Imprisoned in a Cloud shall be set in a Clear Skie The Bright Diamond of your Souls now soiled with Corruption shall be cleansed all the Black Spots now fixt there shall be changed into radiant Lights of Heaven Comfort one another with these words Vse 4. Lastly We are hence instructed in some few Duties viz. 1. To shun inward Sins Hypocrisie Pride Vain-Glory Infidelity as carefully as outward and more visible Sins God is Omniscient and views the sins of the heart as well as the sins of the Life the under Roots as well as the upper Boughs He sees Faults where men see none Nay that which shines to mans eye like a Diamond is in Gods Ballance a Contemptible Worm It was a wise practice therefore of that Arabian we read of who to prevent sin represented to himself over his head an Eye which perpetually enlightned him an Ear which heard him and an Hand which measured out all his Deportments and Demeanours Verily the due consideration of Gods Eye will blunt a thousand and a thousand Arrows shot against the heart of a resolute Christian If the exercise thereof were as familiar to us as it is effectual how powerful a motive would it be to cleanse all the impurities of our Intentions and affections and give us leave to arrive to the top of Perfection 2. To seek to him for Knowledg Ignorance is no Branch of his Image who is Omniscient Let it be the Mother of Popish Devotion suffer it not so much to be with the Profession of Christs Religion He giveth wisdom liberally He descended into the Country of Darkness to scatter Knowledg by his brightness and ceaseth not to give light and kindle in our hearts many Inspirations which are like so many Stars to conduct us to the Fountain of our Happiness Hear him promising All thy Children shall be taught of God It is his Prerogative to teach Hearts The Sun enlightens the World and Christ enlightens Souls Make it your Prayer Lord breathe upon us breathe thy Spirit into thy Word You may read the Bible and hear Sermons over and over but to no purpose till the Spirit of Christ Shine in your Hearts and the more Commerce you have with the Divine Essence the more splendour you shall enjoy And having obtained use all to his Glory from whom you receive all Be faithful Stewards Like as small Rivers which pay their Tribute and acknowledgments to the great Ocean whence they came 3. Prize the Lord Jesus Christ set an high esteem upon him why do we Reverence Learned men among our selves as those eminent Doctors Reynolds both former and latter Perkins Bolton Luther Melancthon Musculus Beza Calvin Zanchis Chamier Camero and others Among our Adversaries Lumbard Aquinas Durand Hales c. Among the Gentiles Aristotle Plutarch Homer c. With other brave Fellows separated from us by many Lands and Seas yea by Death and all for their Knowledg because we have seen a Ray of their wits upon Paper Beams of their Knowledg which was but a drop of his Ocean and a Spark of his Light who Enlightneth every one that cometh into the World this made them admired If Alexander could say That he was more bound to Aristotle his Schoolmaster than to his Natural Parent how much more are we bound unto and should we Prize and Praise our Omniscient Jesus Secondly we have here offer'd to our Consideration The Omnipotency of our God in whom we Believe He calleth i. e. he Causeth things not only to appear but also to be in time as they were willed and seen before time This Power is either Absolute whereof sacred writings say but little and about which we are not to enquire or Actual as Limited by his Will and Ordered by his Wisdom to give being and dispose his Creatures by means to their several ends Of which we are now to discourse giving us two Observations viz. 1. That our God in whom Abraham believed and we should belilve is Omnipotent 2. That the Omnipotency of our God in whom we should believe is a firm ground of Faith For the former Our God is Omnipotent He can do all things that imply not Imperfection as to Sin and deny himself to Sin is against his Supremacy he hath no Superiour against whom he might offend It is against his Natural Sanctity and Omnipotency Or that imply not a Contradiction as to be and not to be at the same time in the same Respect because that is Repugnant to Entity Thiâ— is true of all the Persons 1. Of the Father none ever Acknowledging a God denying it So we have it in the Apostles Creed I believe in God the Father Almighty Where Almighty is applyed to the Father Inclusively