as are neare and deare unto them Gen. 19.29 And it came to passe when God destroyed the cityes of the plaine that God remembred Abraham and sent Lot out of the middest of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt So this is one particular in which is seene Gods sparing mercy When God hides his people in times of indignation And also when he forgets their sinne and casteth them behind his back and doth not punish at all These phrases of passing by and not passing by are usuall in Scripture and to set forth the mercy of God in this head of sparing mercy as one breach thereof So also Gods adjourning his punishments to a farther day his suffring his Spirit to strive with men as he did with the old world The long suffring of God waited in the daies of Noah while the Ark was a preparing 1 Pet. 3.20 When God was provoked by their sinns yet he waited one hundred and twenty yeeres This deferrings of judgment is a branch of that sparing mercy of God which we live under But Sirs the glasse is running all this while there is an appointed time for every purpose The time appointed will be expired and though God may seem to have leaden feet yet be sure he will have Iron hands at last Though he come slowly he will smite surely O Do not be bold in sin God is merciful to forbear to put off defer his plagues but it will not be wisdom for you to defer to put off your repentance His spirit will not alway strive He will be paid for forbearance ye will be left altogether in excusable if his forbearance work not at all with you And as if the Lord did study to be mercifull in his dealing towards the sons of men what moderations and rebates doth he shew in his punishments Psalme 78.38 But he being full of compassion forgave their iniquitie and destroyed them not but of this branch we have spoken already Marke therefore what followes yea many a time turned he his anger away Here is another branch of sparing mercy but yet further and did not stirre up all his wrath Here ye have all three in one verse But that which we have now in hand is the moderation that is in this God of judgment when he must needs punish he doth it in judgment not in fury He doth not make a full end but correct in measure even when he doth not leave his people altogether unpunished Jer. 46.28 Lament 3.22 It is of the Lords mercy that we are not utterly consumed To wit his sparing mercy Lastly upon this point or branch of sparing mercy it is noted by some that God doth somtimes shew a kind of unwillingnes and loathnes to lay on stripes on the backs of his servants He doth not take delight in the putting of his servants to paine He doth not laugh at their calamitie But he is brought in groaning while he is whipping as a father correcting with weeping eies Hosea 11.8 How shall I give the up Ephraim how shall I deceive thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Zeboim mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together Here is a conflict as it were in the very spirit of God O how shall I do it O what a sparing heart the Lord hath towards the sons of men Where he must needs corect them it is much against his will Truly he never dealt with Christ so as he doth with the sons of men He spareth not him in any regard at all He spared him not in the first way he tooke not away the punishment but he gave him up to death The cup did not passe away but it was drunk Neither was it deferred but when the houre was come he suffered he was sacrificed in the time set for it And that without mitigation He had not one drop taken out of this bitter cup. Neither was there any relunctancy in God against it He did not weepe over him when he was suffring He never cryed how should I suffer thee my sonne to dye How should I endure to see thee so used But it pleased the father Isai 53.10 yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him He had not only voluntatem but voluptatem He did as it were harden his heart upon him which made him cry my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Quest But you will say how standeth this with the love of the father It is said the father loved the son why then did he not spare him at all in his suffrings Ans I Tell you sirs there was great reason why God should not spare Christ Though he spare us continually For. First it delighted God to see his justice satisfied Reasons why God spared not Christ he would have a full satisfaction to it It was expedient that all the mercy should be towards the redeemed and none towards the redeemer As Christ stood in our steede he was to satisfie justice and so to have what he paid for Thus justice is exactâ—d which God could not indure should be trampled under foot This must needes be a pleasant sight in Gods eyes That we sinners might have all mercy he that saved us from our sinnes had no mercy Sparing mercy is the lowest degree of mercy yet this was denyed to Christ that he might pay every sort of mercy for us Secondly He knew what his sonne could do He laughed at the triall of him because he knew he would do well enough It pleased the Father to see his sonne tug with death so and all sorrows even as a Generall takes delight to see his souldiers play the men bravely But I am sensible of a digression and therefore returne to the matter in hand that mercy of all kinds is in God Ye have had a discourse of a fivefold mercy And now next I am to speake as I promised of that great manifestation of mercy to mankind fallen from his good estate I meane to the remnant elect to the little flocke for whose sake glorious doings and marveilous transactions have beene in the world For to the end that man so fallen in Adam so miserable every way as hath been heretofore shewed might be raised up and freed from all sorts of sorrows and deaths from griefe here and from eternall damnation hereafter and be made fit to enjoy grace mercy here and glory eternal in the heavens God hath diverse and sundry waies shewed his abundant goodnes and mercy as shall now be declared And Effects and acts of mercy First let us begin with the Incarnation of Jesus Christ the eternall Sonne of God In this God hath declared his infinite love and mercy to us Of this admirable effect of working bowells in God you mâ—y read John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten sonne that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Who considering
