary causes and the efficacy of them may foretell the effects and when he sees the meeting and concurrence of several causes together he may presage what the consequent effect will be of such a concurrence So Physicians foretel the Progress of a Disease the increase or diminution of it by natural Signs and Astronomers foretel Eclipses
foundation remains tho' it hath put on variety of forms the Body of Abel the first man that died nor the body of Adam are not to this day reduc'd to nothing Indeed the quantity and the quality of those bodies have been lost by various changes they have past through since their dissolution but the matter or substance of them remains intire and is not capable to be destroy'd by all those transforming alterations in so long a revolution of Time The body of a man in his infancy and his old Age if it were Methuselah's is the same in the foundation in those multitude of years tho' the quantity of it be alter'd the quality different tho' the colour and other things be changed in it the matter of this body remains the same among all the alterations after Death And can it be so mixed with other Natures and Creatures as that it is past finding out by an Infinite Vnderstanding Can any particle of this matter escape the eye of him that makes and beholds all those various alterations and where every mite of the substance of those bodies is particularly lodged so as that he cannot compact it together again for a habitation of that Soul that many a year before fled from it Daillè Serm. 15. p. 21. 22 23 24. Since the Knowledg of God is infinite and his Providence extensive over the least as well as the greatest parts of the World he must needs know the least as well as the greatest of his Creatures in their Beginning Progress and Dissolution all the forms through which the Bodies of all Creatures roul the particular instants of time and the particular place when and where those changes are made they are all present with him and therefore when the Revolution of time allotted by him for the re-union of Souls and Deceased Bodies is come it cannot be doubted but out of the Treasures of his Knowledg he can call forth every part of the matter of the Bodies of men from the first to the last man that expired and strip it of all those forms and figures which it shall then have to compact it to be a lodging for that Soul which before it entertain'd and tho' the Bodies of men have been devour'd by Wild Beasts in the Earth and Fish in the Sea and been lodg'd in the Stomachs of Barbarous Men-eaters the matter is not lost There is but little of the Food we take that is turned into the substance of our own bodies that which is not proper for nourishment which is the greatest part is separated and concocted and rejected whatsoever objections are made are answered by this Attribute Nothing hinders a God of Infinite Knowledg from discerning every particle of the matter wheresoever it is dispos'd and since he hath an eye to discern and a hand to recollect and unite what difficulty is there in believing this Article of the Christian Faith he that questions this reveal'd Truth of the Resurrection of the Body must question Gods Omniscience as well as his Omnipotence and Power 5. What semblance of reason is there to expect a justification in the sight of God by any thing in our selves Is there any action done by any of us but upon a scrutiny we may find flaws and deficiency in it What then shall not this Perfection of God discern them the motes that escape our eyes cannot escape his 1 John 3.20 God is greater than our hearts and knows all things so that it is in vain for any man to flatter himself with the rectitude of any work or enter into any debate with him who can bring a Thousand Articles against us out of his own Infinite Records unknown to us and unanswerable by us If Conscience a Representative or Counterpart of Gods Omniscience in our own Bosoms find nothing done by us but in a Copy short of the Original and beholds if not blurs yet Imperfections in the best actions God must much more discern them we never knew a Copy equally exact with the Original If our own Conscience be as a Thousand Witnesses the Knowledg of God is as Millions of Witnesses against us If our Corruption be so great and our Holiness so low in our own eyes how much greater must the one and how much meaner must the other appear in the eyes of God God hath an unerring Eye to see as well as an unspotted Holiness to hate and an unbribable Justice to punish he wants no more Understanding to know the shortness of our actions than he doth Holiness to enact and Power to execute his Laws Nay suppose we could recollect many actions wherein there were no spot visible to us the consideration of this Attribute should scare us from resting upon any or all of them since it is the Lord that by a piercing eye sees and judges according to the heart and not according to appearance The least crookedness of a Stick not sensible to an acute eye yet will appear when laid to the Line and the impurity of a Counterfeit Metal be manifest when applyed to the Touchstone so will the best action of any meer man in the World when it comes to be measur'd in Gods Knowledg by the strait Line of his Law Let every man therefore as Paul though he should know nothing by himself think not himself therefore justified Since it is the Lord who is of an infinite Understanding that Judgeth 1 Cor. 4.4 A man may be justified in his own sight but not any living man can be justified in the sight of God Psal 143.2 in his Sight whose eye pierceth into our unknown secrets and frames It was therefore well answered of a good man upon his Death-bed being ask't What he was afraid of I have laboured saith he with all my strength to observe the commands of God but since I am a man I am ignorant whether my works are acceptable to God since God Judges in one manner and I in another manner Let the consideration therefore of this Attribute make us join with Job in his Resolution Job 9.21 tho' we were perfect yet would we not know our own Souls I would not stand up to Plead any of my vertues before God Let us therefore look after another Righteousness wherein the exact eye of the Divine Omniscience we are sure can discern no stain or crookedness 6. What honourable and adoring Thoughts ought we to have of God for this Perfection Do we not honour a man that is able to Predict Do we not think it a great part of Wisdom Have not all Nations regarded such a faculty as a character and a mark of Divinity There is something more ravishing in the knowledg of future things both to the person that knows them and the person that hears them than there is in any other kind of knowledg whence the greatest Prophets have been accounted in the greatest veneration and men have thought it a way to glory to Divine and Predict Hence it was that the Devils
made every thing beautiful in his time As their Being was a fruit of Divine Power so their Order is a fruit of Divine wisdom All Creatures are as Members in the great Body of the World proportion'd to one another and contributing to the beauty of the whole * Amyraut moral Vol. 1. p. 257. so that if the particular forms of every thing the union of all for the Composition of the World and the Laws which are established in the Order of Nature for its conservation be considered it would ravish us with an admiration of God All the Creatures are as so many Pictures or Statues exactly fram'd by line Psal 19.4 Their Line is gone through all the Earth Their Line a measuring Line or a Carpenters Rule whereby he proportions several pieces to be exactly linkt and coupled together Their Line that is their harmonious proportion and the instruction from it is gone forth through all the Earth Upon the account of this harmony some of the ancient Heathens framed the Images of their Gods with Musical Instruments in their hands signifying thaâ— God wrought all things in a due proportion †Mountag against Selden p. 281. Plutarch calls God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he saith nothing was made without musick The Heavens speak this wisdom in their Order The Revolutions of the Sun and Moon determine the Seasons of the Year and make Day and Night in an orderly Succession The Stars beautifie the Heavens and influence the Earth and keep their Courses Judges 5.20 They keep their Stations without interfering with one another and though they have rould about for so many Ages they observe their distinct Laws and in the variety of their Motions have not disturb'd one anothers Functions ‖ Charlton Light of Nature p. 57. The Sun is set as the heart in the midst of this great Body to afford warmth to all Had it been set lower it had long since turned the Earth into flame and ashes Had it been placed higher the Earth would have wanted the nourishment and refreshment necessary for it Too much nearness had ruin'd the Earth by parching heat and too great a distance had destroy'd the Earth by starving it with cold The Sun hath also its appointed Motion had it been fixed without motion half of the Earth had been unprofitable there had been a perpetual darkness in a moiety of it nothing had been produced for nourishment and so it had been rendred uninhabitable But now by this motion it visits all the Climates of the World runs its Circuit so that nothing is hid from the heat thereof Psal 19.6 It imparts its vertue to every Corner of the World in its daily and yearly visits Had it been fixed the Fruits of the Earth under it had been parch't and destroy'd before their Maturity but all those Inconveniencies are provided against by the perpetual Motion of the Sun This Motion is orderly * Daille mâ—l part 1 p. 483. It makes its daily Course from East to West its yeary Motion from North to South It goes to the North till it comes to the Point God hath set it and then turns back to the South and gains some point every day It never riseth nor sets in the same place one day where it did the day before The World is never without its light some see it Rising the same moment we see its Setting The Earth also speaks the Divine wisdom 't is the Pavement of the World as the Heaven is the Ceiling of Fretwork †Amyraut â—â—dicâ—in p. 9. T is placed lowermost as being the heaviest Body and sit to receive the weightiest Matter and provided as an Habitation proper for those Creatures which derive the Matter of their Bodies from it and partake of its Earthy Nature and garnisht with other Creatures for the profit and pleasure of man The Sea also speaks the same Divine Wisdom He strengthned the Fountains of the Deep and gave the Sea a decree that it should not pass his Command Prov. 8.28 29. He hath given it certain Bounds that it should not overflow the Earth Job 28.11 It contains it self in the situation wherein God hath placed it and doth not transgress its bounds What if some part of a Country a little Spot hath been overflowed by it and groaned under its Waves yet for the main it retains the same Chanels wherein it was at first lodged All Creatures are cloathed with an outward Beauty and endowed with an inward Harmony there is an agreement in all parts of this great Body every one is beautiful and orderly but the Beauty of the World results from all of them dispos'd and linkt together 3. This Wisdom is seen in the fitness of every thing for its end and the usefulness of it Divine Wisdom is more illustrious in the fitness and usefulness of this great variety than in the Composure of their distinct parts As the Artificers Skill is more eminent in fitting the Wheels and setting them in order for their due motion than in the external Fabrick of the Materials which compose the Clock After the most diligent inspection there can be found nothing in the Creation unprofitable nothing but is capable of some Service either for the support of our Bodies recreation of our Senses or Moral Instruction of our Minds Not the least Creature but is formed and shap'd and furnish'd with Members and Parts in a due proportion for its end and service in the World nothing is superfluous nothing defective The Earth is fitted in its parts * Amyrant sur diverses Text. p. 127. the Valleys are appointed for Granaries the Mountains to shadow them from the scorching heat of the Sun the Rivers like veins carry refreshment to every Member of this Body Plants Trees thrive on the face of the Earth and Metals are ingendred in the Bowels of it for Materials for Building and other uses for the service of Man There he causes the Grass to grow for the Cattle and Herb for the Service of Man that he may bring forth food out of the Earth Psal 104.14 The Sea is fitted for use 't is a Fish-pond for the Nourishment of Man a Boundary for the dividing of Lands and several Dominions It joyns together Nations far distant A great Vessel for Commerce Psal 104.26 There goe the Ships It affords Vapours to the Clouds wherewith to water the Earth which the Sun draws up separating the finer from the salter parts that the Earth may be fruitful without being burthened with barrenness by the salt The Sea hath also its Salt its ebbs and flouds the one as Brine the other as Motion to preserve it from Putrification that it may not be Contagious to the rest of the World Showers are appointed to refresh the Bodies of living Creatures to open the Womb of the Earth and water the Ground to make it fruitful Psal 104.3 The Clouds therefore are called the Chariots of God he rides in them in the manifestation
great Invasion And the spirit of God hath particularly left upon record that Particle as we may reasonably suppose to such a purpose And so in the description of the blessed Virgin Luke 1.27 There is nothing of her Holiness mentioned which is with much diligence recorded of Elizabeth Vers 6. Righteous walking in all the commandments of God blameless Probably to prevent the superstition which God foresaw would arise in the World And we do not find more undervaluing speeches uttered by Christ to any of his Disciples in the exercise of his Office than to her except to Peter As when she acquainted him with the want of Wine at the Marriage in Cana she receives a slighting answer Woman what have I to do with thee John 2.4 And when one was admiring the blessedness of her that bare him he turns the Discourse another way to pronounce a blessedness rather belonging to them that hear the Word of God and keep it Luke 11.27 28. in a mighty Wisdom to Antidote his people against any conceit of the prevalency of the Virgin over him in Heaven in the Exercise of his Mediatory Office 2. As his Wisdom appears in his Government by his Laws so it appears in the various inclinations and conditions of Men. As there is a distinction of several Creatures and several qualities in them for the Common good of the World so among men there are several inclinations and several Abilities as Donatives from God for the Common advantage of Human Society As several Chanels cut out from the same River run several waies and refresh several Soils one Man is qualified for one Employment another marked out by God for a different Work yet all of them fruitful to bring in a Revenue of Glory to God and a harvest of Profit to the rest of Mankind How unusefull would the Body be if it had but one Member 1 Cor. 12.19 How unprovided would a House be if it had not Vessels of Dishonour as well as of Honour The Corporation of Mankind would be as much a Chaos as the Matter of the Heavens and the Earth was before it was distinguisht by several forms breathed into it at the Creation Some are inspired with a particular Genius for one Art some for another Every man hath a distinct Talent If all were Husband-men where would be the Instruments to Plow and Reap If all were Artificers where would they have Corn to nourish themselves All men are like Vessels and Parts in the Body design'd for distinct Offices and Functions for the good of the whole and mutually return an advantage to one another As the variety of Gifts in the Church is a fruit of the Wisdom of God for the preservation and increase of the Church so the variety of Inclinations and Employments in the World is a fruit of the Wisdom of God for the preservation and subsistence of the World by mutual Commerce What the Apostle largely discourseth of the former in 1 Cor. 12. may be applied to the other The various Conditions of men is also a fruit of Divine Wisdom Some are Rich and some Poor the Rich have as much need of the Poor as the Poor have of the Rich If the Poor depend upon the Rich for their livelyhood the Rich depend upon the Poor for their Conveniencies Many Arts would not be learn'd by men if Poverty did not oblige them to it and many would faint in the learning of them if they were not thereunto encouraged by the Rich. The Poor labour for the Rich as the Earth sends Vapours into the vaster and fuller Air and the Rich return advantages again to the Poor as the Clouds do the Vapours in Rain upon the Earth As Meat would not afford a nourishing Juyce without Bread and Bread without other Food would immoderately fill the Stomach and not be well digested so the Rich would be unprofitable in the Common-wealth without the Poor and the Poor would be burthensom to a Common-wealth without the Rich The Poor could not be easily govern'd without the Rich nor the Rich sufficiently and conveniently provided for without the Poor If all were Rich there would be no Objects for the exercise of a Noble part of Charity If all were Poor there were no Matter for the exercise of it Thus the Divine Wisdom planted various Inclinations and diversified the Conditions of Men for the publick advantages of the World 2. Gods Wisdom appears in the government of Men as Fallen and Sinful or in the government of Sin After the Law of God was broke and Sin invaded and conquer'd the World Divine Wisdom had another Scene to act in and other Methods of Government were necessary The Wisdom of God is then seen in ordering those Jarring Discords drawing Good out of Evil and Honour to himself out of that which in its own Nature tended to the supplanting of his Glory God being a Soveraign Good would not suffer so great an Evil to enter but to serve himsâ—lf of it for some greater End for all his Thoughts are full of Goodness and Wisdom Now though the Permission of Sin be an Act of his Soveraignty and the Punishment of Sin be an Act of his Justice yet the Ordination of Sin to good is an Act of his Wisdom whereby he doth dispose the Evil over-rules the Malice and orders the Events of it to his own Purposes Sin in it self is a Disorder and therefore God doth not permit Sin for it self for in its own Nature it hath nothing of Amiableness but he wills it for some Righteous End which belongs to the manifestation of his Glory which is his aim in all the Acts of his Will He wills it not as Sin but as his Wisdom can order it to some greater Good than was before in the World and make it contribute to the beauty of the Order he intends As a dark Shadow is not delightful and pleasant in it self nor is Drawn by a Painter for any Amiableness there is in the Shadow it self but as it serves to set forth that Beauty which is the main design of his Art so the glorious Effects which arise from the Entrance of Sin into the World are not from the Creatures Evil but the Depths of Divine Wisdom Particularly 1. Gods Wisdom is seen in the bounding of Sin As it is said of the Wrath of Man it shall praise him and the remainder of Wrath God doth restrain Psal 76.10 He sets limits to the boyling Corruption of the Heart as he doth to the boisterous Waves of of the Sea Hitherto shalt thou go and no further As God is the Rector of the World he doth so restrain Sin so temper and direct it as that Human Society is preserved which else would be overflown with a Deluge of Wickedness and Ruine would be brought upon all Communities The World would be a Shambles a Brothel-house if God by his Wisdom and Goodness did not set bars to that Wickedness which is in the Hearts of Men The whole Earth
question the Skill that alters a black Jet into a clear Chrystal a Glow-worm into a Star a Lion into a Lamb and a Swine into a Dove The more intricate and knotty any business is the more eminent is any Mans Ability and Prudence in untying the knots and bringing it to a good Issue The more desperate the Disease the more admirable is the Physicians Skill in the Cure He pitches upon Men for his service who have Natural dispositions to serve him in such ways as he disposeth of them after their Conversion So Paul was naturally a Conscientious Man what he did against Christ was from the dictates of an erroneous Conscience soak'd in the Pharisaical Interpretations of the Jewish Law He had a strain of Zeal to prosecute what his depraved Reason and Conscience did inform him in God pitches upon this Man and works him in the Fire for his Service He alters not his Natural disposition to make him of a Constitution and Temper contrary to what he was before but directs it to another Object claps in another Byass into the Bowl and makes his Ill-governed Disposition◠move in a new way of his own appointment and guided that Natural heat to the service of that Interest which he was before ambitious to extirpate As a high metled Horse when left to himself creates both disturbance and danger But under the conduct of a wise Rider moves regularly not by a change of his Natural fierceness but a skilful management of the Beast to the Riders purpose 2. In the seasons of Conversion The Prudence of Man consists in the Timing the execution of his Counsels and no less doth the Wisdom of God consist in this As he is a God of Judgment or Wisdom he waits to introduce his Grace into the Soul in the fittest Season This Attribute Paul in the story of his own Conversion puts a particular remark upon which he doth not upon any other in that Catalogue he reckons up 1 Tim. 1.17 Now unto the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only Wise God be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen A most solemn Doxology wherein Wisdom sits upon the Throne above all the rest with a special Amen to the glory of it which refers to the Timing of his Mercy so to Paul as made most for the glory of his Grace and the encouragement of others from him as the Pattern God took him at a time when he was upon the brink of Hell when he was ready to devour the New-born Infant Church at Damascus when he was Arm'd with all the Authority from without and fired with all the Zeal from within for the prosecution of his Design Then God seizeth upon him and runs him in a Chanel for his own Honour and his Creatures happiness 'T is observable * Which I have upon another Occasion noted how God set his Eye upon Paul all along in his furious course and lets him have the Reins without putting out his hand to bridle him yet no motion he could take but the Eye of God runs along with him He suffered him to kick against the pricks of Miracles and the convincing Discourse of Stephen at his Martyrdom There were many that Voted for Stephens Death as the Witnesses that flung the Stones first at him but they are not named only Saul who testified his Approbation as well as the rest and that by watching the Witnesses Cloaths while they were about that bloody work Acts 7.58 The Witnesses laid their cloaths at a young Mans feet named Saul Again though Multitudes were consenting to his Death yet Acts 8.1 Saul only is mentioned Gods Eye is upon him yet he would not at that time stop his Fury He goes on further and makes havock of the Church Acts 8.3 He had surely many more Complices but none are named as if none regarded with any design of Grace but Saul Yet God would not reach out his hand to Change him but Eyes him waiting for a fitter opportunity which in his Wisdom he did foresee And therefore Acts 9.1 the Spirit of God adds a Yet Saul yet breathing out Threatnings It was not Gods time yet but it would be shortly But when Saul was putting in execution his design against the Church of Damascus when the Devil was at the top of his Hopes and Saul in the height of his Fury and the Christians sunk into the depth of their Fears the Wisdom of God lays hold of the opportunity and by Pauls Conversion at this Season defeats the Devil disappoints the High Priests shields his People discharges their Fears by pulling Saul out of the Devils hands and forming Satans Instrument to a holy Activity against him 3. The Wisdom of God appears In the manner of Conversion So great a Change God makes not by a destruction but with a preservation of and sutableness to Nature As the Devil Tempts us not by offering violence to our Natures but by proposing things convenient to our Corrupt Natures so doth God solicite us to a Return by proposals suted to our Faculties As he doth in Nature convey Nourishment to Men by means of the Fruits of the Earth and produceth the Fruits of the Earth by the Influences of Heaven the Influences of Heaven do not force the Earth but excite that Natural virtue and strength which is in it So God produceth Grace in the Soul by the Means of the Word fitted to the capacity of Man as Man and proportion'd to his Rational Faculties as Rational It would be contrary to the the Wisdom of God to move Man like a Stone to invert the order and priviledge of that Nature which he setled in Creation for then God would in vain have given Man Understanding and Will Because without moving Men according to those Faculties they would remain unprofitable and unuseful in Man †Daille sur Philip. Part 1. p. 545 546. God doth not reduce us to himself as Logs by a meer force or as Slaves forced by a Cudgel to go forth to that place and do that work which they have no stomach to But he doth accommodate himself to those Foundations he hath laid in our Nature and guides us in a way agreeable thereunto by an Action as sweet as powerful clearing our Understandings of dark Principles whereby we may see his Truth our own Misery and the Seat of our Happiness and bending our Wills according to this Light to desire and move conveniently to this End of our Calling Efficaciously yet agreeably powerfully yet without imposing on our Natural Faculties * Sanderson Part 2. p. 203. sweetly without Violence in ordering the Means but effectually without Failing in accomplishing the End And therefore the Scripture calleth it Teaching John 6.45 Alluring Hos 2.14 Calling us to seek the Lord Psal 27.8 Teaching is an act of Wisdom Alluring an act of Love Calling an act of Authority But none of them argue a violent constraint The principle that moves the Will is Supernatural but the
