you How many are to follow you Your Dominion lasts but for a short time too short to be a cause of any pride and glory in it God by a soveraign power can take you from them or them from you when he pleaseth The Traveller refresheth himself in the heat of Summer under a shady Tree how many have done so before him the same day he knows not and how many will have the benefit after before night comes he is as much ignorant of he and the others that went before him and follow after him use it for their refreshment but none of them can say they are the Lords of it The property is invested in some other person whom perhaps they know not the propriety of all you have is in God not truly in your selves Doth not that man deserve scorn from you who will play the proud fool in gay Clothes and attire which are known to be none of his own but borrowed Is it not the same case with every proud man though he hath a property in his Goods by the Law of the Land Is any thing you have your own truly Is it not lent you by the great Lord Is it not the same vanity in any of you to be proud of what you have as Gods loan to you as for such a one to be proud of what he hath borrowed of man And do you not make your selves as ridiculous to Angels and good Men who know that though it is yours in opposition to man yet it is not yours in opposition to God they are granted you only for your use as the Collar of Esses and Sword and other Ensigns of the chief Magistrate in the City pass through many hands in regard of the use of them but the propriety remains in the Community and body of the City Or as the Silver plate of a person that invites you to a Feast is for your use during the time of the invitation What ground is there to be proud of those things you are not the absolute Lords and Proprietors of but only have the use of them granted to you during the pleasure of the soveraign of the World 2. Praise and Thank fulness results from this doctrine of the Soveraignty of God 1. He is to be praised for his royalty Psal 145.1 I will extoll thee my God Oh King The Psalmist calls upon men five times to sing praise to him as the King of all the Earth Psal 47.6 7. Sing praises to God sing praises sing praises to our King sing praises For God is the King of all the Earth sing ye praises with understanding All Creatures even the inanimate ones are called upon to praise him because of the excellency of his Name and the supremacy of his Glory in the 148. Psal throughout and ver 13. That soveraign power that gave us hearts and tongues deserves to have them employ'd in his praises especially since he hath by the same hand given us so great matter for it As he is a soveraign we owe him thankfulness he doth not deal with us in a way of absolute Dominion he might then have annihilated us Since he hath as full a Dominion to reduce us to nothing as to bring us out of nothing Consider the absoluteness of his soveraignty in it self and you must needs acknowledge that he might have multipli'd precepts enjoyned us the observance of more than he hath done he might have made our tedder much shorter he might exact obedience and promise no reward for it he might dash us against the walls as a Potter doth his Vessel and no man have any just reason to say what dost thou Or why dost thou use me so A greater right is in him to use us in such a manner as we do sensible as well as insensible things And if you consider his dominion as it is capable to be exercised in a way of unquestionable Justice and submitted to the reason and judgments of Creatures he might have dealt with us in a smarter way than he hath hitherto done instead of one affliction we might have had a thousand He might have shut his own hands from pouring out any good upon us and ordered innumerable scourges to be prepared for us but he deals not with us according to the rights of his Dominion He doth not oppress us by the greatness of his Majesty he enters into Covenant with us and allures us by the Cords of a man and shews himself as much a merciful as an absolute soveraign 2. As he is a Proprietor we owe him thank fulness He is at his own choice whither he will bestow upon us any blessings or no the more value therefore his benefits deserve from us and the Donor the more sincere returns If we have any thing from the Creature to serve our turn 't is by the order of the chief proprietor He is the spring of honour and the fountain of supplies all Creatures are but as the conduit pipes in a great City which serve several houses with water but from the great spring All things are conveyed originally from his own hand and are dispensed from his Exchequer If this great soveraign did not order them you would have no more supplies from a Creature than you could have nourishment from a chip 'T is the Divine will in every thing that doth us good every favour from Creatures is but a smile from God