can take pleasure in such as ye be But Gods people are made comely by the holy Ghost Ninthly From the mercy of God in Christ the people of God come to have the sweetenes of ordinances while others mumble on a brown dry crust or on a chew'd gobbet that hath no sweetnes at all left in it Formall and Carnall Christians have an egge-shell but no yolke an nutshell but no kernell they heare good wordes of God but never tasted that the Lord was gratious and mercifull The Saints upon whom the mercy of God is descended find sweetenes in all religious exercises and holy ordinances They have the sweetenes of prayer preaching reading conference and when they come to break bread with the Church Mendicato hic pane vivamus annum hoc pulchrem sacritur in eo quod pascimer pane cū angelis c. Luth. in Ps Burroughs Moses choice Psal 36.7 8. they are made to be in the sweete sence of their neer relation to Jesus Christ they are in the spirit on the Lords day Ordinances are like that sealed booke we read of in the Revelation c. 5.1 Iohn wept because no man was found to open it and read it But for them that are in Christ mercy hath better provided The seales are taken away the booke is opened the nutts are brokened the kernels are to be eaten which are very sweete O t is a blessing and full of sweetenes to be joyned in union and communion with the people of God Though we beg our bread sayes Luther is it not made up with this that we are fed with the bread of angels with eternal life Christ and the Sacraments c. It is certaine the servants of God find such comfort in these prescribed practises that they would not for any good be bereft of them Neither can they possibly free themselves from the guilt of prophanesse that do not highly prize and heartily rejoyce in these things Such as do believe themselves to be members of Christs body must needes desire those ordinances that he hath appointed for the building of it up and do find thriving in grace and comfort in spirit farre beyond any creature comforts Here they meete with rivers of pleasures And thou saith David shall make them drinke of the river of thy pleasure to wit in ordinances Tenthly all particular vouchsafements come to the servants of God as a fruit and effect of mercy Somtimes they have more of this worlds goods then ever they expected and grace with all to use what they have to the glory of God and this makes their enjoyments mercys Many are crying and wishing every where for wealth and riches and outward accomodations but they are not so earnest to have grace to use them to Gods glory which plainly shews they have not what they have in mercy Vouchsafments injoyments longer then they are improved to Gods glory are not blessings mercies Now these common mercies cannot be denied so far as we have a state calling for them grace to use them to the glory of the giver We for our parts have no cause to complain we eat drinke mercies and weare them upon our backe We have mercies above and mercies beneath us mercies round about If we want one kind we have it made up in another Thou shalt have rubish to serve thy turne which God throwes away for he hath given thee gold There is no fear of having too few crusts but of having good teeth to gnaw nourishment out of them In the Eleventh place this is a choise effect of Gods mercy to have communion with God The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the fellowship of the holy spirit Carolus plus cum Deo quam cum hominibus loquitur Are uprising and down-lying with a gratious soule This is a mercy indeed It is said of Charles the greate that he spake more with God then with men Ah Sirs why should it not be true of us Brethren it concernes us much to look after this fruit of mercy By this mercy we stand in times of temptation and triall A soule high in communion with God may be tempted but will not easily be conquered such a soule will fight it out to the death O this is a choise mercy It is Iacobs ladder where you have Christ sweetly comming downe into the soule and the soule sweetely ascending up to Christ It was a mercy vouchsafed to holy and patient Iob upon the dungil that he knew that his redeemer lived and behold how he conquers the Devill both in blacke and white Communion is a reciprocall exchange betweene Christ and a gratious soule And of this mercy there is a continuall ground in a gratious soule for either I shall be praying for what I want or praising him for what I have by both which I have oppertunity to keepe my acquaintance and hold communion with the Lord my God Communion with God brings all Gods attributes to us for our use upon occasions Great is this mercy vouchsafed to the Saints and servants of God Lastly From this mercifull disposition to lost believing mankind life everlasting comes He hath granted to them a life as long as his owne Now heere I am at