my God is Power and Strength and with thee ought to be Dominion and Fear My flesh trembles for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy Iudgments Thou art Terrible O my God as well as Lovely but thou art also Lovely in thy very Terrour Turn away thine eyes from me for they have overcome me they have overcome me with their Dread as well as with their Beauty For as thou art Beautiful O my Love as Tirzah Comely as Jerusalem so art thou also Terrible as an Army with Banners O my Omnipotent Love with what safety as well as delight do I sit under thy Shadow Thou hast brought me into thy Banquetting-House and thy Banner over me is Power as well as Love. Thy Love is stronger than Death what need I sear thy left Hand is under my Head and thy right Hand does imbrace me And why then should any dread approach me The Lord is my light and my salvation whom then shall I fear He is the strength of my life of whom then should I be afraid O my God why is not my Faith like thy Power Thou canst do all things And why is my Faith limited Let me imitate thee O my God in this thy Infinity and grant me such a Victorious such an Omnipotent Faith that as to thee nothing is too hard to do so to me nothing may be too hard to believe Amen Contemplation VII Of the Divine Iustice and Veracity I. FRom the Omnipotence of God I proceed to the Consideration of his Iustice this being as necessary a qualification in the Governour of the whole World as the other Now by Justice in this place I understand particular not Universal Justice And of particular Justice not that which is Commutative for this has no place in God for as the Apostle says Who has first given to him and it shall be recompensed to him again but that which is Distributive and consists in a constant will of dispensing to every Person according to his deserts II. This Iustice of God is the same in the moral World as Order and Proportion is in the Natural 'T is giving to every thing its due place and station and disposing it according to its Nature and Condition For as the Beauty of the Natural World arises from Proportion so does the Beauty of the Moral World arise also from due Order and Proportion and as God has strictly observ'd this Rule in the making of the World having made all things in Number Weight and Measure so we may be sure he proceeds by the same Standard in the Government and conduct of it though the exactness of this latter is not so obvious to our observation as that of the former nor are we so well able to judge of the Moral as of the Natural Geometry of God. III. Now that God is thus Just always acting according to true Order and Proportion may sufficiently be made out from this single Consideration All Order and Proportion as every one I suppose will readily grant is in it self consider'd lovely and desirable If so then it cannot be nill'd or refused for it self or as such If so then whenever it is refused it must be refused for the sake of some other greater good If so then this other greater good must be either the private interest of the Refuser or some other Private Interest or the Publick Interest But neihter of these can here find any admission It cannot be for the Private Interest of the Refuser who is here supposed to be a Being absolutely Perfect and consequently not capable of proposing to himself any self-end And cannot be for the Publick Interest for the greatest Interest of the Publick consists in Order and Proportion Neither can this Order be violated for the Interest of any other Private Person because that is not a greater but on the contrary an infinitely less good Order and Proportion being the good of the Publick which is always greater than any Private whatsoever Since therefore Order and Proportion cannot be violated by God for any of these ends nor for its own sake it being as such lovely and desirable as was supposed it follows that Order and Proportion cannot possibly be violated by God at all and consequently 't is necessary that God should always effectually Will Order and Proportion which is the same as to be Iust. IV. By this Justice or Will of following Order and Proportion God stands ingaged not to punish an Innocent Creature or to afflict him with any evil greater than that good which he has conferr'd upon him Within that compass indeed he may for that is only to deduct from that Happiness every degree of which was a free favour But he cannot impose the least grain or scruple of evil upon him beyond the good conferr'd without some demerit of the Creature Much less will this Justice of God permit that he should predetermin an Innocent Creature without respect to any Crime meerly for his own will and pleasure to everlasting misery He that can make this consistent with God's Justice or any Justice in the World had need be a very good Reconciler V. But now whether God's Justice obliges him to punish the Sinner as well as not to punish the Innocent is a thing that will admit of more question This has been argued with great Contention between some Schools and is too disputable to be positively determined For my part I am more inclined to think that the Nature of God obliges him to punish sin some where or other and that vindicative Iustice is Essential to him VI. That it is so far Essential to him that he cannot but punish an impenitent Sinner few I believe will question For nothing in the World can be imagined more against Order and Proportion than that a Sinner should be pardon'd without Repentance But further 't is highly probable that sin could not have been pardon'd even with Repentance had there not also been Satisfaction made to God for it 'T is plain de facto that God would not remit sin without satisfaction and that too the highest imaginable Which makes it very probable that he could not For is it reasonable to think that God would deliver up his only and beloved Son to that bitter dispensation if with the safety of his Justice he could have pardon'd us meerly for our Repentance without such a costly sacrifice And that he could not does not that Prayer of our Saviour argue which he used in his Agony Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me Which is as much as if he had said Father if the sin of Man may be remitted any other way than by way of suffering I desire I may not suffer This I think is the Obvious sense of the Words But this Prayer of his was not granted by the removal of the Cup and may I not thence conclude that 't was impossible it should be removed VII And I further consider that God necessarily hates
