goodness and mercy of God as the sum of his Perfections what one Evangelist hath be ye merciful as your Father which is in Heaven is merciful is rendred in another be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Goodness is so essential to a perfect Being that if we once strip God of this property we rob him of the Glory of all his other Perfections and therefore when Moses desired to see God's Glory he said he would make all his goodness to pass before him Exod. 33.19 This is the most amiable Perfection and as it were the Beauty of the Divine Nature Zach. 9.17 how great is thy goodness how great is thy beauty sine bonitate nulla majestas without goodness there can be no majesty Other excellencies may cause fear and amazement in us but nothing but Goodness can command sincere love and veneration 2. there are some footsteps of this Perfection in the Creatures and therefore it must be much more eminently in God There is in every Creature some representation of some divine Perfection or other but God doth not own any Creature to be after his image that is destitute of Goodness The Creatures that want Reason and Understanding are incapable of this Moral Goodness we are speaking of Man is the first in the rank of Creatures that is endowed with it and he is said to be made after the image of God and to have dominion given him over the Creatures below him to signifie to us that if man had not been made after God's image in respect of Goodness he had been unfit to rule over other Creatures because without Goodness dominion would be Tyranny and Oppression And the more any Creature partakers of this Perfection of Goodness the more it resembles God as the Blessed Angels who behold the face of God continually and are thereby transformed into his image from glory to glory their whole business and imployment is to do good and the Devil tho' he resemble God in other Perfections of Knowledge and Power yet because he is evil and envious and mischievous and so contrary to God in this Perfection he is the most opposite and and hateful to him of all Creatures whatsoever And if this Perfection be in some degree in the Creature it is much more in God if it be derived from him he is much more eminently possest of it himself All that Goodness which is in the best natured of the Sons of Men or in the most glorious Angels of Heaven is but an imperfect and weak representation of the Divine Goodness The Third thing I proposed to consider was the Effects of the Divine Goodness together with the large extent of it in respect of the Objects of it the Lord is good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works thou art good and dost good says David Psal 119.68 The great evidence and demonstration of God's Goodness is from the Effects of it To the same purpose St. Paul speaks Acts 14.17 He hath not left himself without Witness in that he doth good and sends us Rain from Heaven and fruitful Seasons I shall consider the Effects of the Divine Goodness under these Two Heads I. The universal extent of God's Goodness to all his Creatures II. I shall consider more particularly the Goodness of God to Men which we are more especially concern'd to take notice of I. The universal extent of his Goodness to the whole Creation the Lord is Good to all The whole Creation furnisheth us with clear evidences and demonstrations of the Divine Goodness which way soever we cast our Eyes we are encountered with undeniable Instances of the Goodness of God and every thing that we behold is a sensible demonstration of it the Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy work says the Psalmist Psal 19.1 And again Psal 33.5 The Earth is full of the Goodness of the Lord. The whole Frame of this World and every Creature in it and all the several degrees of Being and Perfection which are in the Creatures and the Providence of God towards them all in the preservation of them and providing for the happiness of all of them in such degrees as they are capable of it are a plentiful demonstration of the Divine Goodness which I shall endeavour to illustrate in these Four Particulars 1. The universal Goodness of God appears in giving Being to so many Creatures 2. In making them all so very good considering the variety and order and end of them 3. In his continual preservation of them 4. In providing so abundantly for the welfare and happiness of all of them so far as they are capable and sensible of it 1. The extent of God's Goodness appears in giving Being to so many Creatures And this is a pure effect of Goodness to impart and communicate Being to any thing Had not God been good but of an envious and narrow and contracted nature he would have confined all Being to himself and been unwilling that any thing besides himself should have been but his Goodness prompted him to spread and diffuse himself and set his Power and Wisdom on work to give Being to all that variety of Creatures which we see and know to be in the World and probably to infinite more than we have the knowledge of Now it is not imaginable that God could have any other motive to do this but purely the Goodness of his Nature All the motives imaginable besides this must either be indigency and want or constraint and necessity but neither of these can have any place in God and therefore it was meer Goodness that moved him to give Being to other things and therefore all Creatures have reason with the four and twenty Elders in the Revelations to cast their crowns before the throne of God saying thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure that is of thy meer goodness they are and were created 1. Indigency and Want can have no place in God because he that hath all possible Perfection hath all plenty in himself from whence results All-sufficiency and compleat Happiness So that the Divine Nature need not look out of it self for Happiness being incapable of any addition to the Happiness and Perfection it is already possest of ipsa suis pollens opibus nihil indiga nostri We make things for our use Houses to shelter us and Cloaths to keep us warm and we propagate our Kind to perpetuate our selves in our posterity But all this supposeth imperfection and want and mortality to none of which the Divine Nature is liable and obnoxious Nay it was not want of glory which made God to make the World 'T is true indeed the glory of God's Goodness doth herein appear and Creatures endowed with understanding have reason to take notice of it with thankfulness praise and admiration but there is no happiness redounds to God
world which in all probability was added to the former because they supposed that the one was presently to follow the other and therefore the same answer would serve them both and it appears by our Saviour's answer that he was not concerned to rectifie them in this mistake which might be of good use to them both to make them more zealous to propagate the Gospel since there was like to be so little time for it and likewise to wean their affections from this World which they thought to be so near an end One thing indeed our Saviour says which had they not been prepossest with another Opinion does sufficiently intimate that there might be a considerable space of time betwixt the destruction of Jerusalem and the day of Judgment and this we find only in St. Luke Ch. 21.24 where speaking of the Miseries and Calamities that should come upon the Jews he says They shall fall by the edge of the sword and be carried into captivity into all nations and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled So that here were a great many Events foretold betwixt the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the World the accomplishment whereof might take up a great deal of time as appears by the Event of things Jerusalem being at this day still trodden down by the Gentiles and the Jews still continuing disperst over the world but the Disciples it seems did not much mind this being carryed away with a prejudicate conceit that the end of the World would happen before the end of that Age in which they were much confirmed by what our Saviour after his Resurrection said of St. John upon occasion of Peter's question concerning him John 21.21 22. Lord what shall this man do Jesus saith unto him If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee Upon which words of our Saviour concerning him St. John himself adds v. 23. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren that that disciple should not die that is that he should live till the coming of our Lord and then be taken up with him into Heaven from all which they probably as they thought concluded that the day of Judgment would happen before the end of that Age whilst St. John was alive but St. John who writ last of all the Evangelists as Eusebius tells us and lived till after the destruction of Jerusalem as he acquaints us with this mistake which was currant among the Christians so he takes care to rectifie it telling us That Jesus said not he should not die but if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee He tells us that our Saviour did not affirm that he should not die but to repress St Peter's Curiosity he says If it were my pleasure that he should not die at all but live till I come to Judgment what is that to thee And St. Peter likewise or whoever was the Author of this second Epistle or at least of this third Chapter which seems to be a new Epistle by it self takes notice of this mistake about the nearness of the day of Judgment as that which gave occasion to these Scoffers to deride the expectation of a future Judgment among the Christians because they had been already deceived about the time of it and this the Scoffers twitted them with in that Question Where is the promise of his coming And therefore the learned Grotius conjectures very probably that this last Epistle contained in the third Chapter was written after the destruction of Jerusalem which was the time fixt for Christ's coming to Judgment and therefore there could be no ground for this Scoff till after that time St. Peter indeed did not live so long and therefore Grotius thinks that this Epistle was writ by Simeon or Simon who was Successor of St. James in the Bishoprick of Jerusalem and lived to the time of Trajan I have been the longer in giving an account of this that we might understand where the ground and force of this Scoff lay namely in this That because the Christians had generally been very confident that the coming of Christ to Judgment would be presently after the destruction of Jerusalem and were now found to be deceived in that therefore there was no regard to be had at all to their expectation of a future Judgment because they might be deceiv'd in that as well as in the other But herein they argued very falsly because our Saviour had positively and peremptorily foretold his coming to Judgment but had never fixt and determined the time of it nay so far was he from that that he had plainly told his Disciples that the precise time of the day of Judgment God had reserved as a Secret to himself which he had not imparted to any no not to the Angels in Heaven nor to the Son himself Mark 13.32 33. But of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the angels which are in heaven neither the Son but the Father Take ye heed watch and pray for ye know not when the time is So that if they presumed to make any conjectures about the time when the day of Judgment would be they did it without any Warrant from our Lord it was great presumption in them to determine the time of it when our Saviour had so expresly told them that the Father had reserved this as a Secret which he had never communicated to any and therefore if they were mistaken about it it was no wonder But their mistake in this was no prejudice to the truth of our Saviour's clear Prediction of a future Judgment without any determination of the time of it for that might be at some thousands of Years distance and yet be certain for all that and the delay of it was no sign of the uncertainty of our Saviour's Prediction concerning it but only of God's great Patience and long-suffering to Sinners in expectation of their Repentance God is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long-suffering to us-ward And this brings me to the Third and last Particular in the Text namely The true Reason of God's Patience and long-suffering to Mankind He is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance And for this St. Peter cites St. Paul v. 15 th of this Chapter And account that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation that is that the great End and Design of God's goodness and long-suffering to Sinners is that they may repent and be saved Account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you Now these words are not expresly found in St. Paul's Writings but the Sense and Effect of them is viz. in Rom. 2.4 Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the
come to answer Objections against this Doctrine There are two Objections against this 1. From Reason 2. From Scripture 1. Obj. Reason will be ready to suggest that this is a disparagement to the Divine Nature to tye his Presence to this vile Dunghil of the Earth and fordid Sink of Hell This is a gross Apprehension of God and a measuring of him by our selves Indeed if we look upon God as capable of Injury and Suffering and Offence from the Contagion of any thing here below as we are then indeed there were some strength in this Objection but he is a blessed and pure Being Mens segregata ab omni concretione mortali A Mind free from all mortal Composition or Mixture Tully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disentangled from every thing passible as Plut. Those things that are nauseous to our Senses do not affect him Darkness is uncomfortable to us but the Darkness and the Light are all one to him Wickedness may hurt a man or the son of man but if we multiply our transgressions we do nothing to God as Elihu speaks Job 35.6 Nothing can disquiet or discompose his happy and blessed Nature but he converseth here in this dark and troubled World with less danger of Disturbance or any impure Contagion than the Sun-beams 2. Obj. Does not the Scripture tell us that God sits in the Heavens and dwells on high that Heaven is his throne and that it is the City of the great God Doth not the Lord's Prayer teach us to say Our Father which art in heaven Is he not said to look down from heaven and to hear in heaven his dwelling-place Is it not said that he doth not dwell in temples made with hands And does not Solomon 1 Kings 8.27 put it as a strange question will God indeed dwell on the earth Is he not said to come down and draw near to us and to be afar off from us Now how does this agree with his Immensity and Omnipresence For answer to this I must distinguish the Presence of God There is 1 st his glorious Presence that is such a Presence of God as is accompanied with an extraordinary manifestation of his Glory and that is especially and chiefly confined to Heaven in respect of which it is called his Seat and Throne and the Habitation of his Glory Some degree of this was in the Temple which is the reason of Solomon's Admiration will God indeed dwell on Earth 2 dly There is his gracious Presence which discovers it self by miraculous effects of his Favour and Goodness and Assistance and thereby he is said to dwell in the hearts of good Men and with them that are of an humble and contrite Spirit Isa 57.15 and in respect of this he is said to draw near to us to look down upon us and in respect of the absence of this to be far from us 3 dly There is his essential Presence which is equally and alike in all Places and this is not excluded by those former Expressions which the Scripture useth to denote to us the glorious and gracious Presence of God Fourthly To make some Inferences I will mention only such as the Scripture here takes notice of speaking of God's Immensity I. Inf. That God is a Spirit This necessarily flows from his Immensity for if the Essence of God be every where diffused the Divine Nature must be spiritual otherwise it could not be in the same place were Body and Matter is but must be shut out of the World But this I spoke more largely to in my Discourse of God's being a Spirit This the Psalmist observes here Where shall I go from thy Spirit If he were not a Spirit we might go from him and hide our selves from his Presence II. Inf. That God is Incomprehensible That which is infinite cannot be measured and comprehended by that which is finite and this also the Psalmist takes notice of in the Verse before my Text Such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain it III. Inf. That God is Omniscient If God be every where then he knows all things yea even the hidden things of Darkness the Secrets of our Hearts nothing can be hid from an infinite Eye he is present to our Thoughts intimate to our Hearts and Reins this the Psalmist takes notice of 1 2 3 4 and 12 Verses IV. Inf. That God is Omnipotent He can do all things Distance limits the Power of Creatures and makes their hands short but God is every where nothing is out of his reach and this also the Psalmist intimates in the Text v. 10. Even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand hold me Fifthly The Use and Improvement I shall make of this shall be 1. To awaken our Fear of him 2. To encourage our Faith and Confidence in him 1. To awaken our Fear of him The Consideration of God's Presence should awaken in us a Fear of Reverence The Presence of an earthly Majesty will awe our Spirits and compose us to Reverence yea the Presence of a wise and good Man how much more should the Presence of the great and glorious the wise and the holy and the