inspection of his Works God hath given full Testimonies of this Perfection in the Heavenly Bodies dispersing their Light and distributing their Influences to every part of the World In framing Men into Societies giving them various Dispositions for the preservation of Governments making some Wise for Counsel others Martial for Action changing Old Empires and raising New Which way soever we cast our Eyes we shall find frequent occasions to cry out Oh the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God Rom. 11.33 To this purpose we must not only look upon the bulk and outside of his Works but consider from what Principles they were raised in what order disposed and the exact symmetry and proportion of their parts When a Man comes into a City or Temple and only considers the surface of the Buildâ—ngs they will amaze his Sense but not better his Understanding unless he considers the Methods of the Work and the Art whereby it was erected 1. This was an End for which they were created God did not make the World for Mans use only but chiefly for his own Glory for Mans use to enjoy his Creatures and for his own Glory to be acknowledged in his Creatures that we may consider his Art in framing them and his Skill in disposing them and not only gaze upon the Glass without considering the Image it represents and acquainting our selves whose Image it is The Creatures were not made for themselves but for the service of the Creator and the service of Man Man was not made for himself but for the Service of the Lord that created him He is to consider the Beauty of the Creation that he may thereby glorifie the Creator He knows in part their excellency the Creatures themselves do not If therefore Man be idle and unobservant of them he deprives God of the glory of his Wisdom which he should have by his Creatures The Inferiour Creatures themselves cannot observe it If Man regard it not what becomes of it his Glory can only be handed to him by Man The other Creatures cannot be Active Instruments of his Glory because they know not themselves and therefore cannot render him an active Praise Man is therefore bound to praise God for himself and for all his Creatures because he only knows himself and the Perfections of the Creatures and the Author both of himself and them God Created such Variety to make a Report of himself to us we are to receive the Report and to reflect it back to him To what purpose did he make so many things not necessary for the support and pleasure of our Lâ—ves but that we should behold him in them as well as in the other We cannot behold the Wisdom of God in his own Essence and Eternal Idea's but by the reflection of it in the Creatures As we cannot steadily behold the Sun with our Eye but either through a Glass or by reflection of the Image of it in the Water God would have us meditate on his Perfections he therefore chose the same Day wherein he reviewed his Work and rested from it to be celebrated by Man for the contemplation of him Gen. 2.2 3. that we should follow his Example and rejoyce as himself did in the frequent reviews of his Wisdom and Goodness in them In vain would the Creatures afford Matter for this study if they were wholly neglected God offers something to our Consideration in every Creature Shall the Beams of God shine round about us and strike our Eyes and not affect our Minds Shall we be like Ignorant Children that view the Pictures or point to the Letters in a Book without any sense and meaning How shall God have the homage due to him from his Works if Man hath no care to observe them The 148 Psalm is an Exhortation to this The view of them should often extract from us a wonder of the like nature of that of Davids Psal 104.24 Oh Lord how wonderful are thy Works in wisdom hast thou made them all The World was not Created to be forgotten nor Man created to be unobservant of it 2. If we observe not the Wisdom of God in the views of the Creatures we do no more than Brutes To look upon the Works of God in the World is no higher an act than meer Animals perform The Glories of Heaven and Beauties of the Earth are visible to the sense of Beasts and Birds A Brute beholds the motion of a Man as it may see the Wheels of a Clock but understands not the inward Springs of Motion the End for which we move or the Soul that acts us in our motion much less that Invisible Power which presides over the Creatures and conducts their motion If a Man do no more than this he goes not a step beyond a Brutish Nature and may very well acknowledge himself with Asaph a foolish and ignorant Beast before God Psal 73.22 The World is viewed by Beasts but the Author of it to be contemplated by Man Since we are in a higher rank than Beasts we owe a greater Debt than Beasts not only to enjoy the Creatures as they do but behold God in the Creatures which they cannot do The Contemplation of the Reason of God in his Works is a noble and sutable employment for a Rational Creature We have not only Sense to perceive them but Souls to mind them The Soul is not to be without its operation Where the operation of Sense ends the work of the Soul ought to begin We travel over them by our Senses as Brutes but we must pierce further by our Understandings as Men and perceive and praise him that lies Invisible in his visible Manufactures Our Senses are given us as Servants to the Soul and our Souls bestowed upon us for the knowledge and praise of their and our Common Creator 3. This would be a means to increase our Humility We should then flag our Wings and vail our Sails and acknowledge our own Wisdom to be as a drop to the Ocean and a Shadow to the Sun We should have mean thoughts of the Nothingness of our Reason when we consider the sublimity of the Divine Wisdom Who can seriously consider the Sparks of Infinite Skill in the Creature without falling down at the feet of the Divine Majesty and acknowledging himself a dark and foolish Creature Psal 8.4 5. When the Psalmist considered the Heavens the Moon and Stars and Gods ordination and disposal of them the use that results from it is What is Man that thou art mindful of him We should no more think to mate him in Prudence or set up the spark of our Reason to vye with the Sun Our Reason would more willingly submit to the Revelation when the Characters of Divine Wisdom are stampt upon it when we find his Wisdom in Creation incomprehensible to us 4. It would help us in our acknowledgments of God for his Goodness to us When we behold the Wisdom of God in Creatures below
again their departed Souls either for weal or woe The Grave or Hell the place of punishment is naked before him as distinctly discern'd by him as a naked Body in all its lineaments by us or a dissected Body is in all its parts by a skilful Eye Destruction hath no covering none can free himself from the Power of his Hand Every person in the bowels of Hell every person punished there is known to him and feels the Power of his Wrath. From the lower parts of the World he ascends to the consideration of the Power of God in the Creation of Heaven and Earth He stretches out the North over the empty places * Verse 7. The North or the North-pole over the Air which by the Greeks was called void or empty because of the tenuity and thinness of that Element and he mentions here the North or North-pole for the whole Heaven because it is more known and apparent than the Southern-pole And hangs the Earth upon nothing The massie and weighty Earth hangs like a thick Globe in the midst of a thin Air that there is as much Air on the one side of it as on the other The Heavens have no prop to sustain them in their height and the Earth hath no basis to support it in its place The Heavens are as if you saw a Curtain stretched smooth in the Air without any hand to hold it and the Earth is as if you saw a Ball hanging in the Air without any solid Body to under-prop it or any Line to hinder it from falling both standing Monuments of the Omnipotence of God He then takes notice of his daily Power in the Clouds He binds up the waters in his thick Clouds and the Cloud is not rent under them * Verse 8. He compacts the Waters together in Clouds and keeps them by his Power in the Air against the force of their natural gravity and heaviness till they are fit to flow down upon the Earth and perform his pleasure in the places for which he designs them The Cloud is not rent under them the thin Air is not split asunder by the weight of the Waters contain'd in the Cloud above it He causes them to distill by drops and strains them as it were through a thin Lawn for the refreshment of the Earth and suffers them not to fall in the whole lump with a violent torrent to waste the industry of Man and bring Famine upon the World by destroying the Fruits of the Earth What a wonder would it be to see but one intire drop of water hang it self but one Inch above the ground unless it be a Bubble which is preserved by the Air inclosed within it What a wonder would it be to see a Gallon of Water contain'd in a thin Cobweb as strongly as in a Vessel of Brass Greater is the wonder of Divine Power in those thin Bottles of Heaven as they are called †Job 38.37 and therefore called his Clouds here as being daily Instances of his Omnipotence That the Air should sustain those rouling Vessels as it should seem weightier than it self That the force of this Mass of Waters should not break so thin a Prison and hasten to its proper place which is below the Air That they should be daily confin'd against their natural inclination and held by so slight a Chain That there should be such a gradual and successive falling of them as if the Air were pierced with holes like a Gardiners watring-pot and not fall in one intire body to drown or drench some parts of the Earth These are hourly Miracles of Divine Power as little regarded as clearly v sible He proceeds Verse 9. He holds back the face of his Throne and spreads the Cloud upon it The Clouds are design'd as â—â—rtains to cover the Heavens as well as Vessels to water the Earth ‖ Psal 147.8 As a Tapestry Curtain between the Heavens the Throne of God Isa 66.1 and the Earth his Footstool the Heavens are called his Throne because his Power doth most shine forth there and magnificently declare the glory of God and the Clouds are as a Skreen between the scorching heat of the Sun and the tender Plants of the Earth and the weak Bodies of Men. From hence he descends to the Sea and considers the Divine Power apparent in the bounding of it Verse 10. He hath compassed the Waters with bounds till the day and night come to an end This is several times mention'd in Scripture as a signal Mark of Divine strength * Job 38.8 Prov. 8.27 He hath measured a place for the Sea and struck the Limits of it as with a Compass that it might not mount above the Surface of the Land and ruin the ends of the Earths Creation and this while day and night have their mutual turns till he shall make an end of time by removing the measures of it The bounds of the tumultuous Sea are in many places as weak as the Bottles of the upper Waters the one is contain'd in thin Air and the other restrain'd by weak Sands in many places as well as by stubborn Rocks in others that though it swells foams roars and the Waves encourag'd and egg'd on by strong Winds come like Mountains against the Shore they overflow it not but humble themselves when they come near to those Sands which are set as their Lists and Limits and retire back to the Womb that brought them forth as if they were ashamed and repented of their proud Invasion Or else it may be meant of the Tydes of the Sea and the stated time God hath set it for its ebbing and flowing till night and day come to an end †Coccei in loc both that the fluid Waters should contain themselves within due bounds and keep their perpetual orderly motion are amazing Argumens of Divine Power He passes on to the Consideration of the Commotions in the Air and Earth raised and still'd by the Power of God The Pillars of Heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof By Pillars of Heaven are not meant Angels as some think but either the Air called the Pillars of Heaven in regard of place as it continues and knits together the parts of the World as Pillars do the upper and nether parts of a Building As the lowest parts of the Earth are called the Foundations of the Earth so the lowest parts of the Heaven may be called the Pillars of Heaven * Coccei Or else by that Phrase may be meant Mountains which seem at a distance to touch the Sky as Pillars do the top of a Structure and so it may be spoken according to vulgar Capacity which imagines the Heavens to be sustained by the two extream parts of the Earth as a Convex Body or to be archt by Pillars whence the Scripture according to common apprehensions mentions the ends of the Earth and the utmost parts of the Heavens tho they have properly no end as being round
first of Genesis in the whole Chapter unto the finishing the Work in six Days God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a Name of Power and that Thirty two times in that Chapter but after the the finishing the six days Work he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which according to their notion is a Name of Goodness and Kindness * Mercer 9.7 col 1 2. His Power is first visible in framing the World before his Goodness is visible in the sustaining and preserving it It was by this Name of Power and Almighty that he was known in the first Ages of the World not by his Name Jehovah Exod. 6.3 And I appeared unto Abraham Isaack and Jacob by the name of God Almighty but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them Not but that they were acquainted with the Name but did not experience the intent of the Name which signified his Truth in the performance of his Promises They knew him by that name as promising but they knew him not by that Name as performing He would be known by his Name Jehovah True to his Word when he was about to effect the Deliverance from Egypt a Type of the Eternal Redemption wherein the Truth of God in performing of his first Promise is gloriously magnified And hence it is that God is called Almighty more in the Book of Job than in all the Scripture besides I think about Thirty two times and Jehovah but once which is Job 12.9 unless in Job 38. when God is introduc'd speaking himself which is an Argument of Jobs living before the Deliverance from Egypt when God was known more by his Works of Creation than by the performance of his Promises before the Name Jehovah was formally publish'd Indeed this Attribute of his Eternal Power is the first thing visible and intelligible upon the first glance of the eye upon the Creatures †Rom. 1.20 Bring a man out of the Cave where he hath been Nurst without seeing any thing out of the confines of it and let him lift up his Eyes to the Heavens and take a prospect of that glorious body the Sun then cast them down to the Earth and behold the Surface of it with its Green cloathing the first Notion which will start up in his Mind from that spring of Wonders is that of Power which he will at first adore with a Religious astonishment The Wisdom of God in them is not so presently apparent till after a more exquisite consideration of his Works and Knowledge of the properties of their natures the conveniency of their situations and the usefulness of their functions and the order wherein they are linkt together for the good of the Universe 2. By this Creative Power God is often distinguisht from all the Idols and False gods in the World And by this Title he sets forth himself when he would act any great and wonderful Work in the World He is great above all gods for he hath done whatsoever he pleased in Heaven and in Earth Psal 135.5 6. Upon this is founded all the Worship he challengeth in the World as his peculiar glory Revel 4.11 Thou art worthy Oh Lord to receive glory honour and power for thou hast Created all things And Rev. 10.6 I have made the Earth and created Man upon it I even my hands have stretched out the Heavens and all their Host have I commanded Isai 45.12 What is the issue Verse 16. They shall be ashamed and confounded all of them that are makers of Idols And the weakness of Idols is exprest by this Title The gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth Jer. 10.11 The portion of Jacob is not like them for he is the former of all things Verse 16. What is not that God able to do that hath created so great a World How doth the Power of God appear in Creation 1. In making the World of Nothing When we say the World was made of Nothing we mean that there was no Matter existent for God to work upon but what he rais'd himself in the first act of Creation In this regard the Power of God in Creation surmounts his Power in Providence Creation supposeth nothing Providence supposeth something in Being Creation intimates a Creature making Providence speaks a thing already made and capable of Government and in Government God uses second Causes to bring about his Purposes 1. The World was made of nothing The Earth which is describ'd as the first Matter without any form or ornament without any distinction or figures was of Gods forming in the Bulk before he did adorn it with his Pensil * Gen. 1.1 2. †Suarez Vol. 3. p. 33. God in the beginning creating the Heaven and the Earth includes two things First That those were created in the beginning of time and before all other things Secondly That God begun the Creation of the World from those things Therefore before the Heavens and the Earth there was nothing absolutely created and therefore no Matter in being before an act of Creation past upon it It could not be Eternal because nothing can be Eternal but God it must therefore have a beginning If it had a beginning from it self then it was before it was If it acted in the making it self before it was made then it had a being before it had a being for that which is nothing can act nothing The action of any thing supposeth the existence of the thing which acts It being made it was not before it was made for to be made is to be brought into being It was made then by another and that Maker is God 'T is necessary that the first Original of things was from nothing When we see one thing to arise from another we must suppose an Original of the first of each kind As when we see a Tree spring up from a Seed we know that Seed came out of the bowels of another Tree it had a Parent and it had a Matter we must come to some First or else we run into an endless Maze We must come to some first Tree some first Seed that had no cause of the same kind no matter of it but was meer nothing ‖ Suarez Vol. 3. p. 6. Creation doth suppose a production â—â—â—m nothing because if you suppose a thing without any real or actual Existence 't is not capable of any other production then from nothing Nothing must be supposed before the World or we must suppose it Eternal and that is to deny it to be a Creature and make it God The Creation of spiritual Substances such as Angels and Souls evince this those things that are purely spiritual and consist not of matter cannot pretend to any Original from Matter and therefore they rose up from nothing If spiritual things arose from nothing much more may corporeal because they are of a lower nature than spiritual And he that can create a higher Nature of nothing can create an
inferior nature of nothing As bodily things are more imperfect than spiritual so their Creation may be supposed easier than that of spiritual There was as little need of any matter to be wrought to his hands to contrive into this visible Fabrick as there was to erect such an excellent Order as the glorious Cherubims 2. This Creation of things from nothing speaks an infinite power The distance between Nothing and Being hath been alway counted so great that nothing but an infinite Power can make such distances meet together either for Nothing to pass into Being or Being to return to nothing To have a thing arise from nothing was so difficult a Text to those that were ignorant of the Scripture that they knew not how to fathom it and therefore laid it down as a certain Rule That of nothing nothing is made which is true of a created Power but not of an uncreated and Almighty Power A greater distance cannot be imagin'd then that which is between Nothing and Something that which hath no being and that which hath And a greater Power cannot be imagin'd then that which brings Something out of Nothing * Amyral Morale tom 1. p. 252. We know not how to conceive a Nothing and afterwards a Being from that Nothing but we must remain swallowed up in admiration of the Cause that gives it being and acknowledge it to be without any bounds and measures of Greatness and Power The further any thing is from being the more immense must that Power be which brings it into being 'T is not conceivable that the power of all the Angels in one can give being to the smallest spire of Grass To imagine therefore so small a thing as a Bee a Fly a grain of Corn or an Atome of Dust to be made of nothing would stupifie any Creature in the consideration of it Much more to behold the Heavens with all the Troop of Stars the Earth with all its embroidery and the Sea with all her Inhabitants of Fish and Man the noblest Creature of all to arise out of the Womb of meer Emptiness Indeed God had not acted as an Almighty Creator if he had stood in need of any Materials but of his own framing It had been as much as his Deity was worth if he had not had all within the compass of his own Power that was necessary to Operation if he must have been beholden to something without himself and above himself for matter to work upon Had there been such a necessity we could not have imagin'd him to be Omnipotent and consequently not God 3. In this the power of God exceeds the power of all natural and rational Agents Nature or the Order of second Causes hath a vast Power The Sun generates Flies and other Insects but of some Matter the Slime of the Earth or a Dunghill The Sun and the Earth bring forth Harvests of Corn but from Seed first sown in the Earth Fruits are brought forth but from the Sap of the Plant. Were there no Seed or Plants in the Earth the power of the Earth would be idle and the influence of the Sun insignificant whatsoever strength either of them had in their Nature must be useless without matter to work upon All the united strength of Nature cannot produce the least thing out of nothing It may multiply and increase things by the powerful blessing God gave it at the first erecting of the World but it cannot create The Word which signifies Creation used in Gen. 1.1 is not ascrib'd to any second Cause but only to God a word in that sense as incommunicable to any thing else as the action it signifies Rational Creatures can produce admirable Pieces of Art from small things yet still out of Matter created to their hands Excellent Garments may be woven but from the Entrails of a small Silkworm Delightful and Medicinal Spirits and Essences may be extracted by ingenious Chymists but out of the Bodies of Plants and Minâ—rals No Picture can be drawn without Colours no Statue engraven withouâ—â—tone no Building erected without Timber Stones and other Materials Nor can any man raise a thought without some Matter framed to his hands or cast into him Matter is by Nature formed to the hands of all Artificers they bestow a new Figure upon it by the help of Instruments and the product of their own Wit and Skill but they create not the least particle of Matter when they want it they must be supplyed or else stand still as well as Nature for none of them or all together can make the least Mite or Atom And when they have wrought all that they can they will not want some to find a flaw and defect in their work God as a Creator hath the only Prerogative to draw what he pleases from nothing without any defect without any imperfection He can raise what Matter he please enoble it with what form he pleases Of nothing nothing can be made by any created Agent But the Omnipotent Architect of the World is not under the same necessity nor is limited to the same Rule and tied by so short a Tedder as created Nature or an ingenious yet feeble Artificer 2. It appears In raising such variety of Creatures from this barren Womb of Nothing or from the Matter which he first commanded to appear out of Nothing Had there been any preexistent Matter yet the bringing forth such varieties and diversities of excellent Creatures some with life some with sense and others with reason superadded to the rest and those out of indisposed and undigested Matter would argue an infinite Power resident in the first Author of this variegated Fabrick From this Matter he formed that glorious Sun which every day displays its Glory scatters its Beams clears the Air ripens our Fruits and maintains the propagation of Creatures in the World From this Matter he lighted those Torches which he set in the Heaven to qualifie the darkness of the Night From this he compacted those Bodies of Light which though they seem to us as little sparks as if they were the Glow-worms of Heaven yet some of them exceed in greatness this Globe of the Earth on which we live And the highest of them hath so quick a motion that some tell us they run in the space of every hour 42 millions of Leagues From the same matter he drew the Earth on which we walk from thence he extracted the Flowers to adorn it the Hills to secure the Valleys and the Rocks to fortifie it against the Inundations of the Sea And on this dull and sluggish Element he bestowed so great a fruitfulness to maintain feed and multiply so many Seeds of different kinds and conferred upon those little Bodies of Seeds a power to multiply their kinds in conjunction with the fruitfulness of the Earth to many thousands From this rude Matter the Slime or Dust of the Earth he kneaded the Body of Man and wrought so curious a Fabrick fit to