an evidence of his Royalty to move us to pay a respect to him as the great Lord. Some Heathens had so much respect for God as to conclude that his Will and not their own prudence was the chief conductor of their affairs His Goodness to us calls for our thankfulness but his soveraignty calls for a higher elevation of it a smile from a Prince is more valued and thought worthy of more gratitude than a present from a Peasant A small gift from a great person is more greatefully to be received than a larger from an inferior person The condescension of Royalty magnifies the gift What is man that thou so great a Majesty art mindful of him to bestow this or that favour upon him is but a due reflection upon every blessing we receive Upon every fresh blessing we should acknowledge the donor and true proprietor and give him the honour of his Dominion His property ought to be thankfully own'd in every thing we are capable of consecrating to him As David after the liberal collection he had made for the building of the Temple own 's in his dedication of it to that use the propriety of God 1 Chron. 29.14 Who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort For all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee It was but a return of Gods own to him as the waters of the River are no other than the return to the Sea of what was taken from it Praise and Thankfulness is a Rent due from all mankind
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
that their corruption should be so deep and strong that so much patience could not overcome it It would certainly make a man asham'd of his nature as well as his actions 3. The consideration of his patience would make us resent more the injuries done by others to God A Patient sufferer though a deserving sufferer attracts the pity of men that have a value for any vertue though clouded with a heap of vice How much more should we have a concern for God who suffers so many abuses from others And be grieved that so admirable a patience should be slighted by men who solely live by and under the daily influence of it The impression of this would make us take Gods part as it is usual with men to take the part of good dispositions that lie under oppression 4. It would make us patient under Gods hand His slowness to Anger and his forbearance is visible in the very strokes we feel in this Life We have no reason to murmur against him who gives us so little cause and in the greatest afflictions gives us more occasion of thankfulness than of repining Did not slowness to the extreamest Anger moderate every affliction it had been a Scorpion instead of a rod. We have reason to bless him who from his long-suffering sends temporal sufferings where eternal are justly due Ezra 9.13 Thou hast punished us less than our iniquities do deserve His indulgences towards us have been more than our corrections and the length of his patience hath exceeded the sharpness of his rod Upon the account of his long-suffering our mutinies against God have as little to excuse them as our sins against him have to deserve his forbearance The consideration of this would shew us more reason to repine at our own repinings than at any of his smarter dealings And the consideration of this would make us submissive under the Judgments we expect His undeserved patience hath been more than our merited judgments can possibly be thought to be If we fear the removal of the Gospel for a season as we have reason to do we should rather bless him that by his waiting patience he hath continued it so long then murmur that he threatens to take it away so late He hath born with us many a year since the light of it was re-kindled when our Ancestors had but six years of patience between the rise of Edward the VI and the ascent of Queen Mary to the Crown 2. Exhortation is to admire and stand astonisht at his patience and bless him for it If you should have defil'd your Neighbors bed or sullyed his reputation or rifled his Goods would he have withheld his vengeance unless he had been too weak to execute it We have done worse to God then we can do to man and yet he draws not that Sword of Wrath out of the scabbard of his patience to sheath it in our hearts 'T is not so much a wonder that any Judgments are sent as that there are no more and sharper That the World shall be fired at last is not a thing so strange as that fire doth not come down every day upon some part of it Had the disciples that saw such excellent patterns of mildness from their Master and were so often urg'd to learn of him that was lowly and meek the Government of the World it had been long since turn'd into ashes since they were too forward to desire him to open his magazine of judgments and kindle a fire to consume a Samaritan Village for a slight affront in comparison of what he received from others and afterwards from themselves in their