a losse Thousands of millions of yeeres as holy writ teacheth us and the spirit maketh us to believe is not time enough in Gods esteem to vouchsafe fullnesse of joy these pleasures must be for evermore O this perpetuity O this eternitie O this life everlasting I conclude then that God is merciful that mercy is an attribute of God Men in desperate conditions may meete with mercy for with the Lord there is mercy What more desperate condition then to be fallen in Adam's I could tell you many things of other miseries and dangers creatures have been in and neere unto and have met with a mercifull God Moses like to be drowned The male Jewish children to be ruined and so by consequence in time the whole nation Cruel bondage upon them all The heads of Gods people on the block by Hamans plot mentioned in Hester The three Saints commonly called the three Children in the fiery furnace Daniel in the Lions Den. The Thief upon the Crosse even as it were droping into hell Yet Gods mercy was seen in saving all these In extremities is the Lord seen Though the blow were as it were in the giving to the whole Church by Haman yet when the people of God made worke upon earth by prayer and humiliation that made worke in heaven and the issue of it quickly came downe And when Christ will be exalted for his mercy he will convert one upon the Gallowes and save a thiefe at the last cast And therefore we may conclude upon this attribute of mercy that it is in God That God is a God of mercy a God full of mercy a God that delights in mercy a God that is ready to shew mercy a God that is never weary
quite spoild p. 132. l. 30. Perazin marg habet p. 144. l. 28. intuitive p. 147. l. 9. dependency p. 151. l. 18. one would p. 152.23 unworthy OF THE LIFE OF GOD Heb 3.12 Take heed Brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbeliefe in departing from the living God IT hath pleased God in whose hands is our breath The first communicable attribute of God and life and all our wayes to put it into my mind to spend this Evening houre in giving out some glimpses of his hidden self as he shall be pleased to enable me Attributa dividuntur in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scharpius curâ—â— Theol 185 This peece of the Lords day therefore is destinated to a discourse of the Attributes of God which are either incommunicable or communicable My purpose is not at least not yet to meddle with the incommunicable Attributes of God but only with those that are communicable to the Creature I shall premise some General things First that these communicable Attributes are such as of which something anological is to be found in Creatures I do not mean that those Attributes of God are themselves communicated to other things but that the like effects are beheld in Creatures 2ly That these Attributes called communicable do make out unto us the Divine Essence from effects workings of God 3ly Essentiam divinam a posteriorâ— That all these following Attributes are to be accounted as the highest incommunicable Attributes are to be true of God most simply infinitely eternally incomprehensibly and immutably And not as in Creatures accidents diverse finite Ad nostrum tautum captum Deus haec nomina diversa sibi â—ribuit imperfect and mutable God is one most simple and infinite Essence The first that I shall speak of is of the Attribute of life which seems to be the first in order This is communicated to the sons of Men with other creatures not only the knowledg thereof and of the other Attributes communicable for so the incommunicable ones also are imparted to the sons of Men to be known and considered by them But the being of them at least analogically as hath been already shewed But that I may not preach without a Text let us make way to the words read unto you and so find out as God shall be pleased to assist the mind of the Spirit in them and so come to that one word in which this first attribute of life is held forth Know therefore that the Author of this profound Epistle having set before the eyes of these Hebrews or Jews to whom he writes the obstinacy of their Fathers doth now make application of it to them that were now alive in this Verse read unto you Which I may call a prohibitive proposition or dehortation or conclusion of the Argument formerly handled As if he should say your Fathers hardned their hearts of old and provoked God to their own destruction take heed therefore that ye do not do so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to your destruction also The word take heed or see or beware is often used in Scripture as Ephes 5.15 See then that ye walk circumspectly Collos 2.8 Beware lest any man spoile you through Philosophie Though the word do hold forth an act of the eye which is in the head yet the Apostle means the circumspection of the heart The thing or matter which he would have them take heed of is an evil heart of unbeliefe An evill heart of unbeleefe the fountaine of all evill which is indeed the fountain of all evil And then the heart is said to be evil when it hath in it unbelief unbelief in the heart makes the heart to be an evil heart What 's the reason men refuse to hear Gods Word to obey his will and in stead thereof malitiously oppose him Is is it not because they do not believe him Do not men I meane wicked men make God a lyar in all that he saith Let God say what he will whether by promises or threats yet they shew that they do not beleeve any thing of it they esteeme it as the song of fools And among all the Truths which the Spirit holds forth what is so sweet as this that God sent his Son into the