and effect it you would not call the Straw an Instrument in that action because there was nothing in the nature of the Straw to do it It was done wholly by some other force which might have done it as well without the Straw as with it The narrative of the Creation in Genesis removes any Instrument from God The Plants which are preserved and propagated by the influence of the Sun were created the Day before the Sun viz. on the Third day whereas the Light was collected into the body of the Sun on the Fourth day * Gen. 1.11 16. to shew that though the Plants do instrumentally owe their yearly beauty and preservation to the Sun yet they did not in any manner owe their Creation to the the Instrumental heat and vigour of it 2. God created the World by a Word by a simple Act of his Will The whole Creation is wrought by a Word Gen. 1.3 5 c. throughout the whole Chapter God said Let there be Light and God said Let there be a Firmament Not that we should understand it of a sensible Word but to express the easiness of this operation to God as easie as a word to Man We must understand it of a Powerful order of his own Will which is exprest by the Psalmist in the nature of a Command Psal 33.9 He spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast and Psal 148.5 He commanded and they were created At the same instant that he willed them to stand forth they did stand forth The efficacious Command of the Creator was the Original of All things he insensibility of Nothing obeyed the act of his Will Creation is therefore enituled a Calling Rom. 4.17 He calls those things which are not as if they were To Create is no more with God than to Call and what he calls presents it self before him in the same posture that he calls it He did with more ease make a World than we can form a Thought 'T is the same ease to him to create Worlds as to decree them There needs no more than a Resolve to have things wrought at such a time and they will be according to his pleasure This Will is his Power Let there be light is the Precept of his Will and there was light is the effect of his Precept By a Word was the Matter of the Heavens and the Earth framed By a Word Things separate themselves from the rude Mass into their proper Forms By a Word Light associates it self into one body and forms a Sun By a Word are the Heavens as it were bespangled with Stars and the Earth drest with Flowers By a Word is the World both ceil'd and floor'd One act of his Will formed the World and perfected its beauty All the variety and several exploits of his Power were not caused by distinct Words or Acts of Power God utter'd not distinct Words for distinct Species as let there be an Elephant and let there be a Lion but as he produced those various Creatures out of one Matter so by one Word By one single Command those varieties of Creatures with their Clothing Ornaments distinct Notes Qualities Functions were brought forth Gen. 1.11 By one Word all the Seeds of the Earth with their various Virtues By one Word Gen 1.20 all the Fish of the Sea and Fowls of the Air in their distinct Natures Instincts Gen. 1.24 Colours By one Word all the Beasts of the Field with their varieties †August Heaven and Earth Spiritual and Corporeal Creatures Mortal and Immortal the Greater and the Less Visible and Invisible were formed with the same ease A Word made the Least and a Word made the Greatest 'T is as little difficulty to him to produce the highest Angel as the lightest Atom 'T is enough for the existence of the slateliest Cherubim for God only to will his Being It was enough for the forming and fixing the Sun to will the compacting of Light into one Body Gen. 2.7 The creation of the Soul of Man is exprest by Inspiration To shew that it is as easie with God to create a Rational Soul as for Man to breath * Theodoret. Breathing is natural to Man by a communication of Gods goodness and the creation of the Soul is as easie to God by virtue of his Almighty Word As there was no proportion between Nothing and Being so there was as little proportion between a Word and such glorious Effects A meer Voice coming from an Omnipotent Will was capable to produce such Varieties which Angels and Men have seen in all Ages of the World and this without weariness What labour is there in Willing what pain could there be in speaking a Word Isai 40.28 The Creator of the ends of the Earth is not weary And though he be said to Rest after the Creation 't is to be meant a Rest from work not a repose from weariness So great is the Power of God that without any Matter without any Instruments he could create many Worlds and with the same ease as he made this 4. I might add also the appearance of this Power in the Instantaneous production of things The ending of his Word was not only the beginning but the perfection of every thing he spake into Being not several Words to several parts and Members but one Word one breath of his Mouth one act of his Will to the whole species of the Creatures and to every Member in each Individual Heaven and Earth were created in a moment Six days went to their disposal and that comly Order we observe in the World was the work of a Week The Matter was formed as soon as God had spoken the word and in every part of the Creation as soon as God spake the word Let it be so the answer immediately is Gen. 1. It was so which notes the present standing up of the Creature according to the act of his Will And therefore †Peiâ—s p. 111. One observes that Let there be light and there was light in the Hebrew are the same words without any alteration of Letter or Point only the conjunctive Particle added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let there be light and let there be light to shew that the same instant of the speaking the Divine word was the appearance of the Creature So great was the Authority of his Will 2. We are to shew Gods Power in the Government of the World As God decreed from Eternity the Creation of things in time so he decreed from Eternity the particular ends of Creatures and their operations respecting those ends Now as there was need of his Power to execute his Decree of Creation there is also need of his Power to execute his Decree about the manner of Government ‖ Suarez Vol. 1. lib 3. cap. 10. All Government is an act of the Understanding Will and Power Prudence to design belongs to the Understanding the election of the
by some other Countries in the World 1. We find nothing hath power to preserve it self Doth not every Creature upon Earth require the assistance of some other for its maintenance Can the Rush grow up without mire can the flag grow up without water Job 8.11 Can Man or Beast maintain it self without grain from the bowels of the Earth Would not every Man tumble into the grave without the aid of other Creatures to nourish him Whence do these Creatures receive that virtue of supplying him nourishment but from the Sun and Earth and whence do they derive that virtue but from the Creator of all things And should he but slack his hand how soon would they and all their qualities perish and the links of the World fall in pieces and dash one another into their first Chaos and confusion All Creatures indeed have an appetite to preserve themselves they have some knowledge of the outward Means for their preservation so have irrational Animals a natural instinct as well as men have some skill to avoid things that are hurtful and apply things that are helpful But what thing in the World can preserve it self by an inward influx into its own Being All things want such a Power without Gods Fiat Let it be so Nothing but is destitute of such a power for its own preservation as much as it is of a power for its own creation Were there any true Power for such a work what need of so many External helps from things of an inferior nature to that which is preserved by them No created thing hath a Power to preserve any decayed Being Who can lay claim to such a virtue as to recal a withering Flower to its former beauty to raise the head of a drooping Plant or put life into a gasping Worm when it is expiring or put impair'd Vitals into their former posture Not a Man upon Earth nor an Angel in Heaven can pretend to such a virtue they may be spectators but not Assisters and are in this case Physicians of no value 2. 'T is therefore the same Power preserves things which at first created them The Creature doth as much depend upon God in the first instant of its Being for its preservation as it did when it was nothing for its production and creation into Being * Lessius de Perfect divin p. 69. As the continuance of a Thought of our Mind depends upon the power of our Mind as well as the first framing of that Thought There is as little difference between Creating and Preserving Power as there is between the power of mine Eye to begin an act of Vision and continue that act of Vision as to cast my Eye upon an Object and continue it upon that Object As the first act is caused by the Eye so the duration of that act is preserved by the Eye shut the Eye and the act of Vision perishes divert the Eye from that Object and that act of Vision is exchanged for another And therefore the Preservation of things is commonly called a Continual creation And certainly it is no less if we understand it of a Preservation by an inward influence into the Being of things †Lessius de Sum. bon p. 580 581 582. 'T is one and the same action invariably continued and obtaining its force every moment The same action whereby he created them of Nothing and which every moment hath a virtue to produce a thing out of nothing if it were not yet extant in the World It remains the same without any diminution throughout the whole time wherein any thing doth remain in the World For all things would return to Nothing if God did not keep them up in the elevation and state to which he at first raised them by his Creative Power Acts 17.28 In him we live and have our being By him or by the same Power whence we deriv'd our Being are our lives maintained As it was his Almighty Power whereby we were after we had been nothing so it is the same Power whereby we now are after he hath made us something Certainly all things have no less a dependance on God than Light upon the Sun which vanisheth and hides its head upon the withdrawing of the Sun And should God suspend that powerful Word whereby he erected the frame of the World it would sink down to what it was before he commanded it to stand 〈◊〉 There needs no new act of Power to reduce things to Nothing but the cessation of that Omnipotent influx When the appointed time set them for their Being comes to a period they faint and bend down their heads to their dissolution they return to their elements and perish Psal 104.29 Thou hidest thy face and they are troubled thou takest away their breath they die and return to their dust That which was Nothing cannot remain on this side Nothing but by the same Power that first called it out of Nothing As when God withdrew his concurring Power from the Fire its quality ceas'd to act upon the Three Children so if he withdraws his Sustaining Power from the Creature its Nature will cease to be Gen. 1.22 23. 2. It appears in Propagation That powerful word Increase and multiply pronounced at the first Creation hath spread it self over every part of the World every Animal in the World in the formation of every one of them From Two of a kind how great a number of individuals and single Creatures have been multiplied to cover the face of the Earth in their continued successions What a world of Plants spring up from the womb of a dry Earth moistned by the influence of a Cloud and hatcht by the beams of the Sun How admirable an instance of his propagating Power is it that from a little Seed a massy Root should strike into the bowels of the Earth a tall body and thick branches with Leaves and Flowers of various colours should break through the surface of the Earth and mount up towards Heaven when in the Seed you neither smell the scent nor see any firmness of a Tree nor behold any of those Colours which you view in the Flowers that the years produce A Power not to be imitated by any Creature How astonishing is it that a small Seed whereof many will not amount to the weight of a grain should spread it self into Leaves Bark Fruit of a vast weight and multiply it self into Millions of Seeds What Power is that that from one Man and Woman hath multiplied Families and from Families stockt the World with People Consider the living Creatures as formed in the womb of their several kinds every one is a wonder of Power The Psalmist instanceth in the forming and propagation of Man Psal 139.14 I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are thy works The forming of the Parts distinctly in the Womb the bringing forth into the World every particular Member is a rowl of wonders of Power That so fine a structure as the
Body of Man should be polisht in the lower parts of the Earth as he calls the Womb verse 15. in so short a time with Members 〈◊〉 a various form and usefulness each labouring in their several functions Can any man give an exact account of the manner how the Bones do grow in the womb Eccles 11.5 'T is unknown to the Father and no less hid from the Mother and the wisest Men cannot search out the depths of it 'T is one of the Secret works of an Omnipotent Power secret in the manner though open in the effect So that we must ascribe it to God as Job doth Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about Job 10.8 Thy hands which formed Heaven have formed every Part every Member and wrought me like a Mighty workman The Heavens are said to be the work of Gods hands and Man is here said to be no less The forming and propagation of Man from that Earthy matter is no less a wonder of Power than the structure of the World from a rude and indispos'd Matter †Trismegist in Serm. Greek in the Temple p. 57. A Heathen Philosopher descants elegantly upon it Dost thou understand my Son the forming of Man in the womb who erected that noble Fabrick who carv'd the Eyes the Christal-windows of light and the conductors of the Body who bor'd the Nostrils and Ears those Loop-holes of scents and sounds who stretched out and knit the Sinews and Ligaments for the fastning of every Member who cast the hollow Veins the Channels of Blood set and strengthned the Bones the Pillars and Rafters of the Body who digg'd the Pores the sinks to expel the filth who made the Heart the repository of the Soul and formed the Lungs like a Pipe What Mother what Father wrought these things No none but the Almighty God who made all things according to his pleasure 't is He who propagates this Noble piece from a pile of Dust Who is born by his own advice who gives stature features sence wit strength speech but God 'T is no less a wonder that a little Infant can live so long in a dark Sink in the midst of filth without breathing And the eduction of it out of the Womb is no less a wonder than the forming increase nourishment of it in that Cell A wonder that the life of the Infant is not the death of the Mother or the life of the Mother the death of the Infant This little Creature when it springs up from such small beginnings by the Power of God grows up to bâ— one of the Lords of the World to have a Dominion over the Creatures and propagates its kind in the same manner All this is unaccountable without having recourse to the Power of God in the government of the Creatures And to add to this wonder Consider also what multitudes of Formations and Births there are at one time all over the World in every of which the Finger of God is at work and it will speak an unwearied Power 'T is admirable in one Man more in a Town of Men still more in a greater and larger Kingdom a vaster World there is a Birth for every Hour in this City were but 168 born in a Week though the Weekly Bills mention more What is this City to Three Kingdoms what Three Kingdoms to a populous World Eleven Thousand and eighty will make one for every Minute in the Week what is this to the Weekly propagation in all the Nations of the Universe besides the generation of all the Living Creatures in that Space which are the works of Gods fingers as well as Man What will be the result of this but the notion of an unconceivable unwearied Almightiness alway active alway operating 3. It appears in the Motions of all Creatures All things live and move in him Acts 17.28 by the same Power that Creatures have their Beings they have their Motions They have not only a Being by his powerful Command but they have their minutely Motion by his Powerful concurrence Nothing can act without the Almighty influx of God no more than it can exist without the Creative Word of God 'T is true indeed the ordering of all Motions to his Holy ends is an act of Wisdom but the motion it self whereby those Ends are attained is a work of his Power 1. God as the first Cause hath an influence into the motions of all second Causes As all the Wheels in a Clock are moved in their different motions by the force and strength of the principal and primary Wheel if there be any defect in that or if that stand still all the rest languish and stand idle the same moment All Creatures are his Instruments his Engines and have no Spirit but what he gives and what he assists Whatsoever Nature works God works in Nature Nature is the Instrument God is the Supporter Director Mover of Nature that what the Prophet saith in another case may be the language of universal Nature Lord thou hast wrought all our works in us Isai 26.12 They are our works subjectively efficiently as second causes Gods works originally concurrently The Sun moved not in the Valley of Ajalon for the space of many hours in the time of Joshua †Josh 10.13 nor did the Fire exercise its consuming quality upon the Three Children in Nebuchadnezzars Furnace ‖ Dan. 3.25 He withdrew not his supporting Power from th ir Being for then they had vanâ—shed but his influencing Power from their qualities whereby their motion ceas'd till he return'd his influential concurrence to them which evidenceth that without a perpetual derivation of Divine Power the Sun could not run one stride or inch of its race nor the Fire devour one grain of light Chaff or an inch of Straw Nothing without his sustaining Power can continue in Being nothing without his co-working Power can exercise one mite of those qualities it is possessed of All Creatures are wound up by him and his hand is constantly upon them to keep them in perpetual motion 2. Consider the variety of motions in a single Creature How many motions are there in the Vital parts of a Man or in any other Animal which a Man knows not and is unable to number The renewed motion of the Lungs the Systoles and Diastoles of the Heart the Contractions and Dilatations of the Heart whereby it spouts out and takes in Blood the power of Concoction in the Stomach the motion of the Blood in the Veins c. all which were not only setled by the Powerful hand of God but are upheld by the same preserv'd and influenc'd in every distinct motion by that Power that stampt them with that Nature To every one of those there is not only the sustaining Power of God holding up their Natures but the motive Power of God concurring to every motion for if we move in him as well as we live in him then every particle of our motion
is exercised by his concurring Power as well as every moment of our Life supported by his preserving Power What an infinite variety of motions is there in the whole World in universal Nature to all which God concurs all which he conducts even the motions of the meanest as well as the greatest Creatures which demonstrate the indefatigable Power of the Governour 'T is an Infinite Power which doth act in so many varieties whereby the Soul forms every Thought the Tongue speaks every Word the Body exerts every Action What an Infinite Power is that which presides over the birth of all things concurs with the motion of the Sap in the â—ree Rivers on the Earth Clouds in the Air every drop of Rain fleece of Snow crack of Thunder Not the least motion in the World but is under an actual influence of this Almighty Mover And lest any should scruple the Concurrence of God to so many Varieties of the Creatures motion as a thing utterly unconceivable let them consider the Sun a natural image and shadow of the Perfections of God doth not the power of that finite Creature extend it self to various Objects at the same moment of time How many Insects doth it animate as Flies c. at the same moment throughout the World How many several Plants doth it erect at its appearance in the Spring whose Roots lay mourning in the Earth all the foregoing Winter What multitudes of Spires of Grass and nobler Flowers doth it Midwife in the same hour It warms the Air melts the Blood cherishes Living Creatures of various kinds in distinct places without tiring And shall the God of this Sun be less than his Creature 3. And since I speak of the Sun consider the Power of God in the Motion of it * A Lapide in 1. cap. Gen. 16. Lessius de Perfect divin p. 90 91. The vastness of the Sun is computed to be at the least 166 Times bigger than the Earth and its distance from the Earth some tell us to be about Four Millions of Miles whence it follows that it is whirl'd about the World with that swiftness that in the space of an Hour it runs a Million of Miles which is as much as if it should move round about the surface of the Earth Fifty times in one hour * Lessius de Providen p. 633. Voss de Idol lib. 2. cap. 2. which vastness exceeds the swiftness of a Bullet shot out of a Canon which is computed to fly not above Three mile in a Minute So that the Sun runs further in one Hours space than a Bullet can in Five thousand if it were kept in motion so that if it were near the Earth the swiftness of its motion would shatter the whole frame of the World and dash it in pieces so that the Psalmist may well say It runs a race like a strong Man Psal 19.5 What an Incomprehensible Power is that which hath communicated such a strength and swiftness to the Sun and doth daily influence its Motion especially since after all those years of its motion wherein one would think it should have spent it self we behold it every day as vigorous as Adam did in Paradice without limping without shattering it self or losing any thing of its natural Spirits in its unwearied motion How great must that Power be which hath kept this great body so intire and thus swiftly moves it every day Is it not now an Argument of Omnipotency to keep all the strings of Nature in tune to wind them up to a due pitch for the harmony he intended by them to keep things that are contrary from that Confusion they would naturally fall into to prevent those Jarrings which would naturally result from their various and snarling qualities to preserve every Being in its true nature to propagate every kind of Creature order all the Operations even the meanest of them when there are such innumerable Varieties But let us consider that this Power of preserving things in their station and motion and the renewing of them is more stupendous than that which we commonly call Miraculous We call those Miracles which are wrought out of the track of Nature and contrary to the usual stream and current of it which Men wonder at because they seldom see them and hear of them as things rarely brought forth in the World when the truth is there is more of Power exprest in the ordinary station and motion of Natural causes than in those extraordinary exertings of Power Is not more Power signaliz'd in that whirling motion of the Sun every hour for so many Ages than in the suspending of its motion one Day as it was in the days of Joshua That Fire should continually ravage and consume and greedily swallow up every thing that is offer'd to it seems to be the effect of as admirable a Power as the stopping of its appetite a few moments as in the case of the Three Children Is not the rising of some small Seeds from the ground Faucher sur Act. Vol. 2. p. 47. with a multiplication of their numerous posterity an effect of as great a Power as our Saviours seeding many Thousands with a few Loaves by a secret augmentation of them Is not the Chimical producing so pleasant and delicious a Fruit as the Grape from a dry Earth insipid Rain and a sour Vine as admirable a token of Divine Power as our Saviours turning Water into Wine Is not the cure of Diseases by the application of a simple inconsiderable Weed or a slight Infusion as wonderful in it self as the Cure of it by a powerful word What if it be naturally design'd to heal what is that Nature who gave that Nature who maintains that Nature who conducts it cooperates with it Doth it work of it self and by its own strength why not then equally in all in one as well as another Miracles indeed affect more because they testifie the immediate operation of God without the concurrence of second Causes not that there is mere of the Power of God shining in them than in the other II. This Power is evident in Moral Government 1. In the restraint of the Malicious nature of the Devil Since Satan hath the Power of an Angel and the Malice of a Devil what safety would there be for our Persons from destruction what security for our Goods from rifling by this invisible potent and envious Spirit if his Power were not restrain'd and his Malice curb'd by one more Mighty than himself How much doth he envy God the glory of his Creation and Man the use and benefit of it How desirous would he be in regard of his passion how able in regard of his strength and subtilty to overthrow or infect all Worship but what was directed to himself to manage all things according to his lusts turn all thing topsie-turvy plague the World burn Cities Houses plunder us of the supports of Nature waste Kingdoms c. if he were not held in