just God strike an awe upon our Spirits Wherever we are God is with us we always converse with him and live continually in his Presence now a Heathen could say cum Diis verecunaè agendum We must behave our selves modestly because we are in the presence of God And it should awaken in us a Fear to offend God and a Fear of the divine displeasure for having offended him Fear is the most wakeful Passion in the Soul of man and is the first Principle that is wrought upon in us from the Apprehensions of a Deity it flows immediately from the principle of Self-preservation which God hath planted in every Man's Nature we have a natural Dread and Horror for every thing that can hurt us and endanger our Being or Happiness now the greatest Danger is from the greatest Power for where we are clearly over-match'd we cannot hope to make Opposition nor Resistance with security and success to râ—bel with Safety now he that apprehends God to be near him and present to him believes such a Being to stand by him as is possest of an infinite and irresistible Power and will vindicate all Contempt of the Divine Majesty and Violation of his Laws If we believe God to be always present with us Fear will continually take hold of us and we shall say of every place as Jacob did of Bethel surely God is in this place how dreadful is this place When we have at any time provoked God if we believe the just God is at hand to revenge himself and if we believe the power of his anger we shall say with David Psa 76.7 Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand before thee when thou art angry Psa 119.120 My flesh trembleth because of thee and I am afraid of thy Judgments Sinners consider
sometimes rewarded in this World and domineering and outragious Wickedness is very often remarkably checkt and chastised All which Instances of God's Providence as they are greatly for the advantage and comfort of Mankind so are they an effectual declaration of that Goodness which governs all things and of God's kind care of the affairs and concernments of Men so that if we look no farther than this World we may say with David Verily there is a reward for the Righteous verily there is a God that judgeth the earth I know this Argument hath been perverted to a quite contrary purpose that if goodness govern'd the World and administred the Affairs of it good and evil would not be so carelesly and promiscously dispensed good Men would not be so great sufferers nor wicked Men so prosperous as many times they are But this also if rightly considered is an Effect of God's goodness and infinite Patience to Mankind That he causeth his Sun to rise and his Rain to fall upon the just and unjust That upon the Provocations of Men he does not give over his care of them and throw all things into confusion and ruin this plainly shews that he designs this Life for the tryal of Men's Virtue and Obedience in order to the greater reward of it and therefore he suffers Men to walk in their own ways without any great check and controle and reserves the main bulk of Rewards and Punishments for another World So that all this is so far from being any Objection against the goodness of God that on the contrary it is an Argument of God's immense Goodness and infinite Patience that the World subsists and continues and that he permits Men to take their course for the fuller tryal of them and the clearer and most effectual declaration of his Justice in the Rewards and Punishments of another life Fourthly and Lastly The Goodness of God to Mankind most gloriously appears in the provision he hath made for our Eternal Happiness What the happiness of Man should have been had he continued in Innocency is not particularly revealed to us but this is certain that by willful transgression we have forfeited all that happiness which our Natures are capable of In this lapsed and ruinous condition of Mankind the Goodness and Mercy of God was pleased to employ his Wisdom for our Recovery and to restore us not only to a new but a greater capacity of Glory and Happiness And in order to this the Son of God assumes our Nature for the recovery and redemption of Man and the pardon of Sin is purchased for us by his Blood Eternal Life and the Way to it are clearly discover'd to us God is pleased to enter into a New and better Covenant with us and to afford us inward grace and assistance to enable us to perform the Conditions of it and graciously to accept of our Faith and Repentance of our sincere Resolutions and Endeavours of Holiness and Obedience for Perfect and Compleat Righteousness for his sake who fullfilled all righteousness This is the great and amazing goodness of God to Mankind that when we were in open Rebellion against him he should entertain thoughts of Peace and Reconciliation and when he past by the fall'n Angels he should set his Affection and Love upon the sinful and miserable Sons of Men. And herein is the love of God to men perfected that as he hath made all Creatures both above us and below us subservient and instrumental to our subsistence and preservation so for the ransom of our Souls from eternal Ruin and Misery he hath not spared his own Son but hath given him up to death for us him whom he hath commanded all the Angels of God to worship and to whom he hath made subject all Creatures in Heaven and Earth Him who made the World and who upholds all things by the word of his power who is the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person And after such a stupendious Instance as this what may we not reasonably hope for and promise our selves from the Divine Goodness So the Apostle hath taught us to reason Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things SERMON III. Vol. VII The Goodness of God PSAL. CXLV 9 The Lord is Good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works IN handling this Argument I proceeded in this Method First To consider what is the proper Notion of Goodness Secondly To shew that this Perfection of Goodness belongs to God Thirdly I considered the Effects of the Divine Goodness under these Heads I. The universal Extent of it in the number variety order end and design of the things created by him and his preservation and providing for the welfare and happiness of them II. I considered more particularly the Goodness of God to Mankind of which I gave these four Instances 1. That he hath given us such noble Beings and placed us in so high a rank and order of his Creatures 2. In that he hath made and ordained so many things chiefly for us 3. In that he exerciseth so peculiar a Providence over us above the rest that tho he is said to be good to all he is only said to love the Sons of Men. 4. In that he hath provided for us eternal Life and Happiness There only now remains the Fourth and last particular to be spoken to which was to answer some Objections which may seem to contradict and bring in question the Goodness of God and they are many and have some of them especially great difficulty in them and therefore it will require great consideration and care to give a clear and satisfactory answer to them which undoubtedly they are capable of the Goodness of God being one of the most certain and unquestionable Truths in the World I shall mention those which are most considerable and obvious and do almost of themselves spring up in every Man's Mind and they are these Four the first of them more general the other three more particular First If God be so exceeding good whence comes it to pass that there is so much Evil in the World of several kinds Evil of Imperfection Evil of Affliction or Suffering and which is the greatest of all others and indeed the cause of them Evil of Sin Secondly The Doctrine of absolute Reprobation by which is meant the decreeing of the greatest part of Mankind to eternal Misery and Torment without any consideration or respect to their Sin or Fault this seems notoriously to contradict not only the Notion of infinite Goodness but any competent measure and degree of Goodness Thirdly The eternal Misery and Punishment of Men for temporal Faults seems hard to be reconciled with that excess of Goodness which we suppose to be in God Fourthly The Instances of God's great severity to Mankind upon occasion in those great Calamities which by the