forsaking of him Luke 9.52 53 54. We should admire and praise that here which shall be prais'd in Heaven though patience shall cease as to its exercise after the consummation of the World it shall not cease from receiving the acknowledgments of what it did when it traversed the stage of this Earth If the Name of God be glorified and acknowledged in Heaven no question but this will also since long-suffering is one of his Divine Titles a letter in his name as well as Merciful and Gracious Abundant in Goodness and Truth And there is good reason to think that the patience exercised towards some before converting grace was ordered to seize upon them will bear a great part in the Anthems of Heaven The greater his long-suffering hath been to men that lay covered with their own dung a long time before they were freed by grace from their filth the more admiringly and loudly they will cry up his Mercy to them after they have past the gulf and see a deserv'd Hell at a distance from them and many in that place of torments who never had the tasts of so much forbearance If mercy will be prais'd there that which began the Alphabet of it cannot be forgot If Paul speak so highly of it in a damping World and under the pull-backs of a body of death as he doth 1 Tim. 1.16 17. For this cause I obtained mercy that Christ might shew forth all long-suffering Now unto the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the Only Wise God be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen No doubt but he will have a higher note for it when he is surrounded with a heavenly flame and freed from all remains of dullness shall it be praised above and have we no notes for it here below Admire Christ too who sued out your repreive upon the account of his merit As mercy acts not upon any but in Christ so neither had patience born with any but in Christ The pronouncing the arrest of Judgment Gen. 8.21 was when God smell'd a sweet savour from Noahs sacrifice not from the Beasts offer'd but the Antitypical sacrifice represented That we may be raised to bless God for it let us consider 1. The multitude of our provocations Though some have blacker guilt than others and deeper stains yet let none wipe his mouth but rather imagine himself to have but little reason to bless it Are not all our offences as many as their have been minutes in our lives All the moments of our continuance in the World have been moments of his Patience and our ingratitude Adam was punished for one sin Moses excluded Canaan for a passionate unbelieving word Ananias and Saphira lost their lives for one sin against the Holy Ghost One sin sullyed the beauty of the World defaced the works of God had crackt Heaven and Earth in pieces had not infinite satisfaction been proposed to the provoked Justice by the Redeemer And not one sin committed but is of the same venemous nature How many of those contradictions against himself hath he born with Had we been only unprofitable to him his forbearance of us had been miraculous But how much doth it exceed a miracle and lift it self above the meanness of a conjunction with such an Epithet since we have been provoking Had there been no more than our impudent or careless
there but to behold the beauty of the Lord * Psal 27.4 and taste the ravishing sweetness of his presence No doubt but Elijah's desires for the enjoyment of God while he was mounting to Heaven were as fiery as the Chariot wherein he was carried Unutterable groans acted in worship are the fruit of the Spirit and certainly render it a spiritual service * Rom. 8.26 Strong appetites are agreeable to God and prepare us to eat the fruit of worship A spiritual Paul presseth forward to know Christ and the power of his Resurrection and a spiritual Worshipper actually aspires in every duty to know God and the power of his Grace To desire worship as an end is carnal to desire it as a means and act desires in it for communion with God in it is spiritual and the fruit of a spiritual life 5. Thankfulness and admiration are to be exercised in spiritual services This is a worship of Spirits Praise is the adoration of the blessed Angels * Isa 6.3 and of glorified Spirits Rev. 4.11 Thou art worthy oh Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power And Rev. 5.13.14 they worship him ascribing Blessing Honour Glory and Power to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Other acts of worship are confined to this Life and leave us as soon as we have set our foot in Heaven There no notes but this of Praise are warbled out The Power Wisdom Love and Grace in the dispensation of the Gospel seat themselves in the thoughts and tongues of blessed Souls Can a worship on Earth be spiritual that hath no mixture of an eternal heavenly duty with it The worship of God in Innocence had been chiefly an admiration of him in the works of Creation and should not our