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
others more than in God Thus God upbraids those by the Prophet that sought help from Egypt telling them Isai 31.3 The Egyptians were men and not gods intimating that by their dependance on them they render'd them gods and not Men and advanc'd them from the state of Creatures to that of Almighty Deities 'T is to set a pile of Dust a heap of Ashes above Him that created and preserves the World To trust in a Creature is to make it as Infinite as God to do that which is impossible in it self to be done God himself cannot make a Creature infinite for that were to make him God 'T is also contemn'd when we ascribe what we receive to the power of Instruments and not to the Power of God Men in whatsoever they do for us are but the Tools whereby the Creator works Is it not a disgrace to the Limner to admire his Pensil and not himself to the Artificer to admire his File and Engines and not his Power 'T is not I saith Paul that labour but the Grace the efficacious Grace of God which is in me Whatsoever good we do is from him not from our selves to ascribe it to our selves or to Instruments is to overlook and contemn his Power 5. Vnbelief of the Gospel is a contempt and disowning Divine Power This Perfection hath been discover'd in the Conception of Christ the Union of the two Natures his Resurrection from the Grave the Restoration of the World and the Conversion of Men more than in the Creation of the World Then what a disgrace is Vnbelief to all that Power that so severely punished the Jews for the rejecting the Gospel turn'd so many Nations from their beloved Superstitions humbled the Power of Princes and the Wisdom of Philosophers chas'd Devils from their Temples by the weakness of Fishermen planted the Standard of the Gospel against the common Notions and inveterate Customes of the World What a disgrace is Vnbelief to this Power which hath preserved Christianity from being extinguish'd by the force of Men and Devils and kept it flourishing in the midst of Sword Fire and Executioners that hath made the Simplicity of the Gospel overpower the Eloquence of Orators and multiplied it from the Ashes of Martyrs when it was destitute of all Humane Assistances Not heartily to believe and embrace that Doctrine which hath been attended with such Marks of Power is a high reflection upon this Divine Perfection so highly manifested in the first publication propagation and preservation of it II. The Power of God is abused as well as contemned 1. When we make use of it to justifie Contradictions The Doctrine of Transubstantiation is an abuse of this Power When the Maintainers of it cannot answer the Absurdities alledg'd against it they have recourse to the Power of God It implies a Contradiction that the same Body should be on Earth and in Heaven at the same instant of time that it should be at the Right hand of God and in the Mouth and Stomack of a Man that it should be a Body of Flesh and yet Bread to the Eye and to the Taste that it should be Visible and Invisible a glorious Body and yet gnawn by the Teeth of a Creature that it should be multiplied in a Thousand places and yet an entire Body in every one where there is no Member to be seen no Flesh to be tasted that it should be above us in the highest Heavens and yet within us in our lower Bowels Such Contradictions as these are an Abuse of the Power of God Again We abuse this Power when we believe every idle Story that is reported because God is able to make it so if he pleased We may as well believe Esop's Fables to be true that Birds spake and Beasts reasoned because the Power of God can enable such Creatures to such acts Gods Power is not the Rule of our Belief of a thing without the exercise of it in matter of Fact and the declaration of it upon sufficient Evidence 2. The Power of God is abus'd by presuming on it without using the Means he hath appointed When Men sit with folded-Arms and make a Confidence in his Power a glorious Title to their Idleness and Disobedience they would have his Strength do all and his Precept should move them to do nothing this is a trust of his Power against his Command a pretended glorifying his Power with a slight of his Soveraignty Though God be Almighty yet for the most part he exerciseth his Might in giving life and success to Second Causes and lawful endeavours When we stay in the mouth of Danger without any Call ordering us to to continue and against a Door of Providence open'd for our rescue and sanctuary our selves in the Power of God without any Promise without any Providence conducting us this is not to glorifie the Divine Might but to neglect it in neglecting the Means which his Power affords to us for our escape * Harwood p. 13. To condemn it to our humors to work Miracles for us according to our wills and against his own God could have sent a Worm to be Herods Executioner when he sought the life of our Saviour or employed an Angel from Heaven to have tied his hands or stopt his breath and not put Joseph upon a flight to Egypt with our Saviour yet had it not been an abuse of the Power of God for Joseph to have neglected the Precept and slighted the Means God gave him for the preserving his own life and that of the Childs Christ himself when the Jews consulted to destroy him presum'd not upon the Power of God to secure him but used ordinary means for his preservation by walking no more openly but retiring himself into a City near the Wilderness till the hour was come and the Call of his Father manifest †John 11.53 54. A rash running upon Danger though for the Truth it self is a presuming upon and consequently an abuse of this Power a proud challenging it to serve our turns against the Authority of his Will and the force of his Precept A not resting in his Ordinate Power but demanding his Absolute Power to pleasure our Follies and Presumptions concluding and expecting more from it than what is Authoriz'd by his Will 9. Instruction If Infinite Power be a peculiar Property of God How miserable will all wicked Rebels be under this Power of God Men may break his Laws but not impair his Arm they may slight his Word but cannot resist his Power If he swear that he will sweep a place with the Besom of Destruction As he hath thought so shall it come to pass and as he hath purposed so shall it stand Isai 14.23 24. Rebels against an Earthly Prince may exceed him in strength and be more powerful than their Soveraign None can equal God much less exceed him As none can exercise an act of Hostility against him without his permissive Will so none can struggle from under
God is then considered in a disposition contrary to this which can be nothing but his Righteousness If you that are unholy and have so much Corruption in you to render you cruel can bestow upon your Children the good things they want how much more shall God who is holy and hath nothing in him to check his mercifulness to his Creatures grant the Petitions of his Suppliants 'T was this Attribute edg'd the siduciary importunity of the Souls under the Altar for the revenging their blood unjustly shed upon the Earth Rev. 6.10 How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth Let not thy holiness stand with folded Arms as careless of the eminent Sufferings of those that fear thee we implore thee by the holiness of thy Nature and the truth of thy Word 2. This renders him fit to be confided in for the comfort of our Souls in a broken condition The reviving the hearts of the spiritually afflicted is a part of the holiness of his Nature Isa 57.15 Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble He acknowledgeth himself the lofty One they might therefore fear he would not revive them but he is also the holy One and therefore he will refresh them he is not more lofty than he is holy besides the argument of the immutability of his Promise and the might of his Power here is the holiness of his Nature moving him to pity his drooping Creature His Promise is usher'd in with the name of power high and lofty One to bar their distrust of his strength and with a declaration of his holiness to check any despair of his Will There is no ground to think I should be false to my word or misemploy my Power since that cannot be because of the holiness of my Name and Nature 3. This renders him fit to be confided in for the maintenance of grace and protection of us against our spiritual Enemies What our Saviour thought an argument in Prayer we may well take as a ground of our confidence In the strength of this he puts up his sute when in his mediatory Capacity he intercedes for the preservation of his People John 17.11 Holy Father keep through thy own Name those that thou hast given me that they may be one as we are Holy Father not merciful Father or powerful or wise Father but holy and Verse 25. righteous Father Christ pleads that Attribute for the performance of God's Word which was laid to pawn when he past his word For it was by his Holiness that he swore That his seed should endure for ever and his Throne as the Sun before him †Psal 89.36 which is meant of the perpetuity of the Covenant which he made with Christ and is also meant of the preservation of the mystical Seed of David and the perpetuating his loving kindness to them ‖ Vers 32 33. Grace is an Image of God's holiness and therefore the holiness of God is most proper to be used as an Argument to interest and engage him in the preservation of it In the midst of Church provocations he will not utterly extinguish because he is the holy One in the midst of her * Hos 11.9 Nor in the midst of Judgments will he condemn his people to death because he is their holy one †Hab. 1.12 but their Enemies shall be ordained for Judgment and established for Correction One Prophet assures them in the Name of the Lord upon the strength of this Perfection and the other upon the same ground is confident of the protection of the Church because of Gods holiness engag'd in an inviolable Covenant 3. Comfort Since holiness is a glorious Perfection of the Nature of God he will certainly value every holy Soul 'T is of a greater value with him than the Souls of all men in the World that are destitute of it Wicked men are the worst of vilenesses meer dross and dunghil ‖ Psal 12.8 The vilest mâ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Purity then which is contrary to wickedness must be the most precious thing in his esteem he must needs love that quality which he is most pleas'd with in himself as a father looks with most delight upon the child which is possess'd with those dispositions he most values in his own nature His Countenance doth behold the upright Ps 11.7 He looks upon them with a full and open Face of favour with a countenance clear unmaskt and smiling with a Face full of delight Heaven it self is not such a pleasing Object to him as the Image of his own increated holiness in the created holiness of Men and Angels As a man esteems that most which is most like him of his own Generation more than a piece of Art which is meerly the product of his wit or strength And he must love holiness in the Creature he would not else love his own Image and consequently would undervalue himself He despiseth the Image the wicked bears * Psal 73.20 but he cannot disesteem his own stamp on the godly he cannot but delight in his own work his choice work the Master-piece of all his works the new Creation of things that which is next to himself as being a Divine Nature like himself †2 Pet. 1.4 When he overlooks strength parts knowledge he cannot overlook this He sets apart him that is godly for himself Psal 4.3 as a peculiar Object to take pleasure in he reserves such for his own complacency when he leaves the rest of the World to the Devils power he is choice of them above all his other works and will not let any have so great a propriety in them as himself If it be so dear to him here in its imperfect and mixt condition that he appropriates it as a peculiar Object for his own delight how much more will the unspotted purity of glorified Saints be infinitely pleasing to him So that he will take less pleasure in the material Heavens than in such a Soul Sin only is detestable to God and when this is done away the Soul becomes as lovely in his account as before it was loathsome 4. 'T is comfort upon this account That God will perfect holiness in every upright Soul We many times distrust God and despond in our selves because of the infinite holiness of the Divine Nature and the dunghil Corruptions in our own but the holiness of God engageth him to the preservation of it and consequently to the perfection of it as appears by our Saviour's Argument Joh. 17.11 Holy Father keep through thy own name those whom thou hast given me to what end that they may be one as we are one with us in the resemblances of Purity And the holiness of the Soul is used as an Argument by
a holy Mountain * Joel 3.17 and the Members of Zion must be upheld in their rectitude and integrity before they be set before the face of God for ever †Psal 41.12 Such are stil'd his Jewels his Portion as if he lived upon them as a man upon his Inheritance As God cannot delight in us so neither can we delight in God without it We must purifie our selves as he is pure if we expect to see him as he is in the comfortable glory and beauty of his Nature ‖ 1 Joh. 3.2 3. else the sight of God would be terrible and troublesome We cannot be satisfied with the likeness of God at the Resurrection unless we have a righteousness wherewith to behold his face * Psal 17.15 'T is a vain imagination in any to think that Heaven can be a place of happiness to him in whose eye the Beauty of Holiness which fills and adorns it is an unlovely thing Or that any can have a satisfaction in that Divine Purity which is loathsome to him in the imitations of it We cannot enjoy him unless we resemble him nor take any pleasure in him if we were with him without something of likeness to him Holiness fits us for Communion with God 6. We can have no evidence of our Election and Adoption without it Conformity to God in Purity is the fruit of electing Love Eph. 1.4 He hath chosen us that we should be holy The goodness of the Fruit evidenceth the nature of the Root This is the Seal that assures us the Patent is the Authentick Grant of the Prince Whatsoever is holy speaks itself to be from God and whosoever is holy speaks himself to belong to God This is the only evidence that we are born of God * 1 Joh. 2.29 The subduing our souls to him the forming us into a resemblance to himself is a more certain sign we belong to him than if we had with Isaiah seen his glory in the Vision with all his train of Angels about him This justifies us to be the seed of God when he hath as it were taken a slip from his own Purity and engrafted it in our Spirits He can never own us for his Children without his mark the stamp of holiness The Devils stamp is none of Gods Badge Our spiritual extraction from him is but pretended unless we do things worthy of so illustrious a Birth and becoming the honour of so great a Father What evidence can we else have of any child-like love to God since the proper act of love is to imitate the Object of our Affections And that we may be in some measure like to God in this excellent Perfection 1. Let us be often viewing and ruminating on the holiness of God especially as discovered in Christ T is by a believing meditation on him that we are changed into the same image †Cor. 3.18 We can think often of nothing that is excellent in the World but it draws our Faculties to some kind of sutable operation and why should not such an excellent Idea of the holiness of God in Christ perfect our understandings and awaken all the powers of our Souls to be formed to actions worthy of him A Painter employed in the limning some excellent Piece has not only his Pattern before his eyes but his eye frequently upon the Pattern to possess his fancy to draw forth an exact resemblance He that would express the Image of God must imprint upon his Mind the purity of his Nature Cherish it in his thoughts that the excellent beauty of it may pass from his Understanding to his Affections and from his Affections to his Practise How can we arise to a conformity to God in Christ whose most holy nature we seldom glance upon and more rarely sink our Souls into the depths of it by meditation Be frequent in the meditation of the holiness of God 2. Let us often exercise our selves in acts of love to God because of this Perfection The more adoring thoughts we have of God the more delightfully we shall aspire to more ravishingly catch after any thing that may promote the more full draught of his Divine Image in our hearts What we intensly affect we desire to be as near to as we can and to be that very thing rather than our selves All imitations of others arise from an intense love to their persons or excellency When the Soul is ravisht with this Perfection of God it will desire to be united with it to have it drawn in it more than to have its own being continued to it It will desire and delight in its own being in order to this heavenly and spiritual work The impressions of the Nature of God upon it and the imitations of the Nature of God by it will be more desirable than any natural perfection whatsoever The Will in loving is rendred like the object beloved is turned into its nature †Amor naturam induit mores imbibit rei amatâ—e and imbibes its qualities The Soul by loving God will find it self more and more transform'd into the Divine Image whereas slighted ensamples are never thought worthy of Imitation 3. Let us make God our end Every mans mind forms itself to a likeness to that which it makes its chief end An earthy Soul is as drossy as the Earth he gapes for An ambitious Soul is as elevated as the honour he reaches at The same Characters that are upon the thing aimed at will be imprinted upon the Spirit of him that aims at it When God and his glory are made our end we shall find a silent likeness pass in upon us the Beauty of God will by degrees enter upon our Souls 4. In every deliberate action let us reflect upon the Divine Purity as a pattern Let us examine whither any thing we are prompted unto bear an impression of God upon it Whether it looks like a thing that God himself would do in that case were he in our Natures and in our Circumstances See whether it hath the livery of God upon it how congruous it is to his Nature whether and in what manner the holiness of God can be glorified thereby and let us be industrious in all this For can such an imitation be easy which is resisted by the constant assaults of the Flesh which is discouraged by our own ignorance and deprest by our faint and languishing Desires after it O! happy we if there were such a Heart in us 4. A fourth Exhortation If holiness be a Perfection belonging to the Nature of God then where there is some weak conformity to the holiness of God let us labour to grow up in it and breath after fuller measures of it The more likeness we have to him the more love we shall have from him Communion will be sutable to our imitation his love to himself in his Essence will cast out beams of love to himself in his Image If God loves holiness in
p. 1326. 'T is Gods Excellency and Goodness which like a Beam pierceth all things He decks Spirits with Reason endues Matter with Form furnisheth every thing with useful Qualities As one Beam of the Sun illustrates Fire Water Earth so one Beam of God enlightens and endows Minds Souls and Universal Nature Nothing in the World had its goodness from it self any more than it had its being from it self The Cause must be riches than the Effect But that which I intend is the Defence of this Goodness 1. The goodness of God is not impair'd by suffering Sin to enter into the World and Man to fall thereby 'T is rather a Testimony of Gods Goodness that he gave Man an ability to be Happy than any Charge against his Goodness that he setled Man in a capacity to be Evil. God was first a Benefactor to Man before Man could be a Rebel against God May it not be enquired whether it had not been against the Wisdom of God to have made a Rational Creature with Liberty and not suffer him to act according to the Nature he was endowed with and to follow his own choice for some time Had it been Wisdom to frame a Free Creature and totally to restrain that Creature from following its Liberty Had it been Goodness as it were to force the Creature to be happy against its will Gods Goodness furnisht Adam with a power to stand was it contrary to his Goodness to leave Adam to a free use of that Power To make a Creature and not let that Creature act according to the freedom of his Nature might have been thought to have been a blot upon his VVisdom and a constraint upon the Creature not to make use of that freedom of his Nature which the Divine Goodness had bestowed upon him To what purpose did God make a Law to govern his Rational Creature and yet resolve that Creature should not have his choice whether he would obey it or no Had he been really constrained to observe it his Observation of it could no more have been call'd Obedience than the acts of Bruits that have a kind of Natural constraint upon them by the instinct of their Nature can be called Obedience In vain had God endow'd a Creature with so great and noble a Principle as Liberty Had it been Goodness in God after he had made a Reasonable Creature to govern him in the same manner as he did Bruits by a necessary Instinct It was the Goodness of God to the Nature of Men and Angels to leave them in such a condition to be able to give him a voluntary Obedience a nobler Offering than the whole Creation could present him with And shall this Goodness be undervalued and accounted mean because Man made an ill use of it and turn'd it into wantonness As the unbelief of Man doth not diminish the Redeeming Grace of God †Rom. 3.3 so neither doth the fall of Man lessen the Creating Goodness of God Besides why should the permission of Sin be thought more a blemish to his Goodness than the providing a way of Redemption for the destroying the works of Sin and the Devil be judged the Glory of it whereby he discover'd a goodness of Grace that surpast the bounds of Nature If this were a thing that might seem to obscure or deface the Goodness of God in the permission of the fall of Angels and Adam it was in order to bring forth a greater Goodness in a more illustrious pomp to the view of the World * Rom. 11.32 God hath concluded them all in Vnbelief that he might have Mercy upon all But if nothing could be alledged for the defence of his Goodness in this it were most comely for an ignorant Creature not to Impeach his Goodness but adore him in his proceedings in the same language the Apostle doth vers 33. Oh the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out 2. Nor is his Goodness prejudic'd by not making all things the equal Subjects of it 1. 'T is true all things are not Subjects of an equal Goodness The Goodness of God is not so illustriously manifested in one thing as another In the Creaâ—â—on he hath dropt Goodness upon some in giving them Beings and Sense and powr'd it upon others in endowing them with Understanding and Reason The Sun is full of Light but it hath a want of Sense Brutes excel in in the vigor of Sense but they are destitute of the Light of Reason Man hath a Mind and Reason conferr'd on him but he hath neither the acuteness of Mind nor the quickness of Motion equal with an Angel In Providence also he doth give abundance and opens his hand to some to others he is more sparing He gives greater gifts of knowledge to some while he lets others remain in ignorance He strikes down some and raiseth others He afflicts some with a continual Pain while he blesseth others with an uninterrupted Health He hath chosen one Nation wherein to set up his Gospel Sun and leaves another benighted in their own Ignorance Known was God in Judaea they were a peculiar People alone of all the Nations of the Earth * Deut. 14.2 He was not equally good to the Angels He held forth his hand to support some in their happy Habitation while he suffered others to sink in irreparable Ruine and he is not so diffusive here of his Goodness to his own as he will be in Heaven Here their Sun is sometimes Clouded but there all Clouds and Shades will be blown away and melted into nothing Instead of Drops here there will be above Rivers of Life Is any Creature destitute of the open Marks of his Goodness though all are not enricht with those signal Characters which he vouchsafes to others He that is unerring pronounced every thing good distinctly in its Production and the whole good in its Universal Perfection †Gen. 1.4 10 12 18 21 25 31. Though he made not all things equally good yet he made nothing evil And though one Creature in regard of its Nature may be better than another yet an Inferior Creature in regard of its usefulness in the order of the Creation may be better than a Superior The Earth hath a goodness in bringing forth Fruits and the Waters in the Sea a goodness in multiplying Food That any of us have a Being is goodness that we have not so healthful a Being as others is unequal but not unjust goodness He is good to all though not in the same degree The whole Earth is full of his Mercy * Psal 119.64 A good Man is good to his Cattle to his Servants he makes a Provision for all but he bestows not those Flouds of Bounty upon them that he doth upon his Children As there are various Gifts but one Spirit ‖ 1 Cor. 12.4 so there are various Distributions but from one Goodness The