world to save Mankind And now then what is the reason men be not saved by him more I mean then be because they do not beleeve the testimony that God gave of his Son At your leisure you may read 1 John 5 10 11 12 verses There ye may see life and salvation is to be had by Christ and indeed no other way and men have it not because they receive not the offer He that beleeveth and is Baptized shall be saved Now if men would beleeve they should be saved So that Faith is that divine Grace that doth submit to the command of Beleeving What Faith is and doth give glory to God As the Virgin Mary did when she was told she should have a Child she submitteed to it Luke 1.38 And Mary said behold the Handmaide of the Lord be it unto me according to thy word So saith God I did send my Son to dye for you and he hath been crucified for you and I am well-pleased with his all-sufficient sacrifice for you Why do ye not make application of it to your own souls surely it is an evil heart of unbeleefe which is the mother of all mischief and wickedness And here by the way ye see that a heart possest with unbeleef is an evil heart and this is that that causeth us to depart from the living God and therefore the Author of this Epistle doth earnestly warn these Hebrews to fly from unbeleefe But how can it be said that unbeleevers depart from the living God seeing they were ever from God a far off strangers Quest and aliens to the Common-wealth of Israel is it not as if I should say such a man departed from the Town who was never in it For answer hereunto I say first that all Creatures Answ as creatures are present with God For without him they cannot subsist in him they live and moove and have their being In quo etiam omnia qua non vivunt vita suâ—t Lessiac Even all things are life in him that have no life in themselves And secondly because in this sence no man can depart from the living God you must know that every man by nature is bound to serve God and to praise God and to give credit to what God saith Moral duties lye upon all men and the breach of Gods Law is sin And the Lord will pour out his vengeance upon the Nations that have not known him and upon the Families that have not called on his name And so to neglect or omit what God requires is to depart from God to depart from a command of God is to depart from God performances of two sortâ— There are two
do properly signifie the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and are derived from breathing and respering Thirdly There is a life of intellectual and rational creatures which cometh neerest to the life attributed to God For first such as live this life get intentional forms by which they variously are moved and this proceeds from this life of theirs And secondly they that live this life know the end of their moving formally And thirdly by themselves do propound unto themselves ends of their motions and actions and move and act with discretion and determine of things upon considetation The life of man far excels the life of other creatures and yet it comes short of the life of Angels who are also the living sons of God by temporal creation Job 1.6 Now there was a day when the Sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord If we were skilful in the life of Angels we should much the better perceive what is signified by life in God I therefore would a little speak of their life they are of a more excellent make and constitution then man their very substance is vital the Angelical nature doth at least so much excel the reasonable soul as that doth the sensitive or the sensitive the vegetative Now the reasonable soul doth not only live in the body but out of the body for although the soule be the first act of a natural instrumental body eminently containing all the vertues of a vegetative and sensitive soul yet over and above these it hath three spiritual powers not bound to the body an intellect acting an intellect in possibility of acting and a wil by which ye may see the excellency of a reasonable soul above a vegetative and sensitive either of which hath all its powers bound to an organical body and ceaseth to be when it is separated from the body Corrupto composito utraque desiâ— net esse Viâ—gue pag. â— 14. But a reasonable soul hath three powers and faculties not bound to the body as hath been said And therefore this reasonable soul liveth when the man whose soul it was is dead and this comes near to Angelical nature and the vital operation thereof I wil give you the definition of an Angel that I may be rid of this matter speedily An Angel is a created living substance immaterial or incorporeal invisible incorruptible and spiritual of great understanding and mighty in wil so that ye see the two faculties natural of Angels to wit the understanding and the wil and this is Angelical Life yet have they not these glorious living natures of themselves as God only hath also some end to these souls and Angelical natures is propounded from without divine ly to wit chief happiness and good Per morteÌ„ aâ—â—rius stuitum est sperare salutem not to be imagined by man or Angel as a naked creature And for man fallen the wisest of them have thought it a foolish thing to look for salvation by the death of Christ Hence that saying 1 Cor 1 23. We preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block to the Greek foolishnes Yea the very Angels are said to enquire after or pry into these things 1 Pet 1.12 The words in the original are worth the marking The mysteries and hidden things of the life of the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of Angels are