Evangelical worship be an admiration of him in the works of Redemption which is a restoration to a better State After the petitioning for pardoning Grace * Hos 14.2 there is a rendring the Calves or Heifers of our lips alluding to the Heifers used in Eucharistical Sacrifices The Praise of God is the choicest Sacrifice and Worship under a dispensation of redeeming Grace This is the prime and eternal part of worship under the Gospel The Psalmist Psalm 149. and 150. speaking of the Gospel times spurrs on to this kind of worship Sing to the Lord a new Song Let the Children of Zion be joyful iâ—â—â—â—ir King Let the Saints be joyful in glory and sing aloud upon their beds Let the high praises of God be in their mouths He begins and ends both Psalms with praise ye the Lord. That cannot be a spiritual and evangelical worship that hath nothing of the praise of God in the heart The consideration of Gods adorable perfections discovered in the Gospel will make us come to him with more seriousness beg blessings of him with more confidence fly to him with a winged Faith and Love and more spiritually glorify him in our attendances upon him 7. Spiritual Worship is performed with delight The Evangelical worship is prophetically signified by keeping the Feast of Tabernacles * Zach. 14.16 they shall go up from year to year to worship the King the Lord of Hosts and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles Why that Feast when there were other Feasts observed by the Jews That was a Feast celebrated with the greatest joy typical of the gladness which was to be under the exhibition of the Messiah and a thankful comemmoration of the Redemption wrought by him It was to be celebrated five days after the solemn day of Atonement Levit. 23.34 compared with v. 27. wherein there was one of the solemnest types of the Sacrifice of the death of Christ In this Feast they commemorated their exchange of Egypt for Canaan the Manna wherewith they were fed the Water out of the Rock wherewith they were refresht In remembrance of this they poured water on the ground pronouncing those words in Isaiah they shall draw waters out of the Wells of Salvation which our Saviour referrs to himself John 7.37 inviting them to him to drink upon the last day the great day of the Feast of Tabernacles wherein this solemn Ceremony was observed Since we are freed by the death of the Redeemer from the Curses of the Law God requires of us a Joy in spiritual priviledges A sad frame in worship gives the lye to all Gospel-liberty to the Purchase of the Redeemers Death the Triumphs of his Resurrection 'T is a carriage as if we were under the influences of the legal Fire and Lightning and an entring a Protest against the Freedom of the Gospel The Evangelical worship is a Spiritual worship and Praise Joy and Delight are prophecied of as great ingredients in attendance on Gospel Ordinances Isa 12.3 4 5. What was occasion of terror in the worship of God under the Law is the occasion of delight in the worship of God under the Gospel The Justice and Holiness of God so terrible in the Law becomes comfortable under the Gospel since they have feasted themselves on the active and passive obedience of the Redeemer The approach is to God as gracious not to God as unpacified as a Son to a Father not as a Criminal to a Judge Under the Law God was represented as a Judge remembring their Sin in their Sacrifices and representing the punishment they had merited in the Gospel as a Father accepting the Atonement and publishing the Reconciliation wrought by the Redeemer Delight in God is a Gospel frame therefore the more joyful the more spiritual The Sabbath is to be a delight not only in regard of the Day but in regard of the Duties of it * Isa 58.13 in regard of the marvelous work he wrought on it raising up our blessed Redeemer on that day whereby a foundation was laid for the rendring our persons and services acceptable to God Psal 118.24 This is the day which the Lord hath made we will be glad and rejoyce in it A lumpish frame becomes not a day and a duty that hath so noble and spiritual a mark upon it The Angels in the first act of worship after the Creation were highly joyful Job 38.7 They shouted for joy c. The Saints have particularly acted this in their Worship David would not content himself with an approach to the Altar without going to God as his exceeding joy Psal 43.4 My triumphant joy When he danced before the Ark he seems to be transformed into delight and pleasure 2 Sam. 6.14 16. He had as much delight in Worship as others had in their Harvest and Vintage And those that took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods would as joyfully attend upon the Communications of God Where there is a fullness of the Spirit there is a waking melody to God in the heart * Eph. 5.18.19 and where there is an acting of love as there is in all spiritual services the proper fruit of it is joy in a neer
