aspire to the end of the Creation we deny and envy God the honour of being Creator We cannot make our selves the chief end of the Creatures against Gods Order but we imply thereby that we were their first Principle For if we lived under a sense of the Creator of them while we enjoy them for our use we should return the glory to the right Owner This is Diabolical though the Devil for his first affecting an Authority in Heaven has been hurled down from the State of an Angel of Light into that of Darkness Vileness and Misery to be the most accursed Creature living yet he still aspires to mate God contrary to the knowledge of the impossibility of success in it Neither the terrors he feels nor the future torments he doth expect do a jot abate his Ambition to be Competitor with his Creator How often hath he since his first sin arrogated to himself the Honour of a God from the blind world and attempted to make the Son of God by a particular Worship count him as the chiefest Good and Benefactor of the World * Mat. 4.9 Since all men by Nature are the Devils Children the Serpents Seed they have something of this Venom in their Natures as well as others of his qualities We see that there may be and is a prodigious Atheism lurking under the Belief of a God The Devil knows there is a God but acts like an Atheist and so do his Children 4. Man would make himself the end of God This necessarily follows upon the former Whosoever makes himself his own Law and his own End in the place of God would make God the Subject in making himself the Soveraign He that steps into the Throne of a Prince sets the Prince at his Foot-stool and while he assumes the Princes Prerogative demands a Subjection from him The Order of the Creation has been inverted by the entrance of Sin * Pascal Pens §. 30. P. 294. God implanted an affection in Man with a double aspect the one to pitch upon God the other to respect our selves but with this proviso that our affection to God should be infinite in regard of the Object and Center in him as the chiefest Happiness and highest End Our affections to our selves should be finite and refer ultimately to God as the Original of our Being But Sin hath turned Mans affections wholy to himself Whereas he should love God first and himself in order to God he now loves himself first and God in order to himself Love to God is lost and Love to self hath usurpt the Throne As God by Creation put all thing under the feet of Man * Psal 8.6 reserving the Heart for himself Man by Corruption hath dispossessed God of his Heart and put him under his own feet We often intend our selves when we pretend the Honour of God and make God and Religion a Stale to some designs we have in hand our Creator a Tool for our own ends This is evident 1. In our loving God because of some self-pleasing benefits distributed by him There is in Men a kind of natural love to God but it is but a secondary one because God gives them the good things of this world spreads their Table fills their Cup stuffs their Coffers and doth them some good turns by unexpected Providences This is not an affection to God for the unbounded Excellency of his own Nature but for his beneficence as he opens his hand for them an affection to themselves and those Creatures their Gold thier honour which their hearts are most fixed upon without a strong Spiritual Inclination that God should be glorified by them in the use of those Mercies 'T is rather a disowning of God than any love to him because it postpones God to those things they love him for This would appear to be no love if God should cease to be their Benefactor and deal with them as a Judge if he should change his outward smiles into afflicting frowns and not only shut his hand but strip them of what he sent them The Motive of their love being expired the affection raised by it must cease for want of fewel to feed it So that God is beholden to sordid Creatures of no value but as they are his Creatures for most of the Love the Sons of Men pretend to him The Devil spake truth of most men though not of Job when he said Job 1.10 They love not God for nought but while he makes a hedge about them and their Families whilest he blesseth the works of their hands and increaseth their honour in the Land 'T is like Peter's sharp reproof of his Master when he spake of the ill usage even to death he was to meet with at Hierusalem This shall not be unto thee It was as much out of love to himself as zeal for his Masters Interest knowing his Master could not be in such a Storm without some drops lighting upon himself All the Apostacies of men in the world are Witnesses to this They fawn whilest they may have a prosperous Profession but will not bear one chip of the Cross for the Interest of God They would partake of his Blessings but not endure the prick of a Launce for him As those that admired the Miracles of our Saviour and shrunk at his Sufferings A time of tryal discovers these Mercenary Souls to be more Lovers of themselves than their Maker This is a pretended love of friendship to God but a real love to a Lust only to gain by God A good mans temper is contrary Quench Hell burn Heaven said a holy Man I will love and fear my God 2. 'T is evident in abstinence from some sins not because they offend God but because they are against the Interest of some other beloved Corruption or a Bar to something men hunt after in the World When temperance is cherished not to honour God but preserve a crazy Carcass Prodigality forsaken out of a humor of Avarice Uncleaness forsaken not out of a hatred of Lust but love to their mony Declining a Denial of the Interest and Truth of God not out of affection to them but an ambitious Zeal for their own Reputation There is a kind of Conversion from Sin when God is not made the Term of it Jer. 4.1 If thou wilt return oh Israel return unto me saith the Lord. * Trap on Gen. pa. 148. When we forbear Sin as Dogs do the Meat they love they forbear not out of a hatred of the Carrion but fear of the Cudgel These are as wicked in their abstaining from Sin as others are in their furious committing it Nothing of the Honour of God and the End of his appointments is indeed in all this but the conveniences self gathers from them Again many of the motives the generality of the world uses to their Friends and Relations to draw them from Vices are drawn from self and used to prop up natural or sinful self in them Come reform
into his heart which forced that Terrible cry from him My God my God why hast thou forsaken me he adores this Perfection of Holiness v. 3. But thou art holy Thy Holiness is the Spring of all this sharp Agony and for this thou Inhabitest and shalt for ever inhabit the Praises of all thy Israel Holiness drew the Vail between Gods Countenance and our Saviours Soul Justice indeed gave the stroke but Holiness order'd it In this his Purity did sparkle and his Irreversible Justice manifested that all those that commit Sin are worthy of death this was the perfect Index of his Righteousness †Rom 3 2◠that is of his Holiness and Truth then it was that God that is Holy was sanctified in Righteousness Isai 5.16 It appears the more if you consider 1. The Dignity of the Redeemers Person One that had been from Eternity had laid the Foundations of the World had been the Object of the Divine Delight He that was God blessed for ever becomes a Curse He who was blessed by Angels and by whom God blessed the World must be seiz'd with Horrour The Son of Eternity must bleed to death Where did ever Sin appear so irreconcileable to God Where did God ever break out so furiously in his detestation of Iniquity The Father would have the most Excellent Person one next in order to himself and Equal to him in all the glorious Perfections of his Nature * Phil 2.6 Die on a Disgraceful Cross and be exposed to the flames of Divine Wrath rather than Sin should live and his Holiness remain for ever disparaged by the Violations of his Law 2. The near Relation he stood in to the Father He was his own Son that he delivered up Rom. 8.32 His Essential Image as dearly beloved by him as himself yet he would abate nothing of his Hatred of those Sins imputed to one so dear to him and who never had done any thing contrary to his Will The strong Cries utter'd by him could not cause him to cut off the least Fringe of this Royal Garment nor part with a Thred the Robe of his Holiness was woven with The Torrent of Wrath is open'd upon him and the Fathers Heart beats not in the least notice of Tenderness to Sin in the midst of his Sons Agonies †Lingend Tom. 3. p. 699 700. God seems to lay aside the Bowels of a Father and put on the garb of an Irreconcileable Enemy Upon which account probably our Saviour in the midst of his Passion gives him the Title of God not of Father the Title he usually before Addrest to him with Math. 27.46 My God my God not My Father my Father why hast thou forsaken me He seems to hang upon the Cross like a disinherited Son while he appear'd in the garb and rank of a Sinner Then was his Head loaded with Curses when he stood under that Sentence of Cursed is every one that hangs upon a Tree Gal. 3.13 and look'd as one forlorn and rejected by the Divine Purity and Tenderness God dealt not with him as if he had been one in so near a Relation to him He left him not to the Will only of the Instruments of his Death he would have the chiefest blow himself of bruising of him Isai 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him the Lord because the power of Creatures could not strike a blow strong enough to satisfie and secure the Rights of Infinite Holiness It was therefore a Cup temper'd and put into his hands by his Father a Cup given him to drink In other Judgments he lets out his Wrath against his Creatures in this he lets out his Wrath as it were against Himself against his Son One as dear to him as himself As in his making Creatures his Power over Nothing to bring it into Being appear'd but in pardoning Sin he hath power over himself so in punishing Creatures his Holiness appears in his Wrath against Creatures against Sinners by inherency But by punishing Sin in his Son his Holiness sharpens his Wrath against him who was his Equal and only a reputed Sinner As if his Affection to his own Holiness surmounted his Affection to his Son For he chose to suspend the breakings out of his Affections to his Son and see him plunged in a sharp and Ignominious Misery without giving him any visible Token of his Love rather than see his Holiness lie groaning under the Injuries of a Transgressing World 3. The Value he puts upon his Holiness appears further in the Advancement of this Redeeming Person after his Death Our Saviour was Advanc'd not barely for his Dying but for the respect he had in his Death to this Attribute of God Heb. 1.9 Thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity therefore God even thy God hath Anointed thee with the Oil of Gladness c. By Righteousness is meant this Perfection because of the opposition of it to Iniquity Some think Therefore to be the final Cause as if this were the sense Thou art anointed with the Oil of Gladness that thou mightest love Righteousness and hate Iniquity But the Holy Ghost seeming to speak in this Chapter not only of the Godhead of Christ but of his Exaltation the Doctrine whereof he had begun in Verse 3. and prosecutes in the following Verses I would rather understand Therefore For this cause or reason hath God anointed thee not to this end Christ indeed had an Unction of Grace whereby he was fitted for his Mediatory Work He had also an Unction of Glory whereby he was rewarded for it In the first regard it was a qualifying him for his Office in the second regard it was a solemn Inaugurating him in his Royal Authority And the Reason of his being setled upon a Throne for ever and ever is because he loved Righteousness He suffered himself to be pierced to Death that Sin the Enemy of Gods Purity might be destroy'd and the Honour of the Law the Image of Gods Holiness might be repair'd and fulfilled in the Fallen Creature He restored the Credit of Divine Holiness in the World in manifesting by his Death God an irreconcileable Enemy to all Sin in abolishing the Empire of Sin so hateful to God and restoring the rectitude of Nature and new framing the Image of God in his chosen Ones And God so valued this Vindication of his Holiness that he confers upon him in his Humane Nature an Eternal Royalty and Empire over Angels and Men. Holiness was the great Attribute respected by Christ in his dying and manifested in his Death and for his Love to this God would bestow an Honour upon his Person in that Nature wherein he did vindicate the Honour of so dear a Perfection In the Death of Christ he shewed his Resolution to preserve its Rights In the Exaltation of Christ he evidenced his mighty pleasure for the Vindication of it In both the Infinite value he had for it as dear to him as his Life and Glory 4. It
a humane way and not in a divine Is not this to impose Laws upon God To esteem our selves wiser than he To think him negligent of his own service and that our feeble brains can find out ways to accommodate his honour better than himself hath done Thus do men for the most part equal their own imaginations to Gods oracles As Solomon built a high place to Moloch and Chemoch upon the Mount of Olives to face on the East part Hierusalem and the Temple * 1 Kings 11.7 This is not only to impose Laws on God but also to make self the Standard of them 8. 'T is evidenc'd in suting interpretations of Scripture to their own minds and humors Like the Lacedemonians that drest the Images of their Gods according to the fashion of their own Countrey We would wring Scripture to sâ—rve our own designs and Judge the Law of God by the law of sin and make the Serpentine seed in us to be the interpreter of Divine Oracles This is like Belshazar to drink healths out of the sacred Vessels As God is the Author of his Law and Word so he is the best interpreter of it the Scripture having an impress of divine Wisdom Holiness and Goodness must be regarded according to that impress with a submission and meekness of Spirit and Reverence of God in it But when in our enquiries into the word we enquire not of God but consult flesh and blood the temper of the times wherein we live or the satisfaction of a party we side withal and impose glosses upon it according to our own fancies it is to put Laws upon God and make self the rule of him He that interprets the law to bolster up some eager appetite against the Will of the law-giver ascribes to himself as great an authority as he that enacted it 9. In falling off from God after some fair compliances when his Will grateth upon us and crosseth ours They will walk with him as far as he pleaseth them and leave him upon the first distast as tho God must observe their humors more than they his Will Amos must be suspended from Prophecying because the Land could not bear his words and his discourses condemned their unworthy practices against God * Amos. 7.10 c. The Young man came not to receive directions from our Saviour but expected a Confirmation of his own rules rather than an imposition of new * Mark 10.17 22. He rather cares for Commendations than instructions and upon the disappointment turns his back He was sad that Christ would not suffer him to be rich and a Christian together and leaves him because his Command was not suitable to the Law of his Covetousness Some truths that are at a further distance from us we can hear gladly But when the Conscience begins to smart under others if God will not observe our Wills we will with Herod be a Law to our selves * Mark 6 2â—.27 More instances might be observed Ingratitude is a setting up self and an imposing Laws on God T is as much as to say God did no more than he was obliged to do as if the Mercies we have were an Act of Duty in God and not of bounty Insatiable desires after wealth Hence are those speeches Jam. 4.13 We will go into such a City and buy and sell c. to get gain As tho they had the Command of God and God must Lacquey after their Wills VVhen our hearts are not contented with any supply of our wants but are craving an overplus for our lust When we are unsatisfied in the midst of plenty and still like the Grave cry give give Incorrigibleness under affliction c. Secondly 2. The second main thing As Man would be a Law to himself So he would be his own end and happiness in opposition to God Here four things shall be discoursed on 1. Man would make himself his own End and Happiness 2. He would make any thing his End and Happiness rather than God 3. He would make himself the End of all Creatures 4. He would make himself the End of God First 1. Man would make himself his own End and Happiness As God ought to be esteem'd the first cause in point of our dependance on him so he ought to be our last end in point of our enjoyment of him When we therefore trust in our selves we refuse him as the first cause and when we act for our selves and expect a blessedness from our selves we refuse him as the Chiefest good and last End which is an undeniable piece of Atheism For man is a Creature of a higher rank than others in the world and was not made as Animals Plants and other works of the Divine power materially to glorifie God but a rational Creature intentionally to Honour God by obedience to his Rule dependance on his goodness and zeal for his glory T is therefore as much a slighting of God for man a Creature to set himself up as his own End as to regard himself as his own Law For the discovery of this observe that there is a three-fold self-love 1. Natural which is common to us by the Law of nature with other Creatures Inanimate as well as Animate and so closely twisted with the nature of every Creature that it cannot be dissolved but with the dissolution of nature it self It consisted not with the wisdom and goodness of God to Create an unnatural nature or to Command any thing unnatural Nor doth he for when he Commands us to Sacrifice out Selves and dearest lives for himself t is not without a promise of a more noble state and being in exchange for what we lose This self-love is not only commendable but necessary as a Rule to measure that duty we owe to our Neighbour whom we cannot love as our selves if we do not first love our selvs God having planted this self-self-love in our nature makes this natural principle the measure of our affection to all Mankind of the same blood with our selves 2. Carnal self-self-love when a man loves himself above God in opposition to God with a contempt of God when our thoughts affections designs Center only in our own fleshly interest and rifle God of his honour to make a present of it to our selves Thus the natural self-self-love in it self good becomes Criminal by the excess when it would be superior and not subordinate to God 3. A Gracious self-self-love VVhen we love our selves for higher ends than the nature of a Creature as a Creature dictates Viz. in subserviency to the Glory of God This is a reduction of the revolted Creature to his true and happy order A Christian is therefore said to be Created in Christ to good works * Eph. 1 10. As all Creatures were Created not only for themselves but for the honour of God so the Grace of the new Creation carries a man to answer this end and to order all his operations to the Honour of God and his
which this Book chiefly respects The meditation of his converting Grace manifested to Paul ravisht the Apostles heart but not without the triumphant consideration of his Immortality and Eternity which are the principal parts of the Doxology * 1 Tim. 1.15.16 17. Now unto the King Eternal immortal invisible only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever It could be no great transport to the Spirit to consider him glorious without considering him immortal The unconfinedness of his perfections in regard of time presents the Soul with matter of the greatest complacency The happiness of our Souls depends upon his other Attributes but the perpetuity of it upon his Eternity Is it a comfort to view his immense Wisdom his overflowing Goodness his tender Mercy his unerring Truth What comfort were there in any of those if it were a Wisdom that could be bafled a Goodness that could be dampt a Mercy that can expire and a Truth that can perish with the Subject of it Without Eternity what were all his other Perfections but as glorious yet withering Flowers a great but a decaying Beauty By a frequent meditation of Gods Eternity we should become more sensible of our own vanity and the worlds triflingness How nothing should our selves How nothing would all other things appear in our eyes How coldly should we desire them How feebly should we place any trust in them Should we not think our selves worthy of contempt to dote upon a perishing glory to expect support from an Arm of Flesh when there is an eternal Beauty to ravish us an eternal Arm to protect us Asaph when he considered God a Portion for ever thought nothing of the Glories of the Earth or the Beauties of the created Heavens worth his appetite or complacency but God * Psal 73.25 26 Besides an elevated frame of heart at the consideration of Gods Eternity would batter down the strong holds and engines of any temptation A slight temptation will not know where to find and catch hold of a Soul high and hid in a meditation of it and if it doth there will not be wanting from hence preservatives to resist and conquer it What transitory pleasures will not the thoughts of Gods Eternity stifle When this work busieth a Soul 't is too great to suffer it to descend to listen to a sleeveless errand from Hell or the World The wanton allurements of the Flesh will be put off with indignation The profers of the world will be ridiculous when they are cast into the Ballance with the Eternity of God which sticking in our thoughts we shall not be so easy a Prey for the Fowlers Ginn Let us therefore often meditate upon this but not in a bare speculation without engaging our affections and making every notion of the Divine Eternity end a in sutable impression upon our hearts This would be much like the Disciples gazing upon the Heavens at the ascension of their Master while they forgat the practice of his Orders * Acts 1.11 We may else find something of the nature of God and lose our selves not only in Eternity but to Eternity 2. And hence the second part of the Exhortation is to something which concerns us with a respect to God 1. If God be eternal How worthy is he of our choicest affections and strongest desires of communion with him Is not every thing to be valued according to the greatness of its Being How then should we love him who is not only lovely in his nature but eternally lovely having from everlasting all those perfections centred in himself which appear in time If every thing be lovely by how much the more it partakes of the nature of God who is the chief Good how much more infinitely lovely is God who is superior to all other goods and eternally so Not a God of a few minutes months years or millions of years not of the dreggs of time or the top of time but of Eternity above time unconceivably immense beyond time The loving him infinitely perpetually is an act of homage due to him for his eternal excellency We may give him the one since our Souls are immortal though we cannot the other because they are finite Since he encloseth in himself all the excellencies of Heaven and Earth for ever he should have an affection not only of time in this woâ—â—â— but of eternity in the future and if we did not owe him a love for what we are by him we owe him a love for what he is in himself and more for what he is than for what he is to us He is more worthy of our affections because he is the eternal God than because he is our Creator because he is more excellent in his nature than in his transient actions The beams of his goodness to us are to direct our thoughts and affections to him but his own eternal excellency ought to be the ground and foundation of our affections to him And truly since nothing but God is eternal nothing but God is worth the loving and we do but a just right to our love to pitch it upon that which can always possess us and be possessed by us upon an Object that cannot deceive our affection and put it out of countenance by a dissolution And if our happiness consists in being like to God we should imitate him in loving him as he loves himself and as long as he loves himself God cannot do more to himself than love himself he can make no addition to his Essence nor diminution from it What should we do less to an eternal Being than to bestow affections upon him like his own to himself since we can find nothing so durable as himself for which we should love it 2. He only is worthy of our best Service The Ancient of days is to be served before all that are younger than himself Our best obedience is due to him as a God of unconfined excellency Every thing that is excellent deserves a veneration sutable to its excellency As God is infinite he hath right to a boundless service as he is eternal he hath right to a perpetual service As Service is a debt of Justice upon the account of the excellency of his nature so a perpetual service is as much a debt of justice upon the account of his Eternity If God be infinite and eternal he merits an honour and comportment from his Creatures suted to the unlimited perfection of his Nature and the duration of his Being How worthy is the Psalmists resolution I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praise to my God while I have any being * Psal 104.33 'T is the use he makes of the endless duration of the Glory of God and will extend to all other service as well as praise To serve other things or to serve our selves is too vast a service upon that which is nothing In devoting our selves to God we serve him that is that
Interpretation God repented that is he did not bring the punishment upon them according to those days the Prophet had exprest and therefore forty natural days are to be understood and if it were meant of forty years and they were destroyed at the end of that term how could God be said to repent since according to that the punishment threatned was according to the time fixed brought upon them And the destruction of it forty years after will not be easily evinced if Jonah lived in the time of Jeroboam the second King of Israel as he did * 2 Kings 14 2â— And Niniveh was destroyed in the time of Josiah King of Judah But the other Answer is plain God did not fulfil what he had threatned because they reformed what they had committed When the threatning was made they were a fit Object for Justice but when they repented they were a fit Object for a merciful Respite To threaten when sins are high is a part of Gods Justice not to execute when sins are revok'd by Repentance is a part of Gods Goodness And in the Case of Hezekiah * 2 Kings 20.1 5. Isaiah comes with a Message from God that he should set his house in order for he shall dye that is the Disease was mortal and no outward Applications could in their own nature resist the Destemper Behold * Isa 38.1 5. I will add to thy days fifteen years I will heal thee It seems to me to be one intire Message because the latter part of it was so suddenly after the other committed to Isaiah to be delivered to Hezekiah for he was not gon out of the Kings house before he was ordered to return with the news of his health by an extraordinary indulgence of God against the power of Nature and force of the Disease Behold I will add to thy Life noting it as an extraordinary thing He was in the second Court of the Kings House when this word came to him * 2 Kings 20.4 the Kings House having three Courts so that he was not gon above half way out of the Palace God might send this message of Death to prevent the Pride Hezekiah might swell with for his deliverance from Senacherib As Paul had a Messenger of Satan to buffet him to prevent his lifting up * 2 Cor. 12.7 and this good Man was subject to this sin as we find afterwards in the Case of the Babylonish Embassadors And God delayed this other part of the Message to humble him and draw out his Prayer and as soon as ever he found Hezekiah in this temper he sent Isaiah with a comfortable message of recovery So that the Will of God was to signify to him the mortality of his distemper and afterwards to relieve him by a message of an extraordinary Recovery 5. Proposition God is not changed when of loving to any Creatures he becomes angry with them or of angry he becomes appeased The change in these cases is in the Creature according to the alteration in the Creature it stands in a various relatition to God an innocent Creature is the Object of his Kindness an offending Creature is the Object of his Anger there is a change in the dispensations of God as there is a change in the Creature making himself capable of such dispensations God always acts according to the immutable nature of his Holiness and can no more change in his Affections to good and evil than he can in his Essence When the Devils now fallen stood as glorious Angels they were the Objects of Gods love because holy When they fell they were the objects of Gods hatred because impure the same reason which made him love them while they were pure made him hate them when they were criminal The reason of his various dispensations to them was the same in both as considered in God his immutable holiness but as respecting the Creature different the nature of the Creature was changed but the Divine holy nature of God remain'd the same * Psal 18.26 With the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure and with the froward thou wilt shew thy self froward He is a refreshing light to those that obey him and a consuming fire to those that resist him Tho the same Angels were not always loved yet the same reason that moved him to love them moved him to hate them It had argued a change in God if he had loved them alway in whatsoever posture they were towards him It could not be counted love but a weakness and impotent fondness the change is in the object not in the affection of God For the object loved before is not beloved now because that which was the motive of love is not now in it So that the Creature having a different state from what it had falls under a different affection or dispensation It had been a mutable affection in God to love that which was not worthy of love with the same love wherewith he loved that which had the greatest resemblance to himself Had God loved the fallen Angels in that state and for that state he had hated himself because he had loved that which was contrary to himself and the image of his own holiness which made them appear before good in his sight The Will of God is unchangeably set to love righteousness and hate iniquity and from this hatred to punish it And if a righteous Creature contracts the wrath of God or a sinful Creature hath the Communications of Gods love it must be by a change in themselves Is the Sun changed when it hardens one thing and softens another according to the disposition of the several subjects Or when the Sun makes a flower more fragrant and a dead carcass more noysome There are divers effects but the reason of that diversity is not in the Sun but in the subject the Sun is the same and produceth those different effects by the same quality of heat So if an unholy Soul approach to God God looks angrily upon him If a holy Soul come before him the same immutable perfection in God draws out his kindness towards him As some think the Sun would rather refresh than scorch us if our bodies were of the same nature and substance with that Luminary As the Will of God for Creating the world was no new but an Eternal Will tho it manifested it self in time so the Will of God for the punishment of sin or the reconciliation of the sinner was no new Will Tho his wrath in time break out in the effects of it upon sinners and his love flows out in the effects of it upon penitents Christ by his death reconciling God to man did not alter the Will of God but did what was consonant to his Eternal Will He came not to change his Will but to execute his Will Lo I come to do thy Will oh God * Heb. 10.7 And the grace of God in Christ was not a new grace but an old grace in a
Heb. 4.12 As a Critick discerns every Letter Point and Stop he is more intimate with us than our Souls with our Bodies and hath more the Possession of us than we have of our selves he knows them by an inspection into the heart not by the Mediation of second causes by the looks or gestures of men as men may discern the Thoughts of one another 1. God discerns all good motions of the Mind and Will These he puts into men and needs must God know his own act he knew the Son of Jeroboam to have some good thing in him towards the Lord God of Israel 1 Kings 14.13 and the integrity of David and Hezekiah the freest motions of the Will and Affections to him Lord thou knowest that I love thee saith Peter John 21.17 Love can be no more restrain'd than the Will it self can A man may make another to grieve and desire but none can force another to Love 2. God discerns all the evil motions of the Mind and Will Every imagination of the Heart Gen. 6.5 the vanity of mens thoughts Psal 94.11 their inward darkness and deceitful disguises No wonder that God who fashion'd the heart should understand the motions of it Psal 33.13 15. He looks from Heaven and beholds all the Children of men he fashioneth their hearts alike and considers all their Works Doth any man make a Watch and yet be ignorant of its motion Did God fling away the Key to this secret Cabinet when he framed it and put off the power of unlocking it when he pleased He did not surely frame it in such a posture as that any thing in it should be hid from his Eye he did not fashion it to be Priviledged from his Government which would follow if he were ignorant of what was Minted and Coined in it He could not be a Judg to punish men if the inward frames and Principles of mens actions were concealed from him an outward action may glitter to an outward eye yet the secret spring be a desire of applause and not the Fear and Love of God If the inward frames of the heart did lye covered from him in the secret recesses of the heart those plausible acts which in regard of their Principles would merit a Punishment would meet with a Reward and God should bestow Happiness where he had denounced Misery As without the knowledg of what is just he could not be a Wise Law-giver so without the knowledg of what is inwardly committed he could not be a Righteous Judg acts that are rotten in the spring might be judged good by the fair colour and appearance This is the glory of God at the last day to manifest the secrets of all hearts 1 Cor. 4.5 and the Prophet Jeremiah links the power of Judging and the Prerogative of trying the Hearts together Jer. 11.20 but thou O Lord of Hosts that Judgest Righteously that tryest the Reins and the Heart and Jer. 17.10 I the Lord search the Heart I try the Reins to what end even to give every man according to his way and according to the fruit of his doings And indeed his binding up the whole Law with that command of not coveting evidenceth that he will Judg men by the inward affections and frames of their hearts Again God sustains the mind of man in every act of thinking In him we have not only the Principle of Life but every motion the motion of our minds as vvell as of our members In him we live and move c. Acts 17.28 Since he supports the vigor of the faculty in every act can he be ignorant of those acts vvhich spring from the faculty to vvhich he doth at that instant communicate povver and ability Novv this knovvledg of the Thoughts of men is 1. An incommunicable Property belonging only to the Divine Vnderstanding Creatures indeed may knovv the thoughts of others by Divine Revelation but not by themselves no Creature hath a Key immediately to open the minds of men and see all that lodgeth there no Creature can Fathom the heart by the Line of Created Knowledge Daille serm Part 1. p. 230. Devils may have a conjectural Knowledg and may guess at them by the acquaintance they have with the Disposition and Constitution of men and the Images they behold in their Fancies and by some marks which an inward imagination may stamp upon the Brain Blood Animal Spirits Face c. But the knowing the Thougnts meerly as Thought without any Impression by it is a Royalty God appropriates to himself as the main secret of his Government and a Perfection declarative of his Deity as much as any else Jer. 17.9 10. the heart of man is desperately wicked who can know it yes there is one and but one I the Lord search the Heart I try the Reins Man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks upon the Heart 1 Sam. 16.7 where God is distinguisht by this Perfection from all men whatsoever others may know by Revelation as Elisha did what was in Gehazi's heart 2 Kings 5.26 But God knows a man more than any man knows himself What person upon earth understands the windings and turnings of his own heart what reserves it will have what contrivances what inclinations all which God knows exactly 2. God acquires no new Knowledg of the thoughts and heart by the Discovery of them in the actions He would then be but equal in this part of Knowledg to his Creature no man or Angel but may thus arrive to the Knowledg of them God were then excluded from an absolute Dominion over the prime work of his lower Creation he would have made a Creature superior in this respect to himself upon whose Will to discover his knowledg of their inward intentions should depend and therefore when God is said to search the heart we must not understand it as if God were ignorant before and was fain to make an exact scrutiny and enquiry before he attained what he desired to know but God condescends to our capacity in the expression of his own Knowledg signifying that his Knowledg is as compleat as any mans Knowledg can be of the designs of others after he hath sifted them by a strict and through examination and wrung out a discovery of their intentions that he knows them as perfectly as if he had put them upon the rack and forced them to make a discovery of their secret Plottings Nor must we understand that in Gen. 22.12 where God saith after Abraham had stretched out his hand to Sacrifice his Son Now I know that thou fearest God as though God was ignorant of Abrahams gracious disposition to him did Abrahams drawing his Knife furnish God with a new Knowledg no God knew Abrahams pious inclinations before Gen. 18.19 I know him that he will command his Children after him c. Knowledg is sometimes taken for approbation then the sense will be now I approve this Fact as a Testimony of thy fear of me since thy
it They had curtail'd it and diminish'd part of its Authority cutting off its empire over the least Evil and left its power only to check the grosser Practises But Christ restores it to the due extent of its Soveraignty and shews it in those dimensions in which the Holy Men of God considered it as exceeding broad Psal 119.96 reaching to all Actions all Motions all Circumstances attending them full of inexhaustible Treasures of Righteousness And though this Law since the Fall doth irritate Sin 't is no disparagement but a Testimony to the Righteousness of it which the Apostle manifests by his Wherefore Rom. 7.8 Sin taking occasion by the Commandment wrought in me all manner of Concupiscence and repeating the same sense verse 11. subjoyns a Wherefore verse 12. Wherefore the Law is holy The rising of Mens sinful hearts against the Law of God when it strikes with its Preceptive and Minatory parts upon their Consciences evidenceth the Holiness of the Law and the Law-giver In its own Nature it is a Directing Rule but the malignant Nature of Sin is exasperated by it as an hostile quality in a Creature will awaken it self at the appearance of its Enemy The Purity of this Beam and Transcript of God bears witness to a greater clearness and beauty in the Sun and Original Undefiled Streams manifest an untainted Fountain 2. It is seen in the manner of its Precepts As it prescribes all Good and forbids all Evil so it doth enjoyn the one and banish the other as such The Laws of Men command Vertuous things not as Vertuous in themselves but as useful for Human Society which the Magistrate is the Conservator of and the Guardian of Justice ‖ Ames de Consc lib. 5 cap. 1. queâ—t â— The Laws of Men contain not all the Precepts of Vertue but only such as are accommodated to their Customes and are useful to preserve the Ligaments of their Government The design of them is not so much to render the Subjects good Men as good Citizens They order the Practise of those Vertues that may strengthen Civil Society and discountenance those Vices only which weaken the Sinews of it But God beâ—â—â— the Guardian of Vniversal Righteousness doth not only enact the Observance of all Righteousness but the observance of it as Righteousness He Commands that which is Just in it self enjoyns Vertues as Vertues and prohibits Vices as Vices as they are profitable or injurious to our selves as well as to Others Men command Temperance and Justice not as Vertues in themselves but as they prevent Disorder and Confusion in a Common Wealth And forbid Adultery and Theft not as Vices in themselves but as they are Intrenchments upon Property Not as hurtful to the Person that commits them but as hurtful to the Person against whose Right they are committed Upon this account perhaps Paul applauds the Holiness of the Law of God in regard of its own Nature as considered in it self more than he doth the Justice of it in regard of Man and the goodness and conveniency of it to the World Rom. 7.12 the Law is Holy twice and Just and Good but once 3. In the Spiritual extent of it The most Righteous Powers of the World do not so much regard in their Laws what the Inward Affections of their Subjects are The External Acts are only the Objects of their Decrees either to encourage them if they be useful or discourage them if they be hurtful to the Community And indeed they can do no other for they have no Power proportioned to Inward Affections since the Inward disposition falls not under their Censure and it would be foolish for any Legislative Power to make such Laws which it is impossible for it to put in Execution They can prohibit the Outward Acts of Theft and Murder but they cannot command the Love of God the Hatred of Sin the Contempt of the World they cannot prohibit Vnclean Thoughts and the Atheism of the Heart But the Law of God surmounts in Righteousness all the Laws of the best regulated Common Wealths in the World It restrains the Licentious Heart as well as the Violent Hand it damps the very first bubblings of Corrupt Nature orders a Purity in the Spring commands a clean Fountain clean Streams clean Vessels It would frame the Heart to an Inward as well as the Life to an Outward Righteousness and make the Inside purer than the Outside It forbids the first Belchings of a Murderous or Adulterous intention It obligeth Man as a Rational Creature and therefore exacts a conformity of every Rational Faculty and of whatsoever is under the Command of them It commands the Private Closet to be free from the least Cobweb as well as the Outward Porch to be clean from Mire and Dirt. It frowns upon all stains and pollutions of the most retired Thoughts Hence the Apostle calls it a Spiritual Law Rom. 7.14 as not Political but extending its force further than the Frontiers of the Man placing its Ensigns in the Metropolis of the Heart and Mind and curbing with its Scepter the Inward motions of the Spirit and commanding over the Secrets of every Mans Breast 4. In regard of the perpetuity of it The Purity and perpetuity of it are link'd together by the Psalmist Psal 19.9 The fear of the Lord is clean enduring for ever the Fear of the Lord that is that Law which commands the Fear and Worship of God and is the Rule of it And indeed God values it at such a rate that rather than part with a tittle or let the honour of it lie in the Dust he would not only let Heaven and Earth pass away but expose his Son to death for the reparation of the wrong it had sustain'd So holy it is that the Holiness and Righteousness of God cannot dispence with it cannot abrogate it without despoiling himself of his own Being 'T is a Copy of the Eternal Law Can he ever abrogate the command of Love to himself without shewing some contempt of his own Excellency and very Being Before he can enjoyn a Creature not to love him he must make himself unworthy of Love and worthy of Hatred this would be the highest Vnrighteousness to order us to hate that which is only worthy of our highest Affections †Suarez So God cannot change the first Command and order us to worship many Gods this would be against the Excellency and Unity of God For God cannot constitute another God or make any thing worthy of an Honour equal with himself Those things that are good only because they are Commanded are alterable by God Those things that are intrinsically and essentially Good and therefore Commanded are unalterable as long as the Holiness and Righteousness of God stand firm The intrinsick Goodness of the Moral Law the concern God hath for it thâ— perpetuity of the Precepts of the first Table and the care he hath had to imprint the Precepts of the Second upon the