not the subject I must fasten upon only to help you in your groping after Life as it is an attribute of God it was needful for me to say something of Life in the creature But now come we to speak of Life as it is attributed to God Life is a communicable Attribute of God whereby is signified that he doth move simply Deus est suum vivere Aquinâ—lege Scharpium de vita Dei pagâ— 193 in Cursu Theol and infinitely from and of himself essentially from and unto eternity There is in creature Life first vital substance and then Secondly vital operation which remaineth in the subject operating from whence it followeth as to understand love desire perceive and move it self Now both those wayes God is a Living God excepting those imperfections that attend creature-creature-life For he is not only Life but the first Life and eternal Life and the very fulness and universality of Life the original of all Life the consummation thereof the beginning and the end in whom even all things which do not live are Life For he is a super-vital Essence and a super-essential Life having before-hand and containing in himself most eminently Sicut ipse est omnium existentium esse superessentiale ita omnium viventium vita supeâ— vitalis Dionys cap 6 de divinis nominibus most simply and causally all vital substance and forming preserving and perfecting out of himself every substance according to its kind And this is the first thing considerable in Life to wit its vital substance Now secondly God is himself his vital operation to wit his understanding his Love his joy his blessednes From that supernatural fountaine all things which any way do live do draw Life even thence the life of plants brutes Men and Angels all Life natural and supernatural of this Life and the Life to come Temporal and Eternal But espetially by life in God is understood his understanding and wisedom for this is the first and chiefe life and vital operation from whence all other life doth proceed Therefore the wisdom of God is the life of all things and by it God liveth to himself and to all things and all things live unto him and are present and shine and immutably persevere in him from eternity to eternity Yet life is not in God as in creatures for in them the soule is the cause of life as hath been said and life the motion but those in God are not so distinct Life is not attributed to God and creatures univocally but analogically Nor indeed can any thing be said of God and creatures univocally As when I say God is angry or God is love or that he hath no pleasure in wickednes some there are that think that whatsoever is attributed to God in scripture is spoken properly of him and of the creature by allusions and analogies As when we say God is just merciful good angry c. But I cannot be of their mind No words full enough to see out the nature of God for there are no words or phrases used by or amongst men ful enough to set out the nature of God Neither if there were are men capable of such makings out of God for first there is no proportion between perfections as they are in God and those that are or may be in created things And therefore secondly one objective conception cannot be drawne from created and uncreated perfections which may univocally agree with both but only analogically And therefore words being images of created things cannot be used but analogically of an increated and infinite essence But to
Sublimity for he Reigneth with the highest and most absolute power Also he is great in regard of profundity because he ruleth not only bodies but hearts and ordereth the most inward thoughts and affections of all neither is there any thing so hidden or secret which the rod of his Kingdom and greatness doth not penetrate We may then understand somewhat by this word GREAT of God but must stop our mouths with the close of the Verse Psal 135.3 His greatness is unsearchable or of his greatness there is no search 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Hebrew word doth properly signifie finding out or searching after The Septuagint there is no end of his greatness and so the vulgar latine For therefore is no finding out of the greatness of God because the end thereof neither is nor can be found for in deed it is not there is no end of his greatness And therefore in all predications wherein GOD is the subject we must know that their force is in negation and exclusion As when we say God is a Spirit we mean he is not a body when we say he is a spiritual substance we mean he is not a corporeal substance When we say he is he is a substance we mean he is not an accident For properly a substance God cannot be according to the nature of that Lative word for a substance is that that doth stand under accidents and bear them up which asserted of the essence of God is blasphemy Yet is that word substance often attributed to God but by it we mean essence according to the greek word Ousia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Essence or being but in God properly there is neither substance nor accident Objection But this may seem to deny God to be a living God properly and indeed to aver God to be properly neither just nor merciful nor any thing which he is said to be in scripture Solution For clearing up whereof yee must know that God is most properly Life And he is every thing that he is without a Metaphor for he is all that he is of himself He is truly all that the Scripture teacheth and the Saints conceive him to be but not in that manner or measure as men or Angels conceive of him He is all that we think him to be in our minds according to scipture