all mixture of Evil so Sacred with them was the Conception of God as a Holy God 2. The Absurdest Hereticks have own'd it * Petav. Theol. Dogmat. Tom. 1. lib. 6. cap. 5. p. 415. The Manichees and Marchionites that thought Evil came by Necessity yet would salve Gods being the Author of it by asserting two distinct Eternal Principles One the Original of Evil as God was the Fountain of good So rooted was the Notion of this Divine Purity that none would ever slander Goodness it self with that which was so disparaging to it 3. The Nature of God cannot rationally be conceived without it Though the Power of God be the first Rational conclusion drawn from the sight of his Works Wisdom the next from the order and connexion of his Works Purity must result from the beauty of his Works That God cannot be deform'd by Evil who hath made every thing so Beautiful in its time The Notion of a God cannot be entertain'd without separating from him whatsoever is impure and bespotting both in his Essence and Actions Though we conceive him Infinite in Majesty Infinite in Essence Eternal in Duration Mighty in Power and Wise and Immutable in his Counsels Merciful in his proceedings with Men and whatsoever other Perfections may dignifie so Soveraign a Being yet if we conceive him destitute of this excellent Perfection and imagine him possessed with the least contagion of Evil we make him but an Infinite Monster and fully all those Perfections we ascrib'd to him before we rather own him a Devil than a God 'T is a contradiction to be God and to be Darkness or to have one Mote of Darkness mixed with his Light 'T is a less Injury to him to deny his Being than to deny the Purity of it the one makes him no God the other a deform'd unlovely and a detestable God Plutarch said not amiss That he should count himself less injured by that Man that should deny that there was such a Man as Plutarch than by him that should affirm that there was such a one indeed but he was a debauch'd Fellow a loose and vicious Person 'T is a less wrong to God to discard any acknowledgments of his Being and to count him Nothing than to believe him to exist but imagine a base and unholy Deity He that saith God is not Holy speaks much worse than he that saith There is no God at all Let these two Things be considered I. If any this Attribute hath an excellency above his other Perfections There are some Attributes of God we prefer because of our Interest in them and the relation they bear to us As we esteem his Goodness before his Power and his Mercy whereby he relieves us before his Justice whereby he punisheth us As there are some we more delight in because of the goodness we receive by them so there are some that God delights to honour because of their Excellency 1. None is sounded out so loftily with such solemnity and so frequently by Angels that stand before his Throne as this Where do you find any other Attribute trebled in the Praises of it as this Isai 6.3 Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his Glory and Rev. 4.8 The four Beasts rest not day and night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty c. His Power or Soveraignty as Lord of Hosts is but once mentioned but with a ternal repetition of his Holiness Do you hear in any Angelical Song any other Perfection of the Divine Nature thrice repeated Where do we read of the crying out Eternal Eternal Eternal or Faithful Faithful Faithful Lord God of Hosts Whatsoever other Attribute is left out this God would have to fill the Mouths of Angels and Blessed Spirits for ever in Heaven 2. He singles it out to swear by Psal 89.35 Once have I sworn by my Holiness that I will not lye unto David And Amos 4.2 The Lord will swear by his Holiness He twice swears by his Holiness once by his Power Isai 62.8 once by all when he swears by his Name Jer. 44.26 He lays here his Holiness to pledge for the assurance of his Promise as the Attribute most dear to him most valued by him as though no other could give an assurance parallel to it in this concern of an Everlasting Redemption which is there spoken of He that swears swears by a greater than himself God having no greater than himself swears by himself And swearing here by his Holiness seems to equal that single one to all his other Attributes as if he were more concern'd in the Honour of it than of all the rest 'T is as if he should have said since I have not a more excellent Perfection to swear by than that of my Holiness I lay this to pawn for your Security and bind my self by that which I will never part with were it possible for me to be stript of all the rest 'T is a tacit Imprecation of himself If I lye unto David let me never be counted holy or thought righteous enough to be trusted by Angels or Men. This Attribute he makes most of 3. 