a lower measure much more will he love it in a higher degree because then his Image is more illustrious and beautiful and comes nearer to the lively lineaments of his own Infinite Purity Perfection in any thing is more lovely and amiable than Imperfection in any state and the nearer any thing arrives to Perfection the further are those things separated from it which might Cool an affection to it An increase in holiness is attended with a manifestation of his love Joh. 14.21 He that hath my Commandments and keeps them he it is that loves me and he shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and I will manifest my self to him T is a testimony of love to God and God will not be behind hand with the Creature in kindness He loves a holy man for some resemblance to him in his Nature but when there is an abounding in Sanctified dispositions sutable to it there is an increase of savour The more we resemble the Original the more shall we enjoy the blessedness of that Original As any partake more of the Divine likeness they partake more of the Divine happiness 5. Exhortation Let us carry our selves holily in a spiritual manner in all our religious approaches to God Psal 93.5 Holiness becomes thy house O Lord for ever This Attribute should work in us a deep and reverential respect to God This is the reason rendred why we should worship at his foot-stool in the lowest posture of humility prostrate before him because he is holy †Psal 99.5 Shooes must be put off from our feet Exod. 3.5 that is Lusts from our Affections every thing that our souls are clogged and bemired with as the Shooe is with dirt He is not willing we should offer to him an impure soul mired hearts rotten carcasses putrified in vice rotten in iniquity Our Services are to be as free from prophaness as the sacrifices of the Law were to be free from sickliness or any blemish Whatsoever is contrary to his Purity is abhorred by him and unlovely in his sight and can meet with no other success at his hands but a disdainful turning away both of his eye and ear ‖ Isa 1.15 Since he is an Immense purity he will reject from his presence and from having any communion with him all that which is not conformable to him as light chases away the darkness of the night and will not mix with it If we stretch out our hands towards him we must put iniquity farr away from us * Job 11.13 14. the fruits of all Service will else drop off to nothing Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant to the Lord When when the heart is purged by Christ sitting as a purifier of silver †Mal. 3.3 4. Not all the Incense of the Indies yield him so sweet a Savour as one spiritual act of worship from a heart estranged from the vileness of the World and ravisht with an affection to and a desire of imitating the Puririty of his Nature 6. Exhortation Let us address for holiness to God the fountain of it As he is the Author of bodily life in the Creature so he is the Author of his own life the life of God in the soul By his holiness he makes men holy as the Sun by his light enlightens the Air. He is not only the Holy One but our holy One ‖ Isa 43.15 The Lord that sanctifies us Levit. 20.8 As he hath mercy to pardon us so he hath holiness to purify us the excellency of being a Sun to comfort us and a Shield to protect us giving Grace and Glory * Psal 84.11 Grace whereby we may have Communion with him to our comfort and strength against our spiritual enemies for our defence Grace as our preparatory to glory and Grace growing up till it ripen in Glory He only can mould us into a Divine frame The great Original can only derive the excellency of his own Nature to us We are too low too lame to lift up our selves to it too much in love with our own Deformity to admit of this Beauty without a heavenly power inclining our desires for it our affections to it our willingness to be partakers of it He can as soon set the beauty of Holiness in a deformed heart as the beauty of Harmony in a confused mass when he made the World He can as soon cause the light of Purity to rise out of the darkness of Corruption as frame glorious spirits out of the insufficiency of nothing His beauty doth not decay he hath as much in himself now as he had in his eternity He is as ready to impart it as he was at the Creation only we must wait upon him for it and be content to have it by small measures and degrees There is no fear of our sanctification if we come to him as a God of holiness since he is a God of peace and the breach made by Adam is repaired by Christ Thes 1.5.23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly c. He restores the sanctifying spirit which was withdrawn by the Fall as he is a God pacified and his holiness righted by the Redeemer The beauty of it appears in its smiles upon a man in Christ and is as ready to impart it self to the reconcil'd Creature as before Iustice was to punish the rebellious one He loves to send forth the streams of this perfection into created Chanels more than any else He did not design the making the Creature so powerfull as he might because power is not such an excellency in its own Nature but as it is conducted and managed by some other excellency Power is indifferent and may be used well or ill according as the possessor of it is righteous or unrighteous God makes not the Creature so powerful as he might but he delights to make the Creature that waits upon him as holy as it can be beginning it in this world and ripening it in the other 'T is from him we must expect it and from him that we must begg it and draw Arguments from the holiness of his Nature to move him to work holiness in our Spirits We cannot have a stronger plea. Purity is the favourite of his own Nature and delights itself in the resemblances of it in the Creature Let us also go to God to preserve what he hath already wrought and imparted As we cannot attain it so we cannot maintain it without him God gave it Adam and he lost it When God gives it us we shall lose it without his influencing and preserving Grace The chanel will be without a Stream if the Fountain do not bubble it forth and the streams will vanish if the Fountain doth not constantly supply them Let us apply our selves to him for holiness as he is a God glorious in holiness By this we honour God and advantage our selves A DISCOURSE UPON THE Goodness of God Mark 10.18 And Jesus
Provision he had made for him in the World and the Commission given him to Increase and Multiply and to Rule as a Lord over his other Works whereas he could not so easily have imagined himself capable of being expos'd to such an extraordinary Calamity as an Eternal Death without some signification of it from God 'T is easily concludable that Eternal Life was supposed to be promised to be conferr'd upon him if he stood as well as Eternal Death to be inflicted on him if he Rebell'd * Suarez de Gratia Vol 1. p. 126 127. Now this Eternal Life was not due to his Nature but it was a pure Beam and Gift of Divine Goodness For there was no proportion between Mans Service in his Innocent Estate and a Reward so great both for Nature and duration It was a higher Reward than can be imagined either due to the Nature of Man or upon any Natural Right claimable by his Obedience All that could be expected by him was but a Natural Happiness not a Supernatural As there was no necessity upon the account of Natural Righteousness so there was no necessity upon the account of the Goodness of God to elevate the Nature of Man to a Supernatural Happiness meerly because he Created him For though it be necessary for God when he would Create in regard of his Wisdom to Create for some End yet it was not necessary that End should be a Supernatural End and Happiness since a Natural Blessedness had been sufficient for Man And though God in Creating Angels and Men intellectual and Rational Creatures did make them necessary for himself and his own Glory yet it was not necessarily for him to order either Angels or Men to such a Felicity as consists in a clear Vision and so high a Fruition of himself for all other things are made by him for himself and yet not for the Vision of himself God might have Created Man only for a Natural Happiness according to the Perfection of his Natural Faculties and had dealt Bountifully with him if he had never intended him a Supernatural Blessedness and an Eternal Recompence But what a largeness of Goodness is here to design Man in his Creation for so rich a Blessedness as an Eternal Life with the Fruition of himself He hath not only given to Man all things which are necessary but design'd for Man that which the poor Creature could not imagine He garnisht the Earth for him and garnisht him for an Eternal Felicity had he not by slighting the Goodness of God stript himself of the present and forfeited his future Blessedness 2. The second thing is the manifestation of this Goodness in Redemption The whole Gospel is nothing but one entire Mirror of Divine Goodness The whole of Redemption is wrapt up in that one Expression of the Angels Song Luke 2.14 Good will towards Man The Angels Sang but one Song before which is upon Record but the Matter of it seems to be the Wisdom of God chiefly in Creation Job 38.7 compar 9. v. 5 6 8 9. The Angels are there meant by the Morning Stars The visible Stars of Heaven were not distinctly form'd when the Foundations of the Earth were laid And the Title of the Sons of God verifies it since none but Creatures of understanding are dignifi'd in Scripture with that Title There they Celebrate his Wisdom in Creation here his Goodness in Redemption which is the intire Matter of the Song 1. Goodness was the Spring of Redemption All and every part of it owes only to this Perfection the appearance of it in the World This only excited Wisdom to bring forth from so great an Evil as the Apostacy of Man so great a Good as the Recovery of him When Man fell from his Created Goodness God would evidence that he could not fall from his Infinite Goodness That the greatest Evil could not surmount the ability of his Wisdom to contrive nor the Riches of his Bounty to present us a Remedy for it Divine Goodness would not stand by a Spectator without being Reliever of that Misery Man had plung'd himself into but by astonishing Methods it would recover him to Happiness who had wrested himself out of his hands to fling himself into the most deplorable Calamity And it was the greater since it surmounted those Natural Inclinations and those strong Provocations which he had to shower down the Power of his Wrath. What could be the Source of such a Procedure but this Excellency of the Divine Nature Since no Violence could force him nor was there any Merit to perswade to such a Restoration This under the name of his Love is render'd the sole cause of the Redeeming Death of the Son It was to commend his Love with the highest Gloss and in so singular a manner that had not its parallel in Nature nor in all his other Works and reaches in the brightness of it beyond the manifested extent of any other Attribute * Rom. 5.8 It must be only a miraculous Goodness that induced him to expose the Life of his Son to those difficulties in the World and Death upon the Cross for the freedom of sordid Rebels His great End was to give such a demonstration of the liberality of his Nature as might be attractive to his Creature remove its shakings and tremblings and encourage its approaches to him 'T is in this he would not only manifest his Love but assume the name of Love By this Name the Holy Ghost calls him in relation to this good will manifested in his Son †1 John 4.8 9. God is love In this is manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the World that we might live through him He would take the Name he never exprest himself in before He was Jehovah in regard of the truth of his Promise so he would be known of old He is Goodness in regard of the grandeur of his Affection in the Mission of his Son And therefore he would be known by the Name of Love now in the days of the Gospel 2. It was a Pure Goodness He was under no obligation to pity our Misery and repair our Ruines He might have stood to the terms of the first Covenant and exacted our Eternal Death since we had committed an infinite Transgression He was under no tie to put off the Robes of a Judge for the Bowels of a Father and erect a Mercy-seat above his Tribunal of Justice * Rada Controvers Part. 3. p. 363. The reparation of Man had no necessary connexion with his Creation It follows not that because Goodness had extracted us from nothing by a mighty Power that it must lift us out of wilful Misery by a mighty Grace Certainly that God who had no need of Creating us had far less need of Redeeming us For since he Created one World he could have as easily destroyed it and rear'd another It had not been unbecoming the Divine Goodness
admirable is it for God to speak so kindly to us through the pacifying Blood of the Covenant that silenc'd the terrours of the old and setled the tenderness of the new 2. His Goodness is seen in the Nature and Tenor of the new Covenant There are in this richer Streams of Love and Pity The language of one was die if thou Sin that of the other live if thou believest †Turreti ser p. 33. The old Covenant was founded upon the obedience of Man the new is not founded upon the inconstancy of Mans Will but the firmness of Divine Love and the valuable Merit of Christ The head of the first Covenant was Humane and mutable the head of the second is Divine and immutable The Curse due to us by the breach of the first is taken off by the indulgence of the second * Rom 8.1 We are by it snatcht from the Jaws of the Law to be wrapt up in the bosom of Grace †Rom. 6.14 For you are not under the Law but under Grace from the Curse and condemnation of the Law to the sweetness and forgiveness of Grace Christ bore the one being made a Curse for us * Gal. 3.13 that we might enjoy the sweetness of the other By this we are brought from Mount Sinai the Mount of Terrour to Mount Sion the Mount of Sacrificing the Type of the great Sacrifice †Heb. 12.18 22. That Covenant brought in Death upon one offence this Covenant offers Life after many offences * Rom. 5.16 â—7 That involved us in a Curse and this enricheth us with a Blessing The breaches of that expell'd us out of Paradise and the embracing of this admits us into Heaven This Covenant demands and admits of that Repentance whereof there was no mention in the first That demanded Obedience not Repentance upon a failure and though the exercises of it had been never so deep in the fall'n Creature nothing of the Laws severity had been remitted by any vertue of it Again the first Covenant demanded exact Righteousness but conveyed no cleansing vertue upon the contracting any filth The first demands a continuance in the Righteousness conferr'd in Creation the second imprints a gracious heart in Regeneration I will pour clean Water upon you I will put a new Spirit within you was the voice of the second Covenant not of the first Again as to Pardon Adams Covenant was to punish him not to pardon him if he fell That threatned Death upon Transgression this remits it That was an Act of Divine Soveraignty declaring the will of God this is an Act of Divine Grace passing an Act of Oblivion on the Crimes of the Creature That as it demanded no Repentance upon a failure so it promised no Mercy upon guilt That convened our Sin and condemned us for it this clears our guilt and comforts us under it The first Covenant related us to God as a Judge every transgression against it forfeited his indulgence as a Father The second delivers us from God as a condemning Judge to bring us under his Wing as an affectionate Father In the one there was a dreadful frown to scare us in the other a healing Wing to cover and relieve us Again in regard of Righteousness That demanded our performance of a Righteousness in and by our selves and our own strength This demands our acceptance of a Righteousness higher than ever the standing Angels had The Righteousness of the first Covenant was the Righteousness of a Man the Righteousness of the second is the Righteousness of a God †2 Cor. 5.21 Again in regard of that Obedience it demands it exacts not of us as a necessary condition the Perfection of Obedience but the sincerity of Obedience an uprightness in our intention not an unspottedness in our action an integrity in our aims and an industry in our compliance with Divine Precepts * Gen. 17.1 Walk before me and be thou perfect i. e. sincere What is hearty in our actions is accepted and what is defective is over-looked and not charg'd upon us because of the Obedience and Righteousness of our surety The first Covenant rejected all our services after Sin the services of a Person under the sentence of Death are but dead services This accepts our imperfect services after Faith in it That administred no strength to obey but supposed it This supposeth our inability to obey and confers some strength for it †Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes Again in regard of the Promises * Heb. 8.6 The old Covenant had good but the new hath better Promises of justification after guilt and sanctification after filth and glorification at last of the whole Man In the first there was provision against guilt but none for the removal of it Provision against filth but none for the cleansing of it Promise of happiness implied but not so great a one as that Life and Immortality in Heaven brought to light by the Gospel †2 Tim. 1.10 Why said to be brought to light by the Gospel because it was not only buried upon the fall of Man under the Curses of the Law but it was not so obvious to the conceptions of Man in his Innocent State Life indeed was implied to be promised upon his standing but not so glorious an immortality disclosed to be reserved for him if he stood As it is a Covenant of better Promises so a Covenant of sweeter Comforts Comforts more choice and Comforts more durable An everlasting Consolation and a good hâ—pe are the fruits of Grace i. e. the Covenant of Grace * 2 Thes 2.16 In the whole there is such a love disclosed as cannot be exprest The Apostle leaves it to every Mans mind to conceive it if he could what manner of love the Fâ—ther hath bâ—stowed upon us that we should be call'd the Sons of God †1 Joh. 3.1 It inâ—â—ates us in such a manner of the love of God as he bears to his Son the Image of his Person * John 17 2â— That the World may know that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me 3. This Goodness appears in the choice gift of himsâ—lf which he hath made over in this Covenant You know how it runs in Scripture I will be their God and they shall be my People †Gen. 17.7 A propriety in the Deity is made over by it As he gave the Blood of his Son to Seal the Covenant so he gave himself as the Blessing of the Covenant He is not ashamed to be called their God * Jer. 32.38 Though he be environ'd with Millions of Angels and presides over them in an unexpressible glory he is not ashamed of his condescensions to Man and to pass over himself as the propriety of his People as well as to take them to be his 'T is a diminution of the sense of the place to understand it of
them and the Provisions that were made for them Divine Bounty was the Motive to Erect Altars and present Sacrifices though they mistook the Object of their Worship and offer'd the dues of the Creator to the Instruments whereby he conveyed his Benefits to them And you find that the Religion instituted by him among the Jews was enforc'd upon them by the consideration of their miraculous deliverance from Egypt the preservation of them in the Wilderness and the infeoffing them in a Land flowing with Milk and Honey Every act of bounty and success the Heathens received moved them to appoint new Feasts and repeat their adorations of those Deities they thought the Authors and Promoters of their Victories and Welfare The Devil did not mistake the common Sentiment of the World in Divine Service when he alledg'd to God that Job did not fear him for nought i. e. worship him for nothing * Job 1.9 All acts of Devotion take their rise from Gods liberality either from what they have or from what they hope Praise speaks the Possession and Prayer the Expectation of some Benefit from his Hand Though some of the Heathens made fear to be the prime Cause of the acknowledgment and worship of a Deity yet surely something else besides and beyond this Establisht so great a thing as Religion in the World an ingenuous Religion could never have been born into the World without a Notion of Goodness and would have gaspt its last as soon as this Notion should have expir'd in the minds of Men. What encouragement can fear of Power give without sense of Goodness just as much as Thunder hath to invite a Man to the place where it is like to fall and crush him The nature of fear is to drive from and the nature of goodness to allure to the Object The Divine Thunders Prodigies and other Armies of his Justice in the World which are the Marks of his Power could conclude in nothing but a slavish Worship Fear alone would have made Men blaspheme the Deity instead of serving him they would have fretted against him they might have offer'd him a trembling Worship but they could never have in their minds thought him worthy of an Adoration they would rather have secretly complain'd of him and cursed him in their heart than inwardly have admir'd him The issue would have been the same which Job's Wife advis'd him to when God withdrew his Protection from his Goods and Body Curse God and die * Job 2.9 'T is certainly the common sentiment of Men that he that acts Cruelly and Tyrannically is not worthy of an integrity to be retain'd towards him in the hearts of his Subjects But Job fortifies himself against this Temptation from his Bosom Friend by the consideration of the good he had received from God which did more deserve a worship from him than the present evil had reason to discourage it Alass what is only fear'd is hated not ador'd Would any seek to an irreconcilable Enemy Would any person affectionately list himself in the service of a Man void of all good disposition Would any distressed person put up a Petition to that Prince who never gave any experiment of the sweetness of his Nature but always satiated himself with the Blood of the meanest Criminals All affection to service is rooted up when hopes of receiving good are extinguisht There could not be a spark of that in the World which is properly call'd Religion without a Notion of Goodness The Existence of God is the first Pillar and the Goodness of God in rewarding the next upon which coming to him which includes all acts of Devotion is established * Heb. 11.6 He that comes unto God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him If either of those Pillars be not thought to stand firm all Religion falls to the ground 'T is this as the most agreeable Motive that the Apostle James uses to encourage Mens approach to God because he gives liberally and upbraideth not * James 1.5 A Man of a kind heart and bountiful hand shall have his gate throng'd with suppliants who sometimes would be willing to lay down their lives For a good Man one would even dare to die when one of a niggardly or tyrannical temper shall be destitute of all free and affectionate applications What Eyes would be lifted up to Heaven What hands stretched out if there were not a knowledge of goodness there to enliven their hopes of speeding in their Petitions Therefore Christ orders our Prayers to be directed to God as a Father which is a Title of tenderness as well as a Father in Heaven a Mark of his greatness The one to support our confidence as well as the other to preserve our distance God could not be ingenuously ador'd and acknowledged if he were not liberal as well as powerful The Goodness of God is the foundation of all ingenuous Religion Devotion and Worship 6. The sixth Instruction The Goodness of God renders God amiable His Goodness renders him beautiful and his Beauty renders him lovely both are linkt together * Zach. 9.17 How great is his Goodness And how great is his Beauty This is the most powerful Attractive and masters the affections of the Soul 'T is goodness only supposed or real that is thought worthy to demerit our affections to any thing If there be not a reality of this or at least an opinion and estimation of it in an Object it would want a force and vigor to allure our Will This Perfection of God is the Loadstone to draw us and the Center for our Spirits to rest in 1. This renders God amiable to himself His Goodness is his Godhead * Rom. 1.20 By his Godhead is meant his Goodness If he loves his Godhead for it self he loves his Goodness for it self He would not be good if he did not love himself And if there were any thing more Excellent and had a greater goodness than himself he would not be good if he did not love that greater Goodness above himself For not only a hatred of goodness is evil but an indifferent or cold affection to goodness hath a tincture of evil in it If God were not good and yet should love himself in the highest manner he would be the greatest Evil and do the greatest evil in that act for he would set his love upon that which is not the proper Object of such an affection but the Object of a version His own Infinite Excellency and Goodness of his Nature renders him lovely and delightful to himself without this he could not love himself in a commendable and worthy way and becoming the purity of a Deity and he cannot but love himself for this For as Creatures by not loving him as the Supream Good deny him to be the choicest good so God would deny himself and his own goodness if he did not love himself and that for his
SEVERAL DISCOURSES UPON THE EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. By that late Eminent Minister of Christ Mr. STEPHEN CHARNOCKE B. D. And sometimes Fellow of New-Colledge in Oxon. LONDON Printed for D. Newman T. Cockerill Benj. Griffin T. Simmons and Benj. Alsop M DC LXXXII TO THE READER THIS long since promised and greatly expected Volume of the Reverend Authour upon the Divine Attributes being Transcribed out of his own Manuscripts by the unwearied diligence of those worthy Persons that undertook it Mr. J. Wichens Mr. Ashton is now at last come to thy hands Doubt not but thy Reading will pay for thy waiting and thy satisfaction make full compensation for thy patience In the Epistle before his Treatise of Providence it was intimated that his following Discourses would not be inferiour to that and we are perswaded that ere thou hast perused one half of this thou wilt acknowledge that it was modestly spoken Enough assure thy self thou wilt find here for thy entertainment and delight as well as profit The sublimeness variety and rareness of the Truths here handled together with the elegancy of the Composure neatness of the Style and whatever is wont to make any Book desirable will all concur in the recommendation of this What so high and noble a Subject what so fit for his Meditations or thine as the highest and noblest Being and those transcendently glorious Perfections wherewith he is clothed A meer Contemplation of the Divine Excellencies may afford much pleasure to any man that loves to exercise his Reason and is addicted to speculation But what incomparable sweetness then will holy Souls find in viewing and considering those Perfections now which they are more fully to behold hereafter and seeing what manner of God how wise and powerful how great and good and holy is he in whom the Covenant interests them and in the enjoyment of whom their happiness consists If rich men delight to sum up their vast Revenues to read over their Rentals look upon their Hoords if they bless themselves in their great Wealth or to use the Prophets words Jer. 9.23 glory in their Riches well may Believers rejoyce and glory in their knowing the Lord vers 24. and please themselves in seeing how rich they are in having an immensely full and All-sufficient God for their Inheritance Alas how little do most men know of that Deity they profess to serve and own not as their Soveraign only but their Portion To such this Author might say Acts 17.23 as Paul to the Athenians Whom you ignorantly worship him declare I unto you These Treatises Reader will inform thee who he is whom thou callest thine present thee with a view of thy chief good and make thee value thy self a thousand times more upon thy interest in God than upon all external Accomplishments and worldly Possessions Who but delights to hear well of one whom he loves God is thy Love if thou be a Believer and then it cannot but fill thee with delight and ravishment to hear so much spoken in his Praise David desired to dwell in the House of the Lord that he might there behold his beauty How much of that beauty if thou art but capable of seeing it mayest thou behold in this Volume which was our Author's main business for about three years before he died to display before his hearers True indeed the Lord's Glory as shining forth before his heavenly Courtiers above is unapproachable by mortal Men but what of it is visible in his Works Creation Providence Redemption falls under the cognizance of his Inferiour Subjects here and this is in a great measure presented to view in these Discourses and so much we may well say as may by the help of Grace be effectual to raise thy Admiration attract thy Love provoke thy Desires and enable thee to make some guess at what is yet unseen and why not likewise to clear thy Eyes and prepare them for future sight as well as turn them away from the contemptible Vanities of this present Life Whatever is glorious in this World yet as the Apostle in another case hath no glory by reason of the glory that excels 2 Cor. 3.10 This excellent Glory is the Subject of this Book to which all Created Beauty is but meer shadow and duskyness If thy Eyes be well fixed on this they will not be easily drawn to wander after other Objects If thy heart be taken with God it will be mortified to every thing that is not God But thou hast in this Book not only an excellent Subject in the general but great variety of Matter for the employment of thy Understanding as well as enlivening thy Affections and that too such as thou wilt not readily find elsewhere many excellent things which are out of the rode of ordinary Preachers and Writers and which may be grateful to the Curious no less than satisfactory to the Wise and Judicious It is not therefore a Book to be play'd with or slept over but read with the most intent and serious Mind for though it afford much pleasure for the Phancy yet much more work for the heart and hath indeed enough in it to busie all the Faculties The Dress is compt and decent yet not garish nor Theatrical the Rhetorick masculine and vigorous such as became a Pulpit and was never borrowed from the Stage the Expressions full clear apt and such as are best suted to the weightiness and spirituality of the Truths here delivered 'T is plain he was no empty Preacher but was more for sense than sound filled up his words with matter and chose rather to inform his Hearers Minds than to claw any itching Ears Yet we will not say but some little things a Word or a Phrase now and then he may have which no doubt had he lived to Transcribe his own Sermons he would have altered If in some lesser matters he differ from thee it is but in such as Godly and Learned Men do frequently and may without breach of Charity differ in among themselves in some things he may differ from us too and it may be we from each other and where are there any two Persons who have in all especially the more disputable Points of Religion exactly the same Sentiments at least express themselves altogether in the same terms But this we must say that though he treat of many of the most abstruse and mysterious Doctrines of Christianity which are the Subjects of great Debates and Controversies in the World yet we find no one material thing in which he may justly be called Heterodox unless old Heresies be of late grown Orthodox and his differing from them must make him faulty but generally delivers as in his * Treatise of Providence and of Thoughts former Pieces what is most consonant to the Faith of This and other the best Reformed Churches He was not indeed for that Modern Divinity which is so much in vogue with some who would be counted the
10.9 Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord. An Invader and Oppressor of his Neighbors and reputed the Introducer of a new Worship and being the first that built Cities after the flood as Cain was the first Builder of them before the flood built also Idolatry with them And erected a new Worship and was so far from strengthing that Notion the people had of God that he endeavoured to corrupt it The first Idolatry in common Histories being noted to proceed from that part of the World the Ancientest Idol being at Babylon and supposed to be first invented by this Person Whence by the way perhaps Rome is in the Revelations called Babylon with respect to that similitude of their Saint-Worship to the Idolatry first set up in that place * Or if we understand it as some think that he defended his invasions under a pretext of the preserving Religion it assures us that there was a notion of an object of Religion before since no Religion can be without an object of Worship T is evident Politicians have often changed the Worship of a Nation but it is not upon record that the first thoughts of an object of Worship ever entred into the minds of people by any trick of theirs But to return to the present Argument the Being of a God is owned by some Nations that have scarce any form of policy among them T is as wonderful how any wit should hit upon such an Invention as it is absur'd to ascribe it to any humane device if there were not prevailing Arguments to constrain the consent Besides how is it possible they should deceive themselves What is the reason the greatest Politicians have their fears of a Deity upon their unjust practices as well as other men they intended to befool How many of them have had forlorn Consciences upon a Death bed upon the consideration of a God to answer an account to in another world Is it credible they should be frighted by that wherewith they knew they beguiled others No man satisfying his pleasures would impose such a deceipt upon himself o render and make himself more miserable than the Creatures he hath dominion over 2. It is unaccountable how it should indure so long a time That this Policy should be so fortunate as to gain ground in the Consciences of men and exercise an Empire over them and meet with such an universal success If the Notion of a God were a a State-Engine and introduced by some Politick Grandees for the ease of Government and preserving people with more facility in order how comes it to pass the first broachers of it were never upon record there is scarce a false opinion vented in the World but may as a stream be traced to the first head and fountain The Inventors of particular forms of worship are known and the reasons why they prescribed them known but what Grandee was the Author of this who can pitch a time and person that sprung up this Notion If any be so insolent as to impose a cheat he can hardly be supposed to be so successful as to deceive the whole world for many ages Impostures pass not free through the whole world without Examination and discovery Falsities have not been universally and constantly owned without controul and question If a cheat imposeth upon some Towns and Countries he will be found out by the more peircing enquiries of other places and it is not easy to name any Imposture that hath walked so long in its disguise in the World without being unmasked and whipped out by some Nation or other If this had been a meer trick there would have been as much craft in some to discern it as there was in others to contrive it No Man can be imagined so wise in a Kingdom but others may be found as wise as himself And it is not conceivable that so many clear sighted men in all ages should be ignorant of it and not endeavour to free the world from so great a falsity * Fotherby a Theomastix p. 64. It cannot be found that a trick of State should always beguile men of the most piercing insights as well as the most credulous That a few crafty men should befool all the wisemen in the world and the world lie in a beleif of it and never like to be freed from it What is the reason the succeeding Politicians never knew this Stratagem since their Maxims are usually handed to their Successors And there is not a Richlieu but leaves his Axioms to a Mazarine This perswasion of the Existence of God ows not it self to any Imposture or subtelty of Men If it had not been agreable to common Nature and Reason it could not so long have born sway The imposed yoke would have been cast off by Multitudes Men would not have charged themselves with that which was attended with consequences displeasing to the Flesh and hindred them from a full swing of their rebellious Passions such a shackle would have mouldred of it self or been broke by the extravigances humane nature is enclin'd unto The wickedness of men without question hath prompted them to endeavour to unmask it if it were a Cosenage but could never yet be so successful as to free the world from a perswasion or their own Consciences from the tincture of the Existence of a Deity It must be therefore of an ancienter Date than the Craft of States-men and descend into the world with the first appearance of humane nature Time which hath rectified many Errors improves this Notion makes it shock down its roots deeper and spread its branches larger It must be a natural Truth that shines clear by the detection of those Errors that have befooled the World and the wit of Man is never able to name any humane Author that first insinuated it into the beleifs of men 3. Nor was it Fear first introduced it Fear is the Consequent of Wickedness As Man was not created with any inherent sin so he was not created with any terrifying fears the one had been against the Holiness of the Creator the other against his Goodness Fear did not make this Opinion but the Opinion of the Being of a Dâ—ity was the cause of this Fear after his sense of angring the Deity by his Wickedness The Object of Fear is before the Act of Fear there could not be an Act of Fear exercised about the Deity till it was beleived to be existent and not only so but Offended For God as existent only is not the Object of Fear or Love 't is not the Existence of a thing that excites any of those Affections but the Relation a thing bears to us in particular God is good and so the object of Love as well as just and thereby the object of Fear He was as much called Love * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Mens or Mind in regard of his Goodness and Understanding by the Heathens as much as by any other Name Neither
office We must come to some supream Judge who can Judge Conscience it self As a man can have no surer evidence that he is a being than because he thinks he is a thinking being So there is no surer evidence in nature that there is a God than that every man hath a natural principle in him which continually cites him before God and puts him in mind of him and makes him one way or other fear him and reflects upon him whether he will or no A man hath less power over his Conscience than over any other faculty He may choose whether he will exercise his understanding about or move his will to such an object but he hath no such Authority over his Conscience he cannot limit it or cause it to cease from acting and reflecting and therefore both that and the law about which it acts are settled by some supream Authority in the mind of man and this is God Fourthly IV. The evidence of a God results from the vastness of desires in man and the real dissatisfaction he hath in every thing below himself Man hath a boundless appetite after some Soveraign Good As his understanding is more capacious than any thing below so is his Appetite larger This affection of desire exceeds all other affections Love is determined to something known Fear to something apprehended but Desires approach nearer to Infiniteness and pursue not only what we know or what we have a glimps of but what we find wanting in what we already enjoy That which the desire of man is most naturally carryed after is Bonum some fully satisfying good We desire knowledge by the sole impulse of reason but we desire Good before the excitement of reason and the desire is always after Good but not always after Knowledge Now the Soul of man finds an imperfection in every thing here and cannot scrape up a perfect satisfaction and felicity In the highest fruitions of worldly things t is still pursuing something else which speaks a defect in what it already hath The world may afford a felicity for our dust the body but not for the inhabitant in it t is two mean for that Is there any one Soul among the Sons of men that can upon a due enquiry say it was at rest and wanted no more that hath not sometimes had desires after an immaterial Good The Soul follows hard after such a thing and hath frequent looks after it Psal 63.8 Man desires a stable Good but no sublunary thing is so And he that doth not desire such a Good wants the rational nature of a man This is as natural as Understanding Will and Conscience Whence should the Soul of man have those desires How came it to understand that something is still wanting to make its nature more perfect if there were not in it some notion of a more perfect being which can give it rest Can such a capacity be supposed to be in it without something in being able to satisfie it If so the noblest Creature in the world is miserablest and in a worse condition than any other Other Creatures obtain their ultimate desires they are filled with good Psal 104.28 And shall man only have a vast desire without any possibility of enjoyment Nothing in man is in vain He hath objects for his affections as well as affections for objects Every Member of his body hath its end and doth attain it Every affection of his Soul hath an object and that in this World and shall there be none for his desire which comes nearest to infinite of any affection planted in him This boundless desire had not its original from man himself Nothing would render it self restless something above the bounds of this world implanted those desires after a higher Good and made him restless in every thing else And since the Soul can only rest in that which is infinite there is something infinite for it to rest in Since nothing in the world though a man had the whole can give it a satisfaction there is something above the world only capable to do it otherwise the Soul would be always without it and be more in vain than any other Creature There is therefore some infinite being that can only give a contentment to the Soul and this is God And that goodness which implanted such desires in the Soul would not do it to no purpose and mock it in giving it an infinite desire of satisfaction without intending it the pleasure of enjoyment if it doth not by its own folly deprive it self of it The felicity of human nature must needs exceed that which is allotted to other Creatures 4. And last Reason Fourth Reason As t is a folly to deny that which all Nations in the World have consented to which the frame of the world evidenceth which man in his Body Soul Operations of Conscience witnesseth to So t is a folly to deny the Being of God which is witnessed unto by extraordinary occurrences in the world 1. In extraordinary Judgments When a just revenge follows abominable crimes especially when the Judgment is suted to the sin by a strange Concatenation and succession of Providences methodized to bring such a particular punishment When the sin of a Nation or person is made legible in the inflicted Judgment which testifies that it cannot be a casual thing The Scripture gives us an account of the necessity of such Judgments to keep up the reverential thoughts of God in the World Psal 9.16 The Lord is known by the judgment which he executes the wicked is snared in the work of his own hand And Jealousy is the name of God Exod. 34.14 Whose name is Jealous He is distinguisht from false Gods by the Judgments which he sends as men are by their names Extraordinary Prodigies in many Nations have been the Heralds of extraordinary Judgments and presages of the particular Judgments which afterwards they have felt of which the Roman Histories and others are full That there are such things is undeniable and that the events have been answerable to the threatning unless we will throw away all human Testimonies and count all the Histories of the World Forgeries Such things are evidences of some invisible Power which orders those affairs And if there be invisible Powers there is also an efficacious cause which moves them A Government certainly there is among them as well as in the world and then we must come to some supream Governour which presides over them Judgments upon notorious offenders have been evident in all ages The Scripture gives many instances I shall only mention that of Herod Agrippa which Josephus mentions * Lib. 19. Antiq. Act. 12.21.22.23 He receives the flattering applause of the people and thought himself a God But by the suddain stroak upon him was forced by his torture to confess another I am God saith he in your account but a higher calls me away The will of the Heavenly Deity is to be endured The Angel