as Lord or Dominion is appropriated to the Son not excluding the Father or the Holy Spirit Hence it is that Hereticks have appropriated all the Attributes of Eternity Omnisciency Omnipotency to the Father alone 2. It is true of the Son John 1.3 All things were made by him and without him was nothing made Which latter Clause is added for â—…e more Certainty it being usual with the Hebrews thus by Negation to Confirm what before they have affirmed where they would assure that the thing is so indeed He is therefore stiled The first and the last Revel 1.17 It is a verity that is written with the Rays of a vast number of Divine Witnesses 3. It is true of the Holy Spirit Gen. 1.2 The Spirit moved on the Face of the Waters i. e. he sustained them by the Power of his Sublimity However Interpreters have varied hereabout yet all conclude it to be the Spirit of God nothing distinct from the Deity or Infinite Active Power of God So the Psalmist 95 Psalm which our Apostle takes notice of as spoken not by but of the Holy Spirit Hebr. 3.7 The Grounds whereof are twofold 1. The Unity of Nature doth imply equality of Power we say we believe there are three Subsistences in the Divine Essence and that each of those Persons is truely and properly God and we find such Attributes and works ascribed to the whole Nature of the Deity to the several Persons Subsisting in that Divine Nature as do evince their Power to be the same 2. This Manifestation of power is opus ad extra and therefore common According to that constant Rule of Credit among all Divines Opera Trinitatis ad extrâ— sunt indivisa But especially Attributed to the Second Person here and in most places because that is most beneficial to the Church and is most opPosed by Enemies Gen. 17.1 I am God Almighty Elshaddai signifying either Sufficiency because he is sufficient of himself as Psalm 16.2 My Goodness extendeth not to thee c. He is Infinitely above Creatures Infinite in Essence and Goodness comprehending within himself all good and anticipating it to all Eternity with an incomparable Eminency Or else it signifieth Omnipotency for the word will bear both all things yielding to him both for
as the Fire necessarily burneth and the Sun shineth Free to this or that Act as the reasonable Creature is Contingent beyond Expectation producing Effects accordingly but all known to the first Cause before they were as if they were So that there is no Room nor need for any Scientia Media Thirdly we are Informed how this Divine Omniscience is a ground of Faith viz. On a Three-fold account 1. As it is known to be infallible his Priviledge that cannot deceive nor be deceived 2. As it is known to be Immutable subject to no Alteration or Variation Jam. 1.17 he is described to be withâ—ut variableness or Shadow of Change As the Sun he Shines always with the same Rayes of Brightness Eclipses only excepted an Attribute that runs through all the rest his Mercy Council Love are all immutable his Heart is the same to day and for ever We may be Changed in our opinions and Estate but the Divine Nature never Changeth 3. As it is Incommunicable Every Creature is Finite and this is Infinite The Gods of the Gentiles were often herein challenged and found wanting The first Angels would have had it but sunk under the weight of that desire and Adams Candle aspiring to be a Sun hath burnt the dimmer ever since All these laid together will prove a strong Motive to believe In the Second Vse of this point is discovered the folly of men in two things viz. First In endeavouring to prevent Gods Omnisciency by sinning securely because secretly and digging deep to hide their Plots Hear the Language of the Prophet Isa 24.15,16 We to them that digg deep to hide their Counsels from the Lord. They think no eye seeth them not his who can do nothing but see How vain The Eyes of God are like two Flaming Torches more resplendent than the Sun it self none can steal from his Lightning Flashes Screetch-Owls may find Holes and Nights to keep them from the day which they cannot abide but he that flies from the Face of God where can he find darkness enough to hide himself O blind and insensible Fugative from the Sovereign Essence in the Region of Nothing whither wilt thou go not to find the reproaches of thy Crimes Be Confident he that can save from the deadliest extremities can also see in the darkest obscurities Secondly In endeavouring to usurp it and that 1. By manifest falshood not only