what poor pitiful Nothings what is a strong Sampson to the Almighty God but as straw as chaff as rotten wood as all weakness what is the Age of Methuselah to the duration of the eternal God to whose Age Millions of years add not a moment but as a minute as nothing Psal 39.5 What is the wisdom of Solomon to all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which are in the only wise God but a curious web of folly Coloss 2.9 What is the holiness of an Angel to the holiness of God but as a candle to the Sun yea as perfect night and darkness to the Noon-day O therefore how shouldst thou labour to know this God how industrious shouldst thou be to be acquainted with him When the Queen of Sheba had heard of the extraordinary knowledge and abilities of Solomon she came from the utmost parts of the earth to see his person and to hear his wisdome But behold Reader a greater than Solomon is here Solomon was an Ideot an Innocent to this object which I request thee to know The understanding of God is infinite Psal 147.5 There is no searching of his understanding Isa 40.28 Indeed it is bottomless and therefore can never be found out His knowledge can never be known fully no not by Angels themselves Do men beat their brains and consume their bodies and waste their estates and deny themselves the pleasures of the flesh as many Heathen have done for the knowledge of nature of the heavenly bodies and their motions of the Sea and its ebbing and flowing of the earth and the creatures thereon when after all their search they were still at a loss and for all the knowledge they attained they proved but learned Dunces what wouldst thou then do for the knowledge of the God of nature of the mighty possessor of Heaven and Earth of him to whom all things are less than nothing of him the knowledge of whom will make thee wise to Salvation O Friend this is the only knowledge worth seeking worth getting worth prizing worth glorying in Jer. 9.23 24. Thus saith the Lord let not the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might nor the rich man glory in his riches Worldly knowledge strength wealth are not worth glorying in what then is The next verse tells you But let him that glorieth glory in this in what that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord c. This is a jewel that a man may boast of and glory in that he knoweth me that I am the Lord. There is an excellency in all knowledge Knowledge is the eye of the Soul to direct it in its motions it is the lamp the light of the Soul set up by God himself to guide it in its actions The understanding of man is the candle of the Lord Prov. 20.27 Without knowledge the Soul is but a Dungeon of darkness and blackness full of confusion and terror But there is an incomparable excellency in the knowledge of this incomparable God The object doth elevate and heighten the act There is a vast difference between the knowledg of earthly things and heavenly things between the knowledge of wise strong faithful merciful just holy men and the only wise omnipotent unchangeable righteous most holy God Only before I proceed to the urging this Use I would desire thee Reader to take notice what knowledge of God it is which I am pressing thee to labour for it is not a meer notional speculative knowledge though a knowledge of apprehension is a duty necessary Eph. 5.17 Psal 143.8 Heb. 8.9 10. but an experimental knowledge Thou hast made me to know wisdom in my secret parts Psal 51.6 The heart is called the secret part because known only to God 1 Kings 8.39 such a knowledge as affecteth the heart with love to him and fear of him and hatred of what is contrary to him true knowledge takes the heart as well as takes the head Psal 1.6 1 Kings 8.38 Phil. 3.10 and influenceth the life 1 Joh. 2.4 He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him Coloss 1.9 10. John 10.4 5. Right knowledge though it begin at the head doth not end there but falls down upon the heart to affect that and floweth out in the life to order and regulate that Coloss 1.10 We pray for you that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding for what end and to what purpose that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work To enforce this Use I shall give thee two or three Motives and as many means To encourage thee to study the knowledge of this God consider these three properties of it 1. The true knowledge of this God will be a sanctifying knowledge If thou hast any thing of a man I mean of Reason in thee holiness which was thy primitive perfection which is the Image of the incomparable God and will fit thee for his special love and eternal embraces will be a strong and cogent argument with thee Now this knowledge of God will conform thee to God render thee like unto him who is the pattern and standard of all excellency As I said before knowledge is the eye by which we see God and the vision of God causeth an assimulation to him But we all with open face beholding as in a Glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of our God 2 Cor. 3.18 The Blackamore that often look'd on beautiful pictures brought forth a beautiful Son We are often changed into the postures and fashions yea and dispositions of those whom