of the whole Creation tied together Heaven and Earth in our Nature when he might have rankt us among the lower Creatures of the Earth made us meer Bodies as the Stones or meer Animals as the Brutes and denied us those Capacious Souls whereby we might both know him and enjoy him What could Man have been more unless he had been the Original which was impossible He could not be greater than to be an Image of the Deity an Epitome of the whole Creation Well may we cry out with the Psalmist * Psal 8.1 4. O Lord our Lord How Excellent is thy Name the Name of thy Goodness in all the Earth How more particularly in Man What is Man that thou art mindful of him What is a little Clod of Earth and Dust that thou shouldest ennoble him with so rich a Nature and Engrave upon him such Characters of thy Immense Being 6. The Goodness of God appears in the Conveniencies he provided for and gave to Man As God gave him a Being Morally perfect in regard of Righteousness so he gave him a Being Naturally perfect in regard of delightful Conveniencies which was the fruit of Excellent Goodness Since there was no quality in Man to invite God to provide him so Rich a World nor to bestow upon him so Comely a Being 1. The World was made for Man Since Angels have not need of any thing in this World and are above the Conveniencies of Earth and Air it will follow that Man being the noblest Creature on the Earth was the more immediate End of the visible Creation All Inferior things are made to be subservient to those that have a more excellent Prerogative of Nature and therefore all things for Man who exceeds all the rest in Dignity As Man was made for the honour of God so the World was made for the support and delight of Man in order to his performing the Service due from him to God The Empire God settled Man in as his Lieutenant over the Works of his Hands when he gave him possession of Paradise is a clear manifestation of it God put all things under his Feet and gave him a deputed Dominion over the rest of the Creatures under himself as the absolute Soveraign * Psal 8.6 7 8. Thou madest him to have Dominion over the Works of thy Hands thou hast put all things under his Feet all Sheep and Oxen yea and the Beasts of the Field the Foul of the Air and the Fish of the Sea yea and whatsoever passeth through the Paths of the Sea What less is witnest to by the Calamity all Creatures were subjected to by the Corruption of Mans Nature Then was the Earth Curs'd and a black Cloud flung upon the Beauty of the Creation and the strength and vigor of it languisheth to this day under the Curse of God †Gen. 2.17 18. and groans under that vanity the Sin of Man subjected it to * Rom. 8.20 22. The Treasons of Man against God brought Misery upon that which was fram'd for the use of Man As when the Majesty of a Prince is violated by the Treason and Rebellion of his Subjects all that which belongs to them and was before the free Gift of the Prince to them is forfeit their Habitations Palaces Cattle all that belongs to them bear the Marks of his Soveraign fury Had not the Delicacies of the Earth been made for the use of Man they had not fallen under the Indignation of God upon the Sin of Man God Crown'd the Earth with his Goodness to gratifie Man gave Man a right to serve himself of the delightful Creatures he had provided †Gen. 1.28 29 30. yea and after Man had forfeited all by Sin and God had washt again the Creature in a Deluge he renews the Creation and delivers it again into the hand of Man binding all Creatures to pay a Respect to him and Recognize him as their Lord either spontaneously or by force * Gen. 9.2 3. and commissions them all to fill the heart of Man with food and gladness And he loves all Creatures as they conduce to the good of and are serviceable to his prime Creature which he set up for his own glory And therefore when he loves a Person he loves what belongs to him He takes care of Jacob and his Cattle Of Penitent Nineveh and their Cattle †Jonah 4.11 As when he sends Judgments upon Men he destroys their Goods 2. God richly furnisht the World for Man He did not only Erect a stately Palace for his Habitation but provided all kind of Furniture as a Mark of his Goodness for the Entertainment of his Creature Man He Archt over his Habitation with a bespangled Heaven and Floor'd it with a solid Earth and spread a curious wrought Tapestry upon the Ground where he was to tread and seemed to sweep all the Rubbish of the Chaos to the two uninhabitable Poles When at the first Creation of the Matter the Waters cover'd the Earth and rendred it uninhabitable for Man God Drain'd them into the proper Chanels he had founded for them and set a bound that they might not pass over that they turn not again to cover the Earth * Gen. 1.9 They fled and hasted away to their proper Stations †Psal 104.7 8 9. as if they were ambitious to deny their own Nature and content themselves with an Imprisonment for the convenient Habitation of him who was to be appointed Lord of the World He hath set up standing Lights in the Heaven to direct our Motion and to regulate the Seasons The Sun was Created that Man might see to go forth to his Labour * Psal 104.22 23. Both Sun and Moon though set in the Heaven were form'd to give light on the Earth †Gen. 1.15 17. The Air is his Aviary the Sea and Rivers his Fish-ponds the Valleys his Granary the Mountains his Magazine The first afford Man Creatures for Nourishment the other Metals for Perfection The Animals were Created for the support of the life of Man the Herbs of the Ground were provided for the maintenance of their Lives and gentle Dews and moistening Showers and in some places slimy Flouds appointed to render the Earth fruitful and capable to offer to Man and Beast what was fit for their Nourishment He hath peopled every Element with a variety of Creatures both for necessity and delight all furnisht with useful qualities for the Service of Man There is not the most despicable thing in the whole Creation but it is endued with a Nature to contribute something for our Welfare either as Food to Nourish us when we are Healthful or as Medicine to Cure us when we are Distemper'd or as a Garment to Cloath us when we are Naked and Arm us against the Cold of the Season or as a refreshment when we are weary or as a delight when we are sad All serve for Necessity or Ornament either to spread our Table
Devotions in course have not prevail'd for what we want We engage our selves by extraordinary Vows and Promises to God hereby to open that Goodness which seems to be lockt up from us Sometimes indeed Vows may proceed from a sole desire to engage our selves to God from a sense of the levity and inconstancy of our Spirits Binding our selves to God by something more sacred and inviolable than a common Resolution But many times the Vowing the building of a Temple Endowing an Hospital giving so much in Alms if God will free them from a Fit of Sickness and spin out the thread of their Lives a little longer as hath been frequent among the Romanists arises from an opinion of Laziness and a Selfishness in the Divine Goodness that it must be squeezed out by some solemn Promises of Returns to him before it will exercise it self to take their parts Popular Vows are often the effects of an ignorance of the free and bubbling Nature of this Perfection of the Generousness and Royalty of Divine Goodness As if God were of a mean and Mechanick Temper not to part with any thing unless he were in some measure paid for it And of so bad a Nature as not to give passage to any kindness to his Creature without a Bribe It implies also that he is of an ignorant as well as contracted Goodness that he hath so little understanding and so much weakness of Judgment as to be taken with such trifles and Ceremonial Courtships and little Promises And meditated only low designs in imparting his Bounty 'T is just as if a Malefactor should speak to a Prince Sir If you will but bestow a Pardon upon me and prevent the Death I have merited for this Crime I will give you this Rattle All Vows made with such a temper of Spirit to God are as injurious and abusive to his Goodness as any Man will judge such an offer to be to a Majestick and Gracious Prince as if it were a Trading not a free and Royal Goodness 7. The Goodness of God is abus'd when we give up our Souls and Affections to those Benefits we have from God When we make those things Gods Rivals which were sent to Woe us for him and offer those Affections to the Presents themselves which they were sent to sollicite for the Master This is done when either we place our trust in them or glue our choicest Affections to them This Charge God brings against Jerusalem the trusting in her own Beauty Glory and Strength though it was a Comeliness put upon her by God * Ezek. 16.14 15. When a little Sun-shine of Prosperity breaks out upon us we are apt to grasp it with so much eagerness and closeness as if we had no other Foundation to settle our selves upon no other Being that might challenge from us our sole dependence And the love of our selves and of Creatures above God is very natural to us * 2 Tim. 3.2 4. Lovers of themselves and lovers of Pleasure more than of God Self-love is the Root and the love of Pleasures the top Branch that mounts its head highest against Heaven * Cressol Antholog Part 2. p. 29. 'T is for the love of the World that the dangers of the Sea are past over that Men descend into the Bowels of the Earth pass Nights without sleep undertake Suits without intermission wade through many inconveniencies venture their Souls and contemn God In those things Men glory and foolishly grow proud by them and think themselves safe and happy in them Now to love our selves above God is to own our selves better than God and that we transcend him in an amiable Goodness Or if we love our selves equal with God it at least manifests that we think God no better than our selves and think our selves our own chief good and deny any thing above us to out-strip us in goodness whereby to deserve to be the Center of our Affections and Actions And to love any other Creature above him is to conclude some defect in God that he hath not so much goodness in his own Nature as that Creature hath to compleat our felicity that God is a slighter thing than that Creature 'T is to account God what all the things in the World are an imaginary happiness a goodness of Clay and them what God is a Supream Goodness 'T is to value the goodness of a Drop above that of the Spring and the goodness of the Spark above that of the Sun As if the Bounty of God were of a less alloy than the advantages we immediately receive from the hands of a silly Worm By how much the better we think a Creature to be and place our Affections chiefly upon it by so much the more deficient and indigent we conclude God For God wants so much in our conception as the other thing hath goodness above him in our thoughts Thus is God lessen'd below the Creature as if he had a mixture of evil in him and were capable of an imperfect goodness He that esteems the Sun that shines upon him the Clothes that warm him the Food that nourisheth him or any other Benefit above the Donor regards them as more Comely and useful than God himself and behaves himself as if he were more oblig'd to them than to God who bestowed those advantageous qualities upon them 8. The Divine Goodness is contemn'd in sinning more freely upon the account of that Goodness and employing Gods Benefits in a drudgery for our Lusts This is a treachery to his Goodness to make his Benefits serve for an end quite contrary to that for which he sent them As if God had been plentiful in his Blessings to hire them to be more fierce in their Rebellions and fed them to no other purpose but that they might more strongly kick against him This is the Fruit which Corrupt Nature produceth Thus the Egyptians who had so fertile a Country prove unthankful to the Creator by adoring the meanest Creatures and putting the Scepter of the Monarch of the World into the hands of the Sottishest and Cruellest Beasts And the Romans multiply their Idols as God multiplied their Victories This is also the complaint of God concerning Israel * Hos 2.8 She did not know that I gave her Corn and Wine and Oyl and multiplied her Silver and Gold which they prepar'd for Baal They ungratefully employ'd the Blessings of God in the Worship of an Idol against the will of the Donor So in Hos 10.1 According to the multitude of his Fruit he hath increas'd the Altars according to the goodness of his Land they have made goodly Images They followed their own inventions with the strength of my outward Blessings As their Wealth increas'd they increas'd the Ornaments of their Images so that what were before of Wood and Stone they advanc'd to Gold and Silver And the like complaint you may see Ezek. 16.17 Thus 1. The Benefits of God are abused to Pride when Men standing
is ought to be most sought after Since good only is the Object of a Rational Appetite all the motions of our Souls should be carried to the first and best Good A real good is most desirable The greatest Excellency of the Creatures cannot speak them so since by the Corruption of Man they are subjected to vanity * Rom. 8.20 God is the most Excellent Good without any shadow A real something without that nothing which every Creature hath in its nature * Isai 40.17 A perfect good can only give us content the best goodness in the Creature is but slender and imperfect had not the venom of Corruption infus'd a vanity into it the make of it speaks it finite and the best qualities in it are bounded and cannot give satisfaction to a Rational Appetite which bears in its nature an imitation of Divine Infiniteness and therefore can never find an Eternal rest in mean trifles God is above the imperfection of all Creatures Creatures are but drops of goodness at best but shallow Streams God is like a teeming Ocean that can fill the largest as well as the narrowest Creek He hath an accumulative goodness several Creatures answer several necessities but one God can answer all our wants He hath an universal fulness to overtop our universal emptiness He contains in himself the sweetness of all other goods and holds in his Bosom plentifully what Creatures have in their Natures sparingly Creatures are uncertain goods As they begin to exist so they may cease to be they may be gone with a breath they will certainly languish if God blows upon them * Isai 40.24 The same Breath that rais'd them can blast them but who can rifle God of the least part of his Excellency Mutability is inherent in the Nature of every Creature as a Creature All sublunary things are as gourds that refresh us one moment with their presence and the next fret us with their absence Like fading Flowers strutting to day and drooping to morrow * Isai 40.6 While we possess them we cannot clip their Wings that may carry them away from us and may make us vainly seek what we thought we firmly held But God is as permanent a good as he is a real one He hath Wings to flie to them that seek him but no Wings to flie from them for ever and leave them God is an universal good that which is good to one may be evil to another what is desirable by one may be refus'd as inconvenient for another But God being an universal unstain'd good is useful for all convenient to the natures of all but such as will continue in enmity against him There is nothing in God can displease a Soul that desires to please him when we are darkness he is a light to scatter it when we are in want he hath riches to relieve us when we are in a Spiritual death he is a Prince of life to deliver us when we are defil'd he is Holiness to purifie us 'T is in vain to fix our hearts any where but on him in the desire of whom there is a delight and in the enjoyment of whom there is an unconceivable pleasure 3. He is to be most sought after since all things else that are desirable had their goodness from him If any thing be desirable because of its goodness God is much more desirable because of his since all things are good by a participation and nothing good but by his print upon it As what Being Creatures have was deriv'd to them by God so what goodness they are possessed with they were furnisht with it by God All goodness flow'd from him and all Created goodness is summed up in him The Streams should not terminate our appetite without aspiring to the Fountain If the Waters in the Chanel which receive mixture communicate a pleasure the taste of the Fountain must be much more delicious That Original Perfection of all things hath an unconceivable beauty above those things it hath fram'd Since those things live not by their own strength nor nourish us by their own liberality but by the Word of God * Matth. 4.4 that God that speaks them into life and speaks them into usefulness should be most ardently desir'd as the best If the sparkling glory of the visible Heavens delight us and the beauty and bounty of the Earth please and refresh us what should be the language of our Souls upon those views and tasts but that of the Psalmist Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I can desire beside thee * Psal 73.25 No greater good can possibly be desir'd and no less good should be ardently desir'd As he is the supream Good so we should bear that regard to him as supreamly and above all to thirst for him As he is good he is the Object of desire as the choicest and first goodness he is desirable with the greatest vehemency Give me Children or else I die was an uncomely speech * Gen. 30.1 the one was granted and the other inflicted she had Children but the last cost her her life But give me God or I will not be content is a gracious speech wherein we cannot miscarry All that God demands of us is that we should long for him and look for our happiness only in him That is the first thing endeavour after the enjoyment of God as good 2. Often meditate on the goodness of God What was Man produc'd for but to settle his thoughts upon this What should have been Adam's employment in Innocence but to read over all the lines of Nature and fix his Contemplations on that good hand that drew them What is Man endued with reason for above all other Animals but to take notice of this goodness spread over all the Creatures which they themselves though they felt it could not have such a sense of as to make answerable returns to their Benefactor Can we satisfie our selves in being Spectators of it and Enjoyers of it only in such a manner as the Brutes are The Beasts behold things as well as we they feel the warm beams of this Goodness as well as we but without any reflection upon the Author of them Shall Divine Blessings meet with no more from us but a brutish view and beholding of them What is more just than to spend a thought upon him who hath inlarg'd his hand in so many Benefits to us Are we indebted to any more than we are to him Why should we send our Souls to visit any thing more than him in his Works That we are able to meditate on him is a part of his goodness to us who hath bestow'd that capacity upon us and if we will not 't is a great part of our ingratitude Can any thing more delightful enter into us than that of the kind and gracious disposition of that God who first brought us out of the Abyss of an unhappy nothing and hath
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
best that saith the Psalmist speaks only according to the opinion of the vulgar and his design was not to write a Natural History Growth always accompanies Grace as well as it doth Nature in the Body not that it is without its qualms languishing fits as Children are not but still their distempers make them grow Grace is not an idle but an active principle 'T is not like the Psalmist means it of the strength of the Body or the prosperity and stability of his Government but the vigor of his Grace and Comfort since they are spiritual blessings here that are the matter of his song The healing the Disease conduceth to the sprouting up and flourishing of the Body 'T is the Nature of Grace to go from strength to strength 7. When sin is pardoned 't is perfectly pardon'd Verse 11 12. As far as the East is from the West so far hath he removed our transgressions from us The East and West are the greatest distance in the World the terms can never meet together When sin is pardoned it is never charged again the guilt of it can no more return than East can become West or West become East 8. Obedience is necessary to an interest in the mercy of God Verse 17. The mercy of the Lord is to them that fear him to them that remember his Commandments to do them Commands are to be remembered in order to practice a vain speculation is not the intent of the publication of them After the Psalmist had enumerated the benefits of God he reflects upon the greatness of God and considers him on his Throne encompast with the Angels the Ministers of his Providence Verse 19. The Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens and his Kingdom Rules over all He brings in this of his Dominion just after he had largely treated of his mercy Either 1. To signifie That God is not only to be praised for his mercy but for his Majesty both for the heighth and extent of his Authority 2. To extoll the greatness of his mercy and 〈◊〉 What I have said now Oh my Soul of the mercy of God and his paternal pity is commended by his Majesty his Grandeur hinders not his Clemency Though his Throne be High his Bowels are Tender He looks down upon his meanest Servants from the height of his Glory Since his Majesty is Infinite his Mercy must be as great as his Majesty It must be a greater pity lodging in his Breast than what is in any Creature since it is not dampt by the greatness of his Soveraignty 3. To render his Mercy more Comfortable The Mercy I have spoken of Oh my Soul is not the Mercy of a Subject but of a Soveraign An Executioner may torture a criminal and strip him of his Life and a vulgar pity cannot releive him but the Clemency of the Prince can perfectly pardon him 'T is that God who hath none above him to controul him none below him to resist him that hath performed all the acts of Grace to thee If God by his supream Authority pardons us who can reverse it If all the Subjects of God in the World should pardon us and God withhold his grant what will it profit us Take comfort Oh my Soul since God from his Throne in the highest and that God who rules over every particular of the Creation hath granted and sealed thy pardon to thee What would his Grace signifie if he were not a Monarch extending his Royal Empire over every thing and swaying all by his Scepter 4ly To render the Psalmists confidence more firm in any pressures Verse 15 16. He had considered the misery of man in the shortness of his Life his place should know him no more he should never return to his Authority Employments Opportunities that death would take from him but howsoever the Mercy and Majesty of God were the ground of his confidence He draws himself from poring upon any Calamities which may assault him to heaven the place where God orders all things that are done on the Earth He is able to protect us from our dangers and to deliver us from our distresses whatsoever miseries thou mayst lie under Oh my Soul cast thy Eye up to Heaven and see a pitying God in a Majestick Authority A God who can perform what he hath promised to them that fear him since he hath a Throne above the Heavens and bears sway over all that envy thy happiness and would stain thy felicity A God whose Authority cannot be curtailed and dismembered by any When the Prophet sollicites the sounding of the Divine Bowels he urgeth him by his dwelling in Heaven the habitation of his Holiness Isaiah 63.15 His Kingdom ruleth over all There is none therefore hath any Authority to make him break his Covenant or violate his promise 5. As an incentive to Obedience The Lord is merciful saith he to them that Remember his Commandments to do them verse 17 18. And then brings in the Text as an encouragement to observe his ' Precepts he hath a Majesty that deserves it from us and an Authority to protect us in it if a King in a small spot of Earth is to be Obeyed by his Subjects how much more is God who is more Majestick than all the Angels in Heaven and Monarchs on Earth who hath a majesty to exact our Obedience and a Mercy to allure it We should not set upon the performance of any Duty without an Eye lifted up to God as a great King It would make us willing to serve him the more Noble the Person the more Honourable and Powerful the Prince the more glorious is his Service A view of God upon his Throne will makes us think his Service our Priviledge his Precepts our Ornaments and Obedience to him the greatest Honour and Nobility It will make us weighty and serious in our performances It would stake us down to any duty The reason we are so loose and unmannerly in the carriage of our Souls before God is because we consider him not as a great King Malachy 1.14 Our Father which art in Heaven in regard of his Majesty is the Preface to Prayer Let us now consider the words in themselves The Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens and his Kingdom rules over all The Lord hath prepared The word signifies Establisht as well as prepared and might so be rendered Due preparation is a natural way to the Establishment of a thing Hasty resolveâ—â—eak and moulder This notes 1. The infiniteness of his Authority He prepares it none else for him 'T is a Dominion that originally resides in his Nature not deriv'd from any by birth or commission he alone prepar'd it He is the sole cause of his own Kingdom his Authority therefore is unbounded as infinite as his Nature None can set Laws to him because none but himself prepared his Throne for him As he will not impair his own Happiness so he will not abridge himself of his own Authority