Attributes and infinitely more As now to speak of this Attribute Life as life is considered in the Creature it is a principle of operation but in God all Attributes are his essence and so is his life Remember what I have said and so I shal come out of these briars that we have not words to set out God by and if there were such a language found out it would be worse then greek to us we should not have the capacity to learn it therfore with all humility let us blesse God for those discoveries of himself he hath been pleased to make and for making our ears blessed to hear and our eyes to see so much of God as we do I have but one question to answer and it is upon occasion of my close of the former discourse If it be so Question that God is so hidden that he is so above our reach that such clouds and darkness are round about him that he dwelleth in such eye-dazling unapproachable light why then may some say do you spend so many words about such a subject To whom I answer that if we can catch but one jot of what hath been said and make it our own why then Answ we are made forever if but the lest glimmerings of the living God be afforded to you as your God in Christ and yee are all resolved with David That it is good for you to draw near to him and so yee purpose to do and never to depart from him why then I say let men Ps 73 28 and Devils rage and do what they can yee are alive in God not only as Creatures but as new Creatures yee shal be carried as upon eagles wings yee shal lye in the bosome of Life Your life is hid with Christ in God Collos 3 ◠Wonder not then that I have been so forward to expose my self to censure and to speak of things that are not easily understood in any measure Difficilia quae pulchra There is beauty in these difficulties and something I hope wil stick All wil not I hope run over the narrow-mouth'd bottle O draw neer to this living God Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God They that do so forsake their own mercies Study this Attribute of God spend some time with prayer about it and so much for the Explication as I have been able Come we to the Application First Vses of this Doctrine The first Vse then he is worth the coming unto by those that are yet afar off and worth the keeping and holding fast by such as have him Draw neer to God therefore O yee sinners that are far from him For loe they that are far from thee shal perish saith the Psalmist Psal 73.27 O cast not the law of this living God behind your backs any longer Make not your wil your humors your lusts your Law any more Refuse not the Lord Jesus the Son of the Living God any longer lest he be angry and yee perish in the way Reject not the Ordinances of Life content not your selves with them as dead Ordinances let them be to you the Ordinances of a living God Take heed of a dead faith as all faith is without works Jam 2.17 take heed of worshipping a dead God Such as pretend to believe in God and in works deny him do in effect take away his life their faith is dead their works are dead they have not a lively hope they Worship a dead God Every bodies God is no bodies God A Traditional God every bodies God and that is no bodies God Come to Christ that yee may have God who is life And yee Saints that have him hold him fast and chuse rather to dye a thousand deaths then to forsake the living God Be circumspect take heed saith my Text we are in danger on every side watch over your hearts take heed of an evil heart that is the cause of departing from God If we have good hearts we shal never go away from God it is impossible And then in the next place mark the words that I have read in my Text an evil heart of unbelief What is that makes the heart evil Unbelief this is the cause peoples hearts be evil because they want Faith And if that be a truth that faith which comes by the hearing of the Word is increased daily by it as also by the administration of the Sacraments and prayer Then take heed of throwing away of gospel-Ordinances in these ranting times Perkins 2d principle They that depart from Ordinances depart from God For this
and gnawings of an evill conscience for the evill they have done This death shall be their portion after death and follow some wicked men all the dayes of their life A dreadfull sound is in his ears Job 15.21 And sometimes with Cain they think every one that meeteth them will kill them Gen. 4.14 And so God sets Cain's mark upon them fear of heart and trembling of body A fearfull heart and a shaking body is often the portion of men that live in sin Timor cordis et tremor corporis Pareus If ye compare the 2. of Habacuck 10 11 12. with Job 15. ye shall see this for substance that when men live in sin they provoke God either to take away their lives or to make their lives miserable Sometimes God taketh away that which they have ill gotten and driveth them to dwell in desolate cities and houses which no man inhabiteth which are ready to become heaps cursing the stones of the wall and the timber of their houses And if they do leave any thing when they wretchedly dy they leave it with the appurtenances as one wittily said to wit the curse of God to have and to hold to their heirs and children after them And as wicked men abuse this Jewel of great worth life in themselves in their readinesse to destroy it or make it miserable in regard of their bodies and temporall enjoyments so also in regard of their poor souls They live so wickedly so prophanely so disobediently to God and his Word that they provoke God to take away the means of grace from them or to give them up to a mind past feeling and to bring upon