great to be multiplied and yet too full not to be communicated what a Greatness what a Fulness is this of thine O Rich Solitude how unlike is all Created Excellence to thine Other things are to be admired for their Numbers Thou for thy oneness and singularity they glory in their multitudes but 't is the Prerogative of thy Perfection to be Alone In thee my only Centre I rest upon thee I wholly depend for I have none in Heaven but thee and none upon Earth in comparison of thee I utterly renounce therefore all absolute Power and Supremacy besides thine and I will fear none but thee and obey none but thee Thou only shalt have Dominion over me I am only thine and thee only will I serve Many O God are the Beauties which thou hast made and thy whole Creation is fill'd with thy Glory There are threescore Queens and fourscore Concubines and Virgins without number But my love my undesiled is but one Take then to thy self the Empire of my Heart For all that deserves the name of Love there shall be thine O that it were more inlarged for thy reception But thou shalt have it all and I will love thee with my whole Heart though that whole be but little O my only Delight other Gods besides thee and other Lords besides thee have often usurp'd a Dominion over me But my Heart is now fix'd O God my Heart is fix'd It is fix'd upon thee and how can it ever wander out of the Sphere of thy Beauty Or what Beauty is there whose influence may vye with thine Or how can I love any but one when that one and none but that one is Infinitely Lovely Contemplation V. Of the Omniscience and Omnipresence of God. I. THE unity of God I have demonstrated in the preceding Contemplation And now to obviate a scruple that may thence arise namely how one single solitary Being should be sufficient to preside over all the Motions of the Natural and all the Affairs of the Moral World I thought it convenient to proceed next to some of those Attributes which when well consider'd will make it plain that this Being though but one is abundantly qualifi'd for the Government and Management of the whole Universe And among these the Omniscience and Omnipresence of God are most eminent and conspicuous which I shall here therefore joyntly Contemplate II. And first of the Omniscience of God. This is a most wonderful and amazing Attribute consider it which way we will for it denotes no lesse than a full knowledge and thorough comprehension of all the things that either are have been or shall be But in the way that I shall now consider it 't will appear clothed with peculiar Circumstances of Admiration and is indeed a Theme more sit for the Contemplation of an Angel than for the Pen of a mortal Theorist Here therefore I must beg the peculiar Attention of my Reader and above all the peculiar assistance of that Spirit which searcheth all things yea the Deep things of God. III. Now in treating of God's Omniscience I shall do two things First prove that he is Omniscient Secondly represent the manner of his Omniscience To shew that God is Omniscient I must first consider what Knowledge is in general Now this I define to be in short a Comprehension of Truth For the clearer understanding of which the Distinction of Truth must be attended to Truth then is either of the Object or of the Subject And both these are again subdivided For Truth of the Object is either Simple whereby a Being is really what it is Or Complex which denotes those necessary Habitudes or Respects whereby one thing stands affected toward another as to Affirmation or Negation Then as for Truth of the Subject we understand by it either a just Conformity between the Understanding and the Object which is Logical Truth or between the Words and the Understanding which is Moral Truth or Veracity IV. The Truth with which we are here concern'd is Truth of the Object For to know is so to comprehend things both as to their Simple Natures and as to their Habitudes and Relations as to Compound what is really Compounded and to Divide what is really Divided To have our Understandings thus accommodated to the Respects and Habitudes of things is Knowledge As for Truth of the Subject in the second sense as it signifies a Conformity between the Words and the Understanding we have here nothing to do with it as being altogether foreign to our present purpose And in the first acceptation as it signifies a just conformity between the Understanding and the Object 't is but another word for Knowledge For Truth of the Subject in this sense is the conformity of the Mind to Truth of the Object And so also is Knowledge To Know therefore is to think of things conformally to their Simple Natures and Mutual Habitudes or as I first defined it to Comprehend Truth V. This being premised That Knowledge is nothing else but a Comprehension of Truth that is the having things in the Mind with the same Relations of Composition or Divisision as they stand mutually affected in themselves I thus argue That Being which Comprehends all Truth is Omniscient But God Comprehends all Truth Therefore God is Omniscient The first Proposition is plain from the Definition of Knowledge The Conclusion therefore depends wholly upon the proof of the Second namely that God comprehends all Truth VI. Now for the Demonstration of this Proposition I desire but this one Postulatum that there are Eternal and Necessary Truths that is that there are eternal and immutable Relations and Habitudes of things toward one another by way of Affirmation or Negation This is what I suppose any body will give me for the asking tho I have no great reason to be over-thankful for it it being a thing so very unquestionable and withal a Proposition of this unlucky Quality that 't is as much establish'd by the Denial of it as by the Affirming it For should any Sceptical Person be so hardy as to say that there is no such thing as Eternal and Necessary Truth I would ask him this Question Was that Proposition always true or was it not If it was not always true then there was once Eternal and Necessary Truth and if once so then ever so But if it was always True then by his own Confession there is such a thing as Eternal and Necessary Truth This therefore must be allow'd VII It being therefore supposed that there are Eternal and Necessary Truths the next Proposition that I shall lay down is this that the simple Essences of things must be also Eternal and Necessary For the proof of which Proposition I consider first that as Truth of the Subject depends upon and necessarily supposes Truth of the Object so Truth of the Object Complex depends upon and necessarily supposes Truth of the Object Simple That is in other Words The Habitudes and Relations