2. Readiness to exercise it upon due occasions He hath prepared his Throne he is not at a loss he needs not stay for a Commission or Instructions from any how to act He hath all things ready for the assistance of his People he hath Rewards and Punishments his Treasures and Axes the great marks of Authority lying by him the one for the good the other for the wicked His Mercy he keeps by him for Thousands Exod. 34.7 His Arrows he hath prepared by him for Rebels Psal 7.13 3. Wise management of it 'T is prepared preparations imply prudence the Government of God is not a rash and heady Authority A Prince upon his Throne a Judge upon the Bench manages things with the greatest discretion or should be supposed so to do 4. Successfulness and duration of it He hath prepared or Established 'T is fixed not tottering 't is an immoveable Dominion all the strugglings of Men and Devils cannot overturn it nor so much as shake it 'T is Established above the reach of obstinate Rebels he cannot be deposed from it he cannot be mated in it His Dominion as himself abides for ever And as his Counsel so his Authority shall stand and he will do all his pleasure Isaiah 46.10 His Throne in the Heavens This is an expression to signifie the Authority of God for as God hath no member properly though he be so represented to us so he hath properly no Throne It signifies his power of Reigning and Judging A Throne is proper to Royalty the Seat of Majesty in its excellency and the place where the deepest respect and homage of Subjects is paid and their Petitions presented That the Throne of God is in the Heavens that there he sits as a Soveraign is the opinion of all that acknowledge a God when they stand in need of his Authority to assist them their eyes are lifted up and their heads stretched out to Heaven so his Son Christ prayed he lifted up his Eyes to Heaven as the place where his Father sat in Majesty as the most adorable object John 17.1 Heaven hath the Title of his Throne as the Earth hath that of his Footstool Isaiah 66.1 And therefore Heaven is sometimes put for the Authority of God Dan. 4.26 After that thou shalt have known that the Heavens do rule i. e. That God who hath his Throne in the Heavens orders earthly Princes and Scepters as he pleases and rules over the Kingdoms of the World His Throne in the Heavens Notes 1. The Glory of his Dominion The Heavens are the most stately and comely peices of the Creation His Majesty is there most visible his glory most splendid Psal 19.1 The Heavens speak out with a full mouth his Glory 'T is therefore called the Habitation of his Holiness and of his Glory Isaiah 63.15 There is the greater glister and brightness of his Glory The whole Earth indeed is full of his Glory full of the beams of it the Heaven is full of the body of it as the rayes of the Sun reach the Earth but the full Glory of it is in the Firmament In Heaven his Dominion is more acknowledged by the Angels standing at his beck and by their readiness and swiftness obeying his Commands going and returning as a flash of lightning Ezek. 1.14 His Throne may well be said to be in the Heavens since his Dominion is not disputed there by the Angels that attend him as it is on Earth by the Rebels that arm themselves against him 2. The Supremacy of his Empire The Heavens are the loftiest part of the Creation and the only fit Palace for him 't is in the Heavens his Majesty and Dignity are so sublime that they are elevated above all Earthly Empires 3. Peculiarly of this Dominion He rules in the Heavens alone There is some shadow of Empire in the World Royalty is communicated to men as his Substitutes He hath disposed a vicarious Dominion to men in his footstool the Earth he gives them some share in his Authority and therefore the Title of his Name Psal 82.6 I have said ye are Gods but in Heaven he reigns alone without any Substitutes his Throne is there He gives out his orders to the Angels himself the marks of his Immediate soveraignty are there most visible He hath no Vicars General of that Empire His Authority is not delegated to any Creature he rules the blessed Spirits by himself but he rules Men that are on his Footstool by others of the same kind men of their own nature 4. The vastness of his Empire The Earth is but a spot to the Heavens What is England in a Mapp to the whole Earth but a spot you may cover with your Finger Much less must the whole Earth be to the extended Heavens 'T is but a little point or Atome to what is visible the Sun is vastly bigger than it and several Stars are supposed to be of a greater bulk than the Earth and how many and what Heavens are beyond the ignorance of man cannot understand If the Throne of God be there 't is a larger Circuit he rules in than can well be conceived You cannot conceive the many millions of little particles there are in the Earth and if all put together be but as one point to that place where the Throne of God is seated how vast must his Empire be He rules there over the Angels which excell in strength those Hosts of his which do his pleasure in comparison of whom all the Men in the World and the power of the greatest Potentates is no more than the strength of an Ant or Fly multitudes of them encircle his Throne and listen to his orders without roving and execute them without disputing And since his Throne is in the Heavens it will follow that all things under the Heaven are parts of his Dominion his Throne being in the highest place the inferior things of Earth cannot but be subject to him and it necessarily includes his influence on all things below because the Heavens are the cause of all the motion in the World the immediate thing the Earth doth naturally address to for Corn Wine and Oyl above which there is no superior but the Lord. Hosea 2.21 22. The Earth hears the Corn Wine and Oyl the Heavens hear the Earth and the Lord hears the Heavens 5. The easiness of managing this Government His Throne being placed on high he cannot but behold all things that are done below the height of a place gives advantage to a pure and clear Eye to behold things below it Had the Sun an Eye nothing could be done in the open Air out of its ken The Throne of God being in Heaven he easily looks from thence upon all the Children of Men. Psal 14.2 The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the Children of Men to see if there were any that did understand He looks not down from Heaven as if he were in regard of his presence confined there but he looks down
his moral Power whereby it is lawful for him to do what he will Among men Strength and Authority are two distinct things A Subject may be a Giant and be stronger than his Prince but he hath not the same Authority as his Prince Worldly Dominion may be seated not in a brawny Arm but a sickly and infirm Body As knowledge and wisdom are distinguisht knowledge respects the matter being and nature of a thing Wisdom respects the harmony order and actual usefulness of a thing Knowledge searcheth the nature of a thing and Wisdom employs that thing to its proper use A man may have much Knowledge and little Wisdom so a man may have much Strength and little or no Authority A greater strength may be setled in the Servant but a greater Authority resides in the Master strength is the natural vigor of a Man God hath an infinite strength he hath a strength to bring to pass whatsoever he decrees he acts without fainting and weakness Isaiah 40.28 and impairs not his strength by the exercise of it As God is Lord he hath a right to Enact as he is Almighty he hath a power to Execute His strength is the executive power belonging to his Dominion In regard of his Soveraignty he hath a right to Command all Creatures In regard of his Almightiness he hath power to make his Commands be obey'd or to punish men for the violation of them His power is that whereby he subdues all Creatures under him his Dominion is that whereby he hath a right to subdue all Creatures under him This Dominion is a right of making what he pleases of possessing what he made of disposing of what he doth possess whereas his power is an ability to make what he hath a right to Create to hold what he doth possess and to execute the manner wherein he resolves to dispose of his Creatures 2. All the other Attributes of God referre to this perfection of Dominion They all bespeak him fit for it and are discovered in the exercise of it which hath been manifested in the discourses of those Attributes we have passed through hitherto His Goodness fits him for it because he can never use his Authority but for the good of the Creatures and conducting them to their true end His Wisdom can never be mistaken in the exercise of it his power can accomplish the Decrees that flow from his absolute Authority What can be more rightful than the placing Authority in such an infinite Goodness that hath Bowels to pity as well as a Scepter to sway his Subjects That hath a mind to contrive and a will to regulate his contrivances for his own Glory and his Creatures good and an arm of power to bring to pass what he Orders Without this Dominion some perfections as Justice and Mercy would lie in obscurity and much of his Wisdom would be shrouded from our sight and knowledge 3. This of Dominion as well as that of Power hath been acknowledged by all The High Priest was to wave the Offering or shake it to and fro Exod. 29.24 which the Jews say was customarily from East to West and from North to South the four quarters of the World to signifie Gods Soveraignty over all the parts of the World And some of the Heathens in their Adorations turned their Bodies to all quarters to signifie the extensive Dominion of God throughout the whole Earth That Dominion did of right pertain to the Deity was confest by the Heathen in the name Baal given to their Idols which signifies Lord and was not a name of one Idol adored for a God but common to all the Eastern Idols God hath interwoven the notion of his Soveraignty in the Nature and Constitution of Man in the noblest and most inward acts of his Soul in that faculty or act which is most necessary for him in his converse in this World either with God or Man 'T is stampt upon the Conscience of Man and flashes in his face in every act of self Judgment Conscience passes upon a Man Every reflection of Conscience implies an obligation of man to some Law written in his Heart Rom. 2.15 This Law cannot be without a Legislator nor this Legislator without a Soveraign Dominion these are but natural and easie consequences in the mind of Man from every act of Conscience The indelible Authority of Conscience in Man in the whole exercise of it bears a respect to the Soveraignty of God clearly proclaims not only a supream being but a supream Governor and points man directly to it that a man may as soon deny his having such a reflecting principle within him as deny Gods Dominion over him and consequently over the whole World of rational Creatures 4. This notion of Soveraingty is inseparable from the notion of a God To acknowledge the Existence of a God and to acknowledge him a Rewarder are linkt together Heb. 11.6 To acknowledge him a Rewarder is to acknowledge him a Governor Rewards being the marks of Dominion The very name of a God includes in it a supremacy and an actual rule He cannot be conceived as God but he must be conceived as the highest Authority in the World 'T is as possible for him not to be God as not to be supream Wherein can the exercise of his excellencies be apparent but in his Soveraign rule To fancy an infinite power without a supream Dominion is to fancy a mighty senseless Statue fit to be beheld but not fit to be obey'd as not being able or having no right to give out Orders or not caring for the exercise of it God cannot be supposed to be the cheif being but he must be supposed to give Laws to all and receive Laws from none And if we suppose him with a perfection of Justice and Righteousness which we must do unless we would make a lame and imperfect God we must suppose him to have an intire Dominion without which he could never be able to manifest his Justice And without a supream Dominion he could not manifest the supremacy and infiniteness of his Righteousness 1. We cannot suppose God a Creator without supposing a Soveraign Dominion in him No Creature can be made without some Law in its Nature if it had not Law it would be Created to no purpose to no regular end it would be utterly unbecoming an infinite Wisdom to create a lawless Creature a Creature wholly vain much less can a rational Creature be made without a Law if it had no Law it were not rational For the very notion of a rational Creature implies reason to be a Law to it and implies an acting by rule * Maccov Colleg. Theolog 10. Disput 18. p. 6 7. or thereabout If you could suppose rational Creatures without a Law you might suppose that they might blaspheme their Creator and Murder their fellow Creatures and commit the most abominable villanies destructive to humane Society without sin for where there is no Law there is no
Why did he give Grace to Abel and not to Cain since they both lay in the same womb and equally deriv'd from their Parents a taint in their Nature But that he would show a standing example of his Soveraignty to the future ages of the World in the first posterity of man Why did he give Grace to Abraham and separate him from his Idolatrous Kindred to dignifie him to be the root of the Messiah Why did he confine his promise to Isaac and not extend it to Ishmael the Seed of the same Abraham by Hagar or to the Children he had by Keturah after Sarahs death What reason can be alledged for this but his Soveraign Will Why did he not give the fallen Angels a moment of Repentance after their sin but condemned them to irrevocable pains Is it not as free for him to give Grace to whom he please as Create what Worlds he please to form this corrupted clay into his own Image as to take such a parcel of dust from all the rest of the Creation whereof to compact Adam's body Hath he not as much jurisdiction over the sinful mass of his Creatures in a new Creation as he had over the Chaos in the old And what reason can be rendered of his advancing this part of matter to the nobler dignity of a Star and leaving that other part to make up the dark body of the Earth To compact one part into a glorious Sun and another part into a hard Rock but his Royal Prerogative What is the reason a Prince subjects one Malefactor to punishment and lifts up another to a place of truth and profit That Pharoah honoured the Butler with an attendance on his Person and remitted the Baker to the hands of the Executioner It was his pleasure And is not as great a right due to God as is allow'd to the worms of the Earth What is the reason he hardens a Pharoah by a denying him that Grace which should mollifie him and allows it to another 'T is because he will Rom. 9.18 Whom he will he hardens Hath not man the liberty to pull up the sluce and let the water run into what part of the ground he pleases What is the reason some have not a heart to understand the beauty of his ways Because the Lord doth not give it them Deut. 29.4 Why doth he not give all his converts an equal measure of his sanctifying Grace some have Mites and some have Treasures Why doth he give his Grace to some sooner to some later some are inspir'd in their infancy others not till a full age and after some not till they have fallen into some gross sin as Paul some betimes that they may do him service others later as the Thief upon the Cross and presently snatcheth them out of the World Some are weaker some stronger in nature some more beautiful and lovely others more uncomely and sluggish 'T is so in supernaturals What reason is there for this but his own will This is instead of all that can be assigned on the part of God He is the free disposer of his own Goods and as a Father may give a greater portion to one Child than to another And what reason of complaint is there against God may not a Toad complain that God did not make it a man and give it a portion of reason Or a Fly complain that God did not make it an Angel and give it a Garment of Light had they but any spark of understanding as well as man complain that God did not give him Grace as well as another Unless he sincerely desir'd it and then was denyed it he might complain of God though not as Soveraign yet as a promiser of Grace to them that ask it God doth not render his Soveraignty formidable he shuts not up his Throne of Grace from any that seek him he invites man his Arms are open and the Scepter stretched out and no man continues under the arrest of his Lusts but he that is unwilling to be otherwise and such a one hath no reason to complain of God 3. His Soveraignty is manifest in disposing the means of Grace to some not to all He hath caus'd the Sun to shine bright in one place while he hath left others benighted and deluded by the Devils Oracles Why do the Evangelical dews fall in this or that place and not in another Why was the Gospel publisht in Rome so soon and not in Tartary Why hath it been extinguisht in some places as soon almost as it had been kindled in them Why hath one place been honoured with the beams of it in one age and been covered with darkness the next One Country hath been made a sphear for this Star that directs to Christ to move in and afterwards it hath been taken away and placed in another Sometimes more clearly it hath shone sometimes more darkly in the same place what is the reason of this 'T is true something of it may be referred to the Justice of God but much more to the Soveraignty of God That the Gospel is publisht latter and not sooner the Apostle tell us is according to the Commandement of the Everlasting God Rom. 16.26 1. The means of Grace after the Families from Adam became distinct were never granted to all the World After that fatal breach in Adam's Family by the death of Abel and Cain's separation we read not of the means of Grace continued among Cain's Posterity it seems to be continued in Adam's sole Family and not publisht in Societies till the time of Seth. Gen. 4.26 Then began men to call upon the Name of the Lord. It was continued in that Family till the Deluge which was 1523 years after the Creation according to some or 1656 years according to others After that when the World degenerated it was communicated to Abraham and setled in the posterity that descended from Jacob Though he left not the World without a witness of himself and some sprinklings of revelations in other parts as appears by the book of Job and the discourses of his Friends 2. The Jews had this priviledge granted them above other Nations to have a clearer Revelation of God God separated them from all the World to honour them with the depositum of his Oracles Rom. 3.2 To them were committed the Oracles of God In which regard all other Nations are said to be without God as being destitute of so great a priviledge Eph. 2.12 The Spirit blew in Canaan when the Lands about it felt not the saving breath of it He hath not dealt so with any Nation and as for his Judgments they have not known them Psal 147.20 The rest had no warnings from the Prophets no dictates from Heaven but what they had by the light of Nature the view of the works of Creation and the Administration of Providence and what remain'd among them of some ancient Traditions deriv'd from Noah which in tract of time were much defaced We read but
subject to God not in regard of the Divine Nature wherein there is an equality and consequently no Dominion of jurisdiction nor only in his humane nature but in the Oeconomy of a Redeemer considered as one design'd and consenting to be incarnate and take our flesh so that after this agreement God had a soveraign right to dispose of him according to the Articles consented to In regard of his undertaking and the advantage he was to bring to the Elect of God upon the Earth he calls God by the solemn Title of his Lord in that prophetick Psalm of him Psal 16.2 Oh my Soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord my Goodness extends not unto thee but unto the Saints that are in the Earth It seems to be the speech of Christ in Heaven mentioning the Saints on Earth as at a distance from him I can add nothing to the glory of thy Majesty but the whole fruit of my Mediation and Sufferings will redound to the Saints on Earth and it may be observed that God is call'd the Lord of Hosts in the Evangelical Prophets Isaiah Haggai Zachary and Malachy more in reference to this affair of Redemption and the deliverance of the Church than for any other works of his Providence in the World 1. This Soveraignty of God appears in requiring satisfaction for the sin of man Had he indulg'd man after his fall and remitted his offence without a just compensation for the injury he had received by his Rebellion his Authority had been vilified man would always have been attempting against his jurisdiction there would have been a continual succession of Rebellions on mans part and if a continual succession of indulgences on Gods part he had quite disown'd his Authority over man and stript himself of the flower of his Crown satisfaction must have been requir'd sometime or other from the person thus rebelling or some other in his stead and to require it after the first act of sin was more preservative to the right of the Divine soveraignty than to do it after a multitude of repeated revolts God must have laid aside his Authority if he had laid aside wholly the exacting punishment for the offence of man 2. This Soveraignty of God appears in appointing Christ to this work of Redemption His soveraignty was before manifest over Angels and Men by the right of Creation there was nothing wanting to declare the highest charge of it but his ordering his own Son to become a mortal Creature the Lord of all things to become lower than those Angels that had as well as all other things receiv'd their being and beauty from him and to be reckon'd in his death among the dust and refuse of the World He by whom God created all things not only became a man but a crucified man by the Will of his Father Gal. 1.4 Who gave himself for our sins according to the Will of God to which may referre that expression Prov. 8.22 of his being possessed by God in the beginning of his way Possession is the Dominion of a thing invested in the possessor he was possessed indeed as a Son by eternal Generation He was possessed also in the beginning of his way or works of Creation as a Mediator by special constitution to this the expression seems to referre if you read on to the end of verse 31. wherein Christ speaks of his rejoycing in the habitable part of his Earth the Earth of the great God who had design'd him to this special work of Redemption He was a Son by Nature but a Mediator by Divine Will in regard of which Christ is often call'd Gods servant which is a relation to God as a Lord. God being the Lord of all things the Dominion of all things inferior to him is inseparable from him and in this regard the whole of what Christ was to do and did actually do was acted by him as the Will of God and is exprest so by himself in the Prophesie Psal 40.7 Lo I come verse 8. I delight to do thy will which are put together Heb. 10.7 Lo I come to do thy Will O God The designing Christ to this work was an act of mercy but founded on his soveraignty His compassionate bowels might have pitied us without his being soveraign but without it could not have releived us It was the Counsell of his own will as well as of his Bowels None was his Counsellor or perswader to that mercy he shew'd Rom. 11.34 Who hath been his Counsellor for it refers to that Mercy in sending the deliverer out of Sion verse 26. as well as to other things the Apostle had been discoursing of As God was at liberty to create or not to create so he was at liberty to Redeem or not to Redeem and at his liberty whither to appoint Christ to this work or not to call him out to it In giving this order to his Son his soveraignty was exercised in a higher manner than in all the orders and instructions he hath given out to Men or Angels and all the employments he ever sent them upon Christ hath names which signifie an Authority over him He is called an Angel and a Messenger Mal. 3.1 An Apostle Heb. 3.1 Declaring thereby that God hath as much Authority over him as over the Angels sent upon his Messages or over the Apostles commission'd by His Authority as he was consider'd in the quality of Mediator 3. This Soveraignty of God appears in transferring our sins upon Christ The Supream Power in a Nation can only appoint or allow of a commutation of punishment 'T is a part of Soveraignty to transferr the penalty due to the crime of one upon an other and substitute a sufferer with the sufferers own consent in the place of a criminal whom he had a mind to deliver from a deserv'd punishment God transferr'd the sins of men upon Christ and inflicted on him a punishment for them He summ'd up the debts of man charg'd them upon the score of Christ imputing to him the guilt and inflicting upon him the penalty Isa 53.6 The Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all He made them all to meet upon his back He hath made him to be sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made so by the Soveraign pleasure of God A punishment for sin as most understand it which could not be Righteously inflicted had not sin been first Righteously imputed by the consent of Christ and the order of the Judge of the World This imputation could be the immediate act of none but God because he was the sole Creditor A Creditor is not bound to accept of another's suretiship but it is at his liberty whither he will or no and when he doth accept of him he may challenge the Debt of him as if he were the Principal Debtor himself Christ made himself sin for us by a voluntary submission and God made him sin for us by a full imputation and treated him penally