them a famine of the Word the greatest of all judgment except a reprobate spirit and mind void of judgment under the Word And Lastly they fall under this reproof and wo that abuse the life of others by oppression when they throw down the right of others and thrust them out of doores to set their own nest on high their Tabernacles are Tabernacles of bribery Job 15.34 and their houses are full of blood which the earth shall not cover Et vae vae vae illis qui causa sunt quod ecclesiae sine ministris et verbo relinquuntur Luther but it shall ly as a record upon the file to be brought forth against them at the last day And some abuse life grossely by murther of which crying sin I think it not needful to speak now To conclude this use Wo to such as endeavour to drive a way from poore people the word of God and Ministers therof they are guilty of abusing life in regard of others in a very high measure the blood of poore souls that dy and perish for want thereof will be required at their hands and also at the hands of such wretched formalists clawbacks of the Ministry as do not do their utmost in sincerity for the salvation of poor soules We now come to an other Use Is it so that life is an attribute of God and such a jewell as hath been shewed Vse 3 then it must needs follow that it is a worthy thing to be instruments of preserving life and of saving people from death and destruction Theâ—â—herefore are worthy of honour that have been the preserved of our temporal lives but especially such are worthy of 〈◊〉 honour whom God makes instruments of working and preserving spiriual life As in 1. Tim. 3.1 This is a true saying 1 Tim. 5.17.18 if any man desire the office of a Bishop he desireth a good work or a worthy work And a promise of great reward is made to such as turn many to righteousnesse to wit to shine as the starres for ever and ever Dan 23 1 Pet. 5.4 and when the chief shepheard shall appear such shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away which may be matter of comfort to them in their calling O to preserve men from hell it is a worthy an honourable work to be instruments of converting and bringing souls to the Lord to live with him for ever the life of glory is a work that calls for great respect to the workmen and how they have it let God judge 4. Vse Fourthly We are now come to a Use of exhortation that we be all carefull of life of our own life and of the life one of another of bodily life and of the life of the soule for such a life and death too there is as may be gathered out of Mat. 10.28 And fear not them which kill the body and are not able to kill the soule but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soule in hell ye see mention there of killing and destroying the soule as well as the body Now in the prosecution of this use of exhortation I shall lay before you some motives and considerations As first Gods example who hath Provided many good things for the preservation of life as Food Raiment Physick and shall we be carelesse of that which God hath been so careful about This cannot but be construed high contempt of this jewell of Life But now let us be like God who hath so provided for the preservation of life so let us for the lives of our selves and others And for the life of the soul what a deal of pains and trouble hath God and his Son Jesus been at to redeem it from Hell and Death God about this sent his only Son into the World to dy a most shamefull and painfull death He hath suffered many of his choice and eminent servants to endure exquisite torments that souls might be saved from death And therefore let this prevaile let us be herein like unto God do all that we can to preserve life and to save souls Let us be rich in good works of this nature that is in saving life and give comfort to those that have none For otherwise we shall not shew our selves to be like to God And the cry of the dying will enter into his eares Secondly consider the necessity of this work of saving life The body without life stinketh now God may have glory by its living The dead go downe to the pit of silence The grave cannot praise thee saith Hezekiah death cannot celebrate thee They that go downe into the pit cannot hope for thy truth The living the living he shall praise thee Isa 38.18.19 If we do not what we can to preserve life we do as it were bereave God of that honour which he might have in our life and in the lives of others We have a proverb make much of your selves good folks be scarce This hath some place here if it could be thought and spoken with holy gravity and seriousnes and in the fear of the Lord. Ye that fear God make much of your selves and one another do what ye can to preserve life and to make your own and each others life comfortable that God may have the more glory by