the Divine Attributes are very awful but goodness is amiable and without this nothing else is so Power and Wisdom may command Dread and Admiration but nothing but Goodness can challenge our Love and Affection Goodness is amiable for it self tho' no benefit and advantage should from thence redound to us but when we find the comfortable Effects of it when the riches of God's goodness and long-suffering and forbearance are laid out upon us when we live upon that goodness and are indebted to it for all that we have and hope for this is a much greater endearment to us of that excellency and perfection which was amiable for it self We cannot but love him who is good and does us good whose goodness extends to all his Creatures but is exercised in so peculiar a manner towards the Sons of Men that it is called Love and if God vouchsafe to love us well may this be the first and great Commandment Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind 2. The consideration of God's goodness is likewise an argument to us to fear him not as a Slave does his Master but as a Child does his Father who the more he loves him the more afraid is he to offend him There is forgiveness with thee saith the Psalmist that thou mayest be feared because God is ready to forgive we should be afraid to offend Men shall fear the Lord and his goodness saith the Prophet Hosea 3.5 And indeed nothing is more to be dreaded than despised Goodness and abused Patience which turns into Fury and Vengeance despisest thou the riches of his goodness and long-suffering and forbearance says the Apostle and treasurest up to thy self wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God 3. The consideration of God's goodness is a powerful motive to obedience to his Laws and as the Apostle expresseth it to walk worthy of the Lord unto all well pleasing being fruitful in every good work This Argument Samuel useth to the People of Israel to perswade them to obedience 1 Sam. 12.24 Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart for consider what great things all he hath done for you And indeed the Laws which God hath given us are one of the chief Instances of his goodness to us since they all tend to our good and are proper Causes and Means of our Happiness so that in challenging our obedience to his Laws as acknowledgments of our obligation to him for his Benefits he lays a new obligation and confers a greater benefit upon us All that his Laws require of us is to do that which is best for our selves and does most directly conduce to our own welfare and happiness Considering our infinite obligations to God he might have challenged our obedience to the severest and harshest Laws he could have imposed upon us so that as the Servants said to Naaman Had the Prophet bid thee do some great thing wouldst thou not have done it how much more when he hath only said wash and be clean If God had required of us things very grievous and burthensome in love and gratitude to him we ought to have yielded a ready and chearful obedience to such Commands how much more when he hath only said do this and be happy In testimony of your love to me do these things which are the greatest kindness and benefit to your selves 4. The goodness of God should lead Men to Repentance One of the greatest aggravations of our Sins is that we offend against so much goodness and make so bad a requital for it Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish People and unwise The proper tendency of God's goodness and patience to Sinners is to bring them to a sense of their miscarriage and to a resolution of a better course When we reflect upon the blessings and favours of God and his continual goodness to us can we chuse but be ashamed of our terrible ingratitude and disobedience Nothing is more apt to make an ingenuous Nature to relent than the sense of undeserved kindness that God should be so good to us who are evil and unthankful to him that tho' we be Enemies to him yet when we hunger he feeds us when we thirst he gives us to drink heaping as it were coals of fire on our heads on purpose to melt us into Repentance and to overcome our evil by his goodness 5. The consideration of God's goodness is a firm ground of trust and confidence What may we not hope and assuredly expect from immense and boundless goodness If we have right apprehensions of the goodness of God we cannot possibly distrust him or doubt of the performance of those gracious promises which he hath made to us the same goodness which inclined him to make such promises will effectually ingage him to make them good If God be so good as he hath declared himself why should we think that he will not help us in our need and relieve us in our distress and comfort us in our afflictions and sorrows If we may with confidence rely upon any thing to confer good upon us and to preserve and deliver us from Evil we may trust infinite goodness 6. The goodness of God is likewise an argument to us to patience and contentedness with every condition If the Hand of God be severe and heavy upon us in any Affliction we may be assured that it is not without great cause that so much goodness is so highly offended and displeased with us that he designs our good in all the Evils he sends upon us and does not chasten us for his pleasure but for our profit that we are the cause of our own Sufferings and our Sins separate between God and us and with-hold good things from us that in the final issue and result of things all things shall work together for good to us and therefore we ought not to be discontented at any thing which will certainly end in our Happiness 7. Let us imitate the goodness of God The highest Perfection of the best and most perfect Being is worthy to be our Pattern This the Scripture frequently proposeth to us Math. 5.48 Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect How is that in being good and kind and merciful as God is But I say unto you says our Lord Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despightfully use you and persecute you that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven for he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust And then it follows Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is heaven is perfect The same Pattern St. Paul proposeth to us Eph. 4.32 and Ch. 5.1 Be ye kind one to
stir up in us shame and sorrow for Sin The Judgments of God may break us but the consideration of God's Mercy should rather melt and dissolve us into Tears Luke 7.47 The Woman that washed Christ's Feet with her Tears and wiped them with her Hair the account that our Saviour gives of the great Affection that she expressed to him was she Loved much because much was forgiven her and she grieved much because much was forgiven her Especially we should sorrow for those Sins which have been committed by us after God's Mercies received Mercies after Sins should touch our Hearts and make us relent It should grieve us that we should offend and provoke a God so Gracious and Merciful so slow to anger and so ready to forgive But Sin against Mercies and after we have received them is attended with one of the greatest Aggravations of Sin And as Mercy raises the guilt of our Sins so it should raise our sorrow for them No Consideration is more apt to work upon human Nature than that of kindness and the greater Mercy has been shewed to us the greater our sins and the greater cause of sorrow for them contraries do illustrate and set off one another in the great Goodness and Mercy of God to us we see the great Evil of our Sins against him Every Sin has the Nature of Rebellion and Disobedience but sins against Mercy have Ingratitude in them When ever we break the Laws of God we rebel against our Soveraign but as we sin against the Mercies of God we injure our Benefactor This makes our sin to be horrid and astonishing Isa 1.2 Hear O heavens and give ear O earth I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me All the Mercies of God are aggravations of our sins 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. And Nathan said to David thus saith the Lord God of Israel I anointed thee king over Israel and delivered thee out of the hands of Saul and I gave thee thy masters house and thy masters wives into thy bosom and gave thee the house of Isreal and of Judah and if that had been too little I would moreover have given thee such and such things Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight God reckons up all his Mercies and from them aggravates David's sin 1 Kings 11.9 He takes notice of all the unkind returns that we make to his Mercy and 't is the worst temper in the World not to be wrought upon by kindness not to be melted by Mercy no greater evidence of a wicked Heart than that the Mercies of God have no effect upon it Esay 26.10 Let favour be shewn to the wicked yet will he not learn righteousness Vse 3. Let us imitate the merciful Nature of God This branch of God's goodness is very proper for our imitation The general Exhortation of our Saviour Matt. 5.48 Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect is more particularly expressed by St. Luke Luke 6.30 Be ye therefore merciful as your Father which is in heaven is merciful Men affect to make Images and impossible Representations of God but as Seneca saith Crede Deòs cùm propitii essent fictiles fuisse We may draw this Image and likeness of God we may be gracious and merciful as he is Christ who was the express image of his Father his whole