we much converse with on earth surely then acquaintance with the gracious and Holy God will make us in some measure to resemble him Other knowledge pollutes and defiles the soul Oftentimes the more men pick the lock of Natures Cabinet and look into her riches and treasury her secrets and mysteries the more Atheistical they are and forgetful of the God of Nature Hence Religio Medici is irreligion they see so much of the operations of nature that they ascribe the principal efficiency to the instrument And hence the wisdom of the Philosophers counted the wisest men in the world is folly 1 Cor. 3.19 And though they professed themselves to be wise yet they became fools and were guilty of all manner of wickedness Rom. 1.22 to the end And what was the reason but this they knew not God with all their knowledge 1 Cor. 1.21 Ignorant heads are ever accompanied with irreligious hearts and both are attended with Atheistical lives Eph. 4.18 The Apostle tells us of the Heathen that they were estranged from the life of God an holy life through the ignorance that was in them because of the blindness of their hearts So Hos 4.1 2 3 4.
God of Glory appeared to Abraham he quickly and quietly left his Country and Kindred and followed God not knowing whither he went Gent 12.1 2. Acts 7.3 If the God of Glory appear to your Souls you will soon wink upon these withering Vanities broken Cisterns and gilded Nothings and count them all but Dung and Dross for the excellency of the Knowledge of him in Christ. You have begun well go on and persevere in well-doing I shall give you the same Counsel which the Holy Apostle giveth to those of whom he was perswaded that they had those things which accompanied Salvation Heb. 6.9 Take heed least there be in you an evil heart of unbelief whereby ye should depart away from the living God Heb. 3.12 Look diligently least ye should fail of the Grace of God Heb 12.15 When false Coin is common abroad we are the more careful what Money we take when much false Grace is up and down amongst us and so many please themselves with their Profession or spiritual Priviledges or sacred Performances or siding with this or that Party form of Worship or the respect and repute they have with others It concerns you to be the more suspicious of your Selves least you should fail of that Grace of God which conformeth the Heart to the nature and the life to the Will and Law of God SIR YOu are descended of a worthy ancient and religious Family Your Grand-Father as I have heard was eminent for Holiness Your Father is noted and honoured for one that feareth God above many you have hereby the more encouragement advantage and engagement to exercise your self to godliness Tamerlane made it his practice to read often the Heroick Deeds of his Progenitors not as proud of them or boasting in them but as glorious Patterns to inflame his Soul with a love of their Vertues Man is a Creature that is led more by the Eye then the Ear by Patterns then by Precepts and no Patterns are more prevalent then of those whom Nature and Grace oblige us to esteem and affect These examples above all others as flaming Beacons on an Hill call us to a stout defence of Vertue when it 's invaded by its Enemies Alexander finding one of his Name cowardly charged him to change his Name or to become valiant When one of the Scipio's descended of Scipio Affrican became dissolute The Roman Senate order'd him to put off that Ring which he wore as the Badge of his Noble Family because by his vicious Life he was a Reproach to it The truth is a wicked Son of a godly Father as Uriah carrieth Letters of his own condemnation about him causing the Patterns and Precepts of his Family to be Auxiliaries to his own reproach and infamy whilst the light and lustre of his Ancestors renders his works of darkness the more gross and palpable I mention not these things as suspecting your integrity but to provoke and quicken you to the greater care and circumspection in your carriage and conversation MADAM YOur Birth is ††Daughter to the Right Honourable the Lord Paget Honourable but such Honour without Holinesse extends not beyond the Meridian of this World Grace onely is eternal Glory That Honour which is woven in the finest Tapestry of earthly Priviledges will lose colour and fade away but the Knowledge of God is a possession for ever Nobility by Parents is but Nobility by Parchment and that is but skin-deep at most and will wast with time Godliness alone is that Nobility which no Age can consume and which will run paralell with the line of eternity The whole Earth hath not a pleasanter sight then Greatness joyn'd with Goodnesse Greatness it self is venerable but Goodness joyn'd with it addeth a new Splendour and lustre to it as a sparkling Diamond set in a Gold-Ring it attracteth the Eyes and challengeth a greater reverence and respect from all Evil Greatnesse is a swelling Dropsie a Disease of the Body Politick as intolerable a burden as the Earth groanes under but Grace and Vertue are the more excellent and amiable by the greatnesse of the Person in whom they dwell It will be your Crown and Credit to prefer God before the World to esteem Holinesse as the onely Beauty and a Title to the Covenant as the