and an unreasonable thing cannot be the product of an infinite wisdom and goodness Therefore as the respecting Gods Will before the Will of man is excellent and worthy of a Creature and is an acknowledging the excellency goodness and wisdom of God So the eying the Will of man before and above the Will of God is on the contrary a denyal of all those in a lump and a preferring the wisdom goodness and power of man in his Law above all those perfections of God in his Whatsoever men do that looks like moral virtue or abstinence from vices not out of obedience to the rule God hath set but because of custome necessity example or imitation they may in the doing of it be rather said to be Apes than Christians 3. In obeying the Will of man when t is contrary to the Will of God As the Israelites willingly walked after the Commandment * Hos 5.11 Not of God but of Jeroboam in the â—ase of the Calves And made the Kings heart glad with their lies * Hos 7.3 They cheered â—im with their ready obedience to his Command for Idolatry which was a lie in iâ—self and a lie in them against the Commandment of God and the warnings of the Prophets rather than cheer the heart of God with their obedience to his worship instituted by him Nay and when God offered them to cure them their wound their iniquity breaks out a fresh they would neither have him as a Lord to rule them nor a Physitian to cure them Hos 7.1 When I would have healed Israel then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered The whole Persian Nation shrunk at once from a duty due by the light of nature to the Deity upon a decree that neither God or man should be petitioned to for thirty days but only their King * Daniel 6. One only Daniel excepted against it who preferred his homage to God above obedience to his Prince An adulterous generation is many times made the rule of mens professions as is implyed in those words of our Saviour Mark 8.38 Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words in this Adulterous and sinful Generation Own him among his Disciples and be ashamed of him among his enemies Thus men are said to deny God Tit. 1.16 when they attend to Jewish fables and the precepts of men rather than the word of God When the decrees or Canons of fallible men are valued at a higher rate and preferred before the writings of the holy-ghost by his Apostles As Man naturally disowns the rule God sets him and owns any other rule than that of Gods prescribing so Thirdly 3. He doth this in order to the setting himself up as his own rule As tho our own Wills and not Gods were the true square and measure of Goodness We make an Idol of our own Wills And as much as self is exalted God is deposed The more we esteem our own Wills the more we endeavour to annihilate the Will of God Account nothing of him the more we account of our selves And endeavor to render our selves his superiors by exalting our own Wills No Prince but would look upon his Authority as invaded his Royalty derided if a Subject should resolve to be a Law to himself in opposition to his known Will True piety is to hate our selves deny our selves and cleave solely to the service of God To make our selves our own rule and the object of our chiefest love is Atheism If self denyal be the greatest part of Godliness the great Letter in the Alphabet of Religion Self love is the great Letter in the Alphabet of Practical Atheism Self is the great Anti-Christ and Anti-God in the World that sets up it self above all that is called God Self love is the Captain of that black band 2 Tim. 3.2 It sits in the Temple of God and would be ador'd as God Self love begins but denying the the power of Godliness which is the same with denying the ruling power of God ends the list T is so far from bending to the righteous Will of the Creator that it would have the eternal Will of God stoop to the humor and unrighteous Will of a Creature And this is the ground of the contention between the flesh and Spirit in the heart of a renewed man Flesh Wars for the God-head of self and Spirit fights for the God-head of God The one would settle the throne of the Creator and the other maintain a Law of Covetosness Ambition Envy Lust in the stead of God The Evidence of this will appear in these propositions 1. This is natural to man as he is corrupted What was the venom of the sin of Adam is naturally derived with his nature to all his posterity It was not the eating a forbidden Apple or the pleasing his Palate that Adam aimed at or was the chief object of his desire but to live independently on his Creator and be a God to himself Gen. 3.5 You shall be as Gods That which was the matter of the Devils Temptation was the incentive of mans rebellion A likeness to God he aspired to in the Judgment of God himself an infallible interpreter of mans thoughts Behold man is become as one of us to know good and evil in regard of self sufficiency and being a rule to himself The Jews understand the ambition of man to reach no further than an equality with the Angelical nature But Jehovah here understands it in another sense God had ordered man by this prohibition not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil not to attempt the knowledge of good and evil of himself but to wait upon the dictates of God not to trust to his own Counsels but to depend wholly upon him for direction and guidance Certainly he that would not hold off his hand from so small a thing as an Apple when he had his choice of the fruit of the Garden would not have denyed himself any thing his Appetite had desired when that principle had prevailed upon him He would not have stuck at a greater matter to pleasure himself with the displeasing of God when for so small a thing he would incur the anger of his Creator Thus would he deifie his own understanding against the wisdom of God and his own appetite against the Will of God This desire of equality with God a learned man thinks the Apostle intimates Phil. 2.6 Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God The Sons being in the form of God Dr. Jackson and thinking it no robbery to be equal with God implies that the robbery of sacriledge committed by our first Parents for which the Son of God humbled himself to the death of the Cross was an attempt to be equal with God and depend no more upon Gods directions but his own conduct which could be no less than an invasion of the throne of God and endeavor to put himself into
a posture to be his Mate Other sins Adultery and Theft c. could not be committed by him at that time but he immediatly puts forth his hand to usurp the power of his Maker This Treason is the old Adam in every man The first Adam contradicted the Will of God to set up himself The second Adam humbled himself and did nothing but by the Command and Will of his Father This principle wherein the venom of the Old Adam lies must be Crucified to make way for the Throne of the humble and obedient principle of the New Adam or quickning Spirit Indeed sin in its owns nature is nothing else but a willing according to self and contrary to the Will of God Lusts are therefore called the Wills of the flesh and of the mind * Eph. 2.3 As the precepts of God are Gods Will So the violations of these precepts is mans Will And thus man usurps a God-head to himself by giving that Honour to his own Will which belongs to God appropriating the right of rule to himself and denying it to his Creator That Servant that acts according to his own Will with a neglect of his Masters refuseth the duty of a Servant and invades the right of his Master This self-Self-love and desire of Independency on God has been the root of all sin in the World The great controversy between God and man hath been whether he or they shall be God whether his Reason or theirs his Will or theirs shall be the guiding principle As Grace is the union of the Will of God and the Will of the Creature so sin is the opposition of the Will of self to the Will of God Leaning to our own understanding is opposed as a natural evil to trusting in the Lord * Pro. 3.5 a supernatural grace Men commonly love what is their own their own inventions their own fancies therefore the ways of a wicked man are called the ways of his own heart * Eccl. 11.9 and the ways of a superstitious man his own devices Jer. 18.11 We will walk after our own devices We will be a law to our selves And what the Psalmist saith of the tongue our tongues are our own who shall controul us is as truly the language of mens hearts our Wills are our own who shall check us 2. This is eviden in the dissatisfaction of men with their own Consciences when they contradict the desires of self Conscience is nothing but an actuated or reflex knowledg of a superior power and an equitable law a law imprest and a power above it impressing it Conscience is not the law-giver but the remembrancer to mind us of that law of nature imprinted upon our Souls and actuate the considerations of the duty and penalty to apply the rule to our acts and pass Judgment upon matter of fact T is to give the charge urge the rule enjoyn the practice of those notions of Right as part of our duty and obedience But man is much displeased with the directions of Conscience as he is out of love with the accusations and condemning sentence of this officer of God We cannot naturally endure any quick and lively practical thoughts of God and his Will and distast our own Consciences for putting us in mind of it They therefore like not to retain God in their knowledge * Rom. 1.28 that is God in their own Consciences they would blow it out as it is the Candle of the Lord in them to direct them and their acknowledgments of God to secure themselves against the practice of its principles They would stop all the avenues to any beam of light and would not suffer a sparkle of Divine knowledge to flutter in their minds in order to set up another directing rule suited to the fleshly appetite And when they cannot stop the light of it from glaring in their faces they rebel against it and cannot endure to abide in its paths * Job 24.13 He speaks not of those which had the written word or special Revelations but only a natural light or traditional handed from Adam Hence are all the endeavors to still it when it begins to speak by some carnal pleasures as Sauls evil Spirit with a fit of Musick or bribe it with some fits of a glavering devotion when it holds the Law of God in its commanding Authority before the mind They would wipe out all the impressions of it when it presses the advancement of God above self and entertain it with no better Complement than Ahab did Elijah hast thou found me O my Enemy If we are like to God in any thing of our natural fabrick t is in the superior and more Spiritual part of our Souls The resistance of that which is most like to God and instead of God in us is a disowning of the Soveraign represented by that Officer He that would be without Conscience would be without God whose Vicegerent it is and make the sensitive part which Conscience opposes his Law-giver Thus a man out of respect to sinful self quarrels with his natural self and cannot comport himself in a friendly behaviour to his internal implanted principles He hates to come under the rebukes of them as much as Adam hated to come into the presence of God after he turned Traytor against him The bad entertainment Gods deputy hath in us reflects upon that God whose cause it pleads T is upon no other account that men loath the upright Language of their own reasons in those matters and wish the eternal silence of their own Consciences but as they maintain the rights of God and would hinder the Idol of self from usurping his God-head and prerogative Tho this power be part of a mans self rooted in his nature as essential to him and inseparable from him as the best part of his being yet he quarrels with it as it is Gods Deputy and stickling for the honour of God in his Soul and quarrelling with that sinful self he would cherish above God We are not displeased with this faculty barely as it exerciseth a self-reflection but as it is Gods Vice-gerent and bears the mark of his Authority in it In some cases this self-reflecting act meets with good Entertainment when it acts not in contradiction to self but sutable to natural affections As suppose a man hath in his passion struck his Child and caused thereby some great mischeif to him the reflection of Conscience will not be unwelcome to him will work some tenderness in him because it takes the part of self and of natural affection But in the more Spiritual concerns of God it will be rated as a busy body 3. Many if not most actions materially good in the world are done more because they are agreeable to self than as they are honourable to God As the word of God may be heard not as his word * 1 Thes 2.13 but as there may be pleasing Notions in it or discourses against an opinion or
God foolishly he never spake nor thought any thing unworthy of the Majesty and righteousness of God Yet afterwards we find him warping he nicknames the affliction to be Gods oppression of him and no act of his goodness Job 10.3 Is it good for thee that thou shouldst oppress He seems to charge God with injustice for punishing him when he was not wicked for which he appeals to God thou knowest that I am not wicked v. 7. and that God acted not like a Creator v. 8. If our projects are disappointed what fretfulness against Gods management are our hearts rackt with How do uncomely passions bubble upon us interpretatively at least wishing that the arms of his power had been bound and the eye of his omniscience been hoodwinkt that we might have been left to our own liberty and designs And this oftentimes when we have more reason to bless him than repine at him The Israelites murmured more against God in the Wilderness with Manna in their mouths than they did at Pharoah in the Brickilns with their Garlike and Onyons between their Teeth Tho we repine at Instruments in our afflictions yet God counts it a reflection upon himself The Israelites speaking against Moses was in Gods interpretation a Rebellion against himself * Numb 16.41 compar'd with 17 10. And Rebellion is alwaies a desire of imposing Laws and Conditions upon those against whom the Rebellion is raised The sottish dealings of the Vine-dressers in Franconia with the Statue of St. Vrban the Protector of the Vines upon his own day is an Emblem of our dealing with God If it be a clear day and portend a prosperous Vintage they honour the Statue and drink healths to it if it be a rainy day and presage a scantiness they daub it with durt in indignation We cast out our mire and durt against God when he acts cross to our wishes and flatter him when the wind of his Providence joyns it self to the tide of our interest Men set a high price upon themselves and are angry God values them not at the same rate as if their Judgment concerning themselves were more piercing than his This is to disannul Gods Judgment and condemn him and count our selves righteous as t is Job 40.8 This is the Epidemical disease of human nature they think they deserve Caresses instead of Rods and upon crosses are more ready to tear out the heart of God than reflect humbly upon their own hearts When we accuse God we applaud our selves and make our selves his superiors intimating that we have acted more righteously to him than he to us which is the highest manner of imposing Laws upon him as that Emperor accused the Justice of God for snatching him out of the World too seen * Caelum suspiciens vitam c. Vita Titi ca. 10. What an high piece of Practical Atheism is this to desire that that infinite wisdom should be guided by our folly and asperse the righteousness of God rather than blemish our own Instead of silently submitting to his Will and adoring his Wisdom we declaim against him as an unwise and unjust Governour We would invert his order make him the Steward and our selves the proprietors of what we are and have we deny our selves to be sinners and our mercies to be forfeited 4. T is evidenced in Envying the gifts and prosperities of others Envy hath a deep tincture of practical Atheism and is a cause of Atheism * Because wicked men flourish in the world Solicitor nullos esse putare Deos. We are unwilling to leave God to be the proprietor and do what he will with his own and as a Creator to do what he pleases with his Creatures We assume a liberty to direct God what Portions when and how he should bestow upon his Creatures We would not let him chuse his own favourites and pitch upon his own instruments for his Glory As if God should have askt Counsel of us how he should dispose of his benefits We are unwilling to leave to his wisdom the management of his own Judgments to the wicked and the dispensation of his own love to our selves This temper is natural T is as ancient as the first age of the world Adam envyed God a felicity by himself and would not spare a Tree that he had reserved as a mark of his Soveraignty The passion that God had given Cain to employ against his sin he turns against his Creator He was wroth with God * Gen. 4.5 and with Abel but envy was at the root because his Brothers Sacrifice was accepted and his refused How could he envy his accepted person without reflecting upon the accepter of his offering Good men have not been free from it Job questions the goodness of God that he should shine upon the Counsel of the wicked Job 10.3 Jonah had too much of self in fearing to be counted a false Prophet when he came with absolute denunciations of wrath Jonah 4.2 And when he could not bring a volley of destroying Judgments upon the Ninevites he would shoot his fury against his Master envying those poor people the benefit and God the honour of his mercy And this after he had been sent into the Whales belly to learn humiliation which tho he exercised there yet those two great branches of self-pride and envy were not lopt off from him in the belly of hell And God was fain to take pains with him and by a Gourd scarce makes him ashamed of his peevishness Envy is not like to cease till all Atheism be Cashiered and that is in Heaven This sin is an imitation of the Devil whose first sin upon Earth was Envy as his first sin in Heaven was Pride T is a wishing that to our selves which the Devil asserted as his right to give the Kingdoms of the World to whom he pleased * Luke 4.6 T is an anger with God because he hath not given us a Patent for Government It utters the same Language in disparagement of God as Absolom did in reflection on his Father If I were King in Israel Justice should be better managed If I were Lord of the world there should be more Wisdom to discern the merits of men and more righteousness in distributing to them their several portions Thus we impose Laws upon God and would have the righteousness of his Will submit to the corruptions of ours and have him lower himself to gratifie our minds rather than fulfill his own We charge the Author of those gifts with injustice that he hath not dealt equally or with ignorance that he hath mistook his mark In the same breath that we censure him by our peevishness we would Guide him by our Wills This is an unreasonable part of Atheism If all were in the same state and condition the order of the world would be impaired Is God bound to have a care of thee and neglect all the world besides Shall the Earth be forsaken for thee *
Job 18.4 Joseph had reason to be displeased with his Brothers if they had muttered because he gave Benjamin a double portion and the rest a single It was unfit that they who had deserved no gift at all should prescribe him rules how to dispense his own doles much more unworthy it is to deal so with God yet this is too rife 5. It is evidenced in corrupt matter or ends of Prayer and praise When we are importunate for those things that we know not whither the righteousness holiness and wisdom of God can grant because he hath not discovered his Will in any promise to bestow them we would then impose such conditions on God which he never oblidged himself to grant when we pray for things not so much to glorifie God which ought to be the end of Prayer as to gratifie our selves We acknowledg indeed by the act of petitioning that there is a God but we would have him un-God himself to be at our beck and debase himself to serve our turns When we desire those things which are repugnant to those attributes whereby he doth manage the Government of the world When by some superficial services we think we have gained indulgence to sins Which seems to be the thought of the Strumpet in her paying her vows to wallowmore freely in the mire of her sensual pleasures * Pro. 7.14 I have peace offerings with me this day I have paid my vows I have made my peace with God and have entertainment for thee Or when men desire God to bless them in the Commission of some sin As when Balack and Balaam offered Sacrifices that they might prosper in the Cursing of the Israelites Numb 25.1 c. So for a Man to pray to God to save him while he neglects the means of Salvation appointed by God Or to renew him when he slights the Word the only Instrument to that purpose This is to impose Laws upon God contrary to the declared Will and wisdom of God and to desire him to slight his own institutions When we come into the presence of God with lusts reeking in our hearts and leap from sin to duty we would impose the Law of our corruption on the holiness of God While we pray the Will of God may be done self-love wishes its own will may be performed as tho God should serve our humors when we will not obey his precepts And when we make vows under any affliction what is it often but a secret conontrivance to bend and flatter him to our conditions We will serve him if he will restore us we think thereby to compound the business with him and bring him down to our terms 6. T is evidenced In positive and bold interpretations of the Judgments of God in the world To interpret the Judgments of God to the disadvantage of the sufferer unless it be an unusual Judgment and have a remarkable hand of God in it and the sin be rendred plainly legible in the affliction is a presumption of this nature When men will Judge the Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with the Sacrifices greater sinners than others and themselves righteous because no drops of it were dasht upon them Or when Shimei being of the House of Saul shall Judge according to his own interest and desires Davids flight upon Absoloms rebellion to be a punishment for invading the rights of Sauls Family and depriving him of the succession in the Kingdom 2 Sam. 16.5 as if he had been of Gods Privy Counsel when he decreed such acts of Justice in the world Thus we would fasten our own Wills as a Law or motive upon God and interpret his acts according to the Motions of self Is it not too ordinary when God sends an affliction upon those that bear ill will to us to Judge it to be a righting of our cause to be a fruit of Gods concern for us in revenging our wrongs as if we had heard the secrets of God or as Eliphaz saith had turned over the records of heaven Job 15.8 This is a judgment according to self-self-love not a divine rule and imposeth Laws upon Heaven implying a secret wish that God would take care only of them make our concerns his own not in ways of kindness and justice but according to our fancies And this is common in the prophane World in those curses they so readily spit out upon any affront as if God were bound to draw his Arrowes and shoot them into the heart of all their offenders at their beck and pleasure 7. It is evidenc'd In mixing rules for the worship of God with those which have been ordered by him Since men are most prone to live by sense 't is no wonder that a sensible worship which affects their outward sence with some kind of amazement is dear to them and spiritual worship most loathsome Pompous rites have been the great Engine wherewith the Devil hath deceived the souls of men and wrought them to a nauseating the simplicity of divine worship as unworthy the Majesty and excellency of God * 2 Cor. 11.3 Thus the Jews would not understand the glory of the second Temple in the presence of the Messiah because it had not the pompous grandeur of that of Solomons erecting Hence in all Ages men have been forward to disfigure Gods models and dress up a brat of their own as though God had been defective in providing for his own honour in his institutions without the assistance of his Creature This hath alwayes been in the world the old World had their imaginations and the new World hath continued them The Israelites in the midst of miracles and under the memory of a famous deliverance would erect a Calf The Pharises that sate in Moses Chair would coyn new Traditions and enjoyn them to be as currant as the Law of God * Mat. 13.6 Papists will be blending the Christian appointments with Pagan Ceremonies to please the carnal fancies of the common people Altars have been multiplied under the knowledge of the Law of God * Hos 8.12 Interest is made the ballance of the conveniency of Gods injunctions Jeroboam fitted a worship to politick ends and posted up Calves to prevent his subjects revolting from his Scepter which might be occasioned by their resort to Hierusalem and converse with the body of the people from whom they were separated * 1 Kings 12.27 Men will be putting in their own dictates with Gods Laws and are unwilling he should be the sole Governour of the World without their Counsel They will not suffer him to be Lord of that which is purely and solely his concern How often hath the practice of the Primitive Church the Custom wherein we are bred the Sentiments of our Ancestors been owned as a more authentick rule in matters of Worship than the mind of God delivered in his word 'T is natural by Creation to worship God and it is as natural by corruption for man to worship him in
your self take other courses you will smut your Reputation and be despicable you will destroy your Estate and commence a Beggar your Family will be undone and you may rott in a Prison Not laying close to them the Duty they owe to God the Dishonour which accrues to him by their unworthy courses and the ingratitude to the God of their mercies Not that the other motives are to be laid aside and slighted Mint and Cummin may be tithed but the weightier concerns are not to be omitted But this shews that self is the Byas not only of men in their own course but in their dealings with others What should be subordinate to the Honour of God and the Duty we owe to him is made superior 3. 'T is evident In performing Duties meerly for a selfish Interest Making our selves the End of Religious Actions paying a Homage to that while we pretend to render it to God Zach. 7.5 Did you at all fast unto me even unto me Things ordained by God may fall in with carnal ends affected by our selves and then Religion is not kept up by any interest of God in the Conscience but the interest of self in the Heart We then sanctifie not the Name of God in the Duty but gratifie our selves God may be the Object self is the End and a Heavenly Object is made subservient to a Carnal Design Hypocrisie passes a Complement on God and is called Flattery Psal 78.36 They did flatter him with their lips c. They gave him a parcel of good words for their own preservation Flattery in the old Notion among the Heathens is a Vice more peculiar to serve our own turn and purvey for the Belly They knew they could not subsist without God and therefore gave him a parcel of good words that he might spare them and make Provision for them Israel is an empty Vine * Hos 10.1 a Vine say some with large Branches and few Clusters but brings forth Fruit to himself while they professed Love to God with their lips It was that God should promote their covetous designs and preserve their Wealth and Grandeur * Ezek. 33.31 In which respect an Hypocrite may be well termed a Religious Atheist an Atheist maskt with Religion The chief Arguments which prevail with many men to perform some Duties and appear Religious are the same that Hamor and Shechem used to the people of their City to submit to Circumcision viz. the ingrossing of more Wealth Gen. 34.21 22. If every Male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised shall not their Cattel and their Substance and every Beast of theirs be ours This is seen 1. In unweildiness to Religious Duties where self is not concern'd With what lively thoughts will many approach to God when a Revenue may be brought in to support their own ends But when the Concerns of God only are in it the Duty is not the Delight but the Clogg such feeble Devotions that warm not the Soul unless there be somthing of self to give strength and heat to them Jonah was sick of his work and run from God because he thought he should get no honour by his Message Gods Mercy would discredit his Prophecy * Johuah 4.2 Thoughts of disadvantage cut the very sinews of service You may as well perswade a Merchant to venture all his Estate upon the inconstant Waves without hopes of Gain as prevail with a natural man to be serious in Duty without expectation of some warm Advantage What profit should we have if we pray to him is the natural Question Job 21.15 What profit shall I have if I be cleansed from my Sin Job 35.3 I shall have more good by my sin than by my service 'T is for God that I dance before the Ark saith David therefore I will be more vile 2 Sam. 6.2 T is for self that I pray saith a natural Man therefore I will be more Warm and quick Ordinances of God are observed only as a point of interest and Prayer is often most fervent when it is least Godly and most selfish Carnal Ends and Affections will pour out lively Expressions If there be no delight in the means that lead to God there is no delight in God himself Because Love is appetitus unionis a desire of Union and where the Object is desireable the means that brings us to it would be delightful too 2. In calling upon God only in a time of necessity How officious will men be in affliction to that God whom they neglect in their Prosperity When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and inquired after God and they remembred that God was their Rock Psal 78.34 They remembred him under the Scourge and forgate him under his Smiles They visit the Throne of Grace knock loud at Heavens Gates and give God no rest for their early and importunate Devotions when under Distress But when their desires are answered and the Rod removed they stand aloof from him and rest upon their own bottom as Jer. 2.31 We are Lords we will come no more unto thee When we have need of him he shall find us Clients at his Gate and when we have served our turn he hears no more of us Like Noahs Dove sent out of the Ark that returned to him when she found no rest on the Earth but came not back when she found a footing else where How often do men apply themselves to God when they have some business for him to do for them And then too they are loath to put it solely into his hand to manage it for his own honour but they presume to be his Directors that he may manage it for their glory Self spurrs men on to the Throne of Grace they desire to be furnisht with some Mercy they want or to have the Clouds of some Judgments which they fear blown over This is not affection to God but to our selves As the Romans worshipped a Quartane Ague as a Goddess and Timorem Pallorem Fear and Paleness as Gods not out of any affection they had to the Disease or the Passion but for fear to receive any hurt by them Again when we have gained the Mercy we need how little do we warm our Souls with the consideration of that God that gave it or lay out the Mercy in his service We are importunate to have him our friend in our necessities and are ungratefully careles of him and his injuries he suffers by us or others When he hath discharged us from the Rock where we stuck we leave him as having no more need of him and able to do well enough without him As if we were petty Gods our selves and only wanted a lift from him at first This is not to glorifie God as God but as our Servant not an honouring of God but a self seeking He would hardly begg at Gods door if he could pleasure himself without him 3. In begging his Assistance to our own Projects When we
the Spirit * 2 Cor. 7.1 By the one we defile the Body by the other we defile the Spirit which in regard of its Nature is of kin to the Creator To wrong one who is neer of kin to a Prince is worse than to injure an inferior Subject When we make our Spirits which are most like to God in their Nature and framed according to his Image a stage to act vain imaginations wicked desires and unclean affections we wrong God in the excellency of his Work and reflect upon the nobleness of the Patern we wrong him in that part where he hath stampt the most signal Character of his own spiritual nature we defile that whereby we have only converse with him as a Spirit which he hath ordered more immediately to represent him in this Nature than all corporeal things in the world can and make that Spirit with whom we desire to be joyned unfit for such a knot Gods Spirituality is the root of his other perfections We have already heard he could not be infinite omnipresent immutable without it Spiritual sins are the greatest root of bitterness within us As grace in our Spirits renders us more like to a spiritual God so spiritual sins bring us into a conformity to a degraded Devil * Eph. 2.2 3. Carnal sins change us from men to brutes and spiritual sins devest us of the Image of God for the Image of Satan We should by no means make our Spirits a Dung-hill which bear upon them the Character of the spiritual Nature of God and were made for his residence Let us therefore behave our selves towards God in all those ways which the spiritual nature of God requires us A DISCOURSE OF Spiritual Worship HAVING thus dispatcht the first proposition God is a Spirit It will not be amiss to handle the inference our Saviour makes from that proposition which is the second observation propounded Doct. That the Worship due from us to God ought to be Spiritual and Spiritually performed Spirit and Truth are understood variously Either we are to Worship God 1. Not by legal ceremonies The Evangelical administration being called Spirit in opposition to the legal ordinances as carnal and Truth in opposition to them as typical As the whole Judaical service is called flesh so the whole Evangelical service is called Spirit Or Spirit may be opposed to the worship at Jerusalem as it was carnal Truth to the worship on the Mount Gerizim because it was false They had not the true object of worship nor the true Medium of worship as those at Jerusalem had Their worship should cease because it was false and the Jewish worship should cease because it was carnal There is no need of a Candle when the Sun spreads it beams in the Air no need of those Ceremonies when the Sun of righteousness appeared They only served for Candles to instruct and direct men till the time of his coming The shadows are chased away by the displaying the substance so that they can be of no more use in the worship of God since the end for which they were instituted is expired and that discovered to us in the Gospel which the Jews sought for in vain among the baggage and stuff of their Ceremonies 2. With a Spiritual and sincere frame In Spirit i. e. with Spirit with the inward operations of all the faculties of our Souls and the cream and flower of them And the reason is because there ought to be a worship sutable to the nature of God And as the worship was to be Spiritual so the exercise of that worship ought to be in a Spiritual manner * Lingend Tom. 2. p. 777. It shall be a worship in Truth because the true God shall be adored without those vain imaginations and phantastick resemblances of him * Taylors Exemplar Preface § 30. which were common among the blind Gentiles and contrary to the glorious nature of God and unworthy ingredients in Religious services It shall be a worship in Spirit without those carnal rites the degenerate Jews rested on Such a posture of Soul which is the life and ornament of every service God looks for at your hands There must be some proportion between the object adored and the manner in which we adore it It must not be a meer Corporeal worship because God is not a body but it must rise from the Center of our Soul because God is a Spirit If he were a body a bodily worship might sute him Images might be fit to represent him but being a Spirit our bodily services enter us not into communion with him Being a Spirit we must banish from our minds all carnal imaginations of him and separate from our Wills all cold and dissembled affections to him We must not only have a loud voice but an elevated Soul not only a bended knee but a broken heart not only a supplicating tone but a groaning Spirit not only a ready ear for the word but a receiving heart and this shall be of greater value with him than the most costly outward services offered at Gerizim or Jerusalem Our Saviour certainly meant not by worshipping in Spirit only the matter of the Evangelical service as opposed to the legal administration without the manner wherein it was to be performed T is true God always sought a worship in Spirit he expected the heart of the worshipper should joyn with his instituted rights of adoration in every exercise of them But he expects such a carriage more under the Gospel administration because of the clearer discoveries of his nature made in it and the greater assistances conveyed by it I shall therefore 1. Lay down some general propositions 2. Shew what this Spiritual worship is 3. Why we must offer to God a Spiritual service 4. The Vse 1. Some general propositions Proposition 1. First The right exercise of worship is founded upon and riseth from the Spirituality of God * Ames medul lib. 2. cap. 4. § 20. The first ground of the worship we render to God is the infinite excellency of his nature which is not only one attribute but results from all For God as God is the object of worship and the Notion of God consists not in thinking him wise good just but all those infinitely beyond any Conception And hence it follows that God is an object infinitely to beloved and honoured His goodness is sometimes spoken of in Scripture as a motive of our homage Psal 130.4 There is forgiveness with thee that thou maist be feared Fear in the Scripture dialect signifies the whole worship of God Acts 10.35 But in every Nation he that fears him is accepted of him * So 2 Kings 17.32 33. If God should act towards men according to the rigors of his Justice due to them for the least of their Crimes there could be no exercise of any affection but that of despair which could not engender a worship of God which ought to be joyned with love not