life and undertaking was a continued work of mercy he went about doing good to the Souls of Men by Preaching the Gospel to them and to the Bodies of Men in healing all manner of Diseases There is nothing that he recommends more to us in his Gospel than this Spirit and Temper Mat. 5.7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy How many Parables doth he use to set forth the mercy of God to us with a design to draw us to the imitation of it The Parable of the Prodigal of the good Samaritan of the Servant to whom he forgave 10000 Talents We should imitate God in this in being tender and compassionate to those that are in misery This is a piece of natural indispensable Religion to which positive and instituted Religion must give way Amos 6.6 I desired mercy and not sacrifice which is twice cited and used by our Saviour Micah 6.8 He hath shewed thee O Man what it is that the Lord thy God requires of thee to do justice and love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God This is always one part of the description of a good Man that he is apt to pity the miseries and necessities of others Psal 37.26 He is ever merciful and lendeth He is far from cruelty not only to Men but even to the brute Creatures Prov. 12.10 A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast There is nothing more contrary to the nature of God than a cruel and savage disposition not to be affected with the miseries and sufferings of others how unlike is this to the father of mercies and the God of consolation When we can see Cruelty exercised and our Bowels not be stirred within us nor our hearts be pricked how unlike is this to God who is very pitiful and of tender mercies But to rejoyce at the miseries of others this is inhumane and barbarous Hear how God threatens Edom for rejoycing at the miseries of his Brother Jacob Obadiah 10 11 12 13 14. But to delight to make others miserable and to aggravate their sufferings this is devilish this is the temper of Hell and the very spirit of the Destroyer It becomes Man above all other Creatures to be merciful who hath had such ample and happy experience of God's mercy to him and doth still continually stand in need of mercy from God God hath been very merciful to us Had it not been for the tender Mercies of God to us we had all of us long since been miserable Now as we have receiv'd mercy from God we should shew it to others The Apostle useth this as an Argument why we should relieve those that are in misery and want because we have had such experience of the mercy and love of God to us 1 John 3.16 17. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us But whoso hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother have need c. how dwelleth the love of God in him That Man hath no sense of the mercy of God abiding upon his Heart that is not merciful to his Brother And 't is an Argument why we should forgive one another Eph. 4.32 Be ye kind one to another tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Chap. 5.1 Be ye therefore followers of God as dear Children Col. 3.12 13. Put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against
of it Psal 29.1 Give unto the Lord O ye mighty give unto the Lord glory and strength So likewise it should take Men off from relying upon their own strength which at the best is but an arm of flesh as the Scripture calls it for the weakness of it Do we not see that many times the battel is not to the strong That things are not done by might and by power but by the spirit of the Lord. When he appears against the most potent their hearts melt within them and there is no more spirit left in them as 't is said of the mighty Inhabitants of Canaan Josh 5.1 Thirdly We should make this Omnipotence of God the Object of our trust and confidence This is the most proper use we can make of this Doctrine as David does in this Psalm and this was used for a form of blessing the People in the Name of God Psal 136.3 The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee And David when he magnifies God's deliverance of his People from the multitude of their Enemies resolves it into this Our help standeth in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth Thus did the great Pattern and Example of Faith incourage and support his confidence in God in a very difficult tryal he staggered not at it because he believed God who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things that be not as tho' they were therefore against hope he believed in hope c. Rom. 4.17 c. This gives life to all our Devotion to be perswaded that God is able to do for us exceedingly above what we can ask or think and that his is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory I shall only caution two things as to our relyance on the Power of God I. Labour to be such Persons to whom God hath promised that he will engage and imploy his Omnipotence for their good If we hope for any good from the Almighty we must walk before him and be perfect as he said to Abraham Good Men have a peculiar interest in God's Power hence he is called the strength of Israel and the mighty one of Israel If we do what God requires of us we may expect that he will put forth his Power and exert his Arm for us but if we disobey we must expect he will manifest his Power against us Ez. 8.22 When we do well we may commit the keeping of our souls to him 1 Pet. 4.19 II. Our expectations from the Omnipotence of God must be with submission to his Pleasure and Goodness and Wisdom we must not expect that God will manifest his Power when we think there is occasion for it but when it seems best to him he will so imploy his Omnipotence as to manifest his Goodness and Wisdom And with these two Cautions we may rely upon him in all our Wants both Spiritual and Temporal for his Divine Power can give us all things that pertain to life and godliness 2 Pet. 1.3 We may trust him at all times for the Omnipotent God neither slumbereth nor sleepeth the Almighty fainteth not neither is he weary trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength SERMON XI Vol. VII· The Spirituality of the Divine Nature JOHN IV. 24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth THese are the words of our Saviour to the Woman of Samaria who was speaking to him of the difference between the Samaritans and the Jews concerning Religion v. 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain but ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship Christ tells her The time was coming when the worshippers of God should neither be confined to that mountain nor to Jerusalem but men should worship the Father in spirit and in truth when this carnal and ceremonial and typical Worship of God should be exalted into a more spiritual a more real and true and substantial Religion which should not be confined to one Temple but should be universally diffused through the World Now such a Worship as this is most agreeable to the Nature of God for he is a spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth In the words we have First A Proposition laid down God is a spirit Secondly A Corollary or Inference deduced from it they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth I shall speak of the Proposition as that which concerns my present Design and afterward speak something to the Corollary or Inference deduced from it together with some other Inferences drawn from this truth by way of Application First That God is a spirit This expression is singular and not to be parallell'd again in the Scripture indeed we have often mention made in Scripture of the spirit of God and the spirit of the Lord which signifies a Divine Power and Energy and of the holy Spirit signifying the third Person in the Trinity God is call'd the God of the Spirits of all flesh Numb 16.22.27.16 much in the same Sense as he is call'd the Father of Spirits Heb. 12.9 that is the Creator of the Souls of Men but we no where meet with this expression or any other equivalent to it that God is a spirit but only in this place nor had it been used here but to prove that the best Worship of God that which is most proper to him is spiritual so that the thing which our Saviour here intends is not to prove the Spiritual Nature of God but that his Worship ought to be spiritual nor indeed is there any necessity that it should have been any where said in Scripture that God is a spirit it being the natural Notion of a God no more than it is necessary that it should be told us that God is good or that he is infinite and eternal and the like or that the Scripture should prove to us the Being of a God All these are manifest by the Light of Nature and if the Scripture mention them it is ex abundanti and it is usually in order to some further purpose For we are to know that the Scripture supposeth us to be Men and to partake of the common Notions of Human Nature and therefore doth not teach us Philosophy nor solicitously instruct us in those things which are born with us but supposeth the knowledge of these and makes use of these common Principles and Notions which are in us concerning God and the immortality of our Souls and the Life to come to excite us to our Duty and quicken our Endeavours after Happiness For I do not find that the Doctrine of the immortality of the Soul is any where expresly delivered in Scripture but taken for granted in like manner that the Scripture doth not solicitously instruct us in the natural Notions which we have of God but supposeth them known to us and if it mention them it is not so