onely Riches of your immortal Soul Ye have both near and dear Relations whose Hearts will rejoyce in your perseverance and progress in the wayes of God's Commandements That you may be helps to each other in the best things provoke one another to love and to good Works live long together on Earth and for ever together in Heaven is the prayer Of your Servant in the Lord Geo. Swinnocke The several CHAPTERS IN THIS TREATISE CHapter 1. The Preface and Coherence of the Text Page 1. Chap. 2. God incomparable in his Being pag. 11. Chap. 3. God incomparable in his Being as from himself for himself and wholly independent on any other pag. 17. Chap. 4. God incomparable in his Being as it is absolutely perfect universal and unchangeable pag. 23. Chap. 5. God incomparable in his Being as it is eternal and without composition pag. 33. Chap. 6. God incomparable in his Being as it is infinite and incomprehensible pag. 40. Chap. 7. God incomparable in his Attributes his Holiness and Wisdom pag. 51. Chap. 8. God incomparable in his Attributes in his Knowledge and Faithfulness pag. 76. Chap. 9. God incomparable in his Mercy and Patience pag. 88. Chap. 10 God incomparable in his Attributes as they are from him as they are his Essence as they are all one in him as they are in him in an infinite manner pag. 99. Chap. 11. God incomparable in his Works Creation and Providence pag. 106. Chap. 12. God incomparable in the Work of Redemption He can do all things pag. 124. Chap. 12. God incomparable in the manner of his working He worketh irresistibly arbitrarily pag. 133. Chap. 13. God incomparable in his working He doth it with the greatest ease and without any help pag. 141. Chap. 14. God is incomparable in his Word in its Authority Condescension and Efficacy pag. 154. Chap. 15. God is incomparable in his Word Purity Mysteries Phophesies pag. 165. Chap. 16. God incomparable in his Word as it is converting affrighting and comforting pag. 174. Chap. 17. How great is the malignity of Sin which contemneth dishonoureth and opposeth this God pag. 182. Chap. 19. Shewing how great is the madness and misery of impenitent Sinners pag. 193. Chap. 21. How moustrous is their Pride who compare themselves with the incomparable God pag. 209. Chap. 22. Incomparable Worship and Service due to God pag. 217. Chap. 23. Motives to acquaintance with the incomparable God the knowledge of whom is sanctifying satisfying and saving pag. 237. Chap. 24. Means of acquaintance with God a sense of our ignorance attendance on the Word servent Prayer Chap. 25. Exhort to choose God for our Portion Chap. 26. Give God the glory of his incomparable
done to such a Majesty Or wouldst thou not say as he in another place Lord I have heard of thee by the hearing of the Ear but now mine Eyes see thee wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Job 42.5 6. Lord I have heard of thee somewhat by thy word and by thy works they have told me somewhat of thy beauty and glory and excellency howbeit I believed them not but now mine Eyes have seen thy Majesty and Royalty and Sovereignty wherefore I abhor my self that ever I should transgress thy godly Will that ever I should blaspheme thy great Name that ever I should despise thy Supremacy and fight against thy Majesty Ah I Reprobate turn away mine eyes from my self cannot endure to behold my self my stomach is turn'd against my self I loath my self that ever I should presume and dare to contest and contend with to wrong and injure thine Excellency I recant all that I have been all that I have done against thee and repent am unfeignedly grieved for it heartily wish I had never been so never done so but since what is past cannot be recalled I will as far as I can be revenged on my self for my impudency and distraction I will lie in the dust lick the dust own my self to be much baser and viler then the dust I will abhor my self in dust and ashes This this is the venome the malignity of sin that it is opposite and contrary offensive and injurious to the incomparable God This is the consideration which should humble us most for our sins This was the weight that pressed David down most and laid him so low in the day of his Repentance Against thee Psal 51.4 thee only have I sinned and done evil in thy sight Though he had sinned against the Enemies of God in occasioning their blasphemies against the friends of God in grieving their Spirits against his whole Kingdom in provoking God to plague them though he had sinned against Bathsheba in defiling her Body and Soul against Vriah both in the matter of his Wife and Life and against his own Body and Soul yet he looks upon these though great in themselves yet little nothing comparatively the Head of the Arrow that pierced his heart was this I have sinned against the Lord 2 Sam. 12.13 Against thee thee only have I sinned The injury which he did to himself and others was so inconsiderable in comparison of the injury he did to God that he passeth it quite by in his penitential Psalm sticks wholly upon this Against thee thee only have I sinned This is the strongest the weightiest Argument to drive and disswade from sin none is like it When Moses would couch all Arguments in one he useth this instead of all Num. 32.23 