Corruptions will certainly be subdued in his voluntary subjects The Covenant I will be your God implyes protection government and relief which are all grounded upon Soveraignty That therefore which is our greatest burden will be remov'd by his Soveraign power Micah 7.19 He will subdue our iniquities If the outward enemies of the Church shall not bear up against his Dominion and perpetuate their rebellions unpunisht those within his people shall as little bear up against his Throne without being destroy'd by him The billows of our own hearts and the raging waves within us are as much at his beck as those without us And his Soveraignty is more eminent in quelling the corruptions of the heart than the commotions of the World in reigning over mens Spirits by changing them or curbing them more than over mens bodies by pinching and punishing them The remainders of Satans Empire will moulder away before him since he that is in us is a greater Soveraign than he that is in the World 1 Joh. 4.4 His enemies will be laid at his feet and so neveâ— shall prevail against him when his Kingdom shall come He could not be Lord of any man as a happy creature if he did not by his power make them happy and he could not make them happy unless by his Grace he made them holy He could not be praised as a Lord of Glory if he did not make some creatures glorious to praise him And an Earthly Creature could not praise him perfectly unless he had every grain of enmity to his Glory taken out of his heart Since God is the only Soveraign he only can still the commotions in our spirits and pull down all the Ensigns of the Devil's royalty he can wast him by the powerful word of his lips 4. Hence is a strong encouragement for Prayer My King was the strong compellation David us'd in Prayer as an argument of comfort and confidence as well as that of My God Psal 5 2. Hearken to the voice of my cry my King and my God To be a King is to have an Office of Government and Protection He gives us liberty to approach to him as the Judge of all Heb. 12.23 i. e. As the Governour of the World we pray to one that hath the whole Globe of Heaven and Earth in his hand and can do whatsoever he will Though he be higher than the Cherubims and transcendently above all in Majesty yet we may soar up to him with the wings of our Soul Faith and Love and lay open our cause and find him as gracious as if he were the meanest subject on Earth rather than the most soveraign God in Heaven He hath as much of tenderness as he hath of Authority and is pleased with Prayer which is an acknowledgment of his Dominion an honouring of that which he delights to honour For Prayer in the notion of it imports thus much that God is the Rector of the World that he takes notice of humane affairs that he is a careful just wise Governour a store-house of blessing a fountain of goodness to the indigent and a releif to the oppressed What have we reason to fear when the soveraign of the World gives us liberty to approach to him and lay open our case That God who is King of the whole Earth not only of a few Villages or Cities in the Earth but the whole Earth and not only King of this dreggy place of our dross but of Heaven having prepar'd or established his Throne in the most glorious place of the Creation 5. Here is comfort in afflictions As a soveraign he is the Author of Afflictions as a soveraign he can be the remover of them he can command the waters of affliction to go so far and no farther If he speaks the Word a disease shall depart as soon as a servant shall from your presence with a Nod. If we are banisht from one place he can command a shelter for us in another If he orders Moab a Nation that had no great kindness for his people to let his outcasts dwell with them they shall entertain them and afford them sanctuary Isaiah 16.4 Again God chastneth as a soveraign but teacheth as a Father Psal 99.12 The exercise of his Authority is not without an exercise of his goodness He doth not correct for his own pleasure or the Creature 's torment but for the Creature 's instruction though the rod be in the hand of a soveraign yet it is tinctur'd with the kindness of divine bowels He can order them as a soveraign to mortifie our flesh and try our Faith In the severest tempest the Lord that rais'd the Wind against us which shatter'd the ship and tore its rigging can change that contrary wind for a more happy one to drive us into the Port. 6. 'T is a comfort against the projects of the Churches adversaries in times of publick commotions The consideration of the Divine soveraignty may arm us against the threatnings of mighty ones and the menaces of persecutors God hath Authority above the Crowns of men and a Wisdom superior to the cabals of men None can move a step without him he hath a negative voice upon their Counsels a negative hand upon their motions their politick resolves must stop at the point he hath prescrib'd them Their formidable strength cannot exceed the limits he hath set them their overreaching wisdom expires at the breath of God There is no Wisdom nor Vnderstanding nor Counsel against the Lord. Prov. 21.30 Not a bullet can be discharg'd nor a Sword drawn a wall battered nor a person dispatcht out of the world without the leave of God by the mightiest in the World The instruments of Satan are no more free from his soveraign restraint than their inspirer they cannot pull the hook out of their nostrils nor cast the bridle out of their mouths This soveraign can shake the Earth rend the Heavens overthrow Mountains the most Mountainous opposers of his interest Though the Nations rush in against his people like the rushing of many waters God shall rebuke them they shall be chased as the chaff of the Mountains before the Wind and like a rolling thing before the Whirlwind Isaiah 17.13 So doth he often burst in pieces the most mischievous designs and conducts the oppressed to a happy port He often turns the severest tempests into a calm as well as the most peaceful calm into a horrible storm How often hath a well-rigg'd ship that seemed to spâ—rn the Sea under her feet and beat the waves before her to a foam been swallowed up into the bowels of that Element over whose back she rode a little before God never comes to deliver his Church as a Governour but in a wrathful posture Ezek. 20.23 Surely saith the Lord with a mighty hand and with an out stretched arm and with fury pour'd out will I rule over you not with fury poured out upon the Church but fury pour'd out upon her Enemies as the words
any affliction from God 't is a contempt of his Soveraignty as to contemn the frown displeasure and check of a Prince is an affront to Majesty 'T is as if they did not care a straw what God did with them but dare him to do his worst There is a despising the chastning of the Almighty Job 5.17 To be unhumbled under his hand is as much or more affront to him than to be impatient under it Afflictions must be entertained as a check from Heaven as a frown from the great Monarch of the World Under the feeling of every stroke we are to acknowledge his Soveraignty and Bounty to despise it is to make light of his Authority over us As to despise his favours is to make light of his kindness to us A sense of God's Dominion would make us observe every check from him and not diminish his Authority by casting off a due sense of his correction 6. This Dominion of God would make us resign up our selves to God in every thing He that considers himself a thing made by God a vassal under his Authority would not expostulate with him and call him to an account why he hath dealt so or so with him It would stab the vitals of all pleas against him We should not then contest with him but humbly lay our cause at his feet and say with Eli 1 Sam. 3.18 'T is the Lord let him do what seems good We should not commence a suit against God when he doth not answer our Prayers presently and send the mercy we want upon the wings of the wind He is the Lord the Soveraign The consideration of this would put an end to our quarrels with God Should I expect that the Monarch of the World should wait upon me or I a poor worm wait upon him Must I take State upon me before the Throne of Heaven and expect the King of Kings should lay by his Scepter to gratifie my humour Surely Jonah thought God no more than his fellow or his vassal at that time when he told him to his face he did well to be angry as though God might not do what he pleased with so small a thing as a Gourd He speaks as if he would have sealed a lease of ejectment to exclude him from any propriety in any thing in the World 7. This Dominion of God would stop our vain curiosity When Peter was desirous to know the fate of John the Beloved Disciple Christ answereth no more than this Joh. 21.22 If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee follow thou me Consider your duty and lay aside your curiosity since it is my pleasure not to reveal it The sense of God's absolute Dominion would silence many vain disputes in the World What if God will not reveal this or that the manner and method of his resolves should humble the Creature under intruding enquiries V. USE of Exhortation 1. The Doctrine of the Dominion of God may teach us Humility We are never truly abas'd but by the consideration of the eminence and excellency of the Deity Job never thought himself so pitiful a thing so despicable a creature as after God's magnificent declamation upon the Theme of his own Soveraignty Job 42.5 6. When God's name is regarded as the most excellent and Soveraign name in all the earth then is the Soul in the fittest temper to lie low and cry out what is man that so great a Majesty should be mindful of him When Abraham considers God as the Supream Judge of all the earth he then ownes himself but dust and ashes Gen. 18.25 27. Indeed how can vile and dusty man vaunt before God when the Angels far more excellent creatures cannot stand before him but with a Vail on their faces How little a thing is man in regard of all the earth How mean a thing is the earth in regard of the vaster Heavens How poor a thing is the whole World in comparison of God How pitiful a thing is man if compar'd with so excellent a Majesty There is as great a distance between God and man as between being and not being and the more man considers the Divine Royalty the more dis-esteem he will have of himself it would make him stoop and disrobe himself and fall low before the Throne of the King of Kings throwing down before his Throne any Crown he gloryed in Rev. 4.10 1. In regard of Authority How unreasonable is pride in the presence of Majesty How foolish is it for a Country Justice of Peace to think himself as great as his Prince that Commission'd him How unreasonable is pride in the presence of the greatest Soveraignty What is humane greatness before Divine The Stars discover no light when the Sun appears but in a humble posture withdraw in their lesser Beams to give the sole Glory of enlightning the World to the Sun who is as it were the Soveraign of those Stars and imparts a light unto them The greatest Prince is infinitely less if compar'd with God than the meanest scullion in his kitchin can be before him As the Wisdom Goodness and Holiness of man is a meer mote compared to the Goodness and Holiness of God so is the Authority of man a meer trifle in regard of the soveraignty of God And who but a simple Child would be proud of a mote or trifle Let man be as great as he can and command others he is still a subject to one greater than himself Pride would then vanish like smoak at the serious consideration of this soveraignty One of the Kings of this Country did very handsomly shame the flattery of his Courtiers that cried him up as Lord of Sea and Land by ordering his chair to be set on the Sand of the Sea shoar when the Tide was coming in and commanding the waters not to touch his feet which when they did without any regard to his Authority he took occasion thereby to put his flatterers out of countenance and instruct himself in a lesson of humility See saith he how I rule all things when so mean a thing as the water will not obey me 'T is a ridiculous pride that the Turk and Persian discover in their swelling Titles What poor soveraigns are they that cannot command a Cloud give out an effectual order for a drop of Rain in a time of drought or cause the bottles of Heaven to turn their mouth another way in a time of too much moisture Yet their own Prerogatives are so much in their minds that they justle out all thoughts of the supream Prerogative of God and give thereby occasion to frequent Rebellions against him 2. In regard of Propriety And this doctrine is no less an abatement of pride in the highest as well as in the meanest it lowers pride in point of Propriety as well as in point of Authority * Raynard de Deo p. 766. Is any proud of his possessions how many Lords of those possessions have gone before
and from every Creature to the great Landlord since all are Tenants and hold by him at his Will Every Creature in Heaven and Earth under the Earth and in the Sea were heard by John to ascribe blessing honour glory and power to him that sits on the Throne Rev. 5.13 We are as much bound to the soveraignty of God for his preâ—â—rvation of us as for his Creation of us We are no less oblig'd to him that preservs our beings when exposed to dangers than we are for bestowing a being upon us when we were not capable of danger Thankfulness is due to this Soveraign for publick concerns Hath he not preserved the Ship of his Church in the midst of whistling winds and roaring waves in the midst of the combats of men and Devils and rescued it often when it hath been near ship-wrackt 3. How should we be induc'd from hence to promote the honour of this Soveraign We should advance him as supream and all our actions should concur in his honour We should return to his Glory what we have receiv'd from his Soveraignty and enjoy by his mercy He that is the superior of all ought to be the end of all This is the harmony of the Creation that which is of an inferiour nature is order'd to the service of that which is of a more excellent nature thus water and earth that have a lower being are employ'd for the honour and beauty of the plants of the earth who are more excellent in having a principle of a growing life These plants are again subservient to the beasts and birds which exceed them in a principle of sense which the others want Those beasts and birds are order'd for the good of man who is superior to them in a Principle of reason and is invested with a Dominion over them Man having God for his superior ought as much to serve the glory of God as other things are design'd to be useful to man Other Governments are intended for the good of the Community the chief end is not the good of the Governours themselves But God being every way Soveraign the Soveraign being giving being to all things the Soveraign Ruler giving order and preservation to all things is also the end of all things to whose glory and honour all things all creatures are to be subservient Rom. 11.36 For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Of him as the efficient cause through him as the preserving cause to him as the final cause All our actions and thoughts ought to be addrest to his glory our whole beings ought to be consecrated to his honour though we should have no reward but the honour of having been subservient to the end of our Creation So much doth the excellency and Majesty of God infinitely elevated above us challenge of us Subjects use to value the safety honour and satisfaction of a good Prince above their own David is accounted worth 10000 of the people and some of his Courtiers thought themselves oblig'd to venture their lives for his satisfaction in so mean a thing as a little water from the Well of Bethlehem Doth not so great so good a Soveraign as God deserve the same affection from us Do we swear saith a Heathen * Arrian in Epicter to prefer none before Caesar and have we not greater reason to prefer none before God 'T is a Justice due from us to God to maintain his Glory as it is a Justice to preserve the right and property of another As God would lay aside his Deity if he did deny himself so a creature acts irregularly and out of the rank of a creature if it doth not deny it self for God He that makes himself his own end makes himself his own Soveraign To napkin up a gift he hath bestow'd upon us or to employ what we possess solely to our own Glory to use any thing barely for our selves without respect to God is to apply it to a wrong use and to injure God in his propriety and the end of his donation What we have ought to be us'd for the honour of God He retains the Dominion and Lordship though he grants us the use We are but Stewards not Proprietors in regard of God who expects an account from us how we have employ'd his goods to his honour The Kingdom of God is to be advanced by us we are to pray that his Kingdom may come we are to endeavour that his Kingdom may come that is that God may be known to be the chief Soveraign that his Dominion which was obscur'd by Adam's fall may be more manifested that his Subjects which are supprest in the World may be supported his Laws which are violated by the rebellions of men may be more obeyed and his enemies be fully subdued by his final judgment the last evidence of his Dominion in this State of the World that the Empire of sin and the Devil may be abolish'd and the Kingdom of God be perfected that none may rule but the great and rightful Soveraign Thus while we endeavour to advance the honour of his Throne we shall not want an honour to our selves He is too gracious a Soveraign to neglect them that are mindful of his Glory those that honour him he will honour 1 Sam. 2.30 4. Fear and reverence of God in himself and in his actions is a duty incumbent on us from this Doctrine Jer. 10.7 Who would not fear thee O King of Nations The ingratitude of the World is taxt in not reverencing God as a great King who had given so many marks of his Royal Government among them The Prophet wonders there was no fear of so great a King in the World Since among all the wise men of the Nations and among all their Kings there is none like unto this No more reverence of him since none ruled so wisely nor any ruled so graciously The dominion of God is one of the first sparks that gives fire to Religion and Worship consider'd with the goodness of this Soveraign Psal 22.27.28 All the Nations shall worship before thee for the Kingdom is the Lord's and he is Governour among the Nations Epicurus who thought God careless of humane affairs leaving thâ—â— at hap-hazard to the conduct of mens wisdom and mutability of fortune yet acknowledged that God ought to be worshipped by man for the excellency of his nature and greatness of his Majesty How should we reverence that God that hath a Throne encompast with such Glorious Creatures as Angels whose faces we are not able to behold though shadow'd in assum'd bodies How should we fear the Lord of Hosts that hath so many Armies at his command in the Heavens above and in the Earth below whom he can dispose to the exact obedience of his will how should men be afraid to censure any of his actions to sit judge of their Judge and call him to an account to their Bar How should such
they would be a lost people A period will quickly be set to their lives no Created strength can restrain its power from crushing such a stiff-neck'd people Flesh and Blood cannot bear them nor any Created Spirit of a greater might 1. Consider the greatness of the provocations No light matter but actions of a great defiance What is the practical Language of most in the World but that of Pharaoh Who is the Lord that I should obey him How many question his being and more his Authority What blasphemies of him what reproaches of his Majesty Men drinking up iniquity like water and with a hast and ardency rushing into sin as the horse into the battle What is there in the reasonable creature that hath the quickest capacity and the deepest obligation to serve him but opposition and enmity a slight of him in every thing yea the services most seriously performed unsuited to the royalty and purity of so great a Being Such provocations as dare him to his face that are a burden to so righteous a Judge and so great a lover of the Authority and Majesty of his Laws That were there but a spark of anger in him 't is a wonder it doth not shew it self When he is invaded in all his attributes 't is astonishing that this single one of Patience and Meekness should with-stand the assault of all the rest of his perfections His being which is attack'd by sin speakes for vengeance his Justice cannot be imagin'd to stand silent without charging the sinner His Holiness cannot but encourage his Justice to urge its pleas and be an Advocate for it His Omniscience proves the truth of all the charge and his abused mercy hath little encouragement to make opposition to the Indictment Nothing but Patience stands in the gap to keep off the arrest of judgment from the sinner 2. His Patience is manifest if you consider the multitudes of these provocations Every man hath sin enough in a day to make him stand amazed at Divine Patience and to call it as well as the Apostle did all long suffering 1 Tim. 1.16 How few duties of a perfectly right stamp are performed What unworthy considerations mix themselves like dross with our purest and sincerest Gold How more numerous are the respects of the Worshippers of him to themselves than unto him How many services are paid him not out of love to him but because he should do us no hurt and some service When we do not so much design to please him as to please our selves by expectations of a reward from him What Master would endure a servant that endeavoured to please him only because he should not kill him Is that former charge of God upon the Old World yet out of date That the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man was only evil and that continually Gen. 6.5 Was not the New World as chargeable with it as the Old Certainly it was Gen. 8.21 And is of as much force this very minute as it was then How many are the sins against knowledge as well as those of ignorance Presumptuous sins as well as those of infirmity How numerous those of Omission and Commission * Lessius pag. 152. 'T is above the reach of any man's understanding to conceive all the Blasphemies Oaths Thefts Adulteries Murders Oppressions contempt of Religion the open Idolatries of Turks and Heathens the more spiritual and refin'd Idolatries of others Add to those the ingratitude of those that profess his name their pride earthlyness carelesness sluggishness to divine duties and in every one of those a multitude of provocations The whole man being engag'd in every sin the understanding contriving it the will embracing it the affections complying with it and all the members of the body instruments in the acting the unrighteousness of it Every one of these faculties bestowed upon men by him are armed against him in every act and in every employment of them there is a distinct provocation though center'd in one sinful end and object What are the offences all the men of the World receive from their fellow creatures to the injuries God receives from men but as a small dust of earth to the whole mass of Earth and Heaven too What multitudes of sins is one prophane wretch guilty of in the space of 20 40 50 years Who can compute the vast number of his transgressions from the first use of reason to the time of the separation of his Soul from his Body from his entrance into the World to his exit What are those to those of a whole Village of the like Inhabitants What are those to those of a great City Who can number up all the foul mouth'd Oaths the beastly excess the goatish uncleanness committed in the space of a day year twenty years in this City much less in the whole Nation least of all in the whole World Were it no more than the common Idolatry of former ages when the whole World turn'd their backs upon their Creator and passed him by to sue to a Creature a stock or stone or a degraded spirit How provoking would it be to a Prince to see a whole City under his Dominion deny him a respect and pay it to his scullion or the common Executioner he employs Add to this the unjust invasions of Kings the oppressions exercised upon men all the private and publick sins that have been in the World ever since it began The Gentiles were describ'd by the Apostle Rom. 1.29 30 31. in a black character They were haters of God yet how did the Riches of his patience preserve multitudes of such disingenuous persons and how many millions of such haters of him breath every day in his Air and are maintained by his bounty have their tables sprâ—â—d and their cups fill'd to the brim and that too in the midst of reiterated belchings of their enmity against him All are under sufficient provocations of him to the highest indignation The presiding Angels over Nations could not forbear in Love and Honour to their Governour to arm themselves to the destruction of their several charges if Divine patience did not set them a pattern and their obedience incline them to expect his Orders before they act what their zeal would prompt them to The Devils would be glad of Commission to destroy the World but that his patience puts a stop to their fury 〈◊〉 well as his own Justice 3. Consider the long time of this patience He spread out his handâ— all the day to a rebellious World Isaiah 65.2 All mens day all Gods day which is a thousand years he hath born with the gross of mankind with all the Nations of the World in a long succession of ages for five thousand years and upwards already and will bear with them till the time comes for the World dissolution He hath suffered the monstrous acts of men and endur'd the contradictions of a sinful World against himself from the first sin of Adam