the Majesty of the Creator of the world and the excellency of Religion No Nation no person did ever assert that the vilest part of man was enough for the most excellent Being as God is That a bodily service could be a sufficient acknowledgment of the greatness of God or a sufficient return for the bounty of God * Amyraut Ib. Man could not but know that he was to act in Religion conformably to the Object of Religion and to the excellency of his own Soul The notion of a God was sufficient to fill the mind of man with admiration and reverence and the first conclusion from it would be to honour God and that he have all the affection placed on him that so infinite and spiritual a Being did deserve The progress then would be that this excellent Being was to be honoured with the motions of the Understanding and Will with the purest and most spiritual powers in the nature of man because he was a spiritual Being and had nothing of matter mingled with him Such a brutish imagination to suppose that blood and fumes beasts and incense could please a Deity without a spiritual frame cannot be supposed to befal any but those that had lost their reason in the rubbish of sense Meer rational nature could never conclude that so excellent a Spirit would be put off with a meer animal service an attendance of matter and body without Spirit when they themselves of an inferior nature would be loath to sit down contented with an outside service from those that belong to them So that this instruction of our Saviour that God is to be worshipped in Spirit and Truth is conformable to the sentiments of nature and drawn from the most undeniable principles of it The excellency of Gods nature and the excellent constitution of human faculties concur naturally to support this perswasion This was as natural to be known by men as the necessity of Justice and Temperance for the support of human societies and bodies 'T is to be feared that if there be not among us such brutish apprehensions there are such brutish dealings with God in our services against the light of nature when we place all our worship of God in outward attendances and drooping countenances with unbelieving frames and formal devotions when Prayer is muttered over in private slightly as a Parrot learns lessons by rote not understanding what it speaks or to what end it speaks it not glorifying God in Thought and Spirit with Understanding and Will 3. Spiritual Worship therefore was always required by God and always offered to him by one or other Man had a perpetual obligation upon him to such a worship from the nature of God and what is founded upon the nature of God is unvariable This and that particular mode of worship may wax old as a Garment and as a Vesture may be folded up and changed as the expression is of the Heavens * Heb. 1.11 12. But God endures for ever his spirituality fails not therefore a worship of him in Spirit must run through all ways and rites of Worship God must cease to be Spirit before any service but that which is spiritual can be accepted by him The light of Nature is the light of God the light of nature being unchangeable what was dictated by that was alway and will alway be required by God The worship of God being perpetually due from the Creature the worshipping him as God is as perpetually his right Though the outward expressions of this Honour were different one way in Paradice for a worship was then due since a solemn time for that worship was appointed another under the Law another under the Gospel the Angels also worship God in Heaven and fall down before his Throne yet though they differ in rites they agree in this necessary ingredient All rites though of a different shape must be offered to him not as Carcasses but animated with the affections of the Soul Abels Sacrifice had not been so excellent in Gods esteem without those gracious habits and affections working in his Soul * Heb. 11.4 Faith works by Love his heart was on fire as well as his Sacrifice Cain rested upon his Present perhaps thought he had obliged God he depended upon the outward Ceremony but sought not for the inward purity It was an offering brought to the Lord * Gen. 4.5 he had the right object but not the right manner Gen. 4.7 If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted And in the Command afterwards to Abraham Walk before me and be thou perfect was the direction in all our religious acts and walkings with God A sincere act of the Mind and Will looking above and beyond all Symbolls extending the Soul to a pitch far above the Body and seeing the day of Christ through the vail of the Ceremonies was required by God And though Moses by Gods order had instituted a multitude of carnal Ordinances Sacrifices Washings Oblations of sensible things and recomended to the people the diligent observation of those Statutes by the allurements of promises and denouncing of threatnings as if there were nothing else to be regarded and the true workings of Grace were to be buried under a heap of Ceremonies yet sometimes he doth point them to the inward worship and by the Command of God requires of them the Circumcision of the Heart Deut. 10.16 the turning to God with all their heart and all their Soul Deut. 30.10 whereby they might recollect that it was the engagement of the Heart and the worship of the Spirit that was most agreeable to God and that he took not any pleasure in their observance of Ceremonies without true Piety within and the true purity of their thoughts 4. 'T is therefore as much every mans duty to worship God in Spirit as it is their duty to worship him Worship is so due to him as God as that he that denies it disowns his Deity And spiritual worship is so due that he that waves it denies his spirituality 'T is a debt of Justice we owe to God to worship him and it is as much a debt of Justice to worship him according to his Nature Worship is nothing else but a rendring to God the honour that is due to him and therefore the right posture of our Spirits in it is as much or more due than the material worship in the modes of his own prescribing that is grounded both upon his Nature and upon his Command this only upon his Command that is perpetually due whereas the Channel wherein outward worship runs may be dryed up and the River diverted another way Such a worship wherein the mind thinks of God feels a sense of God has the Spirit consecrated to God the Heart glowing with affections to God 'T is else a mocking God with a feather A rational Nature must worship God with that wherein the Glory of God doth most sparkle in him God is most visible in the frame
that we might now serve God in a more spiritual manner and with more spiritual frames 6. Proposition The Service and worship the Gospel settles is spiritual and the performance of it more spiritual Spirituality is the Genius of the Gospel as Carnality was of the Law the Gospel is therefore called Spirit We are abstracted from the imployments of Sense and brought neerer to a Heavenly State The Jews had Angels Bread poured upon them we have Angels Service prescribed to us the Praises of God Communion with God in Spirit through his Son Jesus Christ and stronger foundations for spiritual affections 'T is called a reasonable service * Rom. 12.1 t is suted to a rational nature tho it finds no friendship from the Corruption of reason It prescribes a service fit for the reasonable faculties of the Soul and advanceth them while it employs them The word reasonable may be translated word service * V. Hammond in loc as well as reasonable service an Evangelical service in opposition to a Law service All Evangelical service is reasonable and all truly reasonable service is Evangelical The matter of the worship is Spiritual it consists in love of God faith in God recourse to his goodness Meditation on him and Communion with him It lays aside the Ceremonial Spiritualizeth the moral The Commands that concerned our duty to God as well as those that concerned our duty to our Neighbour were reduced by Christ to their Spiritual intention The Motives are Spiritual t is a state of more grace as well as of more truth * John 1.17 supported by Spiritual promises beaming out in Spiritual priviledges heaven comes down in it to Earth to Spiritualize Earth for Heaven The manner of worship is more Spiritual higher flights of the Soul stronger ardours of affections sincerer aims at his glory mists are removed from our minds Cloggs from the Soul more of love than fear faith in Christ kindles the affections and works by them The assistances to Spiritual worship are greater The Spirit doth not drop but is plentifully poured out It doth not light sometimes upon but dwells in the heart Christ suted the Gospel to a Spiritual heart and the Spirit changeth a carnal heart to make it fit for a Spiritual Gospel He blows upon the Garden and causes the spices to flow forth And often makes the Soul in worship like the Chariots of Aminadab in a quick and nimble motion Our blessed Lord and Saviour by his death discovered to us the nature of God and after his ascension sent his Spirit to fit us for the worship of God and converse with him One Spiritual Evangelical believing breath is more delightful to God than millions of Altars made up of the richest pearls and smoaking with the costliest oblations because it is Spiritual And a mite of Spirit is of more worth than the greatest weight of flesh One holy Angel is more excellent than a whole world of meer bodies 7. Proposition Yet the worship of God with our bodies is not to be rejected upon the account that God requires a Spiritual worship Tho we must perform the weightier duties of the Law yet we are not to omit and leave undone the lighter precepts Since both the Magnalia and minutula legis the greater and the lesser duties of the Law have the stamp of Divine authority upon them As God under the Ceremonial Law did not Command the worship of the body and the observation of outward rites without the engagement of the Spirit so neither doth he Command that of the Spirit without the peculiar attendance of the body The Schwelk sendians denied bodily worship And the indecent postures of many in publick attendance intimate no great care either of Composing their bodies or Spirits A morally discomposed body intimates a tainted heart Our Bodies as well as our Spirits are to be presented to God * Rom. 12.1 Our bodies in lieu of the Sacrifices of Beasts as in the Judaical institutions body for the whole man a living Sacrifice not to be slain as the Beasts were but living a new life in a holy posture with Crucified affections This is the inference the Apostle makes of the priviledges of Justification Adoption Coheirship with Christ which he had before discoursed of Priviledges conferred upon the person and not upon a part of man 1. Bodily worship is due to God He hath a right to an Adoration by our bodies as they are his by Creation his right is not diminisht but increased by the blessing of Redemption 1 Cor. 6.20 For you are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and your Spirits which are Gods The Body as well as the Spirit is redeemed since our Saviour suffered Crucifixion in his body as well as Agonies in his Soul Body is not taken here for the whole man as it may be in Rom. 12. But for the material part of our nature it being distinguisht from the Spirit If we are to render to God an obedience with our bodies we are to render him such Acts of worship with our bodies as they are capable of As God is the Father of Spirits so he is the God of all flesh Therefore the flesh he hath framed of the Earth as well as the noble portion he hath breathed into us cannot be denyed him without apalpable in justice The service of the body we must not deny to God unless we will deny him to be the author of it and the exercise of his providential care about it The mercies of God are renewed every day upon our bodies as well as our Souls and therefore they ought to express a fealty to God for his bounty everyday * Sherman's Greek in the Temple pa. 61.62 both are from God both should be for God Man consists of Body and Soul the service of Man is the service of both The body is to be Sanctified as well as the Soul and therefore to be offered to God as well as the Soul Both are to be glorified both are to glorifie As our Saviours Divinity was manifested in his body so should our Spirituality in ours To give God the service of the body and not of the Soul is hypocrisie to give God the service of the Spirit and not of the body is sacriledge to give him neither Atheism If the only part of man that is visible were exempted from the service of God there could be no visible Testimonies of piety given upon any occasion Since not a moiety of man but the whole is Gods Creature he ought to pay a homage with the whole and not only with a moiety of himself 2. Worship in societies is due to God but this cannot be without some bodily expressions The law of nature doth as much direct men to combine together in publick societies for the acknowledgment of God as in Civil Communities for self preservation and order And the notice of a society for Religion is more Ancient than the mention of
Holy-Ghost for the Apostle would never have called the Spirit of God his own Spirit but with my Spirit that is a sincere frame of heart A Carnal-worship whether under the Law or Gospel is when we are busied about external rites without an inward compliance of Soul God demands the heart * Pro. 23.26 my Son give me thy heart not give me thy tongue or thy lips or thy hands these may be given without the heart but the heart can never be bestowed without these as its attendants A heap of services can be no more welcome to God without our Spirits than all Jacobs Sons could be to Joseph without the Benjamin he desired to see God is not taken with the Cabinet but the Jewel He first respected Abels Faith and Sincerity and then his Sacrifice he disrespected Cains Infidelity and Hypocrisie and then his Offering * Moulin Sermons Decad. 4. Ser. 4. P. 80. For this cause he rejected the Offerings of the Jews the Prayers of the Pharisees and the Alms of Ananias and Sapphira because their hearts and their duties were at a distance from one another In all spiritual Sacrifices our Spirits are Gods portion Under the Law the Reins were to be consumed by the Fire on the Altar because the secret intentions of the heart were signified by them Psal 7.9 The Lord trieth the Heart and the Reins It was an ill Omen among the Heathen if a Victim wanted a heart The Widows Mites with her heart in them were more esteemed than the richer Offerings without it Not the quantity of service but the will in it is of account with this infinite Spirit All that was to be brought for the framing of the Tabernacle was to be offered willingly with the heart * Exod. 25.7 The more of Will the more of Spirituality and Acceptableness to God Psal 119.108 Accept the Free-will-offering of my lips Sincerity is the Salt which seasons every Sacrifice The heart is most like to the object of worship The heart in the body is the spring of all vital actions and a spiritual Soul is the spring of all spiritual actions How can we imagin God can delight in the meer service of the Body any more than we can delight in converse with a Carcass Without the heart 't is no worship 'T is a Stage-play an acting a part without being that person really which is acted by us A Hypocrite in the notion of the word is a Stage-player We may as well say a man may believe with his body as worship God only with his body Faith is a great ingredient in Worship and it is with the heart Man believes unto Righteousness * Rom. 10.10 We may be truly said to worship God though we want perfection but we cannot be said to worship him if we want sincerity A Statue upon a Tomb with eyes and hands lifted up offers as good and true a service it wants only a voice the gestures and postures are the same nay the service is better 't is not a mockery it represents all that it can be framed to But to worship without our Spirits is a presenting God with a Picture an Eccho Voice and nothing else a Complement a meer Lye a compassing him about with Lyes * Hos 11.12 Without the heart the tongue is a Lyar and the greatest Zeal dissembling with him To present the Spirit is to present with that which can never naturally dye to present him only the Body is to present him that which is every day crumbling to dust and will at last lye rotting in the Grave To offer him a few Raggs easily torn a Skin for a Sacrifice a thing unworthy the Majesty of God a fixed eye and elevated hands with a sleepy Heart and earthly Soul are pitiful things for an ever blessed and glorious Spirit Nay it is so far from being spiritual that it is Blasphemy To pretend to be a Jew outwardly without being so inwardly is in the Judgment of Christ to blaspheme * Revel 2.9 And is not the same title to be given with as much reason to those that pretend a worship and perform none Such a one is not a spiritual Worshipper but a blaspheming Devil in Samuel's Mantle 4. Spiritual Worship is performed with an unitedness of heart The heart is not only now and then with God but united to fear or worship his name * Psal 86.11 A spiritual duty must have the engagement of the Spirit and the thoughts tyed up to the spiritual Object The union of all the parts of the heart together with the body is the life of the body and the moral union of our hearts is the life of any duty A heart quickly flitting from God makes not God his treasure he slights the worship and therein affronts the Object of Worship All our thoughts ought to be ravished with God bound up in him as in a bundle of life But when we start from him to gaze after every feather and run after every bubble we disown a full and affecting excellency and a satisfying sweetness in him When our thoughts run from God 't is a testimony we have no spiritual affection to God Affection would stake down the thoughts to the Object affected 'T is but a mouth-Mouth-love as the Prophet phraseth it * Ezek. 33.31 But their hearts go after their Covetousness Covetous Objects pipe and the heart danceth after them and thoughts of God are shifted off to receive a multitude of other imaginations The heart and the service stayed a while together and then took leave of one another The Psalmist * Psal 39.18 still found his heart with God when he awak'd still with God in spiritual affections and fixed meditations A carnal heart is seldom with God either in or out of worship If God should knock at the heart in any duty it would be found not at home but straying abroad Our worship is spiritual when the door of the heart is shut against all Intruders as our Saviour commands in Closet-duties * Mat. 6.6 It was not his meaning to command the shutting the Closet-door and leave the Heart-door open for every thought that would be apt to haunt us Worldly affections are to be laid aside if we would have our worship spiritual This was meant by the Jewish custom of wiping or washing off the dust of their feet before their entrance into the Temple and of not bringing mony in their girdles To be spiritual in worship is to have our Souls gathered and bound up wholly in themselves and offered to God Our Loyns must be girt as the fashion was in the Eastern Countries where they wore long Garments that they might not waver with the Wind and be blown between their leggs to obstruct them in their travel Our faculties must not hang loose about us He is a carnal Worshipper that gives God but a piece of his heart as well as he that denies him the whole of it that hath
some thoughts pitch'd upon God in worship and as many willingly upon the World David sought God not with a moity of his heart but with his whole heart with his intire frame * Psal 119.10 He brought not half his heart and left the other in the possession of another Master It was a good lesson Pythagoras gave his Scholars * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jamblich l. 1. c. 518. p. 87. Not to make the Observance of God a work by the by If those Guests be invited or entertained kindly or if they come unexpected the spirituality of that worship is lost the Soul kicks down what it wrought before But if they be Brow-beaten by us and our grief rather than our pleasure they divert our spiritual intention from the work in hand but hinder not Gods acceptance of it as spiritual because they are not the acts of our Will but offences to our Wills 5. Spiritual Worship is performed with a spiritual activity and sensibleness of God With an active Understanding to meditate on his excellency and an active Will to embrace him when he drops upon the Soul If we understand the amiableness of God our affections will be ravisht if we understand the immensity of his goodness our Spirits will be enlarged We are to act with the highest intention sutable to the greatness of that God with whom we have to do Psal 150.2 Praise him according to his excellent greatness Not that we can worship him equally but in some proportion the frame of the heart is to be suted to the excellency of the Object Our spiritual strength is to be put out to the utmost as Creatures that act naturally do The Sun shines and the Fire burns to the utmost of their natural power This is so necessary that David a spiritual Worshipper prays for it before he sets upon acts of adoration Psal 80.18 quicken us that we may call upon thy Name As he was loth to have a drowzy faculty he was loth to hâ—â— a drowzy instrument and would willingly have them as lively as himself Psal 57.8 Awake up my glory awake Psaltery and Harp I my self will awake early How would this Divine Soul serue himself up to God and be turned into nothing but a holy flame Our Souls must be boyling hot when we serve the Lord * Rom. 12.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The heart doth no less burn when it Spiritually comes to God than when God doth Spiritually approach to it * Luke 24.32 A Nabals heart one as cold as a stone cannot offer up a Spiritual service Whatsoever is enjoyned us as our duty ought to be performed with the greatest intensness of our Spirit As it is our duty to pray so it is our duty to pray with the most fervent importunity T is our duty to love God but with the purest and most sublime affections Every Command of God requires the whole strength of the Creature to be imployed in it That love to God wherein all our duty to God is summed up is to be with all our strength with all our might c. * Lady Falklands life pa. 130. Tho in the Covenant of grace he hath mitigated the severity of the Law and requires not from us such an elevation of our affections as was possible in the state of innocence yet God requires of us the utmost moral industry to raise our affections to a pitch at least equal to what they are in other things What strength of affections we naturally have ought to be as much and more excited in acts of worship than upon other occasions and our ordinary works As there was an inactivity of Soul in worship and a quickness to sin when sin had the dominion so when the Soul is Spiritualized the temper is changed there is an inactivity to sin and an ardor in duty The more the Soul is dead to sin the more it is alive to God * Rom. 6.11 and the more lively too in all that concerns God and his honour For grace being a new strength added to our natural determines the affections to new objects and excites them to a greater vigor And as the hatred of sin is more sharp the love to every thing that destroys the dominion of it is more strong And acts of worship may be reckoned as the cheifest batteries against the power of this inbred enemy When the Spirit is in the Soul like the Rivers of waters flowing out of the belly the Soul hath the activity of a River and makes hast to be swallowed up in God as the streams of the River in the Sea Christ makes his people Kings and Priests to God * Revel 1.6 first Kings then Priests Gives first a Royal temper of heart that they may offer Spiritual Sacrifices as Priests Kings and Priests to God acting with a magnificent Spirit in all their motions to him We cannot be Spiritual Priests till we be Spiritual Kings The Spirit appeared in the likeness of fire and where he resides Communicates like fire purity and activity Dulness is against the light of nature I do not remember that the Heathen ever offered a Snail to any of their false Deities nor an Ass but to Priapus their unclean Idol but the Persians Sacrificed to the Sun a Horse a swift and generous Creature God provided against those in the Law Commanding an Asses Firstling the off-spring of a sluggish Creature to be Redeemed or his neck broke but by no means to be offered to him * Exod. 13.13 God is a Spirit infinitely active and therefore frozen and benummed frames are unsutable to him He rides upon a Cherub and flies he comes upon the wings of the wind he rides upon a swift cloud * Isa 19.1 and therefore demands of us not a dull reason but an active Spirit God is a living God therefore must have a lively service Christ is life and slothful adorations are not fit to be offered up in the name of life The worship of God is called wrestling in Scripture and Paul was a striver in the service of his Master * Col. 1.29 in an agony * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angels worship God Spiritually with their wings on and when God Commands them to worship Christ the next Scripture quoted is that he makes them flames of fire * Heb. 1.7 If it be thus how may we charge our selves What Paul said of the sensual Widow * 1 Tim. 5.6 that she is dead while she lives we may say often of our Selves we are dead while we worship Our hearts are in duty as the Jews were in deliverances as those in a dream * Psa 126.1 by which unexpectedness God shewed the greatness of his care and mercy and we attend him as men in a dream whereby we discover our negligence and folly This activity doth not consist in outward acts The body may be hot and the heart may be faint but in an inward stirring
was a Type of Christ and a look to him is necessary in every spiritual Sacrifice As there must be Faith to make any act an act of obedience so there must be Faith to make any act of worship spiritual That service is not spiritual that is not vital and it cannot be vital without the exercise of a vital Principle All spiritual life is hid in Christ and drawn from him by Faith * Gal. 2.20 Faith as it hath relation to Christ makes every act of worship a living act and consequently a spiritual act Habitual unbelief cuts us off from the Body of Christ Rom. 11.20 Because of unbelief they were broken off and a want of actuated belief breaks us off from a present communion with Christ in Spirit As unbelief in us hinders Christ from doing any mighty work so unbelief in us hinders us from doing any mighty spiritual duty So that the exercise of Faith and a confidence in God is necessary to every duty 2. Love must be acted to render a worship spiritual Though God commanded love in the Old-Testament yet the manner of giving the Law bespoke more of Fear than Love The dispensation of the Law was with Fire Thunder c. proper to raise horror and benum the Spirit which effect it had upon the Israelites when they desired that God would speake no more to them Grace is the Genius of the Gospel proper to excite the affection of Love The Law was given by the disposition of Angels with signs to amaze the Gospel was usher'd in with the songs of Angels composed of peace and good-will calculated to ravish the Soul Instead of the terrible voice of the Law do this and live The comfortable voice of the Gospel is Grace Grace Upon this account the principle of the Old testament was Fear and the Worship often exprest by the Fear of God The principle of the New-testament is Love The Mount Sinai gendreth to Bondage * Gal. 4.44 Mount Sion from whence the Gospel or Evangelical Law goes forth gendreth to Liberty and therefore the Spirit of Bondage unto Fear as the Property of the Law is opposed to the State of Adoption the principle of Love as the property of the Gospel * Rom. 8.15 And therefore the worship of God under the Gospel or New-testament is oftner exprest by Love than Fear as proceeding from higher principles and acting nobler passions In this State we are to serve him without fear * Luke 1.74 without a Bondage-fear not without a fear of unworthy treating him with a fear of his goodness as it is prophesied of * Hos 9.9 Goodness is not the object of terror but reverence God in the Law had more the garb of a Judge in the Gospel of a Father The name of a Father is sweeter and bespeaks more of affection As their services were with a feeling of the thunders of the Law in their Consciences so is our worship to be with a sense of Gospel-grace in our Spirits Spiritual worship is that therefore which is exercised with a spiritual and heavenly affection proper to the Gospel The heart should be enlarged according to the liberty the Gospel gives of drawing neer to God as a Father As he gives us the nobler relation of Children we are to act the nobler qualities of Children Love should act according to its nature which is desire of Union desire of a moral union by Affections as well as a mystical union by Faith as flame aspires to reach flame and become one with it In every act of worship we should endeavour to be united to God and become one Spirit with him This Grace doth spiritualize Worship In that one word Love God hath wrapt up all the devotion he requires of us 'T is the total sum of the first Table Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 'T is to be acted in every thing we do But in Worship our hearts should more solemnly rise up and acknowledge him amiable and lovely since the Law is stript of its cursing power and made sweet in the blood of the Redeemer Love is a thing acceptable of it self but nothing acceptable without it The gifts of one man to another are spiritualized by it We would not value a Present without the affection of the Donor Every man would lay claim to the love of others though he would not to their Possessions Love is Gods right in every service and the noblest thing we can bestow upon him in our adorations of him Gods gifts to us are not so estimable without his love not our services valuable by him without the exercise of a choice affection Hezekiah regarded not his deliverance without the love of the Deliverer In love to my Soul thou hast delivered me * Isa 38.17 So doth God say in love to my honour thou hast worshipped me So that Love must be acted to render our worship spiritual 3. A spiritual sensibleness of our own weakness is necessary to make our worship spiritual Affections to God cannot be without relentings in our selves When the eye is spiritually fixed upon a spiritual God the heart will mourn that the worship is no more spiritually sutable The more we act love upon God as amiable and gracious the more we should exercise grief in our selves as we are vile and offending Spiritual worship is a melting worship as well as an elevating worship It exalts God and debaseth the Creature The Publican was more spiritual in his humble address to God when the Pharisee was wholly carnal with his swelling language A spiritual love in worship will make us grieve that we have given him so little and could give him no more 'T is a part of spiritual duty to bewail our carnality mixed with it as we receive mercies spiritually when we receive them with a sense of Gods goodness and our own vileness in the same manner we render a spiritual worship 4. Spiritual desires for God render the service spiritual When the Soul follows hard after him * Psal 63.8 pursues after God as a God of infinite and communicative goodness with sighs and groans unutterable A spiritual Soul seems to be transformed into hunger and thirst and becomes nothing but desire A carnal Worshipper is taken with the beauty and magnificence of the Temple a spiritual Worshipper desires to see the glory of God in the Sanctuary * Psal 63.2 He pants after God As he came to worship to find God he boyls up in desires for God and is loth to go from it without God the living God Psal 42.2 He would see the Vrim and the Thummim the unusual sparkling of the stones upon the High-priests Breast-plate That deserves not the title of spiritual worship when the Soul makes no longing inquiries saw you him whom my Soul loves A spiritual worship is when our desires are chiefly for God in the worship As David desires to dwell in the House of the Lord but his desire is not terminated
approach to the Object of the Souls affection Love is appetitus unionis The more love the more delight in the approachings of God to the Soul or the out-goings of the Soul to God As the Object of Worship is amiable in a spiritual eye so the â—â—â—hs tending to a communion with this Object are delightful in the exercise Where there is no delight in a duty there is no delight in the object of the duty The more of grace the more of pleasure in the actings of it As the more of nature there is in any natural Agent the more of pleasure in the Act So the more heavenly the Worship the more spiritual Delight is the frame and temper of Glory A heart filled up to the brim with joy is a heart filled up to the brim with the Spirit Joy is the fruit of the Holy-Ghost * Gal. 5.22 1. Not the joy of Gods dispensation flowing from God but a gracious active joy streaming to God There is a joy when the Comforts of God are dropt into the Soul as Oyle upon the Wheel which indeed makes the faculties move with more speed and activity in his service like the Chariots of Aminadab And a Soul may serve God in the strength of this taste and its delight terminated in the sensible comfort This is not the joy I mean but such a joy that hath God for its Object delighting in him as the term in worship as the way to him The first is Gods dispensation the other is our duty The first is an act of Gods favour to us the second a sprout of habitual grace in us The Comforts we have from God may elevate our duties but the grace we have within doth spiritualize our duties 2. Nor is every delight an argument of a spiritual service All the the requisites to worship must be taken in A man may invent a worship and delight in it as Micah in the adoration of his Idol when he was glad he had got both an Ephod and a Levite * Judges 17. As a man may have a contentment in Sin so he may have a contentment in Worship not because it is a worship of God but the worship of his own invention agreeable to his own humor and design as Isa 58.2 't is said they delighted in approaching to God but it was for carnal ends Novelty ingenders Complacency but it must be a worship wherein God will delight and that must be a worship according to his own Rule and infinite Wisdom and not our shallow fancies God requires a cheerfulness in his service especially under the Gospel where he sits upon a Throne of Grace discovers himself in his amiableness and acts the Covenant of Grace and the sweet relation of a Father The Priests of old were not to fully themselves with any sorrow when they were in the exercise of their functions God put a bar to the natural affections of Aaron and his Sons when Nadab and Abihu had been cut off by a severe hand of God * Lev. 10.6 Every true Christian in a higher order of Priest-hood is a person dedicated to joy and peace offering himself a lively Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving And there is no Christian duty but is to be set off and seasoned with cheerfulness He that loves a cheerful Giver in acts of Charity requires no less a cheerful Spirit in acts of Worship As this is an ingredient in worship so it is the means to make your Spirits intent in worship When the heart triumphs in the consideration of Divine excellency and goodness it will be angry at any thing that offers to jogg and disturb it 8. Spiritual worship is to be performed though with a delight in God yet with a deep reverence of God The Gospel in advancing the spirituality of worship takes off the terror but not the reverence of God which is nothing else in its own nature but a due and high esteem of the excellency of a thing according to the nature of it And therefore the Gospel presenting us with more illustrious notices of the glorious nature of God is so far from indulging any disesteem of him that it requires of us a greater reverence sutable to the hight of its discovery above what could be spell'd in the Book of Creation The Gospel worship is therefore exprest by trembling Hos 11.10 They shall walk after the Lord he shall roar like a Lion when he shall roar then the Children shall tremble from the West When the Lion of the Tribe of Judah shall lift up his powerful voice in the Gospel the Western Gentiles shall run trembling to walk after the Lord. God hath alway attended his greatest manifestations with remarkable Characters of Majesty to create a reverence in his Creature He caused the wind to March before him to cut the Mountain when he manifested himself to Elijah 1 Kings 19.11 A Wind and a Cloud of Fire before that magnificent Vision to Ezekiel Ezek. 1.4 5. Thunders and Lightnings before the giving the Law Exod. 19.18 And a mighty wind before the giving the Spirit Acts 2. God requires of us an aw of him in the very act of performance The Angels are pure and cannot fear him as Sinners but in reverence they cover their Faces when they stand before him * Isa 6.2 His power should make us reverence him as we are Creatures His Justice as we are Sinners His goodness as we are restored Creatures * Daille Sur. 3. Jean P. 150. God is clothed with unspeakable Majesty the glory of his face shines brighter than the Lights of Heaven in their beauty Before him the Angels tremble and the Heavens melt we ought not therefore to come before him with the Sacrifice of Fools nor tender a duty to him without falling low upon our faces and bowing the knees of our hearts in token of reverence Not a slavish fear like that of Devils but a Godly fear like that of Saints * Heb. 12.28 joyned with a sense of an unmoveable Kingdom becomth us And this the Apostle calls a grace necessary to make our service acceptable And therefore the grace necessary to make it spiritual since nothing finds admission to God but what is of a spiritual nature The consideration of his glorious nature should imprint an awful respect upon our Souls to him His goodness should make his Majesty more adorable to us as his Majesty makes his goodness more admirable in his condescensions to us As God is a Spirit our worship must be spiritual and being he is the supream Spirit our worship must be reverential We must observe the State he takes upon him in his Ordinances He is in Heaven we upon the Earth we must not therefore be hasty to utter any thing before God Eccles 5.7 Consider him a Spirit in the highest Heavens and our selves Spirits dwelling in a dreggy Earth Loose and garish frames debase him to our own quality Slight postures of Spirit intimate him to
to the Holiness of God as a frothy unmelted heart and a wanton fancy in a time of worship God is so holy that if we could offer the worship of Angels and the quintessence of our Souls in his service it would be beneath his infinite purity How unworthy then are they of him when they are presented not only without the sense of our uncleaness but sullied with the fumes and exhalations of our corrupt affections which are as so many Plague spots upon our duties contrary to the unspotted purity of the Divine Nature Is not this an unworthy conceit of God and injurious to his infinite Holiness 9. 'T is against the Love and Kindness of God 'T is a condescension in God to admit a piece of Earth to offer up a duty to him when he hath miriads of Angels to attend him in his Court and celebrate his Praise To admit Man to be an Attendant on him and a Partner with Angels is a high favour 'T is not a single mercy but a heap of mercies to be admitted into the presence of God Psal 5.7 I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies When the blessed God is so kind as to give us access to his Majesty do we not undervalue his kindness when we deal uncivilly with him and deny him the choicest part of our selves 'T is a contempt of his Soveraignty as our Spirits are due to him by nature a contempt of his Goodness as our Spirits are due to him by gratitude How abusive a carriage is it to make use of his mercy to encourage our impudence that should excite our fear and reverence How unworthy would it be for an indigent Debtor to bring to his indulgent Creditor an empty Purse instead of Payment When God holds out his Golden Scepter to encourage our approaches to him stands ready to give us the pardon of sin and full felicity the best things he hath Is it a fit requital of his kindness to give him a formal outside only a shadow of Religion to have the heart overswayed with other thoughts and affections as if all his profers were so contemptible as to deserve only a slight at our hands 'T is a contempt of the love and kindness of God 10. 'T is against the Sufficiency and Fullness of God When we give God our Bodies and the Creature our Spirits it intimates a conceit that there is more content to be had in the Creature than in God blessed for ever that the waters in the Cistern are sweeter than those in the Fountain Is not this a practical giving God the Lye and denying those promises wherein he hath declared the satisfaction he can give to the Spirit as he is the God of the Spirits of all Flesh If we did imagin the excellency and loveliness of God were worthy to be the ultimate Object of our affections the heart would attend more closely upon him and be terminated in him did we believe God to be all sufficient full of grace and goodness a tender Father not willing to forsake his own willing as well as able to supply their wants the heart would not so lamely attend upon him and would not upon every impertinency be diverted from him There is much of a wrong notion of God and a predominancy of the world above him in the heart when we can more savourly relish the thoughts of low inferior things than heavenly and let our Spirits upon every trifling occasion be fugitives from him 'T is a testimony that we make not God our chiefest good If apprehensions of his excellency did possess our Souls they would be fastned on him glued to him we should not listen to that rabble of foolish thoughts that steal our hearts so often from him Were our breathings after God as strong as the pantings of the Hart after the water Brooks we should be like that Creature not diverted in our Course by every Puddle Were God the predominant satisfactory Object in our eye he would carry our whole Soul along with him When our Spirits readily retreat from God in worship upon every giddy motion 't is a kind of repentance that ever we did come near him and implies that there is a fuller satisfaction and more attractive excellency in that which doth so easily divert us than in that God to whose worship we did pretend to address our selves 'T is as if when we were petitioning a Prince we should immediately turn about and make request to one of his Guard as though so mean a person were more able to give us the boon we want than the Soveraign is 2. Consideration by way of motive To have our Spirits off from God in worship is a bad sign It was not so in Innocence The heart of Adam could cleave to God the Law of God was engraven upon him he could apply himself to the fulfilling of it without any twinkling there was no folly and vanity in his mind no independency in his thoughts no duty was his burden for there was in him a proneness to and delight in all the duties of worship 'T is the Fall hath distempered us and the more unwieldiness there is in our Spirits the more carnal our affections are in worship the more evidence there is of the strength of that revolted state 1. It argues much corruption in the heart As by the eructations of the Stomach we may judge of the windiness and foulness of it so by the inordinate motions of our minds and hearts we may judge of the weakness of its complexion A strength of sin is evidenced by the eruptions and ebullitions of it in worship when they are more sudden numerous and vigorous than the motions of grace When the heart is apt like tinder to catch fire from Satan 't is a sign of much combustible matter sutable to his temptation Were not corruption strong the Soul could not turn so easily from God when it is in his presence and hath an advantagious opportunity to create a fear and aw of God in it Such base fruit could not sprout up so suddenly were there not much sap and juice in the root of sin What communion with a living root can be evidenced without exercises of an inward life That Spirit which is a Well of living waters in a gracious heart will be especially springing up when it is before God 2. It shews much affection to earthly things and little to heavenly There must needs be an inordinate affection to earthly things when upon every slight sollicitation we can part with God and turn the back upon a service glorious for him and advantagious for our selves to wedd our hearts to some idle fancy that signifies nothing How can we be said to entertain God in our affections when we give him not the precedency in our understandings but let every trifle justle the sense of God out of our minds Were our hearts fully determined to spiritual things such vanities could not seat themselves in our