motion should be as swift as that of the light which when the Sun riseth darts it self in an instant from one part of the World to another over the Earth and the Sea the remotest parts of the World which are unknown to us yet would God be present to me in the motion and all along as I go must I be led and upholden by him so that all these Expressions do but signifie to us the Immensity of God's Essence that his Being is infinitely diffused and present in all Places In speaking to this Attribute of God's Immensity I shall First explain it to you a little Secondly Prove that it doth belong to him Thirdly Answer an Objection or two that may be made against it Fourthly Draw some doctrinal Inferences from it Fifthly Make some use and improvement of it First For the explication of it By the Immensity of God I mean that his Being hath no bounds or limits but doth every way spread and diffuse it self beyond what we can imagine so that you cannot define the presence of God by any certain place so as to say here he is but not there nor by any limits so as to say thus far his Being reacheth and no further but he is every where present after a most infinite manner in the darkest corners and most private recesses the most secret Closet that is in the whole World the Heart of Man darkness and privacy cannot keep him out the presence of another Being even of a Body which is the grossest substance doth not exclude him the whole World doth not confine him but he fills all the space which we can imagine beyond this visible World and infinitely more than we can imagine Secondly For the proof of it I shall attempt it I. From the natural Notions and Dictates of our Minds II. From Scripture and Divine Revelation III. From the inconvenience of the contrary I. From the natural Notions and Dictates of our Minds We find that the Heathen by the Light of Nature did attribute this Perfection to God Tully tells us De Nat. deor That Pythagoras thought Deum esse animam per naturam rerum omnem intentum commeantem That God is as it were a Soul passing through and inspiring all Nature And in l. 2. de leg that this was Thales his Opinion which he commends Homines existimare oportere deos omnia cernere deorum omnia esse plena That Men ought to believe that the Gods see all things that all things are full of them So Sen. Epist 95. Vbique omnibus praesto est He is every where present and at hand de Benef. L. 4. Quocunque te flexeris ibi illum videbis occurrentem tibi nihil ab illo vacat opus suum ipse implet Which way soever thou turnest thy self thou shalt find him meeting thee nothing is without him he fills his own work Not much differing from the Expression of the Psalmist here II. From Scripture and Divine Revelation I shall instance in some remarkable places 1 Kings 8.27 Behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee Job 11.7 8 9. Can'st thou by searching find out God canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection Isa 66.1 Thus saith the Lord behold heaven is my throne and the earth is my foot-stool where is the house that ye build unto me and where is the place of my rest Jer. 23.23 24. Am I a God at hand saith the Lord and not a God afar off Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord do not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord Amos 9.2 3. Tho' they dig into hell thence shall mine hand take them though they climb up to heaven thence will I bring them down And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel I will search and take them out thence and tho' they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea thence will I command he serpent and he shall bite them Acts 17.27 28. Tho he be not far from every one of us For in him we live and move and have our being as certain also of your own Poets have said For we are also his off-spring III. From the inconveniences of the contrary And this is the most proper way of proving any of God's Perfections for as I have told you formerly there being nothing before God nor any cause of his being his Perfections cannot be proved by way of demonstration but of conviction by shewing the absurdity of the contrary The first and most easie Notion that we have of God is that he is a Being which hath all Perfection and is free from all Imperfection now if I prove that the Immensity of God's Essence is a Perfection or which is the same that the contrary is an Imperfection I do sufficiently prove the thing intended Now to suppose the Divine Essence to be limited or confined and his presence to be any where excluded doth contradict both this necessary Perfection of God his universal Providence and this necessary Duty of Creatures to worship and trust in him and the voluntary manifestation and appearance of God in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ 1. It contradicts the universal Providence of God The universal Providence of God supposeth many Perfections viz. infinite Knowledge and infinite Power his Omniscience and Omnipotence neither of which can be imagined without Omnipresence We find that all finite Beings have a finite Knowledge and a finite Power and it cannot be conceived how infinite Understanding and Power can be founded any where else than in an infinite Essence To have an infinite Knowledge of all things even those things which are most secret and hidden to be able to do all things to steer and govern the Actions of all Creatures and to have a perfect care of them seems to all the Reason of Mankind to require immediate Presence 2. It contradicts the necessary Duty of the Creature which is to worship God to depend upon him for every thing and in every thing to acknowledge him Now all Worship of God is rendred vain or at least uncertain if God be not present to us to hear our Prayers to take notice of our Wants and receive our Acknowledgments it will much abate our Confidence in God and our Fear to offend him if we be uncertain whether he be present to us or not whether he sees our Actions or not 3. It contradicts a voluntary Manifestation and Appearance of God in the Incarnation of Christ He that supposeth God not to be every where present by his Essence must in all reason confine his Presence to Heaven and suppose him to be present elsewhere only by his Virtue and Power but if this were so how could the Divinity be essentially united to the Humane Nature of Christ which was here upon Earth How is God with us How does he pitch his Tabernacle among Men if his essential Presence be confin'd to Heaven Thirdly I
unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out These are the Instances on the part of the Object 2. On the part of the Subject or the persons capable of knowing God in any measure The perfect knowledge of God is above a finite Creature 's understanding Wicked men they are ignorant of God and full of false apprehensions of him the Scripture gives this description of them they are those that know not God 2 Thess 1. Wicked men are so far from knowing God to Perfection that they have hardly any true knowledge of him for as the man himself is so will God seem to be to him the Idea and Notion which men have of God is but the picture of their own complexion To a true knowledge there is required likeness a Man's mind must be like the thing he would understand therefore the Apostle tells us the natural or animal man doth not receive the things of God he is not capable of them because his mind is unsuitable to them he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of body and he cannot relish spiritual things even those Natural notions which wicked men have of God they are strangely tinctur'd and obscured by the temper of the man they are lux sepulta in opacâ materiâ light buried and hid in matter and darkness in the blackness of a soul and impure heart so that there is no question of them whither they comprehend God or not But good men they cannot find out God they have some false apprehensions of him all their apprehensions are dark have much of obscurity in them they know God to Salvation but not to Perfection in this life we do but know God in part that is in comparison of the knowledge which our natures are capable of But I will instance yet higher the Angels and