secundarily and indirectly for the sake of what it has of the Universal Then again there is Difference as to the Necessity of the Determination as well as to the Primariness of it There is indeed Necessity on both sides but not in like manner We are necessarily determin'd to Love universal good Absolutely and Thoroughly The Scale does not only weigh here but weighs down But we are not determin'd to love any Particular good Absolutely and Thoroughly but only to love it with a Natural Inclination or Velleity And to such a love of it we are as necessarily determin'd as we are to the love of universal good but the Actual Choice of it is not necessary there being no Particular good to the Absolute and Effectual love of which we are invincibly determin'd The Vse of this to Devotion THE Amorousness of Humane Nature as we have here consider'd it contains in it many and great incitements to Devotion For First since the Occasional Cause of our love is Indigence and Emptiness we have great reason to be humble and lowly in Spirit especially considering that we are continually admonish'd of this our Indigence as often as we are Conscious to our selves that we love Again since God is the Principal Efficient Cause of Love and the first mover in all Moral as well as Natural motion it is highly reasonable that he should be Principally loved by us from whom we receive our Love and that we should be mighty careful how we pervert this Divine Impression to any undue object Again since God moves us Directly and Primarily only to himself and since universal good is therefore the Primary and Direct Object of our Love hence it will follow that we ought also to make God the Primary and Direct Object of our Love and that we ought to Love nothing for it self but only in and for God. And lastly since we are necessarily determin'd to love good in general Absolutely and Effectually by such a motion as we can neither resist nor any way Command or Moderate hence it appears how highly necessary it is that we should expllicitly fix all that Love upon God as having all that good in him to which we aspire with a Blind Confuse and Indefinite though Necessary Appetite The Aspiration MY God My Love how absurd a thing is it that an Amorous Creature should be a Proud Creature My Love is occasion'd by my Indigence and I cannot Love but I am minded of that Indigence how ill then would Pride become me having so much reason to be humble and that reason so continually set before me Divine Fountain of Love 't is from thee I receive all my Love and upon whom should I place it but upon thee The fire that descends from Heaven where should it be spent but upon the Altar Thou hast a Right O my God to all my Love for I cannot love thee with any Love but what is thy own O then do thou Regulate this thy own Divine Impression and grant I may never sin against thee by the abuse of that Love which thou hast given me I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth for doing so much towards the guidance and Regulation of my Love as to carry me Directly only to Universal good thereby teaching me that I ought to make thee the only Direct and Primary Object of my Love. My God I will love as thou teachest me the First and Direct Motion of Love shall be towards thee and whatever I love besides thee I will love only in and for thee I thank thee also My God for that thou hast made it so necessary for me to love universal good Thou O God art this universal good and I ought to love thee with the very same Love wherewith I love Happiness it self O that I were as necessarily inclined to love thee as I am to love Happiness I do not desire to be trusted with any Liberty in the Love of thee But this my God I cannot hope for till I shall see thee as thou art O let me therefore love thee to the utmost Capacity of a Free Creature Thou O God hast set no Bounds to my love of thee O let not me set any My God I do not I love thee with all my Heart Soul Mind and Strength Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Contemplation IV. Man consider'd as an Irregular Lover I. HItherto we have considered Man as God made him He was made by God a Creature an Intelligent Creature and an Amorous Creature The two first of which import the Perfection of God actually participated by him in as much as in him he not only lives moves and has his Being but in him has all his Vnderstanding also The last imports in him a tendency to the Divine Perfection which is also an actual Perfection of his own Nature and such as God also has therein implanted And thus far is Man wholely the Divine Wormanship and carries in him the Image of him that made him Let us now consider him as he has made himself and is as it were his own Creature II. Now thus to consider Man is to consider him as an Irregular Lover And to do this fully and to the purpose intended Three things will be requisite First To shew what it is to be an Irregular Lover Secondly Hw prone and apt Man is to Love Irregularly Thirdly That Man himself is the Author of this proneness of his to Irregular Love. III. In relation to the first if it be demanded What it is to be an Irregular Lover I answer in one word That 't is to be a Fool. Sin and Folly Sinner and Fool are words in Scripture of a like signification and are indifferently used one for the other And we are taught in the Schools of Morality that every Sinner is ignorant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Socratical Proverb Indeed Sin has its Birth in Folly and every step of its progress is Folly and its conclusion is in Folly. But this will appear more distinctly from the consideration of these two things First Of the absurdity and madness of the choice which every Irregular Lover makes And Secondly The error and mistake that must necessarily precede in his Judgment before he does or can make it IV. As for the absurdity of his choice 't is the greatest that can be imagined For what is it that he chuses 'T is to do that which he must and certainly will repent of and wish he had never done either in this World for its illness and sinfulness or in the next for its sad effects and consequences 'T is to despise the Authority Power Iustice and Goodness of God 't is to transgress his Commands which are good and equitable and in keeping of which there is present as well as future reward 'T is to act against the Frame of his Rational Nature and the Divine Law of his Mind 't is to disturb the Order and Harmony of the