'T is his glory and beauty Holiness is the Honour of the Creature sanctification and honour are linkt together 1 Thess 4.4 much more is it the honour of God 't is the Image of God in the Creature * Ephes 4.24 When we take the Picture of a Man we draw the most beautiful part the Face which is a Member of the greatest excellency When God would be drawn to the Life as much as can be in the Spirit of his Creatures He is drawn in this Attribute as being the most beautiful Perfection of God and most valuable with him Power is his Hand and Arm Omniscience his Eye Mercy his Bowels Eternity his Duration his Holiness is his Beauty 2 Chron. 20 21. should praise the Beauty of Holiness In the 27 th Psalm and the 4 th Verse David desires to behold the Beauty of the Lord and enquire in his Holy Temple that is the Holiness of God manifested in his hatred of Sin in the daily Sacrifices Holiness was the Beauty of the Temple Isai 46.11 Holy and Beautiful House are joyned together much more the Beauty of God that dwelt in the Sanctuary This renders him lovely to all his Innocent Creatures though formidable to the Guilty ones * Plutarch Eugubin de Perenni Phil. lib. 6. cap. 6. A Heathen Philosopher could call it the Beauty of the Divine Essence and say That God was not so happy by an Eternity of Life as by an Excellency of Vertue And the Angels Song intimate it to be his glory Isaiah 6.3 The whole Earth is full of thy Glory that is of his Holiness in his Laws and in his Judgments against Sin that being the Attribute applauded by them before 4. 'T is his very life So it is called Ephes 4.18 Alienated from the Life of God that is from the Holiness of
in its Brightness we may behold it through a colour'd Glass whereby the lustre of it is moderated without dazling our eyes The sense of it will furnish us with a greatness of mind that little things will be contemned by us Motives of a greater alloy would have little influence upon us we should have the highest Motives to every Duty and Motives of the same strain which influence â—he Angels above It would change us not only into an Angelical Nature but a Divine Nature We should act like men of another Sphere as if we had received our Original in another World and seen with Angels the ravishing Beauties of Heaven How little would the mean Imployments of the World sink us into dirt and mud How often hath the Meditation of the Courage of a Valiant Man or Acuteness and Industry of a Learned Person spur'd on some men to an imitation of them and transform'd them into the same Nature As the looking upon the Sun imprints an Image of the Sun upon our eye that we seem to behold nothing but the Sun a while after The view of the Divine Purity would fill us with a holy generosity to imitate him more than the Examples of the best men upon Earth It was a saying of a Heathen That if Vertue were visible it would kindle a noble flame of Love to it in the heart by its ravishing beauty Shall the Infinite Purity of the Author of all Vertue come short of the strength of a Creature Can we not render that visible to us by frequent Meditation which though it be invisible in his Nature is made visible in his Law in his Ways in his Son It would make us ready to obey him since we know he cannot Command any thing that is sinful but what is holy just and good It would put all our Aff ctions in their due place elevate them above the Creature and subject them to the Creator 6. It would make us patient and contented under all God's Dispensations All penal Evils are the Fruits of his Holiness as he is Judge and Governour of the World He is not an Arbitrary Judge nor doth any Sentence pronounc'd nor Warrant for Execution issue from him but what bears upon it a Stamp of the Righteousness of his Nature he doth nothing by Passion or Unrighteousness but according to the Eternal Law of his own unstained Nature which is the Rule to him in his Works the Basis and Foundation of his Throne and Soveraign Dominion Psal 89.14 Justice or Righteousness and Judgment are the Habitation of thy Throne upon these his Soveraign Power is established So that there can be no just Complaint or Indictâ—â—â—t brought against any of his Proceedings with men How doth our Saviour who had the highest Apprehensions of God's Holiness justifie God in his deepest Distresses when he cried and was not answered in the particular he desired in that Prophetick Psalm of him Psal 22.2 3. I cry day and night but thou hearest not Thou seemest to be deaf to all my Petitions afar off from the words of my roaring but thou art holy I cast no blame upon thee All thy dealings are squar'd by thy holiness this is the only Law to thee in this I acquiesce 'T is part of thy holiness to hide thy face from me to shew thereby thy detestation of sin Our Saviour adores the Divine Purity in his sharpest Agony and a like sense of it would guide us in the same steps to acknowledge and glorifie it in our greatest