the Spirits of just men made perfect tho' they have true apprehensions of God yet they do not arrive to perfect knowledge of him they cannot pervestigare ultima know the utmost of God the Cherubims themselves are continually looking at the Mercy Seat To which the Apostle alludes 1 Pet. 1.12 when he tells us the Mystery of God's mercy in the Gospel was a thing which the Angels desired to pry into In Heaven that which is in part shall be done away that is our knowledge shall be perfect as our Natures are capable but it shall be finite When we shall see God face to face that is have an immediate vision of him and see him as he is that is not having our understandings tinctur'd by any lust or passion that may darken our mind or misrepresent the Object for the Apostle tells us we shall see him because we shall be like him yet then we shall have short and unadequate apprehensions of him we shall still retain our limited Natures and finite understandings II. By way of Conviction Dost thou know perfectly the nature of a finite Spirit the Perfection and the Power of an Angel how being immaterial they can act upon matter and move that which can make no resistance to a Spirit Dost thou know how they can move themselves to a great distance in a moment and dart themselves from one part of the World to another Dost thou know how man is formed in the lowest parts of the earth as the Psalmist expresseth it and the curious Frame of our Bodies is wrought from such rude Principles in so dark a Shop Canst thou give an account how the Soul is united to the Body by what bands or holds a Spirit is so closely and intimately conjoyned to Matter Dost thou know how thy self understandest any thing and canst retain the distinct Ideas and Notions of so many Objects without confusion Dost thou know the least parts of Matter how they are knit together and by what Cement they cleave so fast to one another that they can hardly be separated Now if the Creatures be so unsearchable and the knowledge of these be too hard for thee is not the Creator of them much more Incomprehensible who possesseth all these Perfections which he communicates and many which cannot be communicated to a Creature If in Natural and Sensible Things maxima pars eorum quae scimus est minima pars eorum quae nescimus how much more is it true of God that our ignorance is more than our knowledge when the whole Earth and all the Creatures bear no proportion to him Isa 40.15 17. Behold all the Nations of the earth are as the drop of the bucket and as the small dust of the ballance all nations before him are nothing and are accounted to him less than nothing III. By shewing you the clear Reason of it which is this the disproportion between the Faculty and the Object the finiteness of our understandings and the Infiniteness of the Divine Nature and Perfections God is greater than our hearts and therefore as he knows more than we do as the Apostle reasons 1 John 3.20 so he is more than can be known by us he is too vast an Object for our understanding to entertain for our minds to receive Thou may'st as well mete out the Heaven with a span and measure the Waters in the hollow of thy hand and comprehend the dust of the earth in a little Urn and weigh the Mountains in some Scales and the hills in a little Ballance as think to circumscribe God in the narrow limits of thy thoughts or to bring that which is infinite within the compass of that which is finite And there is not only the vastness and greatness of the Object but the Glory and Resplendency of it does so dazle our sight that we cannot perfectly see it 1 Tim. 6.16 He dwelleth in light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see As God is too big so he is too bright an Object for our understandings the presence of his Glory overpowers our minds and bears down our Faculties and conquers our understandings I come now to apply this Doctrine of the Incomprehensibleness of the Divine Nature If the Nature and Perfections and Ways and Works of God be Incomprehensible and past finding out I. It calls for our Admiration and Veneration and Reverence These are the best apprehensions of him that is Incomprehensible a silent Veneration of his Excellencies is the best acknowledgment of them We must admire what we cannot apprehend or express Zach. 9.17 How great is his goodness and how great is his beauty The best way to celebrate the praises of God is that which Nehemiah useth Nehem. 9.5 And blessed be thy glorious name which is exalted above all blessing and praise When ever we speak or think of God we necessarily detract from his Perfections but even this necessity is glorious to him and this speaks his Perfection that the highest finite understanding must have imperfect thoughts of him We should make up in Reverence and Veneration what we fall short of in knowledge Reverence is an acknowledgment of
things and the End for which they were made The Proposition I shall speak to is that God is the first Cause and last End First I shall a little Explain the Terms Secondly Confirm the Proposition Thirdly Apply it First For the Explication of the Terms I. That God is the first Cause signifies 1. Negatively that he had no Cause did not derive his Being from any other or does depend upon any other Being but that he was always and eternally of himself 2. Positively that he is the Cause of all things besides himself the Fountain and Original of all Created Beings from whom all things proceed and upon whom all things depend or that I may use the expression of Saint John Joh. 1.3 which I know is appropriated to the Second Person in the Trinity By him all things were made and without him was nothing made that was made So that when we attribute to God that he is the first we mean that there was nothing before him and that he was before all things and that all things are by him II. The last End that is that all things refer to him that is the design and aim of all things that are made is the Illustration of God's Glory some way or other and the manifestation of his Perfections Secondly For the Confirmation I shall briefly according to my usual Method attempt it these two ways I. By Natural light The Notion of a God contains in it all possible Perfection Now the utmost Perfection we can imagine is for a Being to be always of it self before all other Beings and not only so but to be the Cause of all other Beings that is that there should be nothing but what derives its Being from him and continually depends upon him from whence follows that all things must refer to him as their last End For every wise Agent acts with design and in order to an End Now the End is that which is best which is most worthy the attaining and that is God himself Now his Being and Perfections are already and the best next to the existence of his Being and Perfections is the manifestation of them which is called God's Glory and this is the highest End that we can imagine to which all the Effects of the Divine Power and Goodness and Wisdom do refer And that these Titles are to be attributed to God is not only reasonable when it is revealed and discovered but was discovered by the Natural light of the heathens Hence it was that Aristotle gives to God those Titles of the first Being the first Cause and the first Mover and his Master Plato calls God the Author and Parent of all things the Maker and Architect of the World and of all Creatures the Fountain and Original of all things Porphyry calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first from whence he Reasons to this sense that he is the ultimate end and that all things move towards God that all motions center in him because saith he it is most proper and natural for things to refer to their Original and to refer all to him from whom they receive all Antoninus the Emperour and Philosopher speaking of Nature which with the Stoicks signified God hath these words which are so very like these of the Apostle that they may seem to be taken from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of thee are all things in thee are all things to thee are all things II. From Scripture Hither belong all those places where he declares himself to be the first and the last Isa 41.4 Who hath wrought and done it calling the generations from the beginning I the Lord the first and with the last I am he Isa 43.10 Before me there was no God formed or as it is in the margin there was nothing formed of God neither shall there be after me Isa 44.6 I am the first and I am the last and besides me there is no God Isa 48.12 13. I am the first I also am the last my hand hath laid the foundation of the earth my right hand hath spread the heavens which is as much as to say he made the World and was the first Cause of all things Rev. 1.8 I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come But more expresly 1 Cor. 8.6 But to us there is but one God