understandings and divide our Spirits from God Were our hearts ballanced with a love to God the world could never steal our hearts so much from his worship but his worship would draw our hearts to it It shews a base neutrality in the greatest concernments a halting between God and Baal a contrariety between Affection and Conscience when natural Conscience presses a man to duties of worship and his other affections pull him back draw him to carnal objects and make him slight that whereby he may honour God God argues the prophaness of the Jews hearts from the wickedness they brought into his house and acted there Jer. 23.11 Yea in my house that is my worship I found their wickedness saith the Lord. Carnality in worship is a kind of an Idolatrous frame when the heart is renewed Idols are cast to the Moles and the Batts Isa 2.20 3. It shews much hypocrisie to have our Spirits off from God The mouth speaks and the carriage pretends what the heart doth not think there is a dissent of the heart from the pretence of the body Instability is a sure sign of Hypocrisie Double thoughts argue a double heart The Wicked are compared to Chaff * Psal 1.4 for the uncertain and various motions of their minds by the least wind of fancy The least motion of a carnal Object diverts the Spirit from God as the scent of Carrion doth the Raven from the flight it was set upon The People of God are called Gods Spouse and God calls himself their Husband whereby is noted the most intimate union of the Soul with God and that there ought to be the highest love and affection to him and faithfulness in his worship but when the heart doth start from him in worship it is a sign of the unstedfastness of it with God and a disrelish of any communion with him It is as God complains of the Israelites a going a whoreing after our own imaginations As grace respects God as the object of worship so it looks most upon God in approaching to him Where there is a likeness and love there is a desire of converse and intimacy if there be no spiritual entwining about God in our worship it is a sign there is no likeness to him no true sense of him no renewed image of God in us Every living Image will move strongly to joyn it self with its original Copy and be glad with Jacob to sit steadily in those Chariots that shall convey him to his beloved Joseph Motion 3. Consider the danger of a carnal worship 1. We lose the comfort of worship The Soul is a great Gainer when it offers a spiritual worship and as great a loser when it is unfaithful with God Treachery and perfidiousness hinder commerce among men so doth Hypocrisie in its own nature communion with God God never promised any thing to the Carcass but to the Spirit of worship God hath no obligation upon him by any word of his to reward us with himself when we perform it not to himself When we give an outside worship we have only the outside of an ordinance We can expect no kernel when we give God only the shell He that only licks the outside of the Glass can never be refreshed with the rich Cordial enclosed within A cold and lazy formality will make God to withdraw the light of his countenance and not shine with any delightful communications upon our Souls but if we come before him with a liveliness of affections and steadiness of heart he will draw the vail and cause his glory to display it self before us An humble praying Christian and a warm affectionate Christian in worship will soon find a God who is delighted with such frames and cannot long withold himself from the Soul When our hearts are enflamed with love to him in worship 't is a preparation to some act of love on his part whereby he intends further to gratifie us When John was in the Spirit on the Lords day that is in spiritual employment and meditation and other duties he had that great Revelation of what should happen to the Church in all ages * Rev 1.10 His being in the Spirit intimates his ordinary course on that day and not any extraordinary act in him though it was followed with an extraordinary discovery of God to him When he was thus engaged he heard a voice behind him God doth not require of us spirituality in worship to advantage himself but that we might be prepared to be advantaged by him If we have a clear and well disposed eye 't is not a benefit to the Sun but fits us to receive benefits from his Beams Worship is an act that perfects our own Souls they are then most widened by spiritual frames to receive the influence of divine blessings as an eye most opened receives the fruit of the Suns light better than the eye that is shut The communications of God are more or less according as our spiritual frames are more or less in our worship God will not give his blessings to unsutable hearts What a nasty Vessel is a carnal heart for a spiritual communication The chief end of every duty enjoyned by God is to have communion with him and therefore it is called a drawing near to God 'T is impossible therefore that the outward part of any duty can answer the end of God in his institution 'T is not a bodily appearance or gesture whereby men can have communion with God but by the impressions of the heart and reflections of the heart upon God Without this all the rich streams of grace will run besides us and the growth of the Soul be hindered and impaired A diligent hand makes rich saith the wise man a diligent heart in spiritual worship brings in rich incomes to the humble and spiritual Soul 2. It renders the worship not only unacceptable but abominable to God It makes our Gold to become Dross it soyls our duties and bespotts our Souls A carnal and unsteady frame shews an indifferency of Spirit at best and luke warmness is as ungrateful to God as heavy and nauseous meat is to the stomach he spues them out of his mouth * Rev. 3.16 As our gracious God doth overlook infirmities where intentions are good and endeavours serious and strong so he loaths the services where the frames are stark naught Psal 66.118 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear my Prayer Luke warm and indifferrent services stink in the Nostrils of God The heart seems to loath God when it starts from him upon every occasion when it is unwilling to employ it self about and stick close to him And can God be pleased with such a frame The more of the Heart and Spirit is in any service the more real goodness there is in it and the more savoury it is to God the less of the Heart and Spirit the less of goodness and the more nauseous to God who loves Righteousness
and Truth in the inward parts * Psal 51.6 And therefore infinite Goodness and Holiness cannot but hate worship presented to him with deceitful carnal and flitting affections They must be more nauseous to God than a putrified Carcass can be to Man They are the prophanings of that which should be the habitation of the Spirit They make the Spirit the seat of duty a filthy dung-hill and are as loathsome to God as Mony-changers in the Temple were to our Saviour We see the evil of carnal frames and the necessity and benefit of spiritual frames For further help in this last let us practise thesâ— following directions Direction 1. Keep up spiritual frames out of worship To avoid low affections we must keep our hearts as much as we can in a setled elevation If we admit unworthy dispositions at one time we shall not easily be rid of them at another * Fitzherbert Pol. in relig part 2. cap. 19. § 12. As he that would not be bitten with Gnats in the Night must keep his windows shut in the Day when they are once entred 't is not easie to expel them In which respect one adviseth to be such out of worship as we would be in worship If we mix spiritual affections with our worldly employments worldly affections will not mingle themselves so easily with our heavenly engagements If our hearts be spiritual in our outward calling they will scarce be carnal in our religious service If we walk in the Spirit we shall not fulfil the lusts of the Flesh * Gal. 5.16 A spiritual walk in the day will hinder carnal lustings in worship The Fire was to be kept alive upon the Altar when Sacrifices were not offered from morning till night from night till morning as well as in the very time of Sacrifice A spiritual life and vigour out of worship would render it at its season sweet and easie and preserve a spontaneity and preparedness to it and make it both natural and pleasant to us Any thing that doth unhinge and discompose our Spirits is inconsistent with religious services which are to be performed with the greatest sedateness and gravity All irregular passions disturb the serenity of the Spirit and open the door for Satan * Eph. 4.26.27 Saith the Apostle Let not the Sun go down upon your wrath neither give place to the Devil Where wrath breaks the Lock the Devil will quickly be over the Threshold and though they be allayed yet they leave the heart sometime after like the Sea rowling and swelling after the storm is ceased Mixture with ill company leaves a tincture upon us in worship Ephraims allying himself with the Gentiles bred an indifferency in Religion Hos 7.8 Ephraim hath mixed himself with the People Ephraim is a Cake not turn'd It will make our hearts and consequently our services half Dough as well as half bak'd These and the like make the holy Spirit withdraw himself and then the Soul lies like a wind-bound Vessel and can make no way When the Sun departs from us it carries its Beams away with it then doth Darkness spread it self over the Earth and the Beasts of the Forests creep out * Psal 1â—4 2â— When the Spirit withdraws a while from a good man it carries away though not habitual yet much of the exciting and assisting grace and then carnal dispositions perk up themselves from the bosome of natural corruption To be spiritual in worship we must bar the door at other times against that which is contrary to it As he that would not be infected with a contagious disease carries some Preservative about with him and inures himself to good scents To this end be much in secret ejaculations to God these are the purest slights of the Soul that have more of fervor and less of carnality they preserve a liveliness in the Spirit and make it more fit to perform solemn stated worship with greater freedom and activity A constant use of this would make our whole lives lives of worship As frequent sinful acts strengthen habits of sin so frequent religious acts strengthen habits of grace Direction 2. Excite and exercise particularly a love to God and dependence on him Love is a commanding affection a uniting graces it draws all the faculties of the Soul to one Center The Soul that loves God when it hath to do with him is bound to the beloved Object It can mind nothing else during such impressions When the affection is set to the worship of God every thing the Soul hath will be bestowed upon it As David's disposition was to the Temple 1 Chron. 29.3 Carnal frames like the Fouls will be lighting upon the Sacrifice but not when it is enflam'd Though the scent of the flesh invite them yet the heat of the fire drives them to their distance A flaming love will singe the Flies that endeavour to interrupt and disturb us The happiness of Heaven consists in a full attraction of the Soul to God by his glorious influence upon it There will be such a diffusion of his goodness throughout the Souls of the Blessed as will unite the affections perfectly to him These affections which are scattered here will be there gathered into one flame moving to him and centring in him Therefore the more of a heavenly frame possesses our affections here the more settled and uniform will our hearts be in all their motions to God and operations about him Excite a dependence on him Pro. 16.3 Commit thy works to the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established Let us go out in Gods strength and not in our own vain is the help of man in any thing and vain is the help of the heart 'T is through God only we can do valiantly in spiritual concerns as well as temporal the want of this makes but slight impressions upon the Spirit Direction 3. Nourish right conceptions of the Majesty of God in your minds Let us consider that we are drawing to God the most amiable Object the best of Beings worthy of infinite honour and highly meriting the highest affections we can give a God that made the world by a word that upholds the great frame of Heaven and Earth a Majesty above the conceptions of Angels who uses not his power to strike us to our deserved punishment but his love and bounty to allure us a God that gave all the Creatures to serve us and can in a trice make them as much our Enemies as he hath now made them our Servants Let us view him in his greatness and in his goodness that our hearts may have a true value of the worship of so great a Majesty and count it the most worthy employment with all diligence to attend upon him When we have a fear of God it will make our worship serious when we have a joy in God it will make our worship durable Our affections will be raised when we represent God in the most reverential endearing and obliging
the Creature as Being is the title of God Nothing is so holy as God because nothing hath being as God * 1 Sam. 2.2 There is none holy as the Lord for there is none besides thee Mans life is an Image a dream which are next to nothing and if compar'd with God worse than nothing a nullity as well as a vanity Because with God only is the fountain of life * Psal 36.9 The Creature is but a drop of life from him dependent on him A drop of water is a nothing if compar'd with the vast conflux of waters and numberless drops in the Ocean How unworthy is it for dust and ashes kneaded together in time to strut against the Father of Eternity Much more unworthy for that which is nothing worse than nothing to quarrel with that which is only being and equal himself with him that Inhabits Eternity 2. What being we have had a beginning After an unaccountable Eternity was run out in the very dregs of time a few years ago we were created and made of the basest and vilest dross of the world the slime and dust of the Earth made of that wherewith Birds build their nests made of that which Creeping things make their habitation and beasts trample upon How monstrous is pride in such a Creature to aspire as if he were the Father of Eternity and as Eternal as God and so his own Eternity 3. What being we have is but of a short duration in regard of our life in this World Our life is in a constant change and flux we remain not the same an intire day youth quickly succeeds Child-hood and age as speedily treads upon the heels of youth there is a continual defluxion of minutes as there is of sands in a glass He is as a Watch wound up at the beginning of his life and from that time is running down till he comes to the bottom some part of our lives is cut off every day every minute Life is but a moment what is past cannot be recalled what is future cannot be ensured If we enjoy this moment we have lost that which is past and shall presently lose this by the next that is to come The short duration of men is set out in Scripture by such Creatures as soon disappear A worm * Job 25.6 that can scarce out live a winter Grass that withers by the summer Sun Life is a flower soon withering * Job 14.2 a vapour soon vanishing * James 4.14 a smoak soon disappearing * Psal 102.3 The strongest man is but compacted dust the fabrick must moulder the highest Mountain falls and comes to nought Time gives place to Eternity we live now and die to morrow Not a Man since the world began ever lived a day in Gods sight For no man ever lived a thousand years The longest day of any mans life never amounted to twenty four hours in the account of divine Eternity A life of so many hundred years with the addition he dyed makes up the greatest part of the History of the Patriarchs * Gen. 5. And since the life of man hath been curtaild if any be in the world eighty years he scarce properly lives sixty of them since the fourth part of time is at least consumed in sleep A greater difference there is between the duration of God and that of a Creature than between the life of one for a minute and the life of one that should live as many years as the whole globe of Heaven and Earth if changed into papers could contain figures And this life tho but of a short duration according to the period God hath determined is easily cut off the treasure of life is deposited in a brittle vessel A small stone hitting against Nebuchadnezzars Statue will tumble it down into a poor and nasty grave A Grape stone the bone of a fish a small fly in the throat a moist damp are enough to destroy an Earthly Eternity and reduce it to nothing What a Nothing then is our shortness if compared with Gods Eternity Our frailty with Gods duration How humble then should perishing Creatures be before an Eternal God with whom our days are as a hands breadth and our age as nothing * Psal 39 5. The Angels that have been of as long a duration as Heaven and Earth tremble before him the Heavens melt at his presence and shall we that are but of yesterday approach a Divine Eternity with unhumbled Souls and offer the Calves of our lips with the pride of Devils and stand upon our terms with him without falling upon our faces with a sense that we are but dust and ashes and Creatures of time How easily is it to reason out mans humility but how hard is it to reason man into it 3. Let the consideration of Gods Eternity take off our love and confidence from the world and the things thereof The Eternity of God reproaches a pursuit of the world as preferring a momentary pleasure before an everlasting God as tho a temporal world could be a better supply than a God whose years never fail Alas what is this Earth men are so greedy of and will get tho by blood and sweat What is this whole Earth if we had the entire possession of it if compared with the vast Heavens the seat of Angels and blessed Spirits T is but as an Atome to the greatest Mountain or as a drop of dew to the immense Ocean How foolish is it to prefer a drop before the Sea or an Atome before the world The Earth is but a point to the Sun the Sun with its whole Orb but a little part of the Heavens if compared with the whole Fabrick If a man had the possession of all those there could be no comparison between those that have had a beginning and shall have an end and God who is without either of them Yet how many are there that make nothing of the divine Eternity and imagine an Eternity of nothing 1. The world hath been but a of short standing T is not yet six thousand years since the foundations of it were laid and therefore it cannot have a boundless excellency as that God who hath been from everlasting doth possess If Adam had liv'd to this day and been as absolute Lord of his posterity as he was of the other Creatures had it been a competent object to take up his heart had he not been a mad man to have prefer'd this little created pleasure before an everlasting uncreated God A thing that had a dependent Beginning before that which had an independent Eternity 2. The beauties of the world are transitory and perishing The whole world is nothing else but a fluid thing the Fashion of it is a Pageantry passing away * 1 Cor. 7.31 tho the glories of it might be conceived greater than they are yet they are not consistent but transient There cannot be an entire enjoyment of them because they grow up
any Creature is from Grace and Gift Naturally we tend to nothing as we come from nothing This Creature-mutability is not our sin yet it should cause us to lye down under a sense of our own nothingness in the presence of the Creator The Angels as Creatures though not corrupt cover their faces before him And the Arguments God uses to humble Job though a fallen Creature are not from his Corruption for I do not remember that he taxed him with that but from the greatness of his Majesty and excellency of his Nature declared in his Works * Job 38.39 40.41 And therefore Men that have no sense of God and humility before him forget that they are Creatures as well as corrupt ones How great is the distance between God and us in regard of our inconstancy in good which is not natural to us by Creation For the mind and affections were regular and by the great Artificer were pointed to God as the Object of Knowledge and Love We have the same faculties of Understanding Will and Affection as Adam had in Innocence but not with the same Light the same Bias and the same Ballast Man by his fall wounded his head and heart the wound in his head made him unstable in the Truth and that in his heart unstedfast in his Affections He changed himself from the Image of God to that of the Devil from Innocence to Corruption and from an ability to be stedfast to a perpetual Inconstancy His Silver became Dross and his Wine was mixed with Water * Isa 1.22 He changed 1. To inconstancy in Truth opposed to the Immutability of Knowledge in God How are our Minds floating between Ignorance and Knowledge Truth in us is like those Ephemera Creatures of a days continuance springs up in the Morning and expires at Night How soon doth that fly away from us which we have had not only some weak flashes of but which we have learned and have had some relish of The Devil stood not in the Truth * John 8.44 and therefore manages his Engines to make us as unstable as himself Our Minds reel and corrupt reasonings oversway us like Spunges we suck up Water and a light compression makes us spout it out again Truths are not engraven upon our hearts but writ as in Dust defaced by the next puff of Wind carried about with every Wind of Doctrin Eph. 4.14 Like a Ship without a Pilot and Sails at the courtesy of the next Storm or like Clouds that are Tenants to the Wind and Sun moved by the Wind and melted by the Sun The Galatians were no sooner called into the Grace of God but they were removed from it * Gal. 1.6 Some have been reported to have menstruam fidem kept an Opinion for a Month and many are like him that believed the Souls Immortality no longer than he had Plato's Book of that Subject in his hand * Sedgwick Christs Counsel p. 230. One likens such to Children they play with Truths as Children do with Babies one while embrace them and a little after throw them into the Durt How soon do we forget what the Truth is delivered to us and what it represented us to be * James 1.23.24 Is it not a thing to be bewailed that Man should be such a Weathercock turned about with every Breath of Wind and shifting Aspects as the Wind shifts Points 2. Inconstancy in Will and Affections opposed to the Immutability of Will in God We waver between God and Baal and while we are not only resolving but upon motion a little way look back with a hankring after Sodom Sometimes lifted up with heavenly intentions and presently cast down with earthly cares like a Ship that by an advancing Wave seems to aspire to Heaven and the next fall of the Waves makes it sink down to the Depths We change Purposes oftner than Fashions and our Resolutions are like Letters in water whereof no mark remains We will be as John to day to love Christ and as Judas to morrow to betray him and by an unworthy levity pass into the Camp of the Enemies of God resolv'd to be as holy as Angels in the Morning when the Evening beholds us as impure as Devils How often do we hate what before we loved and shun what before we longed for And our Resolutions are like Vessels of Christal which break at the first knock are dasht in pieces by the next Temptation Saul resolved not to persecute David any more but you soon find him upon his old game Pharaoh more than once promised and probably resolved to let Israel go but at the end of the storm his purposes vanish * Exod. 8.27 32. When an Affliction pincheth Men they intend to change their course and the next news of ease changes their intentions Like a Bow not fully bent in their inclinations they cannot reach the Mark but live many years between resolutions of Obedience and affections to Rebellion * Psal 78.17 And what promises men make to God are often the fruit of their Passion their Fear not of their Will The Israelites were startled at the terrors wherewith the Law was delivered and promised obedience * Exod. 20.19 but a Month after forgat them and make a Golden Calf and in the sight of Sinai call for and dance before their Gods * Exod. 32. Never people more unconstant Peter who vowed an Allegiance to his Master and a Courage to stick to him forswears him almost with the same breath Those that cry out with a zeal the Lord he is God shortly after return to the service of their Idols * 1 Kings 18.39 That which seems to be our pleasure this day is our vexation to morrow A Fear of a Judgment puts us into a religious pang and a Love to our Lusts reduceth us to a rebellious inclination As soon as the danger is over the Saint is forgotten Salvation and Damnation present themselves to us touch us and ingender some weak wishes which are dissolved by the next allurements of a carnal interest No hold can be taken of our promises no credit is to be given to our resolutions 3. Inconstancy in practice How much beginning in the Spirit and ending in the Flesh one day in the Sanctuary another in the Stews clear in the morning as the Sun and clouded before noon in Heaven by an excellency of Gifts in Hell by a course of prophanness Like a Flower which some mention that changes its colour three times a day one part white then purple then yellow The Spirit lusts against the Flesh and the Flesh quickly triumphs over the Spirit In a good man how often is there a Spiritual Lethargy Tho he doth not openly defame God yet he doth not alwayes glorifie him He doth not forsake the truth but he doth not alwayes make the attainment of it and settlement in it his business This levity discovers it self in religious duties when I would do
with In the whole it was accommodated to man as rational Precepts to the Law in his mind Promises to the natural Appetite Threatnings to the most prevailing Affection and to the implanted Desires of preserving both his Being and Happiness in that Being These were rational Motives fitted to the nature of Adam which was above the life God had given Plants and the sense he had given Animals The Command given man in Innocence was suted to his strength and power God gave him not any Command but what he had ability to observe and Since we want not power to forbear an Apple in our corrupted and impotent State he wanted not strength in his state of Integrity The Wisdom of God Commanded nothing but what was very easy to be observed by him and inferior to his natural Ability It had been both unjust and unwise to have commanded him to fly up to the Sun when he had not Wings or stop the Course of the Sea when he had not strength 2. 'T is suted to the happiness and benefit of man God's Laws are not an act of meer Authority respecting his own Glory but of wisdom and goodness respecting mans Benefit They are perfective of mans Nature conferring a Wisdom upon him rejoycing his Heart enlightning his eyes Psal 19.7 8. affording him both a knowledge of God and of himself To be without a Law is for man to be as Beasts without Justice and without Religion Other things are for the good of the Body but the Laws of God for the good of the Soul the more perfect the Law the greater the benefit The Laws given to the Iews were the honour and excellency of that Nation Deut. 1.8 What Nation is there so great that hath statutes and Judgments so righteous They were made States-men in the Judicial Law Ecclesiasticks in the Ceremonial honest men in the Second Table and Divine in the First All his Laws are suted to the true satisfaction of man and the good of Human Society Had God framed a Law only for one Nation there would have been the Characters of a particular Wisdom but now an universal wisdom appears in accommodating his Law not only to this or that particular Society or Corporation of men but to the benefit of all mankind in the variety of Climates and Countries wherein they live Every thing that is disturbing to Human Society is provided agaâ—nst nothing is enjoin'd but what is sweet rational and useful It orders us not to attempt any thing against the life of our Neighbour the honour of his Bed propriety in his Goods and the clearness of his Reputation and if well observed would alter the face of the World and make it look with another hue The World would be alter'd from a brutish to a human World It would châ—nge Lions and Wolves men of Lion-like and Wolvish disposition into reason and sweetness And because the whole Law is sum'd up in love it obligeth us to endeavour the preservation of one anothers Beings the favouring of one anothers Interests and increasing the Goods as much as Iustice will permit and keeping up one anothers Credits because love which is the Soul of the Law is not shewn by a cessation from action but signifies an ardor upon all occasions in doing good I say were this Law well observed the World would be another thing than it is It would become a Religious Fraternity the Voice of Enmity and the Noise of Groans and Cursings would not be heard in our Streets Peace would be in all Borders plenty of Charity in the midst of Cities and Countries Joy and singing would sound in all habitations Mans advantage was design'd in Gods Laws and doth naturally result from the observance of them God so ordered them by his Wisdom that the obedience of man should draw forth his Goodness and prevent those smarting Judgments which were necessary to reduce the Creature to order that would not voluntarily continue in the order God had appointed The Laws of men are often unjust oppressive cruel sometimes against the Law of nature But an universal wisdom and righteousness glitters in the Divine Law There is nothing in it but what is worthy of God and useful for the Creature so that we may well say with Job Who teaches like God Job 36.22 or as some render it who is a law-giver like God Who can say to him thou hast wrought iniquity or folly among men His Precepts were framed for the preservation of man in that rectitude wherein he was Created in that likeness to God wherein he was first made that there might be a correspondence between the Integrity of the Creature and the Goodness of his Creator by the Obedience of man that man might exercise his Faculties in Operations worthy of him and beneficial to the World 3. The Wisdom of God is seen in suting to Laws to the Consciences as well as the Interest of all Mankind Rom. 2.14 The Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the Law so great an affinity there is between the wise Law and the Reason of man There is a natural Beauty emerging from them and darting upon the Reasons and Consciences of men which dictates to them that this Law is worthy to be observed in it self The two main Principles of the Law the Love and worship of God and doing as we would be done by have an indelible impression in the Consciences of all men in regard of the Principle though they are not sutably exprest in the Practise Were there no Law outwardly publisht yet every mans Conscience would dictate to him that God was to be acknowledged worshipped loved as naturally as his Reason would acquaint him that there was such a Being as God This sutableness of them to the Consciences of men is manifest in that the Laws of the best governed Nations among the Heathen have had an agreement with them Nothing can be more exactly composed according to the Rules of right and exact Reason than this no man but approves of something in it yea of the whole when he exerciseth that dimm Reason which he hath Suppose any man not an absolute Atheist he cannot but acknowledge the reasonableness of worshipping God Grant him to be a Spirit and it will presently appear absurd to represent him by any Corporeal Image and derogate from his Excellency by so mean a resemblance with the same easiness he will grant a reverence due to the Name of God that we must not serve our turn of him by calling him to witness to a lye in a solemn Oath That as Worship is due to him so that some stated time is a circumstance necessary to the performance of that Worship And as to the Second Table will any man in his right reason quarrel with that Command that engageth his Inferiors to honour him that secures his Being from a violent murder and his goods from unjust rapine and though by the fury of his Lusts he break the Laws of Wedlock himself
derive all good to us Had he not been Man we had had no share or part in him A Satisfaction by him had not been imputed to us If he were not God he could not communicate to us Divine Graces and Eternal Happiness he could not have had power to convey so great a good to us had he been only Man and he could not have done it according to the Rule of inflexible righteousness had he been only God As Man he is the way of Conveyance as God he is the spring of Conveyance From this Grace of Union and the Grace of Unction we find Rivers of Waters flowing to make glad the City of God Believers are his Branches and draw Sap from him as he is their Root in his Human Nature and have an endless duration of it from his Divine Had he not been Man he had not been in a state to obey the Law Had he not been God as well as Man his Obedience could not have been valuable to be imputed to us How should this Mystery be studied by us which would afford us both Admiration and Content Admiration in the incomprehensibleness of it Contentment in the fitness of the Mediator By this Wisdom of God we receive the props of our Faith and the fruits of Joy and Peace Wisdom consists in chusing fit means and conducting them in such a method as may reach with good success the variety of Marks which are aimed at Thus hath the Wisdom of God set forth a Mediator suted to our wants fitted for our supplies and ordered so the whole Affair by the union of these two Natures in the Person of the Redeemer that there could be no disappointment by all the bustle Hell and hellish Instruments could raise against it 4. The Wisdom of God is seen in this way of Redemption in vindicating the Honour and Righteousness of the Law both as to Precept and Penalty The first and irreversible design of the Law was Obedience The Penalty of the Law had only entrance upon Transgression Obedience was the design and the Penalty was added to enforce the observance of the Precept Gen. 2.17 Thou shalt not eat there is the Precept In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye There is the Penalty Obedience was our Debt to the Law as Creatures Punishment was due from the Law to us as Sinners We were bound to endure the Penalty for our first Transgression but the Penalty did not Cancel the Bond of future Obedience The Penalty had not been incurr'd without transgressing the Precept yet the Precept was not abrogated by enduring the Penalty Since Man so soon revolted and by his Revolt fell under the threatning the Justice of the Law had been honoured by Man's sufferings but the holinesse and equity of the Law had been honoured by mans Obedience The Wisdom of God finds out a Medium to satisfie both The Justice of the Law is preserved in the Execution of the Penalty and the Holiness of the Law is honoured in the observance of the Precept The Life of our Saviour is a Conformity to the Precept and his Death is a Conformity to the Penalty the Precepts are exactly performed and the Curse punctually executed by a voluntary observing the one and a voluntary undergoing the other It is obeyed as if it had not been transgrest and executed as if it had not been obeyed It became the Wisdom Justice and Holiness of God as the Rector of the World to exact it Heb. 2.10 and it became the holiness of the Mediator to fulfill all the righteousness of the Law †Rom. 8.3 Matth. 3.15 And thus the Honour of the Law was vindicated in all the parts of it The Transgression of the Law was Condemned in the Flesh of the Redeemer and the Righteousness of the Law was fulfilled in his Person And both these acts of Obedience being counted as one Righteousness and imputed to the believing sinner render him a subject to the Law both in its preceptive and minatory part By Adams sinful acting we were made sinners and by Christ's righteous acting we are made righteous Rom. 5.10 As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous The Law was obeyed by him that the righteousness of it might be fulfilled in us Rom. 8.4 'T is not fulfilled in us or in our actions by inherency but fulfilled in us by imputation of that righteousness which was exactly fulfilled by another As he died for us and rose again for us so he lived for us The Commands of the Law were as well observed for us as the Threatnings of the Law were endured for us This justification of a sinner with the preservation of the holiness of the Law in truth in the inward parts in sincerity of intention as well as conformity in action is the wisdom of God the Gospel-wisdom which David desires to know Psal 51.6 Thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom or as some render it the hidden things of wisdom Not an inherent wisdom in the acknowledgments of his sin which he had confest before but the wisdom of God in providing a Medicine so as to keep up the holiness of the Law in the observance of it in Truth and the averting the Judgment due to the sinner In and by this way methodiz'd by the wisdom of God all doubs and troubles are discharg'd Naturally if we take a view of the Law to behold its Holiness and Justice and then of our hearts to see the contrariety in them to the command and the pollution repugnant to its holiness and after this cast our eyes upward and behold a flaming Sword edg'd with Curses and Wrath Is there any matter but that of terrour afforded by any of these But when we behold in the life of Christ a conformity to the Mandatory part of the Law and in the Cross of Christ a sustaining the minatory part of the Law this wisdom of God gives a well-grounded and rational dismiss to all the horrours that can seize upon us 5. The wisdom of God in Redemption is visible in manifesting two contrary Affections at the same time and in one act The greatest hatred of Sin and the greatest love to the Sinner In this way he punishes the sin without ruining the sinner and repairs the ruins of the sinner without indulging the sin Here is eternal love and eternal hatred a condemning the sin to what it merited and an advancing the sinner to what he could not expect Herein is the choicest love and the deepest hatred manifested An implacableness against the sin and a placableness to the sinner His hatred of sin hath been discovered in other ways in punishing the Devil without remedy sentencing Man to an expulsion from Paradise though seduced by another in accursing the Serpent an irrational Creature though but a misguided Instrument The whole tenor of his Threatnings declare
his loathing of sin and the sprinklings of his Judgments in the World and the horrible expectations of terrified Consciences confirm it But what are all these Testimonies to the highest evidence that can possibly be given in the sheathing the Sword of his wrath in the heart of his Son If a Father should order his Son to take a mean Garb below his Dignity order him to be dragg'd to Prison seem to throw off all Affection of a Father for the severity of a Judge condemn his Son to a horrible Death be a Spectator of his bleeding Condition withhold his hand from asswaging his Misery regard it rather with Joy than Sorrow give him a bitter Cup to drink and stand by to see him drink it off to the bottom dregs and all and sâ—ash frowns in his face all the while and this not for any fault of his own but the Rebellion of some Subjects he undertook for and that the Offenders might have a pardon seal'd by the Blood of the Son the sufferer all this would evidence his detestation of the Rebellion and his affection to the Rebels his hatred to their Crime and his love to their Welfare This did God do He delivered Christ up for our Offences Rom. 8.32 the Father gave him the Cup John 18 18. the Lord bruised him with pleasure Isa 53.10 and that for sin â—e transfer'd upon the shoulders of his Son the pain we had merited that the Criminal might be restored to the place he had forfeited He hates the sin so as to condemn it for ever and wrap it up in the Curse he had threatned and loves the sinner believing and repenting so as to mount him to an expectation of a happiness exceeding the first state both in glory and perpetuity Instead of an Earthly Paradise lays the Foundation of an Heavenly Mansion brings forth a weight of Glory from a weight of Misery separates the comfortable light of the Sun from the scorching heat we had deserved at his hands Thus hath Gods hatred of sin been manifested He is at an eternal Defiance with sin yet nearer in alliance with the sinner than he was before the Revolt As if man's miserable Fall had endeared him to the Judge This is the wisdom and prudence of Grace wherein God hath abounded Eph. 1.9 A wisdom in twisting the happy restoration of the broken Amity with an everlasting Curse upon that which made the breach both upon sin the Cause and upon Satan the Seducer to it Thus is hatred and love in their highest glory manifested together Hatred to sin in the death of Christ more than if the torments of Hell had been undergone by the sinner and love to the sinner more than if he had by an absolute and simple Bounty bestowed upon him the possession of Heaven because the gift of his Son for such an end is a greater token of his boundless Affections than a reinstating Man in Paradise Thus is the wisdom of God seen in Redemption consuming the sin and recovering the sinner 6. The wisdom of God is evident in overturning the Devil's Empire by the Nature he had vanquish'd and by ways quite contrary to what that malicious Spirit could imagine The Devil indeed read his own doom in the first Promise and found his ruin resolved upon by the means of the Seed of the Woman but by what Seed was not so easily known to him * And indeed the 〈◊〉 â—â—racles managed by the Devils declared that they were not long to hold their Scepter in the World but the Hebrew Child should vanquish them And the methods whereby it was to be brought about was a Mystery kept secret from the malicious Devils since it was not discovered to the obedient Angels He might know from Isa 53. that the Redeemer was assured to divide the Spoil with the strong and rescue a part of the lost Creation out of his hands and that this was to be effected by making his Soul an offering for sin But could he imagine which way his Soul was to be made such an Offering He shrewdly suspected Christ just after his Inauguration into his Office by Bapism to be the Son of God But did he ever dream that the Messiah by dying as a reputed Malefactor should be a Sacrifice for the expiation of the sin the Devil had introduced by his subtilty Did he ever imagine a Cross should dispossess him of his Crown and that dying groans should wrest the Victory out of his hands He was conquer'd by that Nature he had cast headlong into ruin A Woman by his subtilty was the occasion of our death and a Woman by the conduct of the only wise God brings forth the Author of our Life and the Conquerour of our Enemies The Flesh of the old Adam had infected us and the Flesh of the new Adam cures us 1 Cor. 15.21 By man came death by man also came the resurrection from the dead We are killed by the old Adam and raised by the new As among the Israelites a fiery Serpent gave the wound and a brazen Serpent administers the Cure The Nature that was deceived bruiseth the Deceiver and razeth up the Foundations of his Kingdom Satan is defeated by the Counsels he took to secure his Possession and loses the Victory by the same means whereby he thought to preserve it His tempting the Jews to the sin of Crucifying the Son of God had a contrary success to his tempting Adam to eat of the Tree The first death he brought upon Adam ruined us and the death he brought by his Instrumâ—nts upon the second Adam restored us By a Tree if one may so say he had Triumphed over the World and by the fruit of a Tree one hanging upon a Tree he is dischâ—â—ged of his power over us Heb. 2.14 Through death he destroyed him that had the power of death And thus the Devil ruins his own Kingdom while he thinks to confirm inlarge it And is defeated by his own policy whereby he thought to continue the World under his chains and deprive the Creator of the World of his purposed honour What deeper Counsell could he resolve upon for his own security than to be instrumental in the death of him who was God the terror of the Devil himself and to bring the Redeemer of the World to expire with disgrace in the sight of a multitude of men Thus did the Wisdom of God shine forthin restoring us by methods seemingly repugnant to the end he aimed at above the suspition of a subtle Devil whom he intended to baffle Could he Imagine that we should be healed by stripes quickned by death purified by blood crowned by a cross advanced to the highest honour by the lowest humility comforted by sorrows glorified by disgrace absolved by condemnation and made rich by poverty That the sweetest hony should at once spring out of the belly of a dead Lion the Lion of the tribe of Judah and out of the bosom of the living God