desertions and afflictions especially since as they are the fruit of the holiness of his Nature so they are the means to impart to us clearer stamps of holiness according to that in himself which is the original Copy * Heb. 12.10 He melts us down as Gold to fit us for the receiving a new Impression to mortifie the Affections of the Flesh and clothe us with the Graces of his Spirit The due sense of this would make us to submit to his stroke and to wait upon him for a good issue of his dealings 2. Exhortation Is holiness a Perfection of the Divine Nature Is it the glory of the Deity Then let us glorifie this holiness of God Moses glorifies it in the Text and glorifies it in a Song which was a Copy for all Ages The whole Corporation of Seraphims have their Mouths fill'd with the praises of it The Saints whither Militant on Earth or Triumphant in Heaven are to continue the same Acclamation Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts †Rev. 4.8 Neither Angels nor glorified Spirits exalt at the same rate the Power which formed them Creatures nor Goodness which preserves them in a blessed Immortality As they do holiness which they bear some beams of in their own Nature and whereby they are capacitated to stand before his Throne Upon the account of this a Debt of Praise is demanded of all Rational Creatures by the Psalmist Psal 99.3 Let them praise thy great and terrible Name for it is holy Not so much for the greatness of his Majesty or the treasures of his Justice but as they are considered in conjunction with his holiness which renders them beautiful for it is holy Grandeur and Majesty simply in themselves are not Objects of Praise nor do they merit the Acclamations of men when destitute of Righteousness This only renders every thing else adorable and this adorns the Divine Greatness with an amiableness Isa 12.6 Great is the holy One of Israel in the midst of thee and makes his Might worthy of Praise Luke 1.49 In honouring this which is the soul and spirit of all the rest we give a glory to all the Perfections which constitute and beautifie his Nature And without the glorifying this we glorifie nothing of them though we should extoll every other single Attribute a thousand times He values no other Adoration of his Creatures unless this be interested nor accepts any thing as a glory from them Levit. 10.3 I will be sanctified in them that come near me and I will be glorified As if he had said in manifesting my Name to be holy you truly you only honour me And as the Scripture seldom speaks of this Perfection without a particular Emphasis it teaches us not to think of it without a special Elevation of heart By this act only while we are on Earth can we joyn consort with the Angels in Heaven he that doth not honour it delight in it and in the meditation of it hath no resemblance of it he hath none of the Image that delights not in the Original Every thing of God is glorious but this most of all If he built the World principally for any thing it was for the communication of his Goodness and display of his Holiness He formed the Rational Creature to manifest his Holiness in that Law whereby he was to be governed Then deprive not God of the design of his own Glory We honour this Attribute 1. When we make it
and shooting beyond our desires as well as our deserts How often in a time of confusion doth he preserve an indefensible place from the attacks of Enemies like a spark in the midst of a tempestuous Sea the rage falls upon other places round about them and by a secret Efficacy of Divine Goodness is not able to touch them He hath peculiar preservations for his Israel in Egypt and his Lots in Sodom his Daniels in the Lyons Dens and his Children in a fiery Furnace He hath a tenderness for all but a peculiar affection to those that are in Covenant with him 2. The Goodness of God is seen in taking care of the Animals and inanimate things Divine Goodness embraceth in its arms the lowest Worm as well as the loftiest Cherubin He provides Food for the Crying Ravens * Psal 147.9 and a Prey for the Appetite of the hungry Lyon †Ps 104.21 He opens his hand and fills with good those innumerable Creeping things both small and great Beasts they are all waâ—ters upon him and all are satisfied by their bountiful Master * Psal 104.25 26 27 28. They are better provided for by the Hand of Heaven than the best favourite is by an Earthly Prince For they are fill'd with good He hath made Channels in the wildest Desarts for the watering of Beasts and Trees for the Nests and Habitation of Birds * Psal 104.10 12 17. As a Law-giver to the Jews he took care that the poor Beast should not be abused by the cruelty of Man He provided for the ease of the labouring Beast in that Command of the Sabbath wherein he provided for his own service The Cattle was to do no work on it * Ex. 20.10 He order'd that the mouth of the Ox