the participation of them He that believeth not is condemned already Joh. 3.18 He that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him vers 36. If any man have not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8.9 And he that committeth sin is of the Devill 1 Joh. 3.8 But to return and so draw to an end Let us take notice of wonderfull condiscension in God to make a Covenant with any and of the unspeakable happinesse of such as be enabled to come into this Covenant To doubt of mercy and professe our selves Christians is a very great sin God that cannot ly hath promised eternall life before these ages even from the beginning Know therefore that he is faithfull which hath called you who also will do it 1 Thess 5.24 Gods mercifulnesse is continued upon the account of his truth and faithfulnesse which Attribute is next to be spoken of out of this very Text. The end of the Attribute of Mercy Of the Truth of God Psalme 100. Verse the last For the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting And his truth endureth to all generations WE are come now to the third property mentioned in this Text the sixth in order of the communicable attributes of God And this truth indureth to all generations In handling of which I purpose to keepe my selfe to those three propositions or rules which I have observed in the other five that have beene spoken off This word Truth hath diverse acceptations and no marvell for in the originall Hebrew there are more words then one rendered in our english tongue by this word Truth The usual word in the Bible which signifies truth is Kosht or Keshet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the word here used is Emunatho by reason of the pronoune affix His truth it is It comes from the same roote that that common word among us doth viz. Amen Which in the forme Niphal signifieth to be true firme or stable And here in my text it denotes the truth firmness and faithfulness of God as ye shall God-willing hereafter heare Truth Generally signifieth the conformity of any thing with its measure or rule according to which it ought to be formed or made as true Gold true Silver true Water Veritas est conformitas seu adaequatio rei ad missam Vig. gra p. 8. because it is conformable according to its kind and agreeable to the appointed proportion or allay and is not false The measure of each created thing is that which is somtimes called an Idea to wit the divine conception of God in himselfe of each thing according to which as a rule by vertue of this conception of his he gave being in time For in the wisdome of God from everlasting hath the form of every thing not only specifically from the highest Seraphim to the lowest Ant but in their particular individuum's If a creature should be otherwise Veritas est proprietas entis creati sicut bonitas Less then is so conceived in the mind of God it should not be true but false And as each thing is said to be true by its conformity to its exemplary cause so to be good by its agreement unto its finall cause And therefore we say truth is one although goodnes be manifold as there are many ends subordinate one to another yet neverthelesse there is but one utmost end and in that regard but one goodnes neither There is nothing which God hath made concerning which we may say Natura nihil fecit frustra it is good for nothing For what the heathens according to their skill say of nature that it made nothing in vain we may much more truly say of God It is agreed upon in the Church of Christ that God made all things and all persons in particular for certain ends whereby he may be glorified So Solomon saith Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for himselfe yea even the wicked for the day of evill And look as a thing serves more to declare the excellencies of God so it is said to have in it more goodnesse Take all the jewells in the world they have not in them that goodnes in a true consideration that hath one blade of grasse which hath life though of the lowest sort yet it hath life Grasse and plants not so good as sensitives that have a better kind of life Lions and Eagles nothing comparable to the poorest man And to speake in the words of Chrysostome Take all the men in the world and they are not worth one Saint or gracious soule though never so meane in regard of outwards And what 's the reason of this surely because they are they by whom God attaines his end of making the world and from them alone hath his glory in the world And therefore I conclude the righteous is more excellent then his neighbour Duae proprietates entis verum bonum There is a greater goodnes better a greater conformity to the end of being Ye see the two positive properties of an entitie the trueth of it and the goodnes of it But it may be demanded whether onenes or unitie be not another propertie of an entitie or being To which I answer No. Because the onenesse of a thing addes nothing unto the being of that thing Unitas suprà rationem entis nihil dicit nisi divisionis negationem Less veritas uniuscujusque rei est proprietas sui esse Avicen vigue Grav Instituit f. 8. neither doth it affirme any thing save onenesse which is a negation of division For that which is one is a thing undivided divided from all other things And therefore hath no place among properties But I hasten from these notions lest I should offend the judicious I have spoken of the property of goodnes as it is attributed to God and now to speak of truth though this be not that acceptation of the word which I purpose most to insist upon Yet take this by the way Our God is a true God that is he is truly God But here it may be objected if truth be a conformity of a being unto its rule or as Augustine saith a true similitude of the beginning which is without any dissimilitude what rule is there for God to be conformed unto To which I answer Truth as it is in this first acceptation attributed to God is not in him a conformity of being to a rule or pattern for then God should not be eternall Veritas est vera similitudo principii quae sine ulla dissimilitudine est Aug. de vera religione and something should be before God according to which his entitie being conforme should make him a true God but in this that his nature is such as that it ought to be the exemplary cause and measure of all things This being of God then is veritas fundamentalis as the Schoolmen call it In this sence he is the