of the Pope and his adherents defining and concluding things that are not as though they were but others also who daringly call their Sins Gods Temptations The Woman thou gavest me c. And many have laid the Bastards of Heresie to the door of the Sanctuary and called Diabolical Seductions Evangelical Revelations as if the Father of Lights could bring forth the Issues of Death This is to usurp the Royal Prerogative of Heaven and to invade the Lords Incommunicable Property 2. By Flattery and that either of our selves or others Of our selves calling Carnal Contents Pleasure Dissolute Passions true Mirth Covetousness Providence Vain-Glory Curiosity Presumption Hope Fading Creatures true Riches against our Knowledge Solomon calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things that are not in comparison of true Riches Contentment and Duration for they make to themselves Wings and flie away as the Eagle towards Heaven Of others especially the Great and the Rich for sooner will an hot May want flies than such want Flatterers calling them to be what they are not Such was that Parasite who endeavoured to puff up King Canutus by telling him that all his Dominions nay the Seas themselves were at his Command And Onuphirus the Popes Biographer praised Hildebrand or Gregory the Seventh for notable Acts and great Vertues whom Cardinal Pembo truely described to have been a Murtherer an Adulterer a Conjurer every way as bad as might be Mark Anthony was a Prince extreamly dissolute yet was by his Flatterers called God Bacchus and he soon came to that shameful impudence as to have that title engraved on his Statute Such servile Souls there are who bind themselves like Fishers Angling Lines seeing their advantages to depend on impertinent Discourse and that the false Altars of Worldly Greatness will be served with such Smoke spare it no more than a man would water in a River No Age but has been pestered with such Cattle Nero's Courtiers would sooth him up for his singing though it were exceeding ill with a Quam pulcher Caesar Apollo Augustus Like the Flatterer in the Fable who accomodating himself to the time gave the Ape many specious praises saying He was a Vermilian Rose and that those that environ'd him his Young Ones were the Leaves that he was the Sun and those about him were the Raies that he was as Valiant as a Lyon all his off-spring were a Race of Young Lyons With a multitude among our selves who call the niggard Bountiful the Voluptuous Chaste the Proud Humble the Civil Man Religious above their Knowledge they are not so we see it neither can we make them so and therefore should not call them so Vse 3. In the third place this Doctrine yeilds singular comfort to all the Faithful Your Saviour 1. Knows all your enemies to prevent them He that sits in Heaven Laughs them to scorn the Lord will have them in Derision be they never so cunning and politick the Divine Providence shut up in a Cloud Roareth over their heads and in a moment will overthrow the Mountains of Wind which the Tyrants of the World raise one upon the other and make their silly wisdom appear like an Owl unfeathered and asham'd at the Raies of Noon-day though their alâ—itudes may be so many Ravishments to dark the Earth As it was once said of Anthony concerning Augustus so it may be of Christ and the Enemies of his people His Geinus goes beyond theirs 2. He knows all our wants to supply them inward outward of Soul Body for Present for Future Cheer up your drooping Spirits in the Consideration of your Saviour In him dwelleth all fulness as he is Mediatour established and destinated for your Salvation so that all Perfection Riches Grace and Excellencies meet there together Divinity and Humanity fill'd with all the Qualities and Properties that pertain to them there concur which Christ hath not for himself but for his People as the Sea hath Water to Convey unto the Earth and the great Luminary hath Brightness to Enlighten the Heavens and the Earth that from it as from a Common source might Stream forth into all things all the Flame and Warmth they want 3. Christ knows all your Sins to Pardon and Subdue them He calleth you now what you are not Cant. 4.7 Thou art all fair my Love and there is no Spot in thee You shall be because he will make you so Your Light shall be without any Shadow your Beauty without the least Spot to disgrace it Those Roses that are now in their Blossom shall be fully blown and those Stars which are now