the father of whom are all things and we by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we to him and for him Acts 17.24 God that made the world and all things therein v. 25. He giveth to all life and breath and all things v. 28. In him we live and move and have our Being v. 29. For as much then as we are the off-spring of God Hither we may refer those Texts which attribute the same to the Second Person in the Trinity as the Eternal Wisdom and Word of God whereby all things were made Joh. 1.3 All things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made v. 10. And the World was made by him 1 Cor. 8.6 And one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him Eph. 3.9 God who Created all things by Jesus Christ Col. 1.16 By him were all things Created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were Created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist Heb. 1.2 By whom also he made the Worlds And v. 3. Vpholding all things by the word of his power Thirdly and lastly to apply this Doctrine Vse First If God be the first Cause of all things who did at first produce all Creatures and does since Preserve them and Govern them and disposeth of all their concernments and orders all things that befal them from hence let us learn 1. With Humility and Thankfullness to own and acknowledge and admire and bless God as the Author and Original of our Being as the Spring and Fountain of all the Blessings and good things that we enjoy If we do but consider what these words signifie that God is the first Cause of all things we shall see great Reason to own and acknowledge to adore and praise him and that with the greatest humility because we have not given him any thing but have received all from him he is the Cause of all things who did freely and of his own good will and pleasure communicate Beings to us without any constraint or necessity but what his own goodness laid upon him Rev. 4.11 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast Created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were Created We could not before we were deserve any thing from him or move him by any Arguments or importune him by intreaties to make us but he freely gave us Being and ever since we depend upon him
and by derivation from God who is the fountain and original of goodness which is the meaning of our Saviour Luke 18.19 when he says there is none good save one that is God But tho' the degrees of Goodness in God and the Creatures be infinitely unequal and that Goodness which is in us be so small and inconsiderable that compared with the Goodness of God it does not deserve that name yet the essential Notion of Goodness in both must be the same else when the Scripture speaks of the Goodness of God we could not know the meaning of it and if we do not at all understand what it is for God to be good it is all one to us for ought we know whether he be good or not for he may be so and we never the better for it if we do not know what Goodness in God is and consequently when he is so and when not Besides that the Goodness of God is very frequently in Scripture propounded to our imitation but it is impossible for us to imitate that which we do not understand what it is from whence it is certain that the goodness which we are to endeavour after is the same that is in God because in this we are commanded to imitate the Perfection of God that is to be good and merciful as he is according to the rate and condition of Creatures and so far as we whose Natures are imperfect are capable of resembling the Divine Goodness Thus much for the Notion of goodness in God it is a propension and disposition in the Divine Nature to communicate being and happiness to his Creatures Secondly I shall endeavour to shew in the next place that this Perfection of Goodness belongs to God and that from these three heads I. From the Acknowledgments of Natural Light II. From the Testimony of Scripture and Divine Revelation And III. From the Perfection of the Divine Nature I. From the Acknowledgments of Natural Light The generality of the Heathen agree in it and there is hardly any Perfection of God more universally acknowledged by them I always except the Sect of the Epicureans who attribute nothing but Eternity and Happiness to the Divine Nature and yet if they would have considered it Happiness without Goodness is impossible I do not find that they do expresly deny this Perfection to God or that they ascribe to him the contrary but they clearly take away all the Evidence and Arguments of the Divine Goodness for they supposed God to be an immortal and happy Being that enjoyed himself and had no regard to any thing without himself that neither gave Being to other things nor concerned himself in the happiness or misery of any of them so that their Notion of a Deity was in truth the proper Notion of an idle Being that is called God and neither does good nor evil But setting aside this atheistical Sect the rest of the Heathen did unanimously affirm and believe the Goodness of God and this was the great foundation of their Religion and all their Prayers to God and Praises of him did necessarily suppose a perswasion of the Divine Goodness Whosoever prays to God must have a perswasion or good hopes of his readiness to do him good and to praise God is to acknowledge that he hath received good from him Seneca hath an excellent passage to this purpose He says he that denies the Goodness of God does not surely consider the infinite number of Prayers that with hands lifted up to Heaven are put up to God both in private and publick which certainly would not be nor is it credible that all Mankind should conspire in this madness of putting up their Supplications to deaf and impotent Deities if they did not believe that the Gods were so good as to confer benefits upon those who prayed to them But we need not to infer their belief of God's Goodness from the acts of their devotion nothing being more common among them than expresly to attribute this Perfection of Goodness to him and among the Divine Titles this always had the preeminence both among the Greeks and Romans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deus optimus maximus was their constant stile and in our Language the name of God seems to have been given him from his Goodness I might produce innumerable passages out of the Heathen Authers to this purpose but I shall only mention that remarkable one out of Seneca primus deorum cultus est deos credere deinde reddere illis majestatem suam reddere bonitatem sine quâ nulla majestas The first act of Worship is to believe the Being of God and the next to ascribe Majesty or greatness to him and to ascribe Goodness without which there can be no Greatness II. From the testimony of Scripture and Divine Revelation I shall mention but a few of those many Texts of Scripture which declare to us the Goodness of God Exod. 34.6 where God makes his Name known to Moses the Lord the Lord God gracious and merciful long suffering abundant in goodness and truth Psal 86.5 Thou Lord art good and ready to forgive Psal 119.68 Thou art good and dost good And that which is so often repeated in the Book of Psalms O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good and his mercy endureth for ever Our blessed Saviour attributes this Perfection to God in so peculiar and transcendent a manner as if it were incommunicable Luke 18.19 There is none good save one that is God The meaning is that no Creature is capable of it in that excellent and transcendent degree in which the Divine Nature is possest of it To the same purpose are those innumerable Testimonies of Scripture which declare God to be gracious and merciful and long suffering for these are but several Branches of his Goodness his Grace is the freeness of his Goodness to those who have not deserved it his Mercy is his Goodness to those who are in misery his Patience is his Goodness to those who are guilty in deferring the Punishment due to them III. The Goodness of God may likewise be argued from the Perfection of the Divine Nature these two ways 1. Goodness is the chief of all Perfections and therefore it belongs to God 2. There are some Footsteps of it in the Creatures and therefore it is much more eminently in God 1. Goodness is the highest Perfection and therefore it must needs belong to God who is the most perfect of Beings Knowledge and Power are great Perfections but separated from Goodness they would be great Imperfections nothing but craft and violence An Angel may have Knowledge and Power in a great degree but yet for all that be a Devil Goodness is so great and necessary a Perfection that without it there can be no other it gives Perfection to all other excellencies take away this and the greatest excellencies in any other kind would be but the greatest imperfections And therefore our Saviour speaks of the