order and fit every Stone in the Building make all things in weight and measure to let them afterwards run at hap hazard Would he bring forth his Power to view in the Creation and let a more glorious perfection lye idle when it had so large a Field to move in Infinite wisdom is inconsistent with inactivity All Prudence doth illustrate itself in untying the hardest knots and disposing the most difficult Affairs to a happy and successful Issue All those various Arts and Inventions among men which lend their assisting hand to one another and those various Employments their several Genius's lead them to whereby they support one anothers welfare are Beams and instincts of Divine wisdom in the Government of the World He that made all things in wisdom †Psal 104.24 would not leave his works to act and move only according to their own folly and idly behold them jumble together and run counter to that end he designed them for we must not fancy a Divine Wisdom to be destitute of Activity 3. Here we may see a ground of God's patience The most impotent persons are the most impatient when un-foreseen Emergencies arise or at Events expected by them when their feeble Prudence was not a sufficient match to contest with them or prevent them But the wiser any man is the more he bears with those things which seem to cross his Intentions because he knows he grasps the whole Affair and is sure of attaining the end he proposeth to himself yet as a finite wisdom can have but a finite patience so an infinite wisdom possesses an infinite patience The wise God intends to bring glory to himself and good to some of his Creatures out of the greatest evils that can happen in the World He beholds no exorbitant Afflictions and monstrous Actions but what he can dispose to a good and glorious end even to work together for good to them that love God * Rom. 8.28 and therefore doth not presently fall foul upon the Actors till he hath wrought out that temporary Glory to himself and Good to his People which he designs The times of Ignorance God winkt at till he had brought his Son into the World and manifested his wisdom in Redemption and when this was done he presseth men to a speedy repentance †Acts 17.30 that as he forebore punishing their Crimes in order to the displaying his wisdom in the design'd Redemption so when he had effected it they must forbear any longer abusing his Patience 4. Hence appears the Immutability of God in his Decrees He is not destitute of a Power and Strength to change his own Purposes but his Infinite Perfection of Wisdom is a bar to his laying aside his Eternal Resolves and f rming new ones Isai 46.10 He resolves the end from the beginning and his couâ—sel stands stands immovable because it is Counsel 'T is an impotent Counsel that is subject to a daily thwarting it self Inconstant Persons are accounted by Men destitute of a due measure of Prudence If God change his Mind 't is either for the better or the worse if for the better he was not wise in his former Purpose if for the worse he is not wise in his present Resolve No alteration can be without a reflect on of Weakness upon the former or present determination God must either cease to be as Wise as he was before or begin to be Wiser than he was before the change which to think or imagine is to deny a Deity If any Man change his Resolution he is apprehensive of a flaw in his former Purpose and finds an Inconvenience in it which moves him to such a change which must be either for want of fore-sight in himselâ— or want of a due consideration of the object of his Counsel Neither of whicâ— can be imagined of God without a denial of the Deity No tâ—ere are no blots and blemishes in his Purposes and Promises Repentance indeed is an act of Wisdom in the Creature but it presupposeth Folly in his former Actions which is inconsistent with Infinite Perfection Men are often too rash in Promising and therefore what they promise in haste they perform at leasure or not at all They consider not before they Vow and make After-enquiries whether they had best stand to it The only wise God need not any After-game As he is Soveraignly Wise he sees no cause of râ—versing any thing and wants not expedients for his own Purpose and as he is Infinitely Powerful he hath no Superiour to hinder him from executing his Will and making his People enjoy the effects of his Wisdom If he had a recollection of Thoughts as Man hath and saw a necessity to mend them he were not Infinitely Wise in his first Decrees As in Creation he looked back upon the several Pieces of that goodly Frame he had erected and saw them so exact that he did not take up his Pensil again to mend any Particle of the first Draught so his Promises are made with such Infinite Wisdom and Judgment that what he writes is Irreversible and for Ever as the Decrees of the Medes and Persians All the words of God are Eternal because they are the Births of Righteousness and Judgment Hos 2.19 I will betroth thee to me for ever in Righteousness and Judgment He is not of a wavering and flitting Discretion If he Threatens he wisely considers what he Threatens if he Promises he wisely considers what he Promises and therefore is Immutable in both 5. Hence it follows thâ—t God is a fit Object for our Trust and Confidence For God being Infinitely Wise when he Promises any thing he sees every th ng which may hinder and every thing which may promote the execution of it so that he cannot discover any thing aftâ—rwards that may move him to take up After thougâ—ts He hath more Wisdom than to promise any thing hand over head or any thing which he knows he cannot accomplish Thougâ— God as True be the Object of our Trust yet God as Wise is the Foundation of our Trust We trust him in his Promise the Promise was made by Mercy and 't is perform d by Truth but Wisdom conducts all Means to the accomplishment of it There are many Men whose Honesty we can confide in but whose Discretion we are diffident of But there is no defect eith r of the one or the other which may scare us from a depending upon God in our concerns The words of Mans wisdom the Apostle entitles Enticing 1 Cor. 2.4 in opposition to the words of Gods wisdom which are firm stable and undeniable demonstrations As the Power of God is an encouragement of Trust because he is able to effect so the Wisdom of God comes into the rank of those Attributes which support our Faith To put a Confidence in him we must be perswaded not only that he is Ignorant of nothing in the World but that he is Wise to manage the whole course of Nature
what God hath hid as to be careless of what God hath manifested Too great an inquisitiveness beyond our line is as much a provoking arrogance as a blockish negligence of what is revealed is a slighting ingratitude 2. Submit to God in his Precepts and Methods Since they are the results of Infinite Wisdom disputes against them are not tolerable What orders are given out by Infallible Wisdom are to be entertained with respect and reverence though the reason of them be not visible to our purblind minds Shall God have less respect from us than Earthly Princes whose Laws we observe without being able to pierce into the exact reason of them all Since we know he hath not a Will without an Understanding our observance of him must be without Repining we must not think to mend our Creators Laws and presume to judg and condemn his Righteous Statutes If the flesh rise up in opposition we must cross its motions and Silence its Murmurings his Will should be an acceptable Will to us because it is a wise Will in itself God hath no need to impose upon us and deceive us He hath just and righteous waies to attain his glory and his Creatures good To deceive us would be to dishonour himself and contradict his own nature He cannot impose false injurious Precepts or unavailable to his subjects happiness not false because of his Truth not injurious because of his Goodness not vain because of his Wisdom Submit therefore to him in his Precepts and in his Methods too The honour of his Wisdom and the interest of our Happiness calls for it Had Noah disputed with God about building an Ark and listned to the scoffs of the sensless World he had perished under the same fate and lost the honour of a Preacher and worker of righteousness Had not the Israelites been their own enemies if they had been permitted to be their own guides and returned to the Egyptian bondage and furnaces instead of a liberty and earthly felicity in Canaan Had our Saviour gratified the Jews by descending from the Cross and freeing himself from the power of his Adversaries he might have had that Faith from them which they promised him but It had been a faith to no purpose because without ground they might have believed him to be the Son of God but he could not have been the Saviour of the World His death the great ground and object of Faith had been unaccomplished they had believed a God pardoning without a content to his Iustice and such a Faith could not have rescued them from falling into eternal Misery The Precepts and Methods of Divine Wisdom must be submitted to 3. Submit to God in all Crosses and Revolutions Infinite Wisdom cannot err in any of his paths or step the least hairs bredth from the way of Righteousness There is the Understanding of God in every motion an Eye in every Wheel the Wheel that goes over us and crusheth us We are led by Fancy more than Reason We know no more what we ask or what is fit for us than the Mother of Zebedees children did when she Petitioned Christ for her sons advancement when he came into his Temporal Kingdom * Mat. 20.22 The things we desire might pleasure our Fancy or Appetite but impair our health One man complains for want of Children but knows not whither they may prove Comforts or Crosses Another for want of Health but knows not whither the health of his Body may not prove the disease of his Soul We migh◠lose in Heavenly things if we possess in Earthly things what we long for God in regard of his infinite Wisdom is fitter to carve out a condition than we our selves our Shallow reason and self-self-love would wish for those things that are injurious to God to our selves to the World but God alwaies chooses what is best for his Glory and what is best for his Creatures either in regard of themselves or as they stand in relation to him or to others as parts of the World We are in danger from our self-love in no danger in complying with Gods Wisdom When Rachel would dye if she had no Children she had Children but Death with one of them †Gen. 30.1 Good men may conclude that whatsoever is done by God in them or with them is best and fittest for them because by the Covenant which makes over God to them as their God the conduct of his Wisdom is assured to them as well as any other Attribute And therefore as God in every transaction appears as their God so he appears as their wise Director and by this Wisdom he extracts good out of evill makes the affliction which destroys our outward Comforts consume our inward Defilements And the waves which threatned to swallow up the vessel to cast it upon the shore And when he hath occasion to manifest his Anger against his People his Wisdom directs his Wrath. In Judgment he hath a work to do upon Zion and when that work is done he punishes the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria ‖ Isa 10 1◠As in the answers of Prayer he doth give oftentimes above what we ask or think Eph. 3.20 so in outward concerns he doth above what we can expect or by our short-sightedness conclude will be done Let us therefore in all things frame our minds to the Divine Wisdom and say with the Psalmist Psal 47.4 The Lord shall chuse our inheritance and condition for us 6. Exhortation Censure not God in any of his waies Can we Understand the full scope of Divine Wisdom in Creation which is perfected before our Eyes Can we by a rational knowledge walk over the whole Surface of the Earth and wade through the Sea Can we Understand the Nature of the Heavens Are all or most or the thousandth part of the particles of Divine Skil known by us yea or any of them throughly known How can we then Understand his deeper methods in things that are but of yesterday that we have not had a time to View We should not be too quick or too rash in our Judgments of him The best that we attain to is but feeble conjectures at the designs of God As there is something hid in whatsoever is revealed in his Word so there is some thing inaccessible to us in his Works as well as in his Nature and Majesty In our Saviours act in washing his Disciples feet he checkt Peters contradiction John 13.7 What I do thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter God were not infinitely wise if the reason of all his acts were obvious to our Shallowness He is no profound States-man whose inward intention can be sounded by vulgar Heads at the first act he starts in his designed method The wise God is in this like wisemen that have not breasts like glasses of Christal to discover all that they intend There are secrets of Wisdom above our reach * Iob 11.6 nay when
at the Presence of the Council that had their hands yet reeking with the Blood of his Master but being filled with the Holy Ghost seems to dare the Power of the Priests and Jewish Governours and is as confident in the Council Chamber as he had been cowardly in the High Priests Hall †Acts 4.9 c. the efficacy of Grace triumphing over the Fearfulness of Nature Whence should this Ardor and Zeal to propagate a Doctrine that had already born the Scars of the Peoples Fury be but from a mighty Power which changed those Hares into Lions and stript them of their Natural Cowardize â—o cloath them with a Divine Courage making them in a moment both Wise and Magnanimous alienating them from any Consultations with Flesh and Blood As soon as ever the Holy Ghost came upon them as a mighty rushing Wind they move up and down for the Interest of God as Fish after a great Clap of Thunder are rowz'd and move more nimbly on the top of the Water therefore that which did so fit them for this undertaking is called by the title of Power from on high Luke 24.49 III. The Divine Power appears in the Means whereby it was propagated 1. By Means different from the Methods of the World Not by force of Arms as some Religions have taken root in the World Mahomets Horse hath trampled upon the Heads of Men to imprint an Alcoran in their Brains and robb'd Men of their Goods to plant their Religion But the Apostles bore not this Doctrine through the World upon the Points of their Swords they presented a Bodily death where they would bestow an Immortal life They employ'd not Troops of Men in a Warlike posture which had been possible for them after the Gospel was once spread they had no Ambition to subdue Men unto themselves but to God they coveted not the Possessions of others design'd not to enrich themselves invaded not the Rights of Princes nor the Liberties and Properties of the People They rifled them not of their Estates nor scar'd them into this Religion by a fear of losing their Worldly happiness The Arguments they used would naturally drive them from an entertainment of this Doctrine rather than allure them to be Proselytes to it Their design was to change their Hearts not their Government to wean them from the love of the World to a love of a Redeemer to remove that which would ruine their Souls It was not to enslave them but ransom them they had a warfare but not with Carnal weapons but such as were mighty through God for the pulling down of strong holds 2 Cor. 10.4 they used no weapons but the Doctrine they preach'd Others that have not gained Conquests by the Edge of the Sword and the Stratagems of War have extended their Opinions to others by the strength of Humane Reason and the Insinuations of Eloquence But the Apostles had as little flourish in their Tongues as edge upon their Swords Their Preaching was not with the enticing words of Mans wisdom * 1 Cor. 2.4 their Presence was mean and their Discourses without varnish their Doctrine was plain a Crucified Christ a Doctrine unlac'd ungarnisht untoothsom to the World but they had the demonstration of the Spirit and a mighty Power for their Companion in the work The Doctrine they preached viz. the Death Resurrection and Ascension of Christ are called the Powers not of this World but of the World to come †Heb. 6.5 No less than a Supernatural Power could conduct them in this Attempt with such weak Methods in Humane appearance 2. Against all the Force Power and Wit of the World The Divisions in the Eastern Empire and the feeble and consuming State of the Western contributed to Mahomets Success ‖ Dailâ—é 15. Serm. p. 57. But never was Rome in a more flourishing condition Learning Eloquence Wisdom Strength were at the highest pitch Never was there a more diligent Watch against any Innovations never was that State governed by more severe and suspicious Princes than at the time when Tiberius and Nero held the Rains No time seemed to be more unfit for the entrance of a New Doctrine than that Age wherein it begun to be first publish'd never did any Religion meet with that Opposition from Men. Idolatry hath been often setled without any Contest but this hath suffered the same Fate with the Institutor of it and endured the Contradictions of Sinners against it self And those that publish'd it were not only without any Worldly prop but expos'd themselves to the Hatred and Fury to the Racks and Tortures of the strongest Powers on Earth It never set foot in any place but the Country was in an uproar †Acts 19.28 Swords were drawn to destroy it Laws made to suppress it Prisons provided for the Professors of it Fires kindled to consume them and Executioners had a perpetual employment to stifle the progress of it Rome in its Conquest of Countries chang'd not the Religion Rites and Modes of their Worship They alter'd their Civil Government but left them to the liberty of their Religion and many times joyned with them in the Worship of their Peculiar gods and sometime imitated them at Rome instead of abolishing them in the Cities they had subdued But all their Councils were assembled and their Force was bandied against the Lord and against his Christ and that City that kindly receiv'd all manner of Superstitions hated this Doctrine with an irreconcileable hatred It met with Reproaches from the Wise and Fury from the Potentates it was derided by the one as the greatest Folly and persecuted by the other as contrary to God and Mankind the one were afraid to lose their Esteems by the Doctrine and the other to lose their Authority by a Sedition they thought a change of Religion would introduce The Romans that had been Conquerors of the Earth feared Intestine Commotions and the falling asunder the Links of their Empire Scarce any of their first Emperors but had their Swords dy'd Red in the Blood of the Christians The Flesh with all its Lusts the World with all its Flatteries the Statesmen with all their Craft and the Mighty with all their Strength joyn'd together to extirpate it Though many Members were taken off by the Fires yet the Church not only lived but flourish'd in the Furnace Converts were made by the Death of Martyrs and the Flames which consumed their Bodies were the occasion of firing Mens hearts with a Zeal for the Profession of it Instead of being extinguish'd the Doctrine shone more bright and multiplied under the Sickles that were employed to cut it down God ordered every Circumstance so both in the Persons that publish'd it the Means whereby and the Time when that nothing but his Power might appear in it without any thing to dim and darken it IV. The Divine Power was conspicuous in the great success it had under all these difficulties Multitudes were Prophecied of to
as his own Knowledge God having an Infinite Knowledge of himself can only have an Infinite Love to himself and consequently an Infinite Holiness without any defect because he loves himself according to the vastness of his own Amiableness which no finite Being can Therefore though the Angels be exempt from Corruption and Soil they cannot enter into comparison with the Purity of God without acknowledgment of a dimness in themselves Besides He charges them with folly and puts no trust in them because they have the power of sinning though not the act of sinning They have a possible Folly in their own Nature to be charged with Holiness is a quality separable from them but it is inseparable from God Had they not at first a mutability in their Nature none of them could have sinned there had been no Devils but because some of them sinned the rest might have sinned And though the standing Angels shall never be changed yet they are still changeable in their own Nature and their standing is due to Grace not to Nature and though they shall be for ever preserved yet they are not nor ever can be Immutable by Nature for then they should stand upon the same bottom with God himself but they are supported by Grace against that Changeableness of Nature which is essential to a Creature The Creator only hath Immortality that is Immutability ‖ 1. Tim. 3.16 'T is as certain a Truth that no Creature can be naturally Immutable and Impeccable as that God cannot create any thing actually polluted and imperfect 'T is as possible that the highest Creature may sin as it is possible that it may be annihilated It may become not holy as it may become not a Creature but Nothing The Holiness of a Creature may be reduc'd into Nothing as well as his Substance But the Holiness of the Creator cannot be diminish'd dimm'd or overshadowed James 1.17 He is the Father of lights with whom is no variableness or shadow of turning 'T is as impossible his Holiness should be blotted as that his Deity should be extinguish'd For whatsoever Creature hath essentially such or such qualities cannot be stript of them without being turned out of its Essence As a Man is essentially Rational and if he ceaseth to be Rational he ceaseth to be Man The Sun is essentially Luminous if it should become dark in its own Body it would cease to be the Sun In regard of this absolute and only Holiness of God 't is thrice repeated by the Seraphims Isai 6.3 The Threefold Repetition of a word notes the Certainty or Absoluteness of the thing or the Irreversibleness of the Resolve as Ezek. 21.27 I will overturn overturn overturn notes the Certainty of the Judgment also Revel 8.8 Woe woe woe Three times repeated signifies the same The Holiness of God is so absolutely peculiar to him that it can no more be exprest in Creatures than his Omnipotence whereby they may be able to create a World or his Omniscience whereby they may be capable of knowing all things and knowing God as he knows himself 3. God is so holy that he cannot possibly approve of any Evil done by another but doth perfectly abhor it it would not else be a glorious holiness Psal 5.3 He hath no pleasure in wickedness He doth not only love that which is just but abhor with a perfect hatred all things contrary to the Rule of Righteousness Holiness can no more approve of sin than it can commit it To be delighted with the evil in anothers act contracts a Guilt as well as the Commission of it for approbation of a thing is a consent to it Sometime the approbation of an evil in another is a more grievous Crime than the act it self as appears in Rom. 1.32 who knowing the Judgment of God not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do it Where the not only manifests it to be a greater guilt to take pleasure in them Every sin is aggravated by the delight in it to take pleasure in the evil of anothers Act on shews a more ardent affection and love to sin than the Committer himself may have This therefore can as little fall upon God as to do an evil act himself yet as a man may be delighted with the Consequences of anothers sin as it may occasion some publick good or private good to the guilty person as sometimes it may be an occasion of his repentance when the horridness of a fact stares him in the face and occasions a self-reflection for that and other Crimes which is attended with an indignation against them and sincere remorse for them so God is pleased with those good things his Goodness and Wisdom bring forth upon the occasion of sin But in regard of his Holiness he cannot approve of the evil whence his Infinite Wisdom drew forth his own glory and his Creatures good His Pleasure is not in the sinful act of the Creature but in the act of his own goodness and skill turning it to another end than what the Creature aimed at 1. He abhors it necessarily Holiness is the glory of the Deity therefore necessary The Nature of God is so holy that he cannot but hate it Hab. 1.13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity He is more opposite to it than light to darkness and therefore it can expect no countenance from him A love of holiness cannot be without a hatred of every thing that is contrary to it As God necessarily loves himself so he must necessarily hate every thing that is against himself And as he loves himself for his own excellency and holiness he must necessarily detest whatsoever is repugnant to his holiness because of the evil of it Since he is infinitely good he cannot but love goodness as it is a resemblance to himself and cannot but abhor unrighteousness as being most distant from him and contrary to him If he have any esteem for his own Perfections he must needs have an implacable aversion to all that is so repugnant to him that would if it were possible destroy him and is a point directed not only against his glory but against his life If he did not hate it he would hate himself For since Righteousness is his Image and Sin would deface his Image if he did not love his Image and loath what is against his Image he would loath himself he would be an Enemy to his own Nature †Turretin de satisfact p. 35.36 Nay if it were possible for him to love it it were possible for him not to be holy it were possible then for him to deny himself and will that he were no God which is a palpable Contradiction Yet this necessity in God of hating sin is not a brutish necessity such as is in meer Animals that avoid by a natural Instinct not of choice what is prejudicial to them but most free as well as necessary arising from an infinite
Minds and Consciences of Men as the Author of Nature for the preservation of the World manifests the Holiness of the Law-maker and Governour 2. His Holiness appears in the Ceremonial Law In the variety of Sacrifices for Sin wherein he writ his detestation of Vnrighteousness in bloody Characters His Holiness was more constantly exprest in the continual Sacrifices than in those rarer sprinklings of Judgments now and then upon the World which often reached not the worst but the most moderate Sinners and were the occasions of the questioning of the Righteousness of his Providence both by Jews and Gentiles In Judgments his Purity was only now and then manifest By his long Patience he might be imagin'd by some reconcil'd to their Crimes or not much concern'd in them but by the Morning and Evening Sacrifice he witness'd a perpetual and uninterrupted Abhorrence of whatsoever was Evil. Besides those the occasional Washings and Sprinklings upon Ceremonial Defilements which polluted only the Body gave an evidence that every thing that had a resemblance to Evil was loathsom to him Add also the Prohibitions of eating such and such Creatures that were filthy as the Swine that wallowed in the Mire a fit Emblem for the prophane and brutish Sinner which had a Moral signification both of the loathsomness of Sin to God and the aversion themselves ought to have to every thing that was filthy 3. This Holiness appears in the Allurements annex'd to the Law for keeping it and the Affrightments to restrain from the breaking of it Both Promises and Threatnings have their Fundamental Root in the Holiness of God and are both Branches of this peculiar Perfection As they respect the Nature of God they are Declarations of his hatred of Sin and his love of Righteousness the one belong to his Threatnings the other to his Promises both joyn together to represent this Divine Perfection to the Creature and to excite to an imitation in the Creature In the one God would render Sin odious because dangerous and curb the practice of Evil which would otherwise be Licentious In the other he would commend Righteousness and excite a love of it which would otherwise be cold By these God sutes the two great Affections of Men Fear and Hope both the branches of self-Self-love in Man The Promises and Threatnings are both the Branches of Holiness in God The end of the Promises is the same with the Exhortation the Apostle concludes from them 2 Cor. 7.1 Having these Promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God As the end of Precepts is to direct the end of Threatnings is to deter from Iniquity so that of the Promises is to allure to Obedience Thus God breaths out his Love to Righteousness in every Promise his Hatred of Sin in every Threatning The Rewards offerd in the one are the Smiles of pleased Holiness and the Curses thundred in the other are the Sparklings of enraged Righteousness 4. His Holiness appears in the Judgments inflicted for the violation of this Law Divine Holiness is the Root of Divine Justice and Divine Justice is the Triumph of Divine Holiness Hence both are expressed in Scripture by one word of Righteousness which sometimes signifies the rectitude of the Divine Nature and sometimes the vindicative stroak of his Arm Psal 103.6 The Lord executeth Righteousness and Judgment for all that are oppressed So Dan. 9.7 Righteousness that is Justice belongs to thee The Vials of his Wrath are filled from his implacable aversion to Iniquity All Penal Evils showred down upon the heads of Wicked men spread their root in and branch out from this Perfection All the dreadful Storms and Tempests in the World are blown up by it Why doth he rain Snares Fire and Brimstone and a horrible Tempest because the righteous Lord loveth Righteousness Psal 11.6 7. And as was observed before when he was going about the dreadfullest Work that ever was in the World the overturning the Jewish State hardening the Hearts of that Unbelieving People and casheiring a Nation once dear to him from the honour of his Protection His Holiness as the Spring of all this is applauded by the Seraphims Isai 6.3 compared with Vers 9 10 11 c. Impunity argues the approbation of a Crime and Punishment the abhorrency of it The greatness of the Crime and the Righteousness of the Judge are the first Natural Sentiments that arise in the Minds of Men upon the appearance of Divine Judgments in the World by those that are near them †Amirant Moral Tom. 5. p. 388. As when Men see Gibbets erected Scaffolds prepared Instruments of Death and Torture provided and grievous Punishments inflicted the first reflection in the Spectators is the malignity of the Crime and the detestation the Governours are possessed with 1. How severely hath he punish'd his most Noble Creatures for it The once glorious Angels upon whom he had been at greater cost than upon other Creatures and drawn more lively Lineaments of his own Excellency upon the Transgression of his Law are thrown into the Furnace of Justice without any Mercy to pity them Jude 6. And though there were but one sort of Creatures upon the Earth that bore his Image and were only fit to publish and keep up his Honour below the Heavens yet upon their Apostacy though upon a Temptation from a subtile and insinuating Spirit the Man with all his Posterity is sentenc'd to Misery in Life and Death at last and the Woman with all her Sex have standing Punishments inflicted on them which as they begun in their Persons were to reach as far as the last Member of their successive Generations So Holy is God that he will not endure a Spot in his choicest Work Men indeed when there is a crack in an excellent piece of Work or a stain upon a rich Garment do not cast it away they value it for the remaining Excellency more than hate it for the contracted Spot But God saw no Excellency in his Creature worthy regarding after the Image of that which he most esteemed in himself was defaced 2. How detestable to him are the very Instruments of Sin For the Ill use the Serpent an Irrational Creature was put to by the Devil as an Instrument in the Fall of Man the whole brood of those Animals are Curst Gen. 3.14 Cursed above all Cattle and above every Beast of the field Not only the Devils Head is threatned to be for ever bruised and as some think render'd irrecoverable upon this further Testimony of his Malice in the Seduction of Man who perhaps without this new Act might have been admitted into the Arms of Mercy notwithstanding his first Sin though the Scripture gives us no account of this only this is the only Sentence we read of pronounc'd against the Devil which puts him into an irrecoverable state by a Mortal bruising of his Head But I say He is not only punish'd but the
may be further considered that in this way of Redemption his Holiness in the hatred of Sin seems to be valued above any other Attribute He proclaims the value of it above the Person of his Son since the Divine Nature of the Redeemer is disguised obscur'd and vail'd in order to the restoring the Honour of it And Christ seems to value it above his own Person since he submitted himself to the Reproaches of Men to clear this Perfection of the Divine Nature and make it Illustrious in the eyes of the World You heard before at the beginning of the handling this Argument It was the Beauty of the Deity the Lustre of his Nature the Link of all his Attributes his very Life he values it equal with Himself since he swears by it as well as by his Life And none of his Attributes would have a due Decorum without it 'T is the glory of Power Mercy Justice Wisdom that they are all Holy So that though God had an Infinite tenderness and compassion to the Fallen Creature yet it should not extend it self in his relief to the prejudice of the Rights of his Purity He would have this triumph in the Tenderness of his Mercy as well as the Severities of his Justice His Mercy had not appeared in its true colours nor attain'd a regular End without Vengeance on Sin It would have been a Compassion that would in sparing the Sinner have encourag'd the Sin and affronted Holiness in the Issues of it Had he dispersed his Compassions about the World without the regard to his Hatred of Sin his Mercy had been too cheap and his Holiness had been contemn'd His Mercy would not have Triumph'd in his own Nature whilst his Holiness had suffered He had exercised a Mercy with the impairing his own Glory But now in this way of Redemption the Rights of both are secured both have their due lustre The Odiousness of Sin is equally discovered with the greatest of his Compassions an Infinite Abhorrence of Sin and an Infinite Love to the World march hand in hand together Never was so much of the Irreconcileableness of Sin to him set forth as in the moment he was opening his Bowels in the Reconciliation of the Sinner Sin is made the chiefest Mark of his Displeasure while the Poor Creature is made the highest Object of Divine Pity There could have been no motion of Mercy with the least Injury to Purity and Holiness In this way Mercy and Truth Mercy to the Misery of the Creature and Truth to the Purity of the Law have met together the Righteousness of God and the Peace of the Sinner have kissed each other Psal 85.10 II. The Holiness of God in his Hatred of Sin appears in our Justification and the Conditions he requires of all that would enjoy the benefit of Redemption His Wisdom hath so temper'd all the Conditions of it that the Honour of his Holiness is as much preserved as the Sweetness of his Mercy is experimented by us All the Conditions are Records of his exact Purity as well as of his condescending Grace Our Justification is not by the Imperfect works of Creatures but by an exact and Infinite Righteousness as great as that of the Deity which had been Offended It being the Righteousness of a Divine Person upon which account it is call'd the Righteousness of God not only in regard of Gods appointing it and Gods accepting it but as it is a Righteousness of that Person that was God and is God Faith is the Condition God requires to Justification but not a dead but an active Faith such a Faith as purifies the heart †James 2.22 Acts 15.9 He calls for Repentance which is a Moral retracting our Offences and an approbation of contemn'd Righteousness and a violated Law an endeavour to regain what is lost and to pluck out the heart of that Sin we have committed He requires Mortification which is called Crucifying whereby a Man would strike as full and deadly a blow at his Lusts as was struck at Christ upon the Cross and make them as certainly die as the Redeemer did Our own Righteousness must be condemned by us as impure and imperfect We must disown every thing that is our own as to Righteousness in reverence to the Holiness of God and the valuation of the Righteousness of Christ He hath resolved not to bestow the Inheritance of Glory without the Root of Grace None are partakers of the Divine Blessedness that are not partakers of the Divine Nature There must be a renewing of his Image before there be a vision of his face * He◠12.14 He will not have Men brought only into a Relative state of Happiness by Justification without a Real state of Grace by Sanctification And so resolved he is in it that there is no admittance into Heaven of a starting but a persevering Holiness Rom. 2.7 a patient continuance in well doing Patient under the sharpness of Affliction and continuing under the Pleasures of Prosperity Hence it is that the Gospel the restoring Doctrine hath not only the motives of Rewards to allure us to Good and the danger of Punishments to scare us from Evil as the Law had but they are set forth in a higher strain in a way of stronger engagement the Rewards are Heavenly and the Punishments Eternal And more powerful Motives besides from the choicer Expressions of Gods Love in the Death of his Son The whole Design of it is to re-instate us in a resemblance to this Divine Perfection whereby he shews what an Affection he hath to this Excellency of his Nature and what a detestation he hath of Evil which is contrary to it 3. It appears in the actual Regeneration of the Redeemed Souls and a carrying it on to a full perfection As Election is the effect of Gods Soveraignty our Pardon the fruit of his Mercy our Knowledge a stream from his Wisdom our Strength an impression of his Power so our Purity is a beam from his Holiness The whole work of Sanctification and the preservation of it our Saviour begs for his Disciples of his Father under this Title John 17.11 17. Holy Father keep them through thy own name and sanctifie them through thy Truth as the proper Source whence Holiness was to flow to the Creature As the Sun is the proper Fountain whence Light is derived both to the Stars above and Bodies here below Whence He is not only called Holy but the Holy One of Israel Isai 43.15 I am the Lord your Holy One the Creator of Israel Displaying his Holiness in them by a new Creation of them as his Israel As the rectitude of the Creature at the first Creation was the effect of his Holiness so the Purity of the Creature by a New Creation is a draught of the same Perfection He is called the Holy One of Israel more in Isaiah that Evangelical Prophet in erecting Zion and forming a People for himself than in the whole Scripture
the ground of our love to God Not because he is gracious to us but holy in himself As God honours it in loving himself for it we should honour it by pitching our Affections upon him chiefly for it What renders God amiable to himself should render him lovely to all his Creatures Isa 42.21 The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sakâ— If the hatred of evil be the immediate result of a love to God then the peculiar object or term of our love to God must be that Perfection which stands in direct opposition to the hatred of evil Psal 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil When we honour his holiness in every stamp and impression of it his Law not principally because of its usefulness to us its accommodateness to the order of the World but for its innate Purity and his People not for our interest in them so much as for bearing upon them this glittering mark of the Deity we honour then the Purity of the Law-giver and the Excellency of the Sanctifier 2. We honour it when we regard chiefly the illustrious appearance of this in his Judgments in the World In a case of Temporal Judgment Moses celebrates it in the Text In a case of Spiritual Judgments the Angels applaud it in Isaiah All his Severe proceedings are nothing but the strong breathings of this Attribute Purity is the flash of his revenging sword If he did not hate evil his Vengeance would not reach the Committers of it He is a Refiners fire in the day of his Anger * Mal. 3 â— By his separating Judgments he takes away the wicked of the earth like Dross Psal 119.119 How is his holiness honoured when we take notice of his sweeping out the rubbish of the World How he sutes punishment to sin and discovers his hatred of the matter and circumstances of the Evil in the matter and circumstances of the Judgment This Perfection is legible in every stroke of his Sword we honour it when we read the syllables of it and not by standing amaz'd only at the greatness and severity of the Blow when we read how holy he is in his most terrible Dispensations For as in them God magnifies the greatness of his Power so he sanctifies himself that is declares the Purity of his Nature as a Revenger of all Impiety Ezek. 38.22 23. And I will plead against him with Pestilence and with Blood and I will rain upon him and upon his bands and upon the people that are with him an overflowing Rain and great Hail-stones Fire and Brimstone Thus will I magnifie my self and sanctifie my self 3. We honour this Attribute when we take notice of it in every accomplishment of his Promise and every grant of a Mercy His Truth is but a branch of his Righteousness a slip from this Root He is glorious in Holiness in the account of Moses because he led forth his People whom he had redeemed Exod. 15.13 His People by a Covenant with their Fathers being the God of Moses the God of Israel and the God of their Fathers Verse 2. My God and my Fathers God I will exalt thee For what for his faithfulness to his Promise The holiness of God which Mary Luke 1.49 magnifies is summ'd up in this the help he afforded his Servant Israel in the remembrance of his mercy as he spake to our Fathers to Abraham and his Seed for ever Verse 54 55. The certainty of his Coâ—enant Mercy depends upon an unchangeableness of his holiness What are * Isa 55.3 sure mercies are holy mercies in the Septuagint and in Acts 13.34 which makes that Tr nslation Canonical His nearness to answer us when we call upon him for sucâ— Mercies is a fruit of the holiness of his Name and Nature Psal 145.17 The Lord is holy in all his works the Lord is nigh to all them that call upon him Hannah after a return of Prayer sets a particular mark upon this in her Song 1 Sam. 2.2 There is none holy as the Lord separated from all Dross firm to his Covenant and righteous in it to his Suppliants that confide in him and plead his Word When we observe the workings of this in every return of Prayer we honour it 't is a sign the Mercy is really a return of Prayer and not a Mercy of course bearing upon it only the Characters of a common Providence This was the Perfection David would bless for the Catalogue of Mercies in Psal 103.1 c Bless his holy Name Certainly one reason why sincere Prayer is so delightful to him is because it puts him upon the exercise of this his beloved Perfection which he so much delights to honour Since God acts in all those as the Governour of the World we honour him not unless we take notice of that Righteousness which sits him for a Governour and is the inward Spring of all his Motions Gen. 18.25 Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right It was his design in his pity to Israel as well as the Calamities he intended against the Heathens to be sanctified in them that is declared holy in his Merciful as well as his Judicial procedure †Ez. 36.21 â—3 Hereby God credits his Righteousness which seemed to be forgotten by the one and contemned by the other ‖ Sanct. in loc he removes by this all suspicion of any unfaithfulness in him 4. We honour this Attribute when we trust his Covenant and Promise against outward Appearances Thus our Saviour in the Prophecy of him * Psal 22 2 3.4 when God seemed to bar up the Gates of his Palace against the entry of any more Petitions This Attribute proves the support of the Redeemers Soul But thou art holy Oh thou that inhabitest the Praises of Israel As it refers to what goes before it has been twice explain'd as it refers to what follows it is a ground of trust Thou inhabitest the Praises of Israel Thou hast had the Praises of Israel for many Ages for thy holiness How Our Fathers trusted in thee and thou didst deliver them They honoured thy holiness by their trust and thou didst honour their Faith by a deliverance thou alwaies hadst a Purity that would not shame nor confound them I will trust in thee as thou art holy and expect the breaking out of this Attribute for my good as well as my Predecessors Our Fathers trusted in thee c. 5. We honour this Attribute when we shew a greater Affection to the marks of his holiness in times of the greatest Contempt of it As the Psalmist Psal 119.126 127. They have made void thy Law therefore I love thy Commandments above Gold While they spurn at the Purity of thy Law I will value it above the Gold they possess I 'le esteem it as Gold because others count it as Dross By their scorn of it my love to it shall be the warmer and my hatred of iniquity shall be the sharper The disdain of others