should not be Muzled while it trod out the Corn †Deut 25.4 it being the manner of those Countreys to separate the Corn from the Stalk by that means as we do in this by Thrashing regarding it as a part of Cruelty to deprive the poor Beast of tasting and satisfying it self with that which he was so officious by his labour to prepare for the use of Man And when any met with a Nest of young Birds though they might take the young to their use they were forbiden to seize upon upon the Dam that she might not lose the Objects of her Affection and her own liberty in one day * Deut. 22.6 And see how God enforceth this Precept with a threatning of a shortness of life if they transgrest it * Deut. 22.7 Thou shalt let the Dam go that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest prolong thy days He would revenge the Cruelty to Dumb Creatures with the shortness of the Oppressors life Nor would he have Cruelty used to Creatures that were separated for his Worship He therefore provides that a Cow or an Ew and their young ones should not be killed for Sacrifice in one day * Lev. 22.28 All which Precepts say the Jews are to teach Men Mercifulness to their Beasts so much doth Divine Goodness bow down it self to take notice of those mean Creatures which Men have so little regard to but for their own advantage Yea he is so good that he would have Worship declin'd for a time in favour of a distressed Beast the helping a Sheep or an Ox or an Ass out of a Pit was indulged them even on the Sabbath-day a day God had peculiarly Sanctified and order'd for his Service * Matth. 12 1â— Luke 14.5 In this case he seems to remit for a time the Rights of the Deity for the rescue of a meer Animal His Goodness extends not only to those kind of Creatures that have life but to the insensible ones He clothes the Grass and arrays the Lillies of the Field with a greater glory than Solomon had upon his Throne * Matth. 6.28 29. And such care he had of those Trees which borâ— Fruit for the maintenance of Man or Beast that he forbids any injury to be offer'd to them and bars the Rapine and Violence which by Soldiers useth to be practised Deut 20.19 though it were to promote the conquest of their Enemy How much Goodness is it that he should think of so small a thing as Man How much more that he should concern himself in things that seem so petty as Beasts and Trees Persons seated in a Soveraign Throne think it a debasing of their Dignity to regard little things But God who is infinitely greater in Majesty above the mightiest Potentate and the highest Angel yet is so infinitely good as to employ his Divine thoughts about the meanest things He who possesses the praises of Angels leaves not off the care of the meanest Creatures And that Majesty that dwells in a pure Heaven and an unconceivable Light stoops to provide for the ease of those Creatures that lie and lodge in the Dirt and Dung of the Earth How should we be careful not to use those unmercifully which God takes such care of in his Law and not to distrust that Goodness that opens his hand so liberally to Creatures of another Rank 3. The Goodness of God is seen in taking care of the meanest Rational Creatures As Servants and Criminals He provided for the liberty of Slaves and would not have their Chains continue longer than the seventh year unless they would voluntarily continue under the power of their Masters and that upon pain of his displeasure and the withdrawing his Blessing * Deut. 15.18 And though by the Laws of many Nations Masters had an absolute power of Life and Death over their Servants yet God provided that no Member should be lam'd not an Eye no nor a Tooth struck out but the Master was to pay for his folly and fury the price of the liberty of his Servant * Exod. 21.26 27. He would not suffer the abused Servant to be any longer under the power of that Man that had not Humanity to use him as one of the same Kindred and Blood with himself And though those Servants might be never so wicked yet when unjustly afflicted God would interest himself as their Guardian in their protection and delivery And when a poor Slave had been provok't by the severity of his Masters fury to turn fugitive from him he was by Divine order not to be delivered up again to his Masters fury but dwell in that City and with that Person to whom he had fled for refuge * Deut. 23.15 16. And when Publick Justice was to be administred upon the lesser sort of Criminals the Goodness of God order'd the number of blows not to exceed forty and left not the fury of Man to measure out the Punishment to excess * Deut. 25.3 And in any just quarrel against a provoking and injuring Enemy he order'd them not to ravage with the Sword till they had summon'd a Rendition of the place * Deut. 20.10 And as
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
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