But if ye will not do so i.e. perform your promise to assist your Brethren till they have conquer'd their Enemies and are setled in their Possessions what then what great harm if they do not Is it not that they sin against their Brethren wrong their own Souls No but Behold mark it it is worthy your attention and most serious consideration ye have sinned against the Lord the great the mighty the almighty the incomparable God CHAP. XIX If God be incomparable how great is the madness and misery of impenitent Sinners SEcondly if God be such an incompararable God it informeth us of the madness and misery of Sinners 1. Of their madness in daring to offend him and to contend with him 2. In wilfully losing this incomparable God 1. How great is their madness in daring to offend him yea in daring him to his face Reader if thou shouldst see a man without any cause striving with an whole Army hacking and hewing and provoking them to kill him you would think surely the man is mad otherwise he would never thus wilfully run himself into a certain ruine I tell thee every time thou wilfully breakest his Laws thou actest more like a distracted man for thou fightest against that God who is stronger than millions of Armies who is Almighty and thou provokest him to destroy thee who can wink thee into the other world and look thee into the eternal Lake and hiss thee into Hell flames Man art thou Gods match that thou offerest to enter the List with him Do ye saith the Apostle provoke the Lord to anger Are ye stronger than he 1 Cor. 10.22 It 's one thing to provoke men to anger and another thing to provoke the Lord to anger Man hath but a little heart and a small hand his anger and power cannot at utmost exceed finite but Gods heart and hand his anger and power are both infinite If the wrath of a King be a Messenger of Death what thinkest thou is the wrath of immensity and the stroak of Omnipotency What then is the wrath of a God Sinner dost thou know what thou dost when thou breakest his Laws slightest his Love dishonourest his Name grievest his Spirit I tell thee thou provokest a God who is incomparable in holiness and hath threatned thy destruction who is incomparable in power and can accomplish what he hath threatned and who is incomparable in truth and cannot but make good with his arm what he hath spoken with his mouth Wo be to him that striveth with his Maker let the Potsherds strive with the Potsherds of the earth Isa 45.1 God is a God of Peace he hates strife but if men will be striving he wisheth them rather to meddle with those that are their matches poor silly worms like themselves and not to strive with their Maker who is infinitely their Superiour in authority and power and every perfection Here is sawciness indeed for a pitiful nothing to challenge Almightiness to Battel Who in his wits in his senses that were not quite distracted would set Briars and Thorns against me in Battel I would go through them I would burn them up all together Isa 27.4 Briars and Thorns are not match to a fire how easily how speedily how certainly doth the fire consume them as soon as it layeth hold of them how much less is weak man a match for God who is a consuming fire When the Roman Poet was desired to make Verses against his Emperour he answered Nolo in eum scribere qui potest proscribere I 'le not jeer and jest with him that can kill me in earnest Our Saviour tells us What King going to war against another sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with 10000 to meet him that cometh against him with 20000 or else while the other is a great way off sendeth to his Ambassadours and desireth conditions of Peace Luk. 14.31 32. O that when the Devil and flesh entice the Sinner to sport with and make a mock of Sin Prov. 10.23 he would but consider it 's ill jesting with edged tools it 's ill jesting with unquenchable Burnings for how can his heart endure or his hands be strong in the day
conversations we must walk with God therefore we are commanded to be in the fear of the Lord all the day long Prov. 23.17 But because in Ordinances we have more immediately and specially to do with him then we are said to appear before him Psal 42.2 therefore we are bound therein to be most aweful and reverential Subjects shew most reverence in the presence Chamber of their Soveraign O with what awe and dread should mortals appear in the presence of him who inhabiteth eternity should dust and ashes draw nigh to the mighty Possessor of heaven and earth Eccl. 5.1 2. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give the Sacrifice of Fools be not rash with thy mouth let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God but why all this care and caution for God is in Heaven and thou art on Earth His incomparable Majesty calleth for incomparable reverence Majesty is dreadful He is cloathed with Majesty Ps 39.1 All over Majesty therefore let all the earth stand in awe of him He is adorned surrounded with Majesty therefore we must be filled with the awe of him Isa 2.10 19 20. Fear and Majesty are three times conjoyned His incomparable power calls for incomparable reverence Power is aweful and the greater the power is the greater awe is required Math. 10.28 Fear not them that can kill the Body and can do no more but fear him who is able to cast Soul and Body into Hell As if Christ had said I know you are of timerous spirits and men of fearful tempers ye are apt to tremble and to be frighted at every thing well I will direct you how you may make this passion advantagious to you viz. by turning the stream into its proper channel by placing your fear on its proper object I will tell you of one worthy of your fear who deserveth to be feared So Luke 12.4 5. I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear I will offer you an object meet for your fear Fear him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him You are apt like Children to be frighted with Bug-bears and to dread them that can onely raze the Skin and pinch the Flesh and at the most can but take from you a life that will fall of it self within a few dayes well I 'le advise you whom to stand in awe of fear him that can kill you and damn you that can send your bodies to the grave and your souls to unquenchable flames yea I say unto you fear him 2. This incomparable God calls for incomparable humility and lowliness of Spirit from us The height of God must lay man low and the matchless excellency of God make him base in his own eyes When we behold our selves in the Glass of those that have little or nothing that is good or praise-worthy or that have less than our selves then we spread out our plumes and are puft up with pride and judge our selves comely creatures but if we would behold our selves in the glass of the Incomparable God in whose sight the Heavens are unclean in whose presence Angels vail their faces to whom ten thousand Suns are perfect darkness and all the world less than nothing how should we pluck in our plumes and abhor our selves for our pride Man never comes to a right knowledge of himself what a pitiful abominable wretch he is till he comes to a right knowledge of God what an excellent incomparable Majesty he is As when men stand high and look downward on those below them that are meaner and viler than themselves their heads are giddy and swim with conceitedness they then are some body in their own opinions but when they look upwards to the Great God the Sun the Soul the substance of all worth and excellency that Meagrum or high-mindedness is prevented The best men upon a sight of God the incomparable God though the more excellent he is the more cause they have of joy in having so rich a portion yet instead of loving have loathed themselves and instead of admiring have abhor'd themselves When Isaiah saw the God of glory sitting on his Throne in his brightness and beauty encircled with Millions of coelestial Courtiers covering their faces as ashamed of their drops in the presence of the Ocean and crying Holy Holy Holy as apprehending his purity beyond all their expressions and his perfections exceeding all their apprehensions what thoughts had he of himself O what a poor pitiful contemptible creature did he think himself yea what an uncomely loathsome abominable creature was he in his own eye Woe to me saith he I am undone I am a man of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the Lord of Hosts Isa 6.4 5. 3. This incomparable God calls for incomparable love the top the cream of our affections Good is the object of Love Amor est complacentia boni according to the Moralists the greater therefore the good is the greater love it requireth and God being the greatest good must have the greatest love This is the great and first command Math. 22.37 this is as I may say the only command Deut. 10.12 this is all the commands in one Rom. 13.10 Love is the Decalogue contracted and the Decalogue is love opened and explained Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy strength with all thy mind Math. 22.37 God being the greatest perfection must have the greatest affection The greatest love for God is Love 1 Joh. 4.8 calls for the greatest love He deserves the greatest extensively the heart soul mind strength the greatest intensively all the heart all the soul all the mind all the strength Reader thy love to him must be so great that thy love to thy father mother wife child house land and life must be hatred in comparison of it and in competition with it Luk. 14.26 The truth is there is nothing worthy of our love like God nay there is nothing worthy of our love beside God All our Friends and Relations and Estates and worldly Blessings are nothing lovely but as they are his creatures his comforts instruments for his glory and as they have relation to him Nay Sabbaths Sacraments seasons of grace are no more lovely than as they are his institutes and means of communion with his Majesty I love the habitation of thy house why because it is the place where thine honour dwelleth Psal 28.8 Once more grace it self is not lovely but as it 's the image and conformity unto the pleasure and delight of that which fitteth and maketh meet for the love embraces and fruition of this incomparable God Desire and Delight are the two acts of love distinguished only by the absence or presence of the object When the object beloved is absent the soul acts towards it in desire When the object is present the soul acteth towards