this Sentiment when the Jews Educated by God in a wiser School were wedded to that Notion The Pharisees were highly fond of it it was the only Argument they used in Prayer for Divine Blessing You have one of them boasting of his frequency in Fasting and his exactness in paying his Tithes †Luke 19.12 as if God had been beholding to him and could not without manifest wrong deny him his demand And Paul confesseth it to be his own Sentiment before his Conversion he accounted this Righteousness of the Law gain to him * Phil. 3.7 he thought by this to make his Market with God The whole Nation of the Jews affected it †Rom. 10.3 Going about to Establish their own Righteousness compassing Sea and Land to make out a Righteousness of their own as the Pharisees did to make Proselytes The Papists follow their Steps and Dispute for Justification by the Merit of Works and find out another Key of Works of Supererogation to unlock Heavens Gate than what ever the Scripture informed us of 'T is from hence also that Men are so ready to make Faith as a Work the cause of our Justification Man foolishly thinks he hath enough to set up himself after he hath proved Bankrupt and lost all his Estate This Imagination is born with us and the best Christians may find some sparks of it in themselves when there are springings up of joy in their Hearts upon the more close performance of one Duty than of another as if they had wiped off their Scores and given God a satisfaction for their former neglects We have forsaken all and follow'd thee was the boast of his Disciples What shall we have therefore was a Branch of this Root †Mat. 19.27 Eternal Life is a gift not by any Obligation of Right but an abundance of goodness 't is owing not to the dignity of our Works but the magnificent Bounty of the Divine Nature and must be sued for by the Title of God's Promise not by the Title of the Creatures Services We may observe 3. How insufficient are some Assents to Divine Truth and some Expressions of Affection to Christ without the Practice of Christian Precepts This Man Addrest to Christ with a profound Respect acknowledging him more than an ordinary Person with a more Reverential Carriage than we read any of his Disciples paid to him in the day of his Flesh he fell down at his Feet kist his Knees as the Custom was when they would testifie the great Respect they had to any eminent Person especially to their Rabbins All this some think to be included in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †Vers 17. Lightfoot in loc He seems to acknowledge him the Messiah by giving him the Title of Good a Title they did not give to their Doctors of the Chair He breaths out his opinion that he was able to instruct him beyond the ability of the Law He came with a more than ordinary Affection to him and expectation of advantage from him evident by his departing sad when his expectations were frustrated by his own perversity it was a sign he had a high esteem of him from whom he could not part without marks of his Grief What was the cause of his refusing the instructions he pretended such an affection to receive He had Possessions in the World How soon do a few drops of Wordly advantages quench the first Sparks of an ill grounded love to Christ How vain is a complemental and cringing devotion without a supream preference of God and valuation of Christ above every outward allurement We may observe this 4. We should never admit any thing to be ascrib'd to us which is proper to God Why callest thou me Good There is none Good but One that is God If you do not acknowledge me God ascribe not to me the Title of Good It takes off all those Titles which fawning Flatterers give to Men Mighty Invincible to Princes Holiness to the Pope We call one another Good without considering how Evil and Wise without considering how Foolish Mighty without considering how Weak and Knowing without considering how Ignorant No man but hath more of Wickedness than Goodness of Ignorance than Knowledge of Weakness than Strength God is a jealous God of his own Honour he will not have the Creature share with him in his Royal Titles 'T is a part of Idolatry to give Men the Titles which are due to God a kind of a Worship of the Creature together with the Creator Worms will not stand out but assault Herod in his Purple when he Usurps the Prerogative of God and prove stiff and invincible Vindicators of their Creators Honor when summoned to Arms by the Creators Word †12 Acts 22.23 The Observation which I intend to prosecute is this Doct. Pure and Perfect Goodness is only the Royal Prerogative of God Goodness is a choice Perfection of the Divine Nature This is the true and genuine Character of God He is Good He is Goodness Good in Himself Good in his Essence Good in the Highest Degree possessing whatsoever is Comely Excellent Desirable the Highest Good because the First Good whatsoever is perfect Goodness is GOD whatsoever is truly Goodness in any Creature is a resemblance of God * Ficin in Dionys. de divin nom cap 511. All the Names of God are comprehended in this one of Good All Gifts all variety of Goodness are contained in him as one common Good He is the efficient cause of all Good by an over-flowing Goodness of his Nature He refers all things to Himself as the end for the representation of his own Goodness Truly God is Good †Psal 73.1 Certainly it is an undoubted Truth 't is written in his Works of Nature and his Acts of Grace * Exod. 34.6 He is abundant in Goodness And every thing is a Memorial not of some few Sparks but of his greater Goodness †Psal 145.7 This is often celebrated in the Psalms and Men invited more than once to Sing forth the Praises of it * Psal 107.8.15.21.31 It may better be admired than sufficiently spoken of or thought of as it Merits 'T is discovered in all his Works as the Goodness of a Tree in all its Fruits 't is easie to be seen and more pleasant to be contemplated In General 1. All Nations in the World have acknowledged GOD Good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was one of the Names the Platonists exprest him by and Good and God are almost the same words in our Language All as readily consented in the Notion of his Goodness as in that of his Deity Whatsoever divisions or disputes there were among them in the other Perfections of God they all agreed in this without dispute saith Synesius * Empedocles One calls him Venus in regard of his Loveliness †Hesiod Another calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Love as being the Band which tyes all things
Drops as well as the fuller Streams are of the same Fountain and relish of the Nature of it And though he do not make all Men partake of the riches of his Grace after the corruption of their Nature Is his Goodness disgraced hereby Or doth he merit the Title of Cruelty Will any diminish the goodness of a Father for his not setting up his Son after he hath foolishly and wilfully proved Bankrupt or not rather admire his liberality in giving him so large a Stock to Trade with when he first set him up in the World 2. The goodness of God to Creatures is to be measured by their distinct Vsefulness to the Common End It were better for a Toad or Serpent to be a Man i. e. better for the Creature it self if it were advanced to a higher degree of Being but not better for the Universe He could have made every Pebble a living Creature and every living Creature a Rational one But that he made every thing as we see it was a goodness to the Creature it self But that he did not make it of a higher Elevation in Nature was a part of his goodness to the Rational Creature If all were Rational Creatures there would have been wanting Creatures of an Inferior Nature for their conveniency There would have wanted the manifestation of the variety and fulness of his goodness Had all things in the World been Rational Creatures much of that goodness which he hath communicated to Rational Creatures would not have appear'd How could Man have shew'd his skill in Taming and Managing Creatures more mighty than himself What Materials would there have been to manifest the goodness of God bestowed upon the Reasonable Creatures for framing Excellent Works and Inventions Much of the Goodness of God had lain wrapt up from Sense and Understanding All other things partake not of so great a goodness as Man yet they are so subservient to that goodness pour'd forth on Man that little of it coulâ— have been seen without them Consider Man every Member in his Body hath a goodness in it self but a greater goodness as referred to the whole without which the goodness of the more noble part would not be manifested The Head is the most excellent Member and hath greater Impressions of Divine Goodness upon it in regard that it is the Organ of Understanding Were every Member of the Body a Head what a deformed Monster would Man be If he were all Head where would be feet for Motion And Arms for Action Man would be fit only for Thought and not for Exercise The goodness of God in giving Man so noble a part as the Head could not be known without a Tongue whereby to Express the Conception of his Mind and without Feet and Hands whereby to act much of what he conceives and determines and execute the resolves of his Will All those have a goodness in themselves an honour a comeliness from the goodness of God * 1 Cor. 12.22 23. but not so great a goodness as the nobler part Yet if you consider them in their Functions and refer them to that excellent Member which they serve their Inferior goodness is absolutely necessary to the goodness of the other without which the goodness of the Head and Understanding would lie in obscurity be insignificant to the whole World and in a great measure to the Person himself that wants such Members 3. The goodness of God is more seen in this inequality If God were equally good to all it would destroy Commerce Unity the Links of Humane Society damp Charity and render that useless which is one of the noblest and delightfullest Duties to be exercised here It would cool Prayer which is excited by wants and is a necessary demonstration of the Creatures dependance on God But in this inequality every Man hath enough in his Enjoyments for Praise and in his VVants matter for his Prayer Besides the inequality of the Creature is the Ornament of the World What pleasure could a Garden afford if there were but one sort of Flowers or one sort of Plants Far less than when there is variety to please the Sight and every other Sense Again the freedom of Divine Goodness which is the glory of it is evident hereby Had he been alike good to all it would have lookt like a necessary not a free act But by the inequality it is manifest that he doth not do it by a Natural necessity as the Sun shines but by a voluntary Liberty as being the entire Lord and free Disposer of his own Goods And that it is the gift of the pleasure of his VVill as well as the Efflux of his Nature That he hath not a Goodness without VVisdom but a VVisdom as rich as his Bounty 4. The goodness of God could not be equally communicated to all after their settlement in their several Beings Because they have not a capacity in their Natures for it He doth bestow the Marks of his Goodness according to that natural capacity of fitness he perceives in his Creatures As the VVater of the Sea fills every Creek and Gulf with different measures according to the compass each have to contain it And as the Sun doth disperse Light to the Stars above and the places below to some more to some less according to the measures of their Reception God doth not do good to all Creatures according to the greatness of his own Power and the extent of his own VVealth but according to the capacity of the Subject Not so much good as he can do but so much good as the Creature can receive The Creature would sink if God would pour out all his Goodness upon it As Moses would have perished if God should have shewn him all his Glory * Exod. 33.18 20. He doth manifest more Goodness to his Reasonable Creatures because they are more capable of acknowledging and setting forth his Goodness 5. God ought to be allow'd the free disposal of his own Goodness Is not God the Lord of his own Gifts and will you not allow him the priviledge of having some more peculiar Objects of his love and pleasure which you allow without blame to Man and use your self without any sense of a Crime Is a Prince esteem'd good though he be not equally bountiful to all his Servants nor equally gracious in pardoning all his Rebels And shall the goodness of the great Soveraign of the World be impeacht notwithstanding those mighty distributions of it because he will act according to his own VVisdom and Pleasure and not according to Mens fancies and humors Must Purblind Reason be the Judge and Director how God shall dispose of his own rather than his own Infinite VVisdom and Soveraign VVill Is God less good because there are number less nothings which he is able to bring into being He could Create a VVorld of more Creatures than he hath done doth he therefore wish evil to them by letting them remain in that nothing from
but because it is good and by a Communicated Goodness fitted for such a Production If God had been the Creating Principle of things only as he was a Living Being or as he was an Understanding Being then all things should have partaken of Life and Understanding because all things were to bear some Characters of the Deity upon them If by Understanding solely God were the Creator of all things all things should have born the Mark of the Deity upon them and should have been more or less Understanding but he Created things as he was Good and by Goodness he renders all things more or less like himself Hence every thing is accounted more noble not in regard of its Being but in regard of the beneficialness of its Nature The Being of things was not the End of God in Creating but the Goodness of their Being God did not rest from his Works because they were his Works i. e. because they had a Being but because they had a Good Being * Gen. 1. because they were naturally useful to the Universe Nothing was more pleasing to him than to behold those Shadows and Copies of his own Goodness in his Works 2. Creation was the first act of Goodness without himself †Petav. Theclog Dogmat. Tom. 1. p. 401. When he was alone from Eternity he contented himself with himself abounding in his own Blessedness delighting in that abundance He was incomprehensively rich in the possession of an unstain'd Felicity * Lessius de Perfect div p. 100. This Creation was the first Efflux of his Goodness without himself For the work of Creation cannot be called a work of Mercy Mercy supposeth a Creature miserable but that which hath no Being is subject to no Misery For to be Miserable supposeth a Nature in Being and deprived of that Good which belongs to the pleasure and felicity of Nature but since there was no Being there could be no Misery The Creation therefore was not an act of Mercy but an act of sole Goodness And therefore it was the Speech of an Heathen That when God first set upon the Creation of the World he transform'd himself into Love and Goodness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †Pherecyâ—es This led forth and animated his Power the first moment it drew the Universe out of the Womb of Nothing And 3. There is not one Creature but hath a Character of his Goodness The whole World is a Map to Represent and a Herald to proclaim this Perfection 'T is as difficult not to see something of it in every Creature with the Eye of our Minds as it is not to see the Beams of the Shining Sun with those of our Bodies * Psal 145.9 He is good to all He is therefore good in all Not a drop of the Creation but is a drop of his Goodness These are the Colours worn upon the Heads of every Creature As in every Spark the light of the Fire is manifested so doth every grain of the Creation wear the visible Badges of this Perfection In all the Lights the Father of Lights hath made the riches of Goodness apparent No Creature is silent in it 't is legible to all Nations in every work of his hands That as it is said of Christ †Psal 40.7 In the Volume of thy Book it is written of me In the Volume of the Book of the Scripture 't is written of me and my Goodness in Redemption So it may be said of God In the Volume of the Book of the Creature 't is written of me and my Goodness in Creation Every Creature is a Page in this Book whose Line is gone through all the Earth and their Words to the end of the World * Psal 19.4 Though indeed the less Goodness in some is obscur'd by the more resplendent Goodness he hath imparted unto others What an admirable piece of Goodness is it to communicate Life to a Fly How should we stand gazing upon it till we turn our Eye inwards and view our own Frame which is much more ravishing But let us see the Goodness of God in the Creation of Man 1. In the Being and Nature of Man God hath with a liberal hand conferr'd upon every Creature the best Being it was capable of in that Station and Order and conducing to that end and use in the World he intended it for But when you have run over all the measures of Goodness God hath poured forth upon other Creatures you will find a greater fulness of it in the Nature of Man whom he hath placed in a more Sublime Condition and endued with choicer Prerogatives than other Creatures He was made but little lower than the Angels and much more loftily crown'd with glory and honour than other Creatures †Psal 8 5. Had it not been for Divine Goodness this Excellent Creature had lain wrapt up in the Abyss of nothing Or if he had call'd it out of nothing there might have been less of Skill and less of Goodness display'd in the forming of it and a lesser kind of Being imparted to it than what he hath conferr'd 1. How much of Goodness is visible in his Body God drew out some part of the Dust of the Ground and Copy'd out this Perfection as well as that of his Power on that mean Matter by erecting it into the form of Man quickning that Earth by the Inspiration of a living Soul * Gen. 2.7 Of this Matter he composed an Excellent Body in regard of the Majesty of the Face Erectness of its Stature and Grace of every Part How neatly hath he wrought this Tabernacle of Clay this Earthly House as the Apostle calls it †2 Cor. 5.1 A curious wrought piece of Needle-work a Comely Artifice * Ps 139.15 an Embroyder'd Case for an Harmonious Lute What variety of Members with a due proportion without confusion beautiful to sight excellent for use powerful for strength It hath Eyes to conduct its Motion to serve in Matter for the Food and and delight of the Understanding Ears to let in the pleasure of Sounds to convey Intelligence of the Affairs of the World and the Counsels of Heaven to a more noble Mind It hath a Tongue to Express and sound forth what the learn'd Inhabitant in it thinks and Hands to act what the inward Counsellor directs and Feet to support the Fabrick 'T is temper'd with a kindly Heat and an Oyly Moisture for Motion and endued with conveyances for Air to qualifie the fury of the Heat and Nourishment to supply the decays of Moisture 'T is a Cabinet fitted by Divine Goodness for the enclosing a rich Jewel a Palace made of Dust to lodge in it the Viceroy of the World An Instrument dispos'd for the operations of the Nobler Soul which he intended to unite to that Refined Matter What is there in the situation of every part in the proportion of every Member in the usefulness of every Limb and String to the Offices
Understanding greatness of Power all the Sons of Men they were more capable to praise him more capable to serve him and because of the Acuteness of their Comprehension more able to have a due Estimate of such a Redemption had it been afforded them yet that Goodness which had Created them so Comely would not lay it self out in restoring the Beauty they had defaced The Promise was of bruising the Serpents head for us not of listing up the Serpents head with us Their Nature was not assum'd nor any command given them to believe or repent Not one Devil spar'd not one Apostate Spirit recover'd not one of those eminent Creatures restor'd Every one of them hath only a prospect of Misery without any glimps of Recovery They were ruin'd under one Sin and we repair'd under many All his Redeeming Goodness was laid out upon Man Psal 144.3 What is Man that thou takest knowledge of him and the Son of Man that thou makest account of him Making account of him above Angels As they fell without any tempting them so God would leave them to rise without any assisting them I know the Schools trouble themselves to find out the reasons of this peculiarity of Grace to Man and not to them because the whole Humane Nature fell but only a part of the Angelical The one Sinned by a Seduction and the other by a sullenness without any Tempter Every Angel Sinned by his own proper will whereas Adams Posterity Sinned by the will of the first Man the common Root of all God would deprive the Devil of any glory in the satisfaction of his envious desire to hinder Man from attainment and possession of that Happiness which himself had lost The weakness of Man below the Angelical Nature might excite the Divine Mercy And since all the things of the lower World were Created for Man God would not lose the honour of his Works by losing the immediate End for which he framed them And finally because in the Restoration of Angels there would have been only a Restoration of one Nature that was not comprehensive of the Nature of Inferior things But after all such Conjectures Man must sit down and acknowledge Divine Goodness to be the only Spring without any other Motive Since Infinite Wisdom could have contrived a way for Redemption for Fallen Angels as well as for Fallen Man and restor'd both the one and the other Why might not Christ have assumed their Nature as well as ours into the unity of the Divine Person and suffer'd the Wrath of God in their Nature for them as well as in his Humane Soul for us 'T is as conceivable that two Natures might have been assum'd by the Son of God as well as three Souls be in Man distinct as some think there are 3. To Enhance this Goodness yet higher It was a greater Goodness to us than was for a time manifested to Christ himself To demonstrate his Goodness to Man in preventing his Eternal Ruine he would for a while with-hold his Goodness from his Son by exposing his Life as the price of our Ransom not only subjecting him to the Derisions of Enemies Desertions of Friends and Malice of Devils but to the unexpressible bitterness of his own Wrath in his Soul as made an offering for Sin The Particle so John 3.16 seems to intimate this Supremacy of Goodness He so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son He so loved the World that he seem'd for a time not to love his Son in comparison of it or equal with it The Person to whom a Gift is given is in that regard accounted more valuable than the Gift or Present made to him Thus God valued our Redemption above the worldly Happiness of the Redeemer and sentenceth him to an Humiliation on Earth in order to our Exaltation in Heaven He was desirous to hear him groaning and see him bleeding that we might not groan under his Frowns and bleed under his Wrath He spared not him that he might spare us refused not to strike him that he might be well pleased with us drencht his Sword in the Blood of his Son that it might not for ever be wet with ours but that his Goodness might for ever triumph in our Salvation He was willing to have his Son made Man and die rather than Man should perish who had delighted to ruine himself He seem'd to degrade him for a time from what he was * Lingend de Eucharist p. 84 85. But since he could not be united to any but to an intellectual Creature he could not be united to any viler and more sordid Creature than the Earthly Nature of Man And when this Son in our Nature prayed that the Cup might pass from him Goodness would not suffer it to shew how it valued the manifestation of it self in the Salvation of Man above the preservation of the Life of so dear a Person In particular wherein this Goodness appears 1. The first Resolution to Redeem and the means appointed for Redemption could have no other inducement but Divine Goodness We cannot too highly value the Merit of Christ but we must not so much extend the Merit of Christ as to draw a value to Eclipse the Goodness of God Though we owe our Redemption and the Fruits of it to the Death of Christ yet we owe not the first Resolutions of Redemption and assumption of our Nature the means of Redemption to the Merit of Christ Divine Goodness only without the association of any Merit not only of Man but of the Redeemer himself begat the first purpose of our Recovery He was singled out and predestinated to be our Redeemer before he took our Nature to Merit our Redemption God sent his Son is a frequent Expression in the Gospel of St. John †John 3.34 Joh. 9.24 Joh. 17.3 To what end did God send Christ but to Redeem * Lessius The purpose of Redemption therefore preceded the pitching upon Christ as the means and procuring Cause of it i. e. of our actual Redemption but not of the Redeeming purpose the end is always in intention before the means God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son The love of God to the World was first in Intention and the Order of Nature before the will of giving his Son to the World His Intention of saving was before the Mission of a Saviour So that this Affection rose not from the Merit of Christ but the Merit of Christ was directed by this Affection It was the Effect of it not the Cause Nor was the union of our Nature with his Merited by him All his Meritorious acts were performed in our Nature The Nature therefore wherein he performed it was not Merited that Grace which was not could not Merit what it was He could not Merit that Humanity which must be assumed before he could Merit any thing for us because all Merit for us must be offer'd in the Nature which had offended
was stain'd when they were debas'd to serve the Lusts of a Traytor instead of supporting the Duty of a Subject and employed in the defence of the Vices of Men against the Precepts and Authority of their common Soveraign This was a vilifying the Creature as it would be a vilifying the Sword of a Prince which is for the maintenance of Justice to be used for the Murder of an Innocent and a dishonouring a Royal Mansion to make it a Store-house for a Dunghil Had those things the benefit of sense they would groan under this disgrace and rise up in indignation against them that offered them this affront and turned them from their proper end When sin entred the Heavens that were made to shine upon Man and the Earth that was made to bear and nourish an innocent Creature were now subjected to serve a rebellious Creature And as Man turn'd against God so he made those instruments against God to serve his Enmity Luxury Sensuality Hence the Creatures are said to groan * Rom. 8.21 The whole Creation groans and travels in pain together until now They would really groan had they understanding to be sensible of the Outrage done them The whole Creation 'T is the pang of universal Nature the agony of the whole Creation to be alienated from the original use for which they were intended and be disjointed from their end to serve the disloyalty of a Rebel The Drunkards Cup and the Gluttons Table the Adulterers Bed and the proud Mans Purple would groan against the abuser of them But when all the fruits of Redemption shall be compleated the Goodness of God shall pour it self upon the Creatures deliver them from the Bondage of Corruption into the glorious liberty of the Children of God * Rom. 8.21 they shall be reduced to their true end and retun'd in their original harmony As the Creation doth passionately groan under its vanity so it doth earnestly expect and wait for its deliverance at the time of the manifestation of the Sons of God * V. 19. The manifestation of the Sons of God is the attainment of the liberty of the Creature They shall be freed from the vanity under which they are enslav'd As it entred by sin it shall vanish upon the total removal of sin What use they were design'd for in Paradise they will have afterwards except that of the nourishment of Men who shall be as Angels neither eating nor drinking The Glory of God shall be seen and contemplated in them It can hardly be thought that God made the World to be little a moment after he had reard it sullied by the Sin of Man and turn'd from its original end without thoughts of a restoration of it to its true end as well as Man to his lost happiness The World was made for Man Man hath not yet enjoyed the Creature in the first intention of them Sin made an interruption in that Fruition As Redemption restores Man to his true end so it restores the Creatures to their true use The restoration of the World to its beauty and order was the design of the Divine Goodness in the coming of Christ as it is intimated in Isaiah 11.6 7 8 9. As he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it so he came not to destroy the Creatures but to repair them To restore to God the honour and pleasure of the Creation and restore to the Creatures their felicity in restoring their Order The Fall corrupted it and the full Redemption of Men restores it The last time is called not a time of destruction but a time of restitution and that of all things * Acts 3.21 of universal nature the main part of the Creation at least All those things which were the effects of sin will be abolisht the removal of the Cause beats down the effect The disorder and unruliness of the Creature arising from the venom of Mans transgression all the fierceness of one Creature against another shall vanish The World shall be nothing but an universal smile Nature shall put on triumphant Vestments There shall be no affrighting Thunders choaking Mists venomous Vapours or poysonous Plants It would not else be a restitution of all things They are now subject to be wasted by Judgments for the sin of their Possessor but the perfection of Mans Redemptions shall free them from every misery They have an advancement at the present for they are under a more glorious head as being the possession of Christ the heavenly Adam much superiour to the first As it 's the glory of a person to be a Servant to a Prince rather than a Peasant And afterwards they shall be elevated to a better state sharing in Man's happiness as well as they did in his misery As Servants are interested in the good Fortune of their Master and better'd by his advance in his Princes favour As Man in his first Creation was mutable and liable to sin so the Creatures were liable to vanity But as Man by Grace shall be freed from the Mutability so shall the Creatures be freed from the fears of an Invasion by the vanity that sully'd them before The condition of the Servants shall be suited to that of their Lord for whom they were design'd Hence all Creatures are call'd upon to rejoice upon the Perfection of Salvation and the appearance of Christs Royal Authority in the World * Psal 96.11.12 Psal 98.7 8. If they were to be destroyed there would be no ground to invite them to triumph Thus doth Divine Goodness spread its kind Arms over the whole Creation 3. The third thing is the Goodness of God in his Government That Goodness that despised not their Creation doth not despise their conduct The same Goodness that was the head that fram'd them is the helm that guides them his Goodness hovers over the whole frame either to prevent any wild disorders unsuitable to his Creating end or to conduct them to those ends which might illustrate his Wisdom and Goodness to his Creatures His Goodness doth no less incline him to provide for them than to frame them 'T is the natural inclination of man to love what is purely the birth of his own strength or skill He is fond of preserving his own Inventions as well as laborious in inventing them 'T is the glory of a Man to preserve them as well as to produce them God loves every thing which he hath made which love could not be without a continued diffusiveness to them suitable to the end for which he made them It would be a vain Goodness if it did not interest it self in managing the World as well as erecting it Without his Government every thing in the World would justle against one another The beauty of it would be more defaced it would be an unruly Mass a confus'd Chaos rather then a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a comely World If Divine Goodness respected it when it was nothing it would much more respect it
Devotions in course have not prevail'd for what we want We engage our selves by extraordinary Vows and Promises to God hereby to open that Goodness which seems to be lockt up from us Sometimes indeed Vows may proceed from a sole desire to engage our selves to God from a sense of the levity and inconstancy of our Spirits Binding our selves to God by something more sacred and inviolable than a common Resolution But many times the Vowing the building of a Temple Endowing an Hospital giving so much in Alms if God will free them from a Fit of Sickness and spin out the thread of their Lives a little longer as hath been frequent among the Romanists arises from an opinion of Laziness and a Selfishness in the Divine Goodness that it must be squeezed out by some solemn Promises of Returns to him before it will exercise it self to take their parts Popular Vows are often the effects of an ignorance of the free and bubbling Nature of this Perfection of the Generousness and Royalty of Divine Goodness As if God were of a mean and Mechanick Temper not to part with any thing unless he were in some measure paid for it And of so bad a Nature as not to give passage to any kindness to his Creature without a Bribe It implies also that he is of an ignorant as well as contracted Goodness that he hath so little understanding and so much weakness of Judgment as to be taken with such trifles and Ceremonial Courtships and little Promises And meditated only low designs in imparting his Bounty 'T is just as if a Malefactor should speak to a Prince Sir If you will but bestow a Pardon upon me and prevent the Death I have merited for this Crime I will give you this Rattle All Vows made with such a temper of Spirit to God are as injurious and abusive to his Goodness as any Man will judge such an offer to be to a Majestick and Gracious Prince as if it were a Trading not a free and Royal Goodness 7. The Goodness of God is abus'd when we give up our Souls and Affections to those Benefits we have from God When we make those things Gods Rivals which were sent to Woe us for him and offer those Affections to the Presents themselves which they were sent to sollicite for the Master This is done when either we place our trust in them or glue our choicest Affections to them This Charge God brings against Jerusalem the trusting in her own Beauty Glory and Strength though it was a Comeliness put upon her by God * Ezek. 16.14 15. When a little Sun-shine of Prosperity breaks out upon us we are apt to grasp it with so much eagerness and closeness as if we had no other Foundation to settle our selves upon no other Being that might challenge from us our sole dependence And the love of our selves and of Creatures above God is very natural to us * 2 Tim. 3.2 4. Lovers of themselves and lovers of Pleasure more than of God self-Self-love is the Root and the love of Pleasures the top Branch that mounts its head highest against Heaven * Cressol Antholog Part 2. p. 29. 'T is for the love of the World that the dangers of the Sea are past over that Men descend into the Bowels of the Earth pass Nights without sleep undertake Suits without intermission wade through many inconveniencies venture their Souls and contemn God In those things Men glory and foolishly grow proud by them and think themselves safe and happy in them Now to love our selves above God is to own our selves better than God and that we transcend him in an amiable Goodness Or if we love our selves equal with God it at least manifests that we think God no better than our selves and think our selves our own chief good and deny any thing above us to out-strip us in goodness whereby to deserve to be the Center of our Affections and Actions And to love any other Creature above him is to conclude some defect in God that he hath not so much goodness in his own Nature as that Creature hath to compleat our felicity that God is a slighter thing than that Creature 'T is to account God what all the things in the World are an imaginary happiness a goodness of Clay and them what God is a Supream Goodness 'T is to value the goodness of a Drop above that of the Spring and the goodness of the Spark above that of the Sun As if the Bounty of God were of a less alloy than the advantages we immediately receive from the hands of a silly Worm By how much the better we think a Creature to be and place our Affections chiefly upon it by so much the more deficient and indigent we conclude God For God wants so much in our conception as the other thing hath goodness above him in our thoughts Thus is God lessen'd below the Creature as if he had a mixture of evil in him and were capable of an imperfect goodness He that esteems the Sun that shines upon him the Clothes that warm him the Food that nourisheth him or any other Benefit above the Donor regards them as more Comely and useful than God himself and behaves himself as if he were more oblig'd to them than to God who bestowed those advantageous qualities upon them 8. The Divine Goodness is contemn'd in sinning more freely upon the account of that Goodness and employing Gods Benefits in a drudgery for our Lusts This is a treachery to his Goodness to make his Benefits serve for an end quite contrary to that for which he sent them As if God had been plentiful in his Blessings to hire them to be more fierce in their Rebellions and fed them to no other purpose but that they might more strongly kick against him This is the Fruit which Corrupt Nature produceth Thus the Egyptians who had so fertile a Country prove unthankful to the Creator by adoring the meanest Creatures and putting the Scepter of the Monarch of the World into the hands of the Sottishest and Cruellest Beasts And the Romans multiply their Idols as God multiplied their Victories This is also the complaint of God concerning Israel * Hos 2.8 She did not know that I gave her Corn and Wine and Oyl and multiplied her Silver and Gold which they prepar'd for Baal They ungratefully employ'd the Blessings of God in the Worship of an Idol against the will of the Donor So in Hos 10.1 According to the multitude of his Fruit he hath increas'd the Altars according to the goodness of his Land they have made goodly Images They followed their own inventions with the strength of my outward Blessings As their Wealth increas'd they increas'd the Ornaments of their Images so that what were before of Wood and Stone they advanc'd to Gold and Silver And the like complaint you may see Ezek. 16.17 Thus 1. The Benefits of God are abused to Pride when Men standing