to the last committed this minute The line of his patience hath run along with the duration of the World to this day and there is not any one of Adams posterity but hath been expensive to him and partaked of the riches of it 4. All these he bears when he hath a sense of them He sees every day the Roll and Catalogue of sin increasing he hath a distinct view of every one from the sin of Adam to the last fil'd up in his Omniscience and yet gives no order for the arrest of the World He knows men fitted for destruction all the instants he exerciseth long-suffering towards them which makes the Apostle call it not simply long suffering without the addition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much long-suffering Rom. 9.23 There is not a grain in the whole Mass of sin that he hath not a distinct knowledge of and of the quality of it He perfectly understands the greatness of his own Majesty that is vilified and the nature of the offence that doth disparage him He is sollicited by his Justice directed by his Omniscience and armed with judgments to vindicate himself but his arm is restrained by patience To conclude no indignity is hid from him no iniquity is beloved by him the hatred of their sinfulness is infinite and the knowledge of the malice is exact The subsisting of the World under such weighty provocations so numerous so long time and with his full sence of every one of them is an evidence of such a forbearance and long-suffering that the addition of Riches which the Apostle puts to it Rom. 2.4 labours with an insufficiency clearly to display it III. Why God doth exercise so much patience 1. To shew himself appeaseable God did not declare by his patience to former ages or any age that he was appeased with them or that they were in his favour but that he was appeasable that he was not an implacable Enemy but that they might find him favourable to them if they did seek after him The continuance of the World by patience and the bestowing many mercies by goodness were not a natural revelation of the manner how he would be appeased That was made known only by the Prophets and after the coming of Christ by the Apostles and had indeed been intelligible in some sort to the whole World had there been a faithfulness in Adams posterity to transmit the tradition of the first promise to succeeding Generations Had not the knowledge of that dyed by their carelesness and neglect it had been easie to tell the reason of Gods patience to be in order to the exhibition of the Seed of the woman to bruise the Serpents head They could not but naturally know themselves sinners and worthy of death they might be easie reflections upon themselves collect that they were not in that comely and harmonious posture now as they were when God first wrought them with his own finger and placed them as his Lieutenants in the World they knew they did grievously offend him this they were taught by the sprinklings of his judgments among them sometimes And since he did not utterly root up mankind his sparing patience was a prologue of some further favours or pardoning Grace to be display'd to the World by some methods of God yet unknown to them Though the Earth was something impair'd by the curse after the fall yet the main pillars of it stood the strate of the natural motions of the Creature was not chang'd the Heavens remain'd in the same posture wherein they were Created the Sun and Moon and other heavenly bodies continued their usefulness and refreshing influences to man The Heavens did still declare the Glory of God day unto day did utter speech their line is gone throughout all the Earth and their words to the end of the World Psal 19.1 2 3. 4. Which declar'd God to be willing to do good to his Creatures and were as so many legible letters or rudiments whereby they might read his patience and that a further design of favour to the World lay hid in that Patience Paul applies this to the Preaching of the Gospel Rom. 10.18 Have they not heard the word of God yes verily their sound went into all the Earth and their words unto the end of the World Redeeming grace could not be spell'd out by them in a clear notion but yet they did declare that which is the Foundation of Gospel Mercy Were not God patient there were no room for a Gospel Mercy so that the Heavens declare the Gospel not formally but fundamentally in declaring the long-suffering of God without which no Gospel had been fram'd or could have been expected They could not but read in those things favourable inclinations towards them And though they could not be ignorant that they deserved a mark of justice yet seeing themselves supported by God and beholding the regular motions of the Heavens from day to day and the Revolutions of the seasons of the year the natural conclusion they might draw from thence was that God was placable Since he behav'd himself more as a tender Friend that had no mind to be at War with them than an enraged Enemy The good things which he gave them and the patience whereby he spar'd them were no arguments of an impâ—acable disposition And therefore of a disposition willing to be appeased This is clearly the design of the Apostles arguing with the Lystrians when they would have offered Sacrifices to Paul Acts 14.17 When God suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways he did not leave himself without witness giving Rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons What were those Witnesses of Not only of the Being of a God by their readiness to sacrifice to those that were not Gods only supposed to be so in their false imaginations but witnesses to the tenderness of God that he had no mind to be severe with his Creatures But would allure them by ways of Goodness * Amyrald dissert pag. 191. 192. Had not Gods patience tended to this end to bring the World under another dispensation the Apostles arguing from it had not been sutable to his design which seems to be a hindering the sacrifices they intended for them and a drawing them to embrace the Gospel and therefore preparing the way to it by speaking of the Patience and Goodness of God to them as an unquestionable testimony of the reconcileableness of God to them by some sacrifice which was represented under the common notion of Sacrifices These things were not Witnesses of Christ or syllables whereby they could spell out the redeeming person but Witnesses that God was placable in his own nature When man abused those noble faculties God had given him and diverted them from the use and service God intended them for God might have stript man of them the first time that he mis-employed them and it would have seemed most agreeable to this wisdom and Justice not to suffer himself to be
rushings into his presence in Worship Had they been only sins of Omission and sins of Ignorance it had been enough to have put a stand to any further operations of this perfection towards us But add to those sins of Commission sins against knowledge sins against spiritual motions sins against repeated resolutions and pressing admonitions the neglects of all the opportunities of Repentance put them all together and we can as little recount them as the sands on the sea shore But what do I only speak of particular men view the whole World and if our own iniquities render it an amazing Patience what a mighty supply will be made to it in all the numerous and weighty provocations under which he hath continued the World for so many revolutions of Years and Ages Have not all those pressed into his presence with a loud cry and demanded a sentence from Justice yet hath not the Judge been overcome by the importunity of our sins * Pont. part 1. 42. Were the Devils punished for one sin a proud thought and that not committed against the blood of Christ as we have done numberless times yet hath not God made us partakers in their punishment though we have exceeded them in the quality of their sin Oh admirable patience that would bear with me under so many while he would not bear with the sinning Angels for one 2. Consider how mean things we are who have provoked him What is man but a vile thing that a God abounding with all riches should take care of so abject a thing much more to bear so many affronts from such a drop of matter such a nothing creature That he that hath anger at his command as well as pity should endure such a detestable deformed creature by sin to fly in his face What is man that thou art mindful of him Psal 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 miserable incurable man derived from a word that signifies to be incurably sick Man is Adam Earth from his Earthly Original and Enosh incurable from his corruption Is it not worthy to be admired that a God of infinite Glory should wait on such Adams worms of earth and be as it were a servant and attendant to such Enoshes sickly and peevish creatures 3. Consider who it is that is thus patient He it is that with one breath could turn Heaven and Earth and all the inhabitants of both into nothing That could by one Thunderbolt have razed up the Foundations of a cursed World He that wants not instruments without to ruine us that can arm our own Consciences against us and can drown us in our own Phlegm And by taking out one pin from our bodies cause the whole frame to fall asunder Besides 't is a God that while he suffers the sinner hates the sin more than all the Holy men upon Earth or Angels in Heaven can do So that his patience for a minute transcends the patience of all creatures from the Creation to the Dissolution of the World because it is the patience of a God infinitely more sensible of the cursed quality of sin and infinitely more detesting it 4. Consider how long he hath forborn his anger A reprieve for a Week or a Month is accounted a great favour in Civil States The Civil Law enacts * Cod. Lib. 9. Titul 47 6. 20. that if the Emperour commanded a man to be condemned the Execution was to be deferred 30 dayes because in that time the Princes anger might be appeased But how great a favour is it to be reprieved 30 years for many offences every one of which deserves death more at the hands of God than any offence can at the hands of man Paul was according to the common account but about 30 years Old at his Conversion and how much doth he elevate Divine long suffering Certainly there are many who have more reason as having larger quantities of patience cut out to them who have lived to see their own gray hairs in a rebellious posture against God before Grace brought them to a surrender We were all condemn'd in the Womb our Lives were forfeited the first moment of our breath but patience hath stopt the Arrest The merciful Creditor deserves to have acknowledgment from us who hath laid by his Bond so many years without putting it in suit against us Many of your companions in sin have perhaps been surprized long ago and haled to an Eternal Prison Nothing is remaining of them but their dust and the time is not yet come for your Funeral Let it be considered that that God that would not wait upon the fallen Angels one instant after their sin nor give them a moments space of Repentance hath prolonged the Life of many a sinner in the World to innumerable moments to 420000 minutes in the space of a Year to 8 Millions and 400000 Minutes in the space of 20 Years The damned in Hell would think it a great kindness to have but a Year's Month's nay Daye 's respite as a space to Repent in 5. Consider also how many have been taken away under shorter measures of patience Some have been struck into a Hell of misery while thou remainest upon an Earth of forbearance In a Plague the destroying Angel hath hew'd down others and past by us The Arrows have flew about our heads past over us and stuck in the heart of a neighbour How many Rich men How many of our Friends and Familiars have been seiz'd by death since the beginning of the year when they least thought of it and imagin'd it far from them Have you not known some of your acquaintance snatcht away in the height of a crime Was not the same wrath due to you as well as to them And had it not been as dreadful for you to be so surprized by him as it was for them Why should he take a less sturdy sinner out of thy company and let thee remain still upon the Earth If God had dealt so with you how had you been cut off not only from the enjoyment of this Life but the hopes of a better And if God hath made such a Providence beneficial for reclaiming you how much reason have you to acknowledge him He that hath had least patience hath cause to admire but those that have more ought to exceed others in blessing him for it If God had put an end to your natural Life before you had made provision for Eternal how deplorable would your condition have been Consider also who ever have been sinners formerly of a deeper note Might not God have struck a man in the embraces of his Harlots and choaked him in the moment of his excessive and intemperate healths or on the sudden have spurted Fire and Brimstone into a blasphemers mouth What if God had snatcht you away when you had been sleeping in some great iniquity or sent you while burning in lust to the fire it merited Might he not have crackt the string that linkt your souls to your
would be as bad as Hell Since the Heart of Man is a Hell of Corruption by that the Souls of all Men would be excited to the acting the worst Villanies since every thought of the heart of Man is only evil and that continually Gen. 6.5 if the Wisdom of God did not stop these Floud-gates of Evil in the Hearts of Men it would overflow the World and frustrate all the Gracious Designs he carries on among the Sons of Men. Were it not for this Wisdom every House would be filled with Violence as well as every Nature is with Sin What harm would not strong and furious Beasts do did nâ—t the Skill of Man tame and bridle them How often hath Divine Wisdom restrain'd the Viciousness of Human Nature and let it run not to that point they â—â—â—â—â—'d but to the end he purposed Labans Fury and Esaus Enmity against 〈…〉 â—ere pâ—â—t in within bounds for Jacobs safety and their Hearts over-ruled 〈…〉 intended destruction of the good Man to a perfect Amity * Gen. 31.29 Gen. 32. II. Gods Wisdom is seen in the bringing glory to himself out of Sin 1. Out of Sin it self God erects the Trophies of Honour upon that which is a Natural means to hinder and deface it His glorious Attributes are drawn out to our view upon the occasion of Sin which otherwise had lain hid in his own Being Sin is altogether black and abominable but by the Admirable Wisdom of God he hath drawn out of the dreadful darkness of Sin the saving Beams of his Mercy and displayed his Grace in the Incarnation and Passion of his Son for the Atonement of Sin Thus he permitted Adams Fall and wisely order'd it for a fuller discovery of his own Nature and a higher elevation of Mans good that as Sin reigned to death so might Grace reign through Righteousness to Eternal life by Jesus Christ Rom. 5.21 The unbounded Goodness of God could not have appeared without it His Goodness in rewarding Innocent Obedience would have been manifested but not his Mercy in pardoning Rebellious Crimes An Innocent Creature is the Object of the Rewards of Grace as the standing Angels are under the Beams of Grace but not under the Beams of Mercy because they were never Sinful and consequently never Miserable Without Sin the Creature had not been Miserable Had Man remained Innocent he had not been the Subject of Punishment and without the Creatures Misery Gods Mercy in sending his Son to save his Enemies could not have appeared The abundance of Sin is a Passive occasion for God to manifest the Abundance of his Grace The Power of God in the changing the Heart of a Rebellious Creature had not appeared had not Sin infected our Nature We had not clearly known the Vindictive Justice of God had no Crime been committed for that is the proper Object of Divine Wrath. The Goodness of God could never have permitted Justice to exercise it self upon an Innocent Creature that was not guilty either Personally or by Imputation Psal 11.7 The righteous Lord loveth Righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright Wisdom is illustrious hereby God suffered Man to fall into a Mortal Disease to shew the virtue of his own Restoratives to cure Sin which in it self is Incurable by the Art of any Creature And otherwise this Perfection whereby God draws Good out of Evil had been utterly useless and would have been destitute of an Object wherein to discover it self Again Wisdom in ordering a Rebellious head-strong World to its own ends is greater than the ordering an Innocent World exactly observant of his Precepts and complying with the End of the Creation Now without the entrance of Sin this Wisdom had wanted a Stage to act upon Thus God raised the Honour of his Wisdom while Man ruin'd the Integrity of his Nature and made use of the Creatures breach of his Divine Law to establish the Honour of it in a more signal and stable manner by the Active and Passive Obedience of the Son of his Bosom Nothing serves God so much as an occasion of glorifying himself as the entrance of Sin into the World by this occasion God communicates to us the knowledge of those Perfections of his Nature which had else been folded up from us in an Eternal Night his Justice had lain in the dark as having nothing to punish his Mercy had been obscure as having none to pardon a great part of his Wisdom had been silent as having no such Object to order 2. His Wisdom appears In making use of sinful Instruments He uses the Malice and Enmity of the Devil to bring about his own Purposes and makes the sworn Enemy of his Honour contribute to the Illustrating of it against his will This great Crafts-Master he took in his own Net and defeated the Devil by the Devils Malice by turning the Contrivances he had hatch'd and accomplish'd against Man against himself He used him as a Tempter to grapple with our Saviour in the Wilderness whereby to make him fit to succour us and as the God of this World to inspire the wicked Jews to Crucifie him whereby to render him actually the Redeemer of the World and so made him an Ignorant Instrument of that Divine Glory he design'd to ruine * Moulins Serm. Decad. 10. p. 221 232. 'T is more Skill to make a curious piece of Workmanship with Ill condition'd Tools than with Instruments naturally sitted for the work 'T is no such great wonder for a Limner to draw an exact piece with a fit Pencil and sutable Colours as to begin and perfect a beautiful work with a Straw and Water things improper for such a design This Wisdom of God is more admirable and astonishing than if a Man were able to rear a vast Palace by Fire whose nature is to consume Combustible matter not to erect a Building To make things serviceable contrary to their own Nature is a Wisdom peculiar to the Creator of Nature Gods making use of Devils for the glory of his Name and the good of his People is a more amazing piece of Wisdom than his Goodness in employing the Blessed Angels in his work To promise that the World which includes the God of the World and Death and Things present let them be as Evil as they will should be ours that is for our good and for his glory is an act of Goodness but to make them serviceable to the Honour of Christ and the good of his People is a Wisdom that may well raise our highest Admirations †1 Cor. 3.22 They are for Believers as they are for the glory of Christ and as Christ is for the glory of God To Chain up Satan wholly and frustrate his Wiles would be an Argument of Divine Goodness but to suffer him to run his risque and then improve all his Contrivances for his own glorious and gracâ—ous Ends and Purposes manifests besides his Power and Goodness his Wisdom also He uses the Sins of Evil
entertain a Soul of a heavenly extraction form'd by the breath of God * Gen. 2.7 He brought Light out of thick Darkness and living Creatures Fish and Foul out of inanimate waters †Gen. 1.20 and gave a power of spontaneous motion to things arising from that Matter which had no living motion To convert one thing into another is an evidence of infinite Power as well as creating things of nothing for the distance between life and not life is next to that which is between being and not being God first forms Matter out of Nothing and then draws upon and from this indisposed Chaos many excellent Pourtraitures Neither Earth nor Sea were capable of producing living Creatures without an infinite Power working upon it and bringing into it such variety and multitude of Forms and this is called by some mediate Creation as the producing the Chaos which was without form and void is called immediate Creation Is not the power of the Potter admirable in forming out of temper'd Clay such varieties of neat and curious Vessels that after they are fashion'd and past the Furnace look as if they were not of any kin to the Matter they are formed of And is it not the same with the Glass-maker that from a little melted gelly of Sand and Ashes or the Dust of Flint can blow up so pure a Body as Glass and in such varieties of shapes and is not the Power of God more admirable because infinite in speaking out so beautiful a World out of nothing and such varieties of living Creatures from Matter utterly indispos'd in its own nature for such forms 3. And this conducts to a third thing were in the power of God appears in that He did all this with the greatest ease and facility 1. Without Instruments As God made the World without the advice so without the assistance of any other He stretched forth the Heavens alone and spread abroad the Earth by himself Isai 44.24 He had no engine but his Word no pattern or model but himself What need can he have of Instruments that is able to create what Instruments he pleases Where there is no resistance in the Object where no need of preparation or instrumental advantage in the Agent there the actual determination of the Will is sufficient to a production What Instrument need we to the thinking of a Thought or an act of our Will Men indeed cannot act any thing without Tools the best Artificer must be beholden to something else for his noblest works of Art The Carpenter cannot work without his Rule and Ax and Saw and other Instruments The Watch-maker cannot act without his File and Pliars But in Creation there is nothing necessary to Gods bringing forth a World but a simple act of his Will which is both the principal cause and instrumental He had no Scaffolds to rear it no Engines to polish it no Hammers or Mattocks to clod and work it together 'T is a miserable Error to measure the actions of an Infinite Cause by the imperfect model of a Finite since by his own Power and Out-stretched Arm he made the Heaven and the Earth * Jer. 32.17 ‖ Gassend What excellency would God have in his work above others if he needed Instruments as Feeble men do Every Artificer is counted more admirable that can frame curious Works with the less matter fewer Tools and assistances God uses Instruments in his Works of Providence not for necessity but for the display of his Wisdom in the management of them yet those Instruments were originally framed by him without Instruments Indeed some of the Jews thought the Angels were the Instruments of God in creating Man and that those words Gen. 1.26 Let us make Man in our own image were spoken to Angels But certainly the Scripture which denies God any Counsellor in the model of Creation †Isai 40.12 13 14. doth not joyn any Instrument with him in the operation which is every where ascribed to himself without created assistance Isai 45.18 It was not to Angels God spake in that affair if so Man was made after the image of Angels if they were Companions with God in that work But it is every where said Gen. 1.27 that Man was made after the image of God Again the image wherein Man was created was that of dominion over the lower Creatures as appears verse 26. which we find not conferr'd upon Angels and it is not likely that Moses should introduce the Angels as Gods Privy Counsel of whose Creation he had not mention'd one syllable Let us make Man rather signifies the Trinity and not spoken in a Royal style as some think Which of the Jewish Kings writ in the style We That was the custom of later Times and we must not measure the language of Scripture by the style of Europe of a far later date than the penning the History of the Creation If Angels were his Counsellors in the Creation of the material World what Instrument had he in the Creation of Angels If his own Wisdom were the Director and his own Will the producer of the one why should we not think that he acted by his sole Power in the other 'T is concluded by most that the Power of Creation cannot be deriv'd to any Creature it being a work of Omnipotency The drawing Something out from Nothing cannot be communicated without a communication of the Deity it self The educing things from Nothing exceeds the capacity of any Creature and the Creature is of too feeble a Nature to be elevated to so high a degree 'T is very unreasonable to think that God needed any such aid If an Instrument were necessary for God to create the World then he could not do it without that Instrument If he could not he were not then All-sufficient in himself if he depended upon any thing without himself for the production or consummation of his Works And it might be enquired how that Instrument came into Being If it begun to be and there was a time when it was not it must have its Being from the Power of God and then why could not God as well create all things without an Instrument as create that Instrument without an Instrument For there was no more Power necessary to a producing the whole without Instruments than to produce one Creature without an Instrument No Creature can in its own nature be an Instrument of Creation If any such Instrument were used by God it must be elevated in a miraculous and supernatural way and what is so an Instrument is in effect no Instrument for it works nothing by its own nature but from an elevation by a Superior nature and beyond its own nature All that power in the Instrument is truly the Power of God and not the power of the Instrument And therefore what God doth by an Instrument he could do as well without If you should see one apply a Straw to Iron for the cutting of it