goodness But the Apostle tells us That God cannot deny himself * 2 Tim. 2.13 Self-love upon this account is the only Prerogative of God because there is not any thing better than himself that can lay any just claim to his affections He only ought to love himself and it would be an injustice in him to himself if he did not He only can love himself for this An Infinite Goodness ought to be infinitely loved but he only being Infinite can only love himself according to the due Merit of his own Goodness He cannot be so amiable to any Man to any Angel to the highest Seraphim as he is to himself because he is only capable in regard of his Infinite Wisdom to know the infiniteness of his own Goodness And no Creature can love him as he ought to be loved unless it had the same infinite capacity of Understanding to know him and of Affection to embrace him This first renders God amiable to himself 2. It ought therefore to render him amiable to us What renders him lovely to his own Eye ought to render him so to ours and since by the shortness of our Understandings we cannot love him as he Merits yet we should be induc'd by the measures of his Bounty to love him as we can If this do not present him lovely to us we own him rather a Devil than a God If his Goodness moved him to frame Creatures his Goodness moved him also to frame Creatures for himself and his own glory 'T is a mighty wrong to him not to look with a delightful Eye upon the Marks of it and return an Affection to God in some measure sutable to his liberality to us We are descended as low as Brutes if we understand him not to be the Perfect Good and we are descended as low as Devils if our Affections are not attracted by it 1. If God were not Infinitely Good he could not be the Object of Supream Love If he were Finitely Good there might be other things as good as God and then God in justice could not challenge our choicest Affections to him above any thing else It would be a defect of goodness in him to demand it because he would despoil that which were equally good with him of its due and right to our affections which it might claim from us upon the account of its goodness God would be unjust to challenge more than was due to him for he would claim that chiefly to himself which another had a lawful share in Nothing can be supreamly loved that hath not a Triumphant Excellency above all other things Where there is an equality of goodness neither can justly challenge a Supremacy but only an equality of Affection 2. This Attribute of Goodness renders him more lovely than any other Attribute He never requires our Adoration of him so much as the strongest or wisest but as the best of Beings He uses this chiefly to constrain and allure us Why would he be fear'd or worshipt but because there is forgiveness with him * Psal 130.4 'T is for his goodness sake that he is sued to by his People in distress †Psal 25.7 For thy goodness sake O Lord. Men may be admir'd because of their knowledge but they are affected because of their goodness The will in all the variety of Objects it pursues centers in this one thing of good as the term of its appetite All things are belov'd by Men because they have been better'd by them or because they expect to be the better for them Severity can never conquer enmity and kindle love Were there nothing but wrath in the Deity it would make him be fear'd but render him odious and that to an innocent Nature As the Spouse speaks of Christ * Cant 5.10 11. s◠we may of God Though she commends him for his Head the excellency of his Wisdom his Eyes the extent of his Omniscence his Hands the greateness of his Power and his Legs the swiftness of his Motions and ways to and for his People yet the sweetness of his Mouth in his gracious Words and Promises closes all and is follow'd with nothing but an Exclamation that he is altogether lovely Verse 16. His Mouth in pronouncing Pardon of Sin and justification of the Person presents him most lovely His Power to do good is admirable but his Will to do good is amiable This puts a gloss upon all his other Attributes Though he had knowledge to understand the depth of our necessities and power to prevent them or rescue us from them yet his knowledge would be fruitless and his power useless if he were of a rigid Nature and not touched with any sentiments of kindness 3. This Goodness therefore lays a strong Obligation upon us 'T is true he is lovely in regard of his absolute goodness or the goodness of his Nature but we should hardly be perswaded to return him an affection without his Relative goodness his Benefits to his Creatures We are oblig'd by both to love him 1. By his Absolute Goodness or the Goodness of his Nature Suppose a Creature had drawn its Original from something else wherein God had no influx and had never received the least mite of a benefit from him but from some other hand yet the infinite Excellency and goodness of his Nature would merit the love of that Creature and it would act sordidly and disingenuously if it did not discover a mighty Respect for God For what ingenuity could there be in a Rational Creature that were possessed with no esteem for any Nature fill'd with unbounded goodness and Excellency though he had never been oblig'd to him for any favour That Man is accounted odious and justly despicable by Man that reproaches and disesteems nay that doth not value a Person of a high Vertue in himself and an universal goodness and Charity to others though himself never stood in need of his Charity and never had any benefit conveyed from his hands nor ever saw his face or had any commerce with him A value of such a Person is but a just due to the natural claim of Vertue And indeed the first Object of Love is God in the Excellency of his own Nature as the first Object of Love in Marriage is the Person the Portion is a thing consequent upon it To love God only for his Benefits is to love our selves first and him secondarily To love God for his own Goodness and Excellency is a true love of God a love of him for himself That flaming Fire in his own Breast though we have not a Spark of it hath a right to kindle one in ours to him 2. By his Relative Goodness or that of his Benefits Though the Excellency of his own Nature wherein there is a combination of Goodness must needs ravish an apprehensive Mind yet a reflection upon his imparted Kindness both in the Beings we have from him and the support we have by him must enhance this
such a return that he hath usually aggravated from the Benefits he hath bestow'd upon Men. Every thought of him should be attended with a Motion sutable to the Excellency of his Nature and Works Can we think those nobler Spirits the Angels look upon themselves or those Frames of things in the Heavens and Earth without starting some practical Affection to him for them Their knowledge of his Excellency and Works cannot be a lazy Contemplation 'T is impossible their Wills and Affections should be a thousand Miles distant from their Understandings in their Operations 'T is not the least part of his condescending Goodness to Court in such Methods the Affections of us Worms and manifest his desire to be beloved by us Let us give him then that Affection he deserves as well as demands and which cannot be with-held from him without horrible Sacriledge There is nothing worthy of love besides him Let no Fire be kindled in our hearts but what may ascend directly to him 7. The seventh Instruction is this This renders God a fit Object of trust and confidence Since none is good but God none can be a full and satisfactory Ground or Object of confidence but God As all things derive their beings so they derive their helpfulness to us from God they are not therefore the principal Objects of trust but that Goodness alone that renders them fit Instruments of our support They can no more challenge from us a stable Confidence than they can a Supream Affection 'T is by this the Psalmist allures Men to a trust in him * Psal 34.8 Taste and see how good the Lord is What is the consequence Blessed is the Man that trusts in thee The Voice of Divine Goodness sounds nothing more intelligibly and a taste of it produceth nothing more effectually than this As the Vials of his Justice are to make us fear him so the Streams of his Goodness are to make us rely on him As his Patience is design'd to broach our Repentance so his Goodness is most proper to strengthen our assurance in him That Goodness which surmounted so many difficulties and conquer'd so many motions that might be made against any repeated Exercise of it after it had been abus'd by the first Rebellion of Man That Goodness that after so much contempt of it appeared in such a Majestick tenderness and threw aside those impediments which Men had cast in the way of Divine Inclinations This Goodness is the foundation of all reliance upon God Who is better than God And therefore Who more to be trusted than God As his Power cannot act any thing weakly so his Goodness cannot act any thing unbecomingly and unworthy of his Infinite Majesty And here consider 1. Goodness is the first motive of trust Nothing but this could be the encouragement to Man had he stood in a State of Innocence to present himself before God The Majesty of God would have constrain'd him to keep his due distance but the Goodness of God could only hearten his Confidence 'T is nothing else now that can preserve the same temper in us in our lapsed Condition To regard him only as the Judge of our Crimes will drive us from him but only the regard of him as the Donor of our Blessings will allure us to him The principal Foundation of Faith is not the Word of God but God himself and God as consider'd in this Perfection As the Goodness of God in his Invitations and Providential Blessings leads us to Repentance * Rom. 2.4 so by the same reason the Goodness of God by his Promises leads us to Reliance If God be not first believed to be good he would not be believed at all in any thing that he speaks or swears If you were not satisfied in the goodness of a Man though he should swear a thousand times you would value neither his Word nor Oath as any security Many times where we are certain of the goodness of a Man we are willing to trust him without his promise This Divine Perfection gives Credit to the Divine Promises they of themselves would not be a sufficient ground of trust without an apprehension of his truth nor would his truth be very comfortable without a belief of his good will whereby we are assured that what he promises to give he gives liberally free and without regret The truth of the Promiser makes the Promise Credible but the goodness of the Promiser makes it chearfully relied on In Psal 73. Asaphs Penitential Psalm for his distrust of God he begins the first Verse with an assertion of this Attribute v. 1. Truly God is good to Israel and ends with this fruit of it Verse 28. I will put my trust in the Lord God 'T is a mighty ill Nature that receives not with assurance the Dictates of Infinite Goodness that cannot deceive or frustrate the hopes we conceive of him that is unconceivably more abundant in the breast and inclinations of the Promiser than expressible in the words of his Promise All true faith works by love * Gal. 5.6 and therefore necessarily includes a particular eying of this Excellency in the Divine Nature which renders him amiable and is the Motive and Encouragement of a love to him His Power indeed is a foundation of trust but his Goodness is the principal Motive of it His Power without good Will would be dangerous and could not allure Affection and his good Will without Power would be useless and though it might merit a love yet could not create a Confidence both in conjunction are strong grounds of hope Especially since his Goodness is of the same infinity with his Wisdom and Power and that he can be no more wanting in the effusions of this upon them that seek him than in his Wisdom to contrive or his Power to effect his Designs and Works 2. This goodness is more the foundation and motive of trust under the Gospel than under the Law They under the Law had more evidences of Divine Power and their trust eyed that much though there was an eminency of goodness in the frequent deliverances they had yet the Power of God had a more glorious dress than his Goodness because of the extraordinary and miraculous ways whereby he brought those deliverances about Therefore in the Catalogue of Believers in Heb. 11. you shall find the Power of God to be the Center of their Rest and Trust and their Faith was built upon the extraordinary Marks of Divine Power which were frequently visible to them But under the Gospel goodness and love was intended by God to be the chief Object of trust suitable to the Excellency of that Dispensation he would have an Exercise of more ingenuity in the Creatures Therefore 't is said Hosea 3.5 A promise of Gospel-times They shall fear God and his goodness in the later days when they shall return to seek the Lord and David their King 'T is not said they shall fear God and his Power but
Holy Name And because himself and all men were insufficient to offer up a praise to God answerable to the greatness of his benefits he summons in the end of the Psalm the Angels and all Creatures to joyn in consort with him Observe 1. As man is too shallow a Creature to comprehend the excellency of God so he is too dull and scanty a Creature to offer up a due praise to God both in regard of the excellency of his nature and the multitude and greatness of his benefits 2. We are apt to forget divine benefits our Souls must therefore be often jogg'd and rous'd up All that is within me every power of my Rational and every Affection of my Sensitive part All his Faculties all his Thoughts Our Souls will hang back from God in every duty much more in this if we lay not a strict charge upon them We are so void of a pure and intire love to God that we have no mind to those duties Wants will spurr us on to Prayer but a pure love to God can only spirit us to Praise We are more ready to reach out a hand to receive his Mercies than to lift up our heart to recognize them after the receipt After the Psalmist had summoned his own Soul to this task he enumerates the Divine blessings received by him to awaken his soul by a sence of them to so noble a work He begins at the first and foundation Mercy to himself the pardon of his sin and justification of his Person the renewing of his sickly and languishing nature Verse 3. Who forgives all thy iniquities and heals all thy diseases His Redemption from death or Eternal destruction his expected glorification thereupon which he speaks of with that certainty as if it were present V. 4 Who redeems thy life from destruction who Crowns thee with loving kindness and tender Mercies He makes his progress to the mercy manifested to the Church in the protection of it against or delivery of it from oppressions Verse 6. The Lord executeth Righteousness and Judgment for all that are oppressed In the discovery of his Will and Law and the glory of his merciful Name to it Verse 7 8. He made known his ways unto Moses and his acts unto the Children of Israel The Lord is Merciful and Gracious slow to Anger and plenteous in Mercy Which latter words may refer also to the free and unmerited spring of the benefits he had reckoned up Viz. The Mercy of God which he mentions also verse 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities And then extols the perfection of Divine mercy in the pardoning of sin Ver. 11 12. The Paternal tenderness of God Verse 13. The eternity of his Mercy Verse 17. But restrains it to the proper object Verse 11.17 To them that fear him i. e. To them that beleive in him Fear being the word commonly used for Faith in the Old Testament under the legal dispensation wherein the spirit of bondage was more eminent than the spirit of Adoption and their fear more than their confidence Observe 1. All true blessings grow up from the pardon of sin ver 3. Who forgives all thine iniquities That is the first blessing the top and Crown of all other favours which draws all other blessings after it and sweetens all other blessings with it The principal intent of Christ was Expiation of sin Redemption from iniquity the purchase of other blessings was consequent upon it Pardon of sin is every blessing vertually and in the root and spring it flows from the favor of God and is such a gift as cannot be tainted with a Curse as outward things may 2. Where sin is pardoned the soul is renewed verse 3. Who heals all thy diseases Where guilt is remitted the deformity and sickness of the soul is cur'd Forgiveness is a teeming mercy it never goes single when we have an interest in Christ as bearing the chastisement of our peace we receive also a balsom from his blood to heal the wounds we feel in our nature Isaiah 53.5 The chastisement of our Peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed As there is a guilt in sin which binds us over to punishment so there is a contagion in sin which fills us with pestilent diseases when the one is removed the other is cur'd We should not know how to love the one without the other The renewing the soul is necessary for a delightful relish of the other blessings of God A condemn'd Malefactor infected with a Leprosie or any other loathsome distemper if pardon'd could take little comfort in his freedom from the Gibbet without a Cure of his Plague 3. God is the sole and soveraign author of all spiritual blessings Who forgives all thy iniquities and heals all thy diseases He refers all to God nothing to himself in his own merit and strength All not the pardon of one sin merited by me not the cure of one disease can I owe to my own power and the strength of my free will and the operations of nature He and he alone is the Prince of pardon the Physitian that restores me the Redeemer that delivers me 't is a Sacriledge to divide the praise between God and our selves God only can knock off our fetters expell our distempers and restore a deformed Soul to its decayed beauty 4. Gracious Souls will bless God as much for Sanctification as for Justification The initials of Sanctification and there are no more in this Life are worthy of solemn acknowledgement 'T is a sign of growth in Grace when our Hymns are made up of acknowledgments of Gods sanctifying as well as pardoning Grace In blessing God for the one we rather shew a love to our selves in blessing God for the other we cast out a pure beam of love to God because by purifying Grace we are fitted to the service of our maker prepared to every good work which is delightful to him by the other we are eas'd in our selves Pardon fills us with inward peace but Sanctification fills us with an activity for God Nothing is so capable of setting the soul in a heavenly tune as the consideration of God as a pardoner and as a healer 5. Where sin is pardon'd the punishment is remitted Verse 3 4. Who forgives all thy iniquities and Redeems thy Life from destruction A Malefactors pardon puts an end to his chains frees him from the stench of the Dungeon and fear of the Gibbet Pardon is nothing else but the remitting of guilt and guilt is nothing else but an obligation to punishment as a penal debt for sin A Creditors tearing a Bond frees the Debtor from payment and rigor 6. Growth in Grace is always annext to true Sanctification Verse 3. So that thy youth is renew'd like the Eagles Interpreters trouble themselves much about the manner of the Eagles renewing its youth and regaining its vigor * Amyrald in loc He speaks
He sends but a few drops out of the Cloud which he might make to break in the gross and fall down upon our heads to overwhelm us he abates much of what he might do When he might sweep away a whole Nation by deluges of water corruption of the Air or convulsions of the Earth or by other wayes that are not wanting at his order He picks out only some Persons some Families some Cities sends a plague into one house and not into another here is Patience to the stock of a Nation while he inflicts punishment upon some of the most notorious sinners in it Herod is suddenly snatcht away being willingly flattered into the thoughts of his being a God God singl'd out the chief in the herd for whose sake he had been affronted by the rabble Act. 12.22 23. Some find him sparing them while others feel him destroying them He arrests some when he might seize all all being his Debtors And often in great desolations brought upon a people for their sin he hath left a stump in the Earth as Daniel speakes Dan. 4.15 for a Nation to grow upon it again and arise to a stronger constitution He doth punish less than our iniquities deserve Ezra 9.13 and rewards us not according to our iniquities Psal 103.10 The greatness of any punishment in this Life answers not the greatness of the crime Though there be an equity in whatsoever he doth yet there is not an equality to what we deserve Our iniquities would justifie a severer treating of us His Justice goes not here to the end of its line 't is stopped in its progress and the blows of it weakned by his Patience He did not curse the Earth after Adam's fall that it should bring forth no fruit but that it should not bring forth fruit without the wearysome toyl of man and subjected him to distempers presently but inflicted not death immediately while he punished him he supported him And while he expelled him from Paradise he did not order him not to cast his eye towards it and conceive some hopes of regaining that happy place 5. His Patience is seen in giving great mercies after provocations He is so slow to anger that he heaps many kindnesses upon a rebel instead of punishment There is a prosperous wickedness wherein the provokers strength continues firm The troubles which like Clouds drop upon others are blown away from them and they are not plagued like other men that have a more worthy demeanour towards God Psal 73.3 4 5. He doth not only continue their lives but sends out fresh beams of his goodness upon them and calls them by his Blessings that they may acknowledge their own fault and his bounty which he is not obliged to by any gratitude he meets with from them but by the richness of his own patient nature for he finds the unthank fulness of men as great as his benefits to them He doth not only continue his outward mercies while we continue our sins but sometimes gives fresh benefits after new provocations that if possible he might excite an ingenuity in men When Israel at the Red Sea flung dirt in the face of God by quarrelling with his servant Moses for bringing them out of Egypt and mis-judging God in his design of deliverance and were ready to submit themselves to their former oppressors Exod. 14.11 12. which might justly have urged God to say to them take your own course yet he is not only patient under their unjust charge but makes bare his Arm in a deliverance at the Red Sea that was to be an amazing monument to the World in all Ages and afterwards when they repiningly quarrelled with him in their wants in the Wilderness he did not only not revenge himself upon them or cast off the conduct of them but bore with them by a miraculous long suffering and supplyed them with miraculous provision Manna from Heaven and Water from a Rock Food is given to support us and Cloaths to cover us and Divine Patience makes the creatures which we turn to another use than what they were at first intended for serve us contrary to their own Genius For had they reason no question but they would complain to be subjected to the service of man who hath been so ungrateful to their Creator and groan at the abuse of God's Patience in the abuse they themselves suffer from the hands of man 6. All this is more manifest if we consider the provocations he hath Wherein his slowness to Anger infinitely transcends the Patience of any creature nay the Spirits of all the Angels and Glorified Saints in Heaven would be too narrow to bear the sins of the World for one day nay not so much as the sins of Churches which is a little spot in the whole World 't is because he is the Lord one of an infinite power over himself that not only the whole Mass of the Rebellious World but of the Sons of Jacob either considered as a Church and Nation springing from the loyns of Jacob or considered as the Regenerate part of the World sometimes called the Seed of Jacob are not consumed Mal. 3.6 A Jonah was angry with God for recalling his Anger from a sinful people Had God committed the Government of the World to the Glorified Saints who are perfect in Love and Holiness the World would have had an end long ago They would have acted that which they sue for at the hands of God and is not granted them Rev. 6.10 How long Lord holy and true dost thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth God hath designs of Patience above the World above the unsinning Angels and perfectly renewed Spirits in Glory The greatest Created long suffering is infinitely disproportion'd to the Divine Fire from Heaven would have been showred down before the greatest part of a day were spent if a Created Patience had the conduct of the World though that creature were possessed with the spirit of Patience extracted from all the creatures which are in Heaven or are or ever were upon the earth Methinks Moses intimates this for as soon as God had passed by proclaiming his Name gracious and long suffering As soon as ever Moses had paid his Adoration he falls a Praying that God would go with the Israelites Exod. 34.8 9. For it is a stiffneck'd people What an Argument is here for God to go along with them He might rather since he had heard him but just before say he would by no means clear the guilty desire God to stand further off from them for fear the fire of his wrath should burst out from him to burn them as he did the Sodomites But he considers that as none but God had such anger to destroy them so none but God had such a Patience to bear with them 'T is as much as if he should have said Lord if thou should'st send the most tender hearted Angel in Heaven to have the guidance of this people
a mind to forbear me but since he hath forborn me and given me a heart to see and answer the true end of that forbearance I need not question but that sparing Mercy will end in saving since it finds that Repentance springing up in me which that Patience conducted me to 2. His Patience is a ground to trust in his promise If his slowness to anger be so great when his Precept is slighted his readiness to give what he hath promised will be as great when his promise is believed If the provocations of them meet with such an unwillingness to punish them Faith in him will meet with the choicest embraces from him He was more ready to make the promise of Redemption after man's Apostacy than to execute the threatning of the Law He doth still witness a greater willingness to give forth the fruits of the promise than to pour out the vials of his curses His slowness to anger is an evidence still that he hath the same disposition which is no slight Cordial to Faith in his Word 3. 'T is a comfort in infirmities If he were not patient he could not bear with so many peevishnesses and weaknesses in the hearts of his own If he be patient to the grosser sins of his enemies he will be no less to the lighter infirmities of his people When the Soul is as a bruised Reed that can emit no sound at all or one very harsh and ungrateful he doth not break it in pieces and fling it away in disdain but waits to see whether it will fully answer his pains and be brought to a better frame and sweeter note He brings them not to account for every slip but as a Father spares his son that serves him Mal. 3.17 'T is a comfort to us in our distracted services for were it not for this slowness to anger he would stifle us in the midst of our Prayers wherein there are as many foolish thoughts to disgust him as there are petitions to implore him The Patientest Angels would hardly be able to bear with the follies of good men in Acts of worship 3. The Third Vse is for Exhortation I. Meditate often on the patience of God The Devil labours for nothing more than to deface in us the consideration and memory of this perfection He is an envious creature and since it hath reached out it self to us and not to him he envies God the Glory of it and man the advantage of it But God loves to have the Volumes of it studied and daily turn'd over by us We cannot without an inexcusable wilfulness miss the thoughts of it since it is visible in every bit of bread and breath of Air in our selves and all about us 1. The frequent consideration of his patience would render God highly amiable to us 'T is a more endearing argument than his meer goodness His goodness to us as creatures endowing us with such excellent faculties furnishing us with such a commodious World and bestowing upon us so many attendants for our pleasure and service and giving us a Lordship over his other works deserves our affection But his patience to us as sinners after we have merited the greatest wrath shews him to be of a sweeter disposition than creating Goodness to unoffending Creatures and consequently speaks a greater love in him and bespeaks a greater affection from us His Creating goodness discovered the Majesty of his Being and the greatness of his mind but this the sweetness and tenderness of his Nature In this patience he exceeds the mildness of all Creatures to us and therefore should be enthroned in our affections above all other Creatures The consideration of this would make us affect him for his nature as well as for his benefits 2. The consideration of his patience would make us frequent and serious in the exercise of Repentance In its nature it leads to it and the consideration of it would engage us to it and melt us in the exercise of it Could we deeply think of it without being touched with a sence of the kindness of our forbearing Creditor and Governour Could we gaze upon it nay could we glance upon it without relenting at our offending one of so mild a nature without being sensibly affected that he hath preserved us so long from being loaded with those chains of darkness under which the Devils groan This forbearance hath good reason to make sin and sinners asham'd That you are in being is not for want of advantages enough in his hand against you many a forfeiture you have made and many an engagement you have broke he hath scarce met with any other dealing from us than what had treachery in it Whatsoever our sincerity is we have no reason to boast of it when we consider what mixtures there are in it and what swarms of base motions taint it Hath he not lain pressed and groaning under our sins as a Cart is pressed with sheaves Amos 2.13 when one shake of himself as Sampson might have rid him of the burthen and dismist us in his fury into Hell If we should often ask our Consciences why have we done thus and thus against so mild a God Would not the reflection on it put us to the blush If men would consider that such a time they provoked God to his face and yet have not felt his Sword such a time they blasphemed him and made a reproach of his name and his thunder did not stop their motion such a time they fell into an abominable brutishness yet he kept the punishment of Devils the unclean Spirits from reaching them such a time he bore an open affront from them when they scoft at his Word and he did not send a destruction and laugh at it Would not such a meditation work some strange kind of relentings in men What if we should consider that we cannot do a sinful act without the support of his concurring Providence We cannot see hear move without his concourse All Creatures we use for our necessity or pleasure are supported by him in the very act of assisting to pleasure us and when we abuse those Creatures against him which he supports for our use how great is his patience to bear with us that he doth not annihilate those Creatures or at least imbitter their use What issue could reasonably be expected from this consideration but Oh wretched man that I am to serve my self of Gods power to affront him and of his Long-suffering to abuse him Oh infinite patience to employ that power to preserve me that might have been used to punish me He is my Creator I could not have a being without him and yet I offend him He is my preserver I cannot maintain my being without him and yet I affront him Is this a worthy requital of God Deut. 32.6 Do you thus requite the Lord would be the heart breaking reflection How would it give men a fuller prospect of the depravation of their nature than any thing else
Eternity a property of God and Christ Pag. 181 191 192 What it is Pag. 182 In what respects God is eternal Pag. 183 ad 186 That he is so proved 186 ad 190 God's incommunicable property Pag. 16 17 190 191 Dreadful to sinners Pag. 193 194 Comfortable to the Righteous Pag. 194 ad 197 The thoughts of it should abate our Pride Pag. 197 198 199 Take off our love and confidence from the World Pag. 199 200 We should provide for an happy Interest in it Pag. 200 201 Often meditate on it Pag. 201 Renders him worthy of our choicest Affections Pag. 201 202 And our best Service Pag. 202 Exaltation of Christ the Holiness of God appears in it Pag. 514 515 His Goodness to us as well as to Christ Pag. 624 And his Soveraignty Pag. 751 Examination of our selves before and after worship and wherein our duty Pag. 162 163 164 178 Experience of God's Goodness a Preservative against Atheism Pag. 45 46 Extremity then God usually delivers his Church Pag. 487 488 F. FAith the same thing may be the object of it and of Reason too Pag. 4 Must be exercised in Spiritual worship Pag. 146 147 The Wisdom Holiness Goodness of God in prescribing it as a Condition of the Covenant of Grace v. Covenant Must look back as far as the foundation promise Pag. 341 †Only the obedience flowing from it acceptable to God Pag. 336 Distinct but inseparable from Obedience Pag. 336 337 Foresight of it not the ground of Election Pag. 729 730 Fall of man God no way the Author of it Pag. 505 506 519 How great it is Pag. 546 547 Doth not impeach God's Goodness Pag. 594 595 'T is evident Pag. 670 671 Brought a Curse on the Creatures v. Creatures Falls of God's Children turned to their good Pag. 361 ad 369 Fear not the cause of the Belief of a God Pag. 14 Men that are under a slavish fear of him wish there were no God Pag. 53 54 Of Man a contempt of God's Power Pag. 481 482 Should be of God and not of the pride or force of man Pag. 491 492 God's Soveraignty should cause it Pag. 779 Features different in every man and how necessary it should be so Pag. 31 32 348 Fervency v. Activity Flesh the Legal Services so called Pag. 135 Fools wicked men are so Pag. 1 400 Folly sin is so v. Sin Forgetfulness of God men naturally are prone to it Pag. 97 Of his Mercies a great sin v. Mercies How attributed to God Pag. 283 Foreknowledge in God of sin no blemish to his Holiness Pag. 520 521 Vide Knowledge of God Future things men desirous to know them Pag. 323 Known by God v. Knowledge of God G. GAbriel on what Messages he was sent Pag. 468 Generation could not be from Eternity Pag. 16 17. Gifts God can bestow them on men Pag. 719 His Soveraignty seen in giving greater measures to one than another Pag. 738 Glory of all they do or have men are apt to ascribe to themselves Pag. 82 83 Of God little minded in many seemingly good actions Pag. 72 73 Men are more concern'd for their own reputation than God's glory Pag. 83 Should be aim'd at in Spiritual worship Pag. 153 God's permission of sin is in order to it Pag. 528 529 Sould be advanced by us Pag. 778 God his Existence known by the light of Nature Pag. 4 5 By the Creatures Pag. 5 14 ad 29 Miracles not wrought to prove it Pag. 5 Owned by the universal consent of all Nations Pag. 6 Never disputed of old Pag. 7 Denied by very few if any Pag. 8 Constantly owned in all changes of the world Pag. 9 Under anxieties of Conscience ib. The Devil not able to root out the belief of it Pag. 9 10 Natural and innate Pag. 10 Not introduced meerly by Tradition Pag. 11 Nor Policy Pag. 12 13 Nor Fear Pag. 14 Witnessed to by the very Nature of Man Pag. 29 ad 37 And by extraordinary Occurrencies Pag. 37 38 Impossible to demonstrate there is none Pag. 41. 42 Motives to endeavour to be setled in the belief of it Pag. 44 45 Directions Pag. 45 Men wish there were none and who they are Pag. 52 53 54 Two ways of describing him Negation and Affirmation Pag. 113 Is active and communicative Pag. 126 127 Propriety in him a great Blessedness Vide Covenant Infinitely happy Pag. 476 477 Good That which is materially so may be done and not formally Pag. 69 72 73 Good Actions cannot be perform'd before Conversion Pag. 100 The thoughts of Gods Presence a Spur to them Pag. 270 God only is so Pag. 578 579 Goodness pure and perfect the Royal Prerogative of God only Pag. 581 Own'd by all Nations Pag. 582 Inseparable from the Notion of God Pag. 582 583 What is meant by it Pag. 583 How distinguish'd from Mercy Pag. 584 Comprehends all his Attributes Pag. 585 Is so by his Essence Pag. 586 The Chief Pag. 587 'T is communicative Pag. 588 Necessary to him Pag. 589 Voluntary Pag. 590 Communicative with the greatest pleasure Pag. 591 The displaying of it the Motive and End of all his Works Pag. 592 Arguments to prove it a Property of God Pag. 593 594 Vindicated from the Objections made against it Pag. 594 ad 604 Appears in Creation Pag. 604 ad 615 In Redemption Pag. 615 ad 645 In his Government Pag. 645 ad 660 Frequently contemn'd and abus'd Pag. 660 661 The Abuse and Contempt of it base and disingenuous Pag. 661 662 Highly resented by God Pag. 662 How 't is contemn'd and abus'd Pag. 660 ad 670 Men justly punish'd for it Pag. 671 Fits him for the Government of the World and engages him actually to govern it Pag. 671 6 2 The ground of all Religion Pag. 673 674 Renders God amiable to himself Pag. 674 675 Should do so to us and why Pag. 675 ad 678 Renders him a fit object of Trust with Motives to it drawn hence Pag. 678 679 680 And worthy to be obey'd and honour'd Pag. 680 681 682 Comfortable to the Righteous and wherein Pag. 682 ad 685 Should engage us to endeavour after the enjoyment of him with Motives Pag. 685 686 Should be often meditated on and the Advantages of so doing Pag. 681 682 683 We should be thankful for it Pag. 690 And imitate it and wherein Pag. 691 692 Gospel Men greater Enemies to than to the Law Pag. 101 Its Excellency Pag. 103 334 Called Spirit Pag. 135 The only Means of establishment Pag. 333 Of an Eternal Resolution tho of a Temporary Revelation Pag. 334 Mysterious ibi◠The first Preachers of it Vide Apostles It s Antiquity Pag. 335 The Goodness of God in spreading it among the Gentiles ibid. Gives no encouragement to Licentiousness Pag. 336 The Wisdom of God in its Propagation Pag. 390 ad 395 And Power Pag. 461 ad 467 Vide Christian Religion Government of the World God could not manage it without Immutability Pag. 220 And Knowledge Pag. 314
with hatred The beneficence and patience of God and his readiness to pardon men is the reason of the honour they return to him And this is so evident a motive that generally the Idolatrous world rankt those Creatures in the number of their Gods which they perceived useful and neficial to man-kind as the Sun and Mooâ— the Aegyptians the Ox c. And the more beneficial any thing appeared to mankind the higher station men gave it in the rank of their deities and bestowed a more peculiar and solemn worship upon it Men worshipped God to procure or continue his favour which would not have been acted by them had they not conceived it a pleasing thing to him to be merciful and gracious Sometimes his Justice is proposed to us as a motive of worship Heb. 12.28 29. Serve God with Reverence and Godly fear for our God is a consuming fire which includes his holiness whereby he doth hate sin as well as his wrath whereby he doth punish it Who but a mad and totally brutish person or one that was resolved to make war against heaven could behold the effects of Gods anger in the world consider him in his Justice as a consuming fire and despise him and rather be drawn out by that consideration to blasphemy and despair than to seek all ways to appease him Now tho the infinite power of God his unspeakable wisdom his incomprehensible goodness the holiness of his nature the vigilance of his Providence the bounty of his hand signifie to man that he should love and honour him and are the motives of worship yet the Spirituality of his nature is the rule of worship and directs us to render our duty to him with all the powers of our Soul As his goodness beams out upon us worship is due in Justice to him and as he is the most excellent nature veneration is due to him in the highest manner with the choicest affections So that indeed the Spirituality of God comes chiefly into consideration in matter of worship All his perfections are grounded upon this He could not be infinite immutable omniscient if he were a Corporeal being * Amirald dissert 6. disp 1. pa. 11. We cannot give him a worship unless we Judge him worthy excellent and deserving a worship at our hands And we cannot Judge him worthy of a worship unless we have some apprehensions and admirations of his infinite vertues And we cannot apprehend and admire those perfections but as we see them as causes shining in their effects When we see therefore the frame of the world to be the work of his power the order of the world to be the fruit of his wisdom and the usefulness of the world to be the product of his goodness We find the motives and reasons of worship and weighing that this power wisdom goodness infinitely transcend any corporeal nature we find a rule of worship that it ought to be offered by us in a manner sutable to such a nature as is infinitely above any bodily Being His being a Spirit declares what he is his other perfections declare what kind of Spirit he is All Gods perfections suppose him a Spirit all center in this His wisdom doth not suppose him merciful or his mercy suppose him omniscient There may be distinct notions of those but all suppose him to be of a spiritual nature How cold and frozen will our devotions be if we consider not his omniscience whereby he discerns our hearts How carnal will our services be if we consider him not as a pure Spirit * Amyraut de Relig. In our offers to and transactions with men we deal not with them as meer Animals but as rational Creatures and we debase their natures if we treat them otherwise And if we have not raised apprehensions of Gods spiritual nature in our treating with him but allow him only such frames as we think fit enough for men we debase his spirituality to the littleness of our own Being We must therefore possess our Souls with this we shall else render him no better than a fleshly service We do not much concern our selves in those things of which we are either utterly ignorant or have but slight apprehensions of That is the first Proposition The right exercise of worship is grounded upon the spirituality of God Propos 2. This spiritual worship of God is manifest by the light of Nature to be due to him In reference to this consider 1. The outward means or matter of that worship which would be acceptable to God was not known by the light of Nature The Law for a Worship and for a spiritual worship by the faculties of our Souls was natural and part of the Law of Creation though the determination of the particular acts whereby God would have this homage testified was of positive institution and depended not upon the Law of Creation Though Adam in Innocence knew God was to be worshipped yet by Nature he did not know by what outward acts he was to pay this respect or at what time he was more solemnly to be exercised in it than at another This depended upon the directions God as the soveraign Governour and Law-giver should prescribe You therefore find the positive institutions of the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil and the determination of the time of worship Gen. 2.3.17 Had there been any such notion in Adam naturally as strong as that other that a worship was due to God there would have been found some reliques of these modes universally consented to by Mankind as well as of the other But though all Nations have by an universal consent concurred in the acknowledgment of the Being of God and his right to adoration and the obligation of the Creature to it and that there ought to be some publick rule and polity in matters of Religion for no Nation hath been in the world without a worship and without external acts and certain ceremonies to signifie that worship yet their modes and rites have been as various as their climates unless in that common notion of sacrifices not descending to them by nature but tradition from Adam and the various ways of worship have been more provoking than pleasing Every Nation suted the kind of worship to their particular ends and polities they designed to rule by How God was to be worshipped is more difficult to be discerned by Nature with its eyes out than with its eyes clear * King on Jonah P. 63. The pillars upon which the worship of God stands cannot be discerned without revelation no more than blind Sampson could tell where the pillars of the Philistians Theatre stood without one to conduct him What Adam could not see with his sound eyes we cannot with our dim eyes He must be told from Heaven what worship was fit for the God of Heaven 'T is not by Nature that